Here is the story of how Alana’s life began….
For several weeks prior to Alana’s birth, each weekly ultrasound was showing her being transverse (lying across instead of head down). At my 38 week appointment on Friday, April 9, she was still transverse and we made the decision to go ahead and schedule the c-section for the following Monday. My OB said there was little chance of her turning and getting into position, and at 35 weeks they had estimated her weight at 7 lb, 12 oz, so he didn’t want to wait much longer because even doing a c-section gets harder if the baby is very big. Based on the estimates we were expecting our little girl to be 9-10 pounds. Considering I had been 10 lb 1 1/2 oz, and Dave had been almost 9 lbs, we had pretty much expected her to be big.
Well, that weekend, I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off, trying to get everything ready. I hadn’t packed my bag yet and I wanted to get the house in decent shape so it would be nice when we got home from the hospital. It’s amazing how much energy I had, considering how dead tired I had been in the last couple months. I got pretty much everything I wanted to get done finished, and figured what didn’t get done wasn’t going anywhere.
We needed to be at the hospital at 5:30 a.m. on Monday and the procedure was scheduled for 7 a.m. after all my bloodwork was done and they had pumped me full of IV fluids. Well, we arrived at around 5:15, and were taken into the pre/post op room. The first thing they did turned out to be the worst thing for me. The nurse went to put in the IV. Her first attempt failed and she ended up having to put it in my hand. It hurt so bad I was crying and David was having to hold my other hand. I felt like such a baby, and wondered how I would have ever made it if I had to go through labor. Well, after that ordeal, we just sat and waited for them to come and get me for the c-section. It turned out they had an emergency section with twins come up that pushed my surgery back, so we ended up waiting for a while so they could finish that procedure and get the delivery room ready again. During our wait I remembered that I had forgotten the kit I was supposed to bring so they could collect the cord blood for the PCOS research study(for women with PCOS having female babies) I had opted to participate in, but since we didn’t know how long it would be until they would come and get me, there was no way for David to run home and get it. Besides that I really didn’t want him to leave. The anesthesiologist came in while I was waiting and went over everything about the spinal with me. It turns out he was the same doctor who had come to our childbirth class to talk about epidurals and spinals so I felt a lot more comfortable with him. I had remembered telling David after the class he had come to that it would be nice if he was the one on duty when I went into labor in case I wanted an epidural, so it was nice it turned out the way it did, because he made me feel a lot more comfortable.
Shortly after 8 a.m. they said they were ready and the nurse walked me back to the delivery room, but it ended up not being ready so we walked back to the pre/post op room. David was all dressed in the hospital garb he had to wear and was ready to go . We didn’t have to wait much longer and they brought me back again. The anesthesiologist did the spinal. It really wasn’t bad at all. It was a slight sting when the put in the first numbing medication and a little bit of pressure when he was actually putting in the spinal, but that was it. It is a really weird sensation, knowing your legs are there and not being able to move them at all. I could tell when people were moving or touching me, but felt absolutely no pain. Once they had me on the table and prepped for the c-section they brought David in. The room was very cold and I was shivering from the chest up. From the chest down I was as warm as could be. Throughout the surgery, all I felt was pressure when they went to push her down to get her out. It turns out that she had the umbilical cord wrapped around her shoulder and leg, which is probably the reason she wasnt able to get into position, and Dr. New said that had she gotten head down and I had gone into labor we would have ended up with a c-section anyway because of the cord. So, things turned out the way they should have in the end.
At 8:50 a.m., Alana Marie Alexander was delivered and I heard her cry right away. I was crying too when I realized she had been born and I was hearing my little girl. They took her over to the side of the room to clean her up and weigh her while David looked on and took pictures. Much to our surprise she only weighed 7 pounds, 2 ounces. When you think you are about to have a 9 or 10 pounder and she is this small, it’s a bit of a shock. As soon as they had her cleaned up and swaddled, David brought her to me and I couldn’t believe how perfect she was. I can’t even describe the emotions I felt when I saw her. I just knew I loved this little person more than anything in the world even though it was the first time I had seen her. She is my little miracle.
After about 10 minutes, David went with her when they took her to the nursery for the bath, measurements and everything, while they stitched me up. Once they were done getting me closed up, I was taken into recovery. Shortly after I arrived there, David brought Alana to me, and we were able to have our first breastfeeding session. She did pretty well, so I hoped that we wouldn’t have any feeding difficulties, but that didn’t turn out to be the case. I was in the recovery room for a little over an hour while they waited for me to get feeling back in my legs, and then they took us to our room. My parents were able to visit us in recovery and had been able to view Alana’s first bath and everything when they had taken her to the nursery. I am sorry I had to miss seeing that but David assures me he took a lot of pictures.
They did a really good job of making sure I was never in too much pain and I was able to get up out of bed just to go into the restroom that evening. The next morning they took out the catheter and IV and I was able to get up and around and walk around the floor. The nursing staff seemed pretty amazed that I was up and around so quickly, but I knew that was what I needed to do to make sure I had a quicker recovery.
Alana did a really good job breastfeeding the first day, but that night we started having problems. On Tuesday I saw the lactation consultant who gave me a nipple shield to try and that seemed to help, but we were still unsure of how much she was actually getting since my milk was slow to come in. On Wednesday morning, the pediatrician informed us that Alana had a touch of jaundice and he wanted us to supplement some formula to make sure she was getting enough and to help clear up the jaundice. We were insistent on no bottles so we started using a supplemental nurser with the nipple shield. By Thursday her billirubin numbers still weren’t down as much as they wanted so we had to spend another night in the hospital and she spent all day with the billiblankets on. She looked like a gloworm with those things on and that’s what we called her much of that day. We are still having breastfeeding issues, but are still working hard to try and get it to work, and I am pumping all the time so that most of what she is given is breastmilk and to try and keep my milk supply up.
David was with us at the hospital every day, and only went home for a few hours each night to get some sleep. He was such a great help, taking great care of me and Alana. We went for walks around the mother and baby uniteach day, and on one walk we ran into Colin and Monica, one of the couples from our childbirth class. She was in the hospital on bedrest and so we had someone to go visit each day which really made the time go by a little better.
Also, it turns out they had saved the cord blood in the lab because of something that had been written on my chart and we were able to get the collection kit and they sent it off to Northwestern for the research study. I just hope they are able to find out something with the research that will make it easier on women with PCOS in the future.
For the week after we came home, my mother was able to stay with me during the days while David was at work, which made things a lot easier for me. David took care of all the household stuff and made sure I didn’t have to do anything but take care of feeding our daughter. He has been absolutely wonderful and I am so thankful for him and everything he does for us.
I know I am leaving things out but I think I hit all the high points. I am just glad to be home with my precious little girl and even though things didn’t go exactly the way I had hoped or planned I am so thankful for this blessing in our lives.
-Kellie