Shelby's Birth Story: Part 3

To all those that care, sorry it's taken me so long to get to Part 3. It's not a page turner like the rest of the story and since I've been so exhausted I figured it could wait. It's funny that I feel more exhausted now, with 2 children, then I ever did this last semester with Shasta, student teaching 5 days a week, school and homework, and being miserably sick and pregnant.

Anyway... back to the story.

After Shelby was born I still had to stay on Magnesium. It's recommended to be on it for 24 hours after delivery, but with Shasta I became toxic, so this time my doctor said I only had to be on it for 12 hours. Hallelujah! Unfortunately, when 12 hours came my blood pressure was still high so my doctor said I had to be on it the full 24. Booo!

Because Magnesium relaxes my muscles I had to be on strict bed rest while I was on it. That, mixed with my blood pressure still being high meant my nurses wouldn't let me go down to see Shelby... not even in a wheelchair! It was upsetting, but since I was in and out of sleep all day it wasn't too big of a deal. I was more upset that I had asked the NCU to bring up some pictures of Shelby and it was around midnight before I got any.

By 7pm I was taken off of Magnesium and the next morning I was finally off of bed rest. Seriously, longest two weeks of my life! I was so glad to be up and walking again. As soon as Nick got to the hospital we went down and saw Shelby. We didn't get to hold her, but it felt so good to finally get to see her and touch her. We didn't stay for very long because neither one of us had eaten breakfast and Nick had to leave for school soon.

After breakfast I took a much needed shower and was told to take the bandage off where they did my c-section. I wasn't expecting to see staples across the front of me so that freaked me out a little! With Shasta there was just tape. It was also creepy to think there wouldn't be a bandage protecting the staples from being snagged on my clothing. I also wasn't expecting them to remove them the day I was discharged from the hospital. The body really is an amazing thing. I had staples for roughly 48 hours and then tape for a week.

I went back down to the NCU once Nick came back and we finally got to hold Shelby!!! First time for both of us! Even though I desperately wanted to hold her, I let Nick hold her first and feed her a bottle because he wasn't going to get to stay for very long and I knew I would have countless opportunities to feed her and he wouldn't. Plus the walk from my room to hers was exhausting and I just wanted to rest a little.

I can't even begin to describe how it feels to hold your baby for the first time after nearly two days of not getting to see her. It's hard for me to even make the connection that I have a baby until that moment when I finally get to hold her. But what truly made it feel real was when I finally got to do skin to skin with her. I had to wait a week before they would let me because she had that line in her belly button and her doctor didn't want to risk it getting pulled out. I completely understood and wanted what was best for Shelby, but once I finally got to do skin to skin with her I cried. There's no greater feeling than a tiny, naked baby (still in a diaper of course) against your bare chest. I did it nearly everyday she was in the NCU after that and even for a while once she came home and from the first day to the last it always made my milk come in! Sorry for the TMI, but that's how much I love it!

The day I was discharged from the hospital was bitter sweet. I was so excited to finally be out of there after 8 days and be home with Nick and Shasta, but it was SO hard to leave without a baby. To comfort me, people have said things like, "if you think about it, she shouldn't even be born so it's okay that she's not in your home with you", but believe me, it's not the same. If she wasn't born she would be with me 24/7. I would know she was okay and that I was her soul provider. Her being in the hospital meant that she was away from me and other people were caring for her. It's two very different things.

Being home wasn't very easy either because I still wasn't allowed to lift Shasta since I had a c-section and I wasn't allowed to drive. Nick had to work that evening so someone from the ward came and helped me with Shasta. Mostly all I needed help with was putting her to bed, but I had someone with me from the moment she woke up from her nap until she went to bed for the night just in case anything happened and she needed to be picked up.

My parents came the next day and stayed with me for 10 days. I was SO grateful for all of their help. Shasta had separation anxiety so I wouldn't go see Shelby until after she went to bed for the night and occasionally during her nap. It was so nice that I could be with Shelby late at night and have someone at the house with Shasta. Plus it allowed me to spend some much needed quality time with Shasta during the day. Once my parents left I couldn't do that anymore and it was hard because after Shasta went to bed I felt like I was wasting precious time that could be spent at the hospital. And it was hard for me to go see her before Nick went to work and leave knowing I wouldn't be coming back for the rest of the day.

As far as this recovery goes, it's been night and day compared to Shasta's. I would even go as far as saying I'm fully recovered as of now. I feel completely human again and would be capable of doing anything I could do before I had surgery. With Shasta I couldn't say the same. I had sharp, shooting pains where my incision was for probably 6 months after having her, and I was numb across the front of me for close to a year. This time around I didn't have either of those things. The worst pain I had was going from a sitting to standing position. I would get shooting pains that would go away after a few seconds and then I would be fine. And my scar looks pretty amazing this time too. My first scar was really ugly and puffy. This time it's a flat, thin line. I'd post a picture, but it's probably more of me than anyone wants to see!

I'm so glad all of that stress is behind us. No more bed rest, baby's born, the semester ended, Shelby's home, Nick graduated, and we're almost done with being on house arrest. All that's left is for Shelby to figure out how to nurse and life would be good!