Oliver’s Birth Story

 

Oliver Bryon Myers was born November 8th at 12:49 pm via C-section. He came in at a whopping 8 lbs  15 oz and 21 inches long. I was a scheduled C-Section. We arrived at the hospital just before 10 am.  We were taken to our room around 1015.  I changed into a gown and a monitor was placed on my belly.  My husband took some pictures of me and the belly. We met the anesthesiologist shortly before noon and my doctor came in around 12:15.

I was taken into the OR where I received a spinal block, was prepped and my doctors  were brought in. A curtain was put up, just over my chest and my husband was let into the room. There was 80s music in the background and lots of friendly chatter. My doctor stated at some point there would be pressure and boy was there. I felt some pretty crazy pressure in my shoulders as they tugged to get Oliver out. They tugged and tugged and eventually had to make a bigger incision. The conversation stopped completely, when my doctor exclaimed that the umbilical cord was wrapped around Oliver’s neck, twice. We all braced for the first cry which happened just seconds later. My husband went over to the bassinet to meet our son for the first time. As he was over there they began to stitch me up.

 

I could feel absolutely nothing and the conversation was light again. Until I started to feel nauseous. I turned my head and gagged a couple of times. After that my husband brought Oliver over to meet me. I was stunned how pink his skin was and how light his hair was. His cheeks were the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen. My nurse snapped a couple of pictures of the 3 of us. Then my husband was escorted out with our baby and I was stitched up.

At this point it was explained to me that my uterus was over expanded and they were trying to get the bleeding to stop. My doctor said he placed some pills in there to stop the bleeding. It was explained to me that because of my size vs the size of my baby I was at a higher risk for hemorrhaging, but that just meant they would watch me close in recovery.

Once I was all stitched up, I was cleaned up. Placed back on my hospital bed and returned to my room. There waiting for me was my husband, Oliver and my in-laws. Oliver was immediately placed on my chest and it was the most amazing moment ever.Which lasted exactly 5 minutes.

My nurse came in to check my pads and I had bled through 3 (diaper sized) pads, and two bed pads. She stayed completely calm, but informed me when I asked her, that there was some hemorrhaging. I knew at that moment I had to focus on me. My husband and in-laws had Oliver so I began to make efforts to calm myself. I focused on our amazing moment in the OR and staying awake. My nurse only left my side briefly. I went through 3 bags of  Pitocin and was still bleeding through pads. A giant shot was brought and put in my leg. Which was thankfully still fully numb. My nurse was constantly pressing on my uterus and  gushes of blood would come out. Another giant shot was placed in my other leg. After what felt like eternity, the last option was brought to the table. A medicine that would surely stop the bleeding, but had insane side effects. My nurse called my doctor and he reassured her to let my body handle it. Not too long after that, the blood clots stopped and I was moved to postpartum after 6 hours in recovery.

During this entire time in recovery, we learned Oliver was tongue-tied and could not latch to my breast. I was devastated, but agreed he was to be given a bottle of formula. He also had low blood sugar and needed to eat asap. I cried, but remembered, fed is best. And looking back, I was in no condition to breastfeed anyways.

In postpartum, I was checked every 15 minutes, and was still not completely out of the woods, but better. Lucky for me we didn’t have very many visitors and I was able to rest. My nurse in post partum was just as amazing as in L&D. Apologizing every time she had to push on my belly. (Because it hurt like no other) We sent Oliver to the nursery that night, because I was utterly exhausted. I got out of bed for the first time at midnight and it was intense. I walked just around my bed and back.

 

My Cath was removed the next morning and trips to the bathroom were like marathons, but eventually, I was doing it on my own. We continued to work with oliver on his latch, but had no luck. He even had a hard time latching to the bottle. I was pumping to help my milk come in faster. I did skin to skin all the time and finally got to enjoy the bliss of my newborn son. People were in and out throughout the day. My doctor, Oliver’s doctor, nurses, hearing screening people. It was a revolving door. We held off most visitors as I was still recovering from the day before. Mostly my husband and I just hung out with our perfect son.

Day three was a big day for Oliver. He was circumcised and his tongue was clipped. Every time he would come back, he’d complain to my husband about what had just happened. It was the cutest thing!! I worked with him to latch most of the day and he would get it, then get frustrated. So another bottle would be fed. I never fed him the bottle, but continued to pump. He passed all of his test including, blood sugar, jaundice, hearing, congenital heart disease, all of them!!!

We went home Saturday morning.