So we're wheeling down to the OR. Leaving Clint outside the door was kinda scary. I felt pretty alone for a couple seconds until I saw Dr. McGuinn already in there. Maybe it's just me but I was pretty shocked at how close I felt to her. I mean we're not BFF or anything, but having her in there was instantly comforting. She stood in front of me and held my hands while they were doing the spinal block, which I hear is pretty rare for a doctor to do. She made sure to tell me how great of a candidate I was for a VBAC because she knew how badly I wanted to avoid a c-section at all costs.
The spinal didn't hurt a single bit. Apparently I have "a great spine." So they got me laid down and got Clint in there with me. They put up the curtain and started asking if I could feel anything and I couldn't. I'm tellin' ya- it's bizarre how quickly the medicine kicked in and I couldn't feel ANYTHING. The nurses and stuff in there were phenomenal. They were so encouraging and kept us calm and collected. They said my BP would probably drop a lot from the anesthesia and I'd start getting nauseous so I needed to let them know so they could fix it. Well lo and behold that happened so I told them and with the press of a button, they sent some medicine into my IV that took every bit of nausea away. Medicine is crazy to me!
Next then I know, I heard her say it was time to get him out. She said I'd feel a little bit of pressure while they got him out and they weren't kidding. It seriously felt like a sumo wrestler jumped on my chest. It took all the breath out of me. but I could care less because next thing I know I hear a baby screaming and she lifted him up over the curtain for me to see (I have a picture but it's pretty nasty so I'll save Reuben's dignity and keep it off here haha). I had always imagined this crazy emotional moment of meeting him for the first time... and it was nothing like that. I laughed. I was just so happy he was here that I was laughing with joy! They wrapped him up and put him on my chest and I got my first good look at him. It was seriously love at first sight.
I heard them say APGAR score of 9 and that was like music to my ears. He was full term, but I still was nervous something'd be wrong with him. Plus, after having a miscarriage, there's a part of me that thought there'd always be something wrong with my babies, like I'd never have a "normal" pregnancy.
They weighed him and called out his weight "6 pounds, 7 ounces" and I literally said "Excuse me?" I was SO sure we'd have a massive baby. I was 9.5 lbs and Clint was 8 lbs at 36 weeks. So we were not prepared for such a little guy.
They got him cleaned up and handed him back to me. Let me pause here and say how incredibly thankful I am that Baptist has that policy. They let us keep him, and even me hold him, the entire time they were closing me up. It was wonderful!
And of course we had to get our very first family portrait.
It was absolutely the craziest, scariest, happiest, best day of our lives.
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