Abigail's Birth Story, Part 2

When I got into my recovery room, I can remember how EXHAUSTED I was! It was like I literally couldn't keep my eyes open. The families got there and started taking all of the pictures! There were lots of people and lots of pictures!

I remember that they took Abigail back to the nursery because they needed to run some more tests on her. They told us later that her blood sugar and temperature were low so they gave her a bottle of formula. I wasn't exactly thrilled at that, but I talked to my lactation consultant and we decided that we were going to keep trying to nurse while also giving her the bottle. I know that she needed the bottle and I wasn't freaking out about that, but I do believe that's what made us have such a hard time nursing in the beginning. She would not latch on at all! My wonderful lactation consultant, Cindee, came by several times and the nurses helped too. Thankfully, Abigail finally got the hang of it later on and you can read about that here.

She was in the nursery for a while, so Bryan and I used that time to catch up on sleep. I felt so bad sleeping when everyone was there, but my body just wouldn't stay awake! Bob and Willa had to go back to Shreveport to get back to the gym so they left. My parents stayed in the room with us and just watched us while we slept. I woke up later and they brought Abigail back to us. I was quite a mess, but wanted to take our first family pictures, so I cleaned myself up and re-did my makeup! :)

We had more visitors throughout the day! Other than all of our families, Jason, Jacque, Jillian, Morgan (who Abigail's named after), Chris, Wes, Amanda, Audry, and Garrett all came to visit the day she was born.

That evening the nurse came into my room and told me they were going to take my catheter. She also said that I had to be able to pee before I'd be allowed to leave the hospital. If I didn't, they'd have to put the catheter back in. Now, let me tell you, that thing was my best friend during labor, but there was NO way I wanted that thing put back in without having an epidural! So, in order to go to the bathroom, that meant that I had to get up. Normally, not a problem..after having a c-section, BIG problem. See getting out of bed requires you to use your stomach muscles and well, after they've been cut, that's kinda hard to do! I can remember when the nurse told me that I was going to have to get up and walk around. She said it was going to hurt, but the more I did it, the better I would feel. I thought she was crazy. I remember raising my bed as much as I could and the moment I tried to shift my legs to the side of the bed, I felt this INSANE burning. It was like fire, ripping my stomach apart. I wasn't worried about getting out of the bed, I was worried about just being able to shift my whole body and have my legs touch the floor. The nurse kept making me move and Bryan was trying to help, but it hurt SO bad. I was bawling it hurt so much. The mean nurse made me get up though and walk. I don't know how, but somehow I did it. I cried the whole time. I cried walking, I cried getting back in bed. SO much pain! It took me a couple of times, but I figured out that the trick was to instead of sit straight up like I normally would, to just roll off of the bed. I would just grab onto my nightstand at home and roll off. That caused the least amount of pain.

We decided to have Abigail sleep in the nursery that night. Even though I didn't want to let her out of my sight, many of my friends suggested this and knowing about my lack of sleep over the past 24+hrs, I knew this would be best. I was not expecting so many interruptions though! They brought Abigail to me every 3 or so hours to try and nurse and they also kept waking me up to give me my medicine.

The next morning was much better. I got to have the most delicious breakfast and I got to get my iv out that day. We rested, watched tv and had more visitors!

Mommy's sweet 2nd grade teachers from school came to see Abigail (Kerri, Fran, and Chris). They had sure taken care of Mommy that school year and they couldn't wait to see her!

Our friend Mike Alexander also came to see Abigail! Day 2 in the hospital was really good! I got up a couple of more times and walked around. Thank goodness it wasn't as bad as the night before. It still was very painful, but better the second day. We decided that night to have her sleep in the room with us. She did really well. We had planned for Bryan to get up and get her and hand to me when it was time to eat. Well, that didn't turn out exactly as planned! The first feeding alarm went off and I heard Abigail making noises. Bryan's alarm went off, but Bryan didn't get up. From where my bed was and where Bryan had been sleeping I couldn't see him. I started calling his name and heard nothing. I didn't want to scream his name because I didn't want to scare Abigail or bother anyone else in the hospital, so I just kept calling his name. I didn't even know if he was in the room because I couldn't see him! In my exhaustion, I wasn't thinking clearly, so I didn't think of (or don't even remember if I knew there was one) pushing the call button on my bed to call the nurse and I couldn't reach the phone. By this time, Abigail is crying and I realized that I was just going to have to go get her myself. I was NOT thrilled by the fact that I was going to have to get out of bed by myself; however, I did what any good mother would do and got up and got her crying baby! :) I looked and Bryan was completely passed out asleep. I figured he must have been REALLY tired if he didn't even hear me calling him, so I just decided to let him sleep. I got Abigail and took her back to bed with me. Ouch, ouch, and more ouch. Oh and did I also forget to tell you that the nurse forgot to bring me my medicine that night? OUCH!!

Bryan finally woke up later and of course felt HORRIBLE when I told him what happened. I forgave him though and everything was ok. :) I was able to take a shower that morning and felt somewhat human again. :) We were going to be able and go home on Day 3 as soon as Abigail had her first poop. However, that took forever! I don't know if she was stopped up or what, but the nurses finally took her to "help" things along. They finally brought her back and said we were good to go! :)

 I still can't get over how tiny she looks in that carseat! Daddy has her and he's ready to go!

 We were so glad to finally be going home! It was a very safe and slow drive home! ;)

Our new family of three! Home sweet home! :)

Looking back over my delivery, these are some things I learned and would tell my former self!

• Drink TONS of water before you go to the hospital. This will help with your iv going in more easily since you have tiny veins.
• You don't need half of the things that you packed. If you really forgot something, there will be SOMEONE that can go get it for you. Trust me!
• Ask more questions and demand more answers if you don't understand.
• Most importantly, unless your baby is actually in distress or almost there, do not agree to a c-section.
• You know your body and yourself more than anyone else..even your doctor. YOU know your limitations and what you can handle. If you think you can make it through a delivery, you can. If you don't think you can, that's fine too.

Looking back, I wish that I would have not agreed to let my Dr. perform a c-section. My baby was not in distress and I was fine. I wish I would have told her that I was going to keep going and let my body keep working. I'll never know what "could" have happened. I just know what did happen. However, these are things that I will remember and take with me next time. I wouldn't change anything though. Everything happened for a reason and I now have my beautiful daughter..and she was worth every second!