Squishy’s Birth Story Part 2 – Where She Actually Gets Born

I got called out in the comments of my last post because not only was it kind of boring, but also it was not an actual birth story since at the end Squishy was still an inside baby… Oops!

And then I just left you dangling for a few days while we got a bit more adjusted to life with Lulu home. Sorry about that, but I’ll pick up where we left off:

Daddy and Grammy Boo met up with Mommy at the hospital and then just hung out for a while; Mommy had eaten lunch at 1:30, so they wanted to wait awhile before performing the procedure. At about 9PM, the nurse came in to prep Mommy and to give Daddy scrubs to change into – Mommy’s platelet levels were high enough for a spinal block, so she got to be awake this time and Daddy got to be in the room!

Incidentally, Daddy and Grammy Boo are the least helpful waiting-for-c-section supporters ever. Daddy hadn’t realized that he was going to get to be in the operating room, and he had a lot of questions about the procedure. When Mommy explained that the anesthesia was administered via a shot in the lower back spinal cavity, he blurted “Ouch, that’s gotta hurt!”

Yes. Yes, a needle in between your vertebrae is probably not going to go unnoticed – thanks, Captain Obvious.

And then Grammy Boo, speaking to Lulu before Mommy was wheeled off, lamented how her poor granddaughter was just minding her own business and had no idea she was about to be “violently ripped from her warm and cozy spot.”

Yup. VERY helpful.

Anyway, at about 9:30PM, they wheeled Mommy off and Daddy waited outside the room while they gave her the spinal block. The anesthesiologist was very impressed with how Mommy curled her lower back – a transfer of yoga skills! Mommy was a bit concerned about the whole needle in the back thing, *especially* since she wasn’t in labor so it wasn’t like there was anything to distract her, but it actually wasn’t too bad.

MORE terrifying was the prospect of major abdominal surgery while she was wide awake; while this was clearly better for everyone involved, Mommy was not at all sure that she wouldn’t have preferred to be knocked out like she was with me. (OBVIOUSLY, she definitely would not have preferred things to be like they were with me when all of the doctors were running around in a panic and she ended up in the ICU over night. This was definitely better. BUT, in the moment right before they began the first cut, Mommy thought maybe she’d rather not be as *aware* as she was.)

Daddy was let into the room, and sat up near Mommy’s head where he held her hand. The first incision was made at 9:57, and I had a brand new baby sister at 10:01! Even though, technically, they’re not supposed to after 10PM, Grammy Boo swears that the hospital played the lullaby in the hallways. She might just be saying that, though, because Mommy really wanted the music and was kind of fixated on it in an odd way.

Lulu was 6lbs 8 ozs at birth, and 19.5″ tall. After a brief stop in recovery, she and Mommy were moved to a room and everyone marveled over how gorgeous she was until about 1:30AM when Grammy Boo and Daddy went home so that everyone could try and get some rest.

Mommy and Lulu stayed in the hospital until Friday evening, and have been home ever since. I have SO much more to tell you about how great a big brother I am and how much I LOVE my baby sister, but I will update that separately…