Surgery

Today was a scary day, but it all went well. It was scary because there is always a risk with surgery. There is a risk specifically of losing The Baby. But, there was a guarantee of losing The Baby if I didn't have the stitch placed. And there is always a risk of rupturing the membranes. I was scared. We arrived at the hopspittle at 5:30 and then waited until 6 for OPS to actually open. Why they said to be there 30 minutes before they opened is beyond me. I got a gown. I stuffed my clothes into a bag. I got on the gurney. I was wrapped in a warming blanket. I got an IV. No less than 3 people reviewed my history. I saw the anesthesiologist, Dr P. He ordered something nasty tasting that made me groggy and I went to sleep. My case was scheduled for 7:00 am. The OR nurse woke me up when the lovely Dr RF finally said he was ready at 8:15. And I was rolled down to OR.

Let me say that Dr P rocks! He did my cesarean with The Youngest after my anesthesiology with The Oldest was botched. I was glad I was able to have him for this. It was a good sign. After pushing 100 mg of Diprivan, I was still able to carry on a conversation with him. So he gave me more. "A little sleepy," I reported. So he waited a few minutes and gave me more. "Okay," I say, "Here I go!" And I woke up in recovery. My nurse there wasn't nice, but she did give me pain meds. She did not want to give me narcotics, but the wonderful Dr P told me what I could have before I went to OR...and really, it was 1 mg for crying out loud!

There was quite a delay while several nurses tried to find the Baby's heartbeat with a pencil Doppler. No luck. They tried and tried. They could hear movement, and they thought the Baby kept bumping the Doppler, and they could see my tummy jiggle with the kicks, but they had no luck finding the heart rate. Finally someone produced a regular hand held Doppler and they let me hunt for it. (This was reminiscent of The Youngest. I found his heart beat after stitch surgery too! Again, a good sign.) I caught it for a few seconds at a time, but never long enough to hand over the ear pieces. Finally after the one nurse cupped my tummy in both hands, the other nurse was able to catch it long enough to measure it...151! "Is this baby always so active?" they ask. "Yes" I say. "And the Baby got anesthesia too." They exchange knowing looks across my exposed tummy. "How far along are you? 20 weeks?" one nurse asks. "No," I say, "15 weeks, one day." Again with the knowing looks to each other. "Well," one nurse says, "This one's going to give you a run for your money!" After that I was allowed to get dressed to go home. And get a jumbo Slurpee for my horribly sore throat!

The rest of the day saw plenty of napping, movie watching and pampering from The Beloved. Grandma Emmie stopped by and had snacks with us then dashed out to see The Fireball get his award. The Other Mommy took my camera to photo document said Fireball receiving said award. The Beloved drove all the way to the next town to Sonic to get me a jumbo grape slushie for my still very horribly sore throat. And a Sonic dog for our pitty-bull Sophie! One hurdle down, two to go!