Introducing.... Our Bundle of Joy!

Keira Ann Long was born in August 24, 2009 at 9:10 am! I know, it was almost two weeks ago and I'm just now getting to blogging about it and I've been soooo excited to! She came as quite a surprise, 16 days early. I was just reading my last post, and I should've known she was about to come, or maybe I did? I won't go into details, but at about 4:30 am my water broke. I was in shock and disbelief but super excited. Chris was at work and only had two and a half hours of his shift left. He calmly and lovingly told me to call the doctor. I did and she said I should get to the hospital. I was hoping to wait a few hours so I could pack and get things ready and wait for Chris to finish his shift. But she said that since Keira was breech, the cord could be wrapped around her neck. Then I was scared! Chris was home and we were out of the door within an hour. It just didn't seem real. And for some reason, even though I KNEW my water had broke, I was doubting if it was even real.

I started to have contractions on the way to the hospital. Or maybe now that Chris was with me I was relaxed enough to feel them. I also could feel her moving which was very reassuring. We got to the hospital and seemed to wait for a long time. The doctor had freaked me out and they were taking their time hooking me up to the contraction monitor and doing the pH test to see if indeed my water had broken. They also said they'd do one last Ultrasound to make sure she was still breech and everything was okay. But that didn't happen for a couple of hours. Our doctor who had been on call that night was just leaving as we were walking in. She had to take her kid to their first day of kindergarten. So another doctor would be coming in, but nobody knew when and when the C section would start. So we just hung out, trying to update our family and some friends.

After a couple hours of just hanging out, everything happened all at once. All of a sudden they got things going, an IV, testing, and lots more. The nurse anesthetist came in and talked to me about the epidural. And then I freaked out. For some reason, even though Keira had been breech for months, I never actually believed I'd have to have the C section, so I hadn't researched it and prepared myself for it and the epidural and medications. She told me that she'd be giving the epidural with the numbing medicine and then a couple of narcotics to help with the pain. What? I was not prepared for that! I was going to go through labor without any pain meds. So after probably a little frustration from the staff and me realizing that it was a much better choice than general anesthesia if the epidural didn't work or drugging the baby with narcotics during and after the procedure, I decided to go ahead with it. But I was now trembling and on the verge of crying.

They quickly took me into the OR to do the epidural and Chris couldn't come which I was very upset about. He stood in the hallway to video tape until they yelled at him and told him he couldn't. Once they were finished he was allowed back in. And then it was almost a blur. I could feel tingling rushing up my legs and I was starting to lose sensation. And then I couldn't move them and I was so upset and scared. And I'm a nurse, I should've known this would happen. I guess I'm not a very good patient. I was fighting the urge to cry as I kept trying to move my legs and couldn't. I'm so glad Chris was there to comfort me and smile and tell me to quit trying to move them. I definitely have more empathy for my patients now. I can't imagine what a terrible thing it must be to become a quad or paraplegic.

In about 15 minutes we were about to meet our baby girl. It was so funny, Chris had been watching most of it over the curtain and all of the sudden he sat down. Wasn't he missing the most exciting part??!! My PARAMEDIC for over 14 years husband was feeling lightheaded and almost fainted as they were trying to get the head out. I guess her head was kind of stuck and Chris thought they were going to break her little neck trying to twist her out. LOL! :o)

The Long Family

Often with C sections the mom kind of gets screwed. They take away baby and dad to do a bath and other things while mom recovers alone. But we were lucky! Keira didn't leave OUR sight once! They did everything right with us! I was sooo happy! Once they moved me to the recovery room and I moved to the bed, I started feeling nauseous and vomiting. For the next several hours I vomited with position changes. I was slightly miserable. One of the medications they gave me was making my face itchy and they insisted that I wear a nasal cannula although my oxygen saturation was 99-100%. I hated the tingling I felt in my legs and hated that I still couldn't move them. I did not like having a blood pressure cuff and pulsox on as well as the leg compression devices. Okay, I wasn't a very good patient, although I didn't complain or try to take them off. I now realize what my patients are going through. Luckily I had the cutest and sweetest thing I have ever seen to help keep my mind off of things.

By about 5:30 pm I was no longer nauseous and could move my legs again. We had several visitors including my brother and sister and some of my closest friends. At the end of the day I think Chris was more exhausted than I was. It was funny because someone was going to give us one of those little baby beds to place in our bed, and he had said no way, she would not be sleeping with us. And look what happened her very first night! She had already softened his heart. We are soooooo in love!!!!!