The Birth of Katrina

My special day started on 1/11/07 at 4:30 a.m. I went to sleep the previous night for maybe 3 hours. I was so nervous about the next day. My husband was up all night and was really scared of being a dad. We then got ready and he drove me to UMC. I walked to the Labor and delivery unit where they were expecting me.

I was told that we were going to have a scheduled Cesarean section due to the fact that I was seven days overdue and had gestational diabetes. I had only dilated to 2 centimeters and was 100 percent effaced. They told me to show up at the hospital two hours prior to the surgery, which was scheduled to be done at 7:30 a.m.

I showed up and they allowed me to change and inserted the IV. They then came in and advised me how things were going to proceed.

The attending nurse then came in and made me drink the most awful salty stuff that was to prevent me from getting nauseated during the procedure.

They shaved me, inserted the catheter and went over some of the events that were to follow. The anesthesiologist came in and introduced herself and went over with me how the spinal was going to go. She was awesome. 7:30 rolled around and still no doctor was there. I started getting butterflies in my tummy and wanted to see my daughter. 8 a.m. rolled by, 8:30 rolled by and the doctor finally showed up. I was told he had another emergency C-section to do at another local hospital.

Now that everyone was there and I was prepped, the day started.

I was allowed to walk to the operating room. I then sat on the operating table as the anesthesiologist prepped me for the spinal block. I was at this point sitting half naked in a room full of strangers. It was an embarrassing moment for me. A nurse came to my front side and had me hunch my back so they could do it right. It didn't hurt and I handled it better than I thought I would. The feeling of it was just a little pinch; and I feel that I was one of the more lucky ones. I have heard horror stories of the spinal going completely wrong.

I then felt my legs become very heavy and I couldn't move. That's when a nurse came around and helped me get my legs up before I lost all control of them. The nurse then draped the curtain over me and I was smiling and chatting up a storm with the anesthesiologist while she monitored my vitals. Once I was all on board they then tied my arms down which was not very comfortable. I felt very nauseated all of a sudden and I told them that. They put oxygen on me and that helped until I felt the sudden urge to throw up. That is one of the hardest things to do, throwing up while lying down.

The doctors were doing their thing and things were going very smoothly.

I felt a bunch of tugging and pulling. The doctor then told me that there was going to be a lot of pressure and all of sudden someone was pushing really hard on my tummy. All I heard was, "Here she comes. Here she comes." Then, dead silence. That's when things got a little nervous for me. Finally I heard Katrina May cry her head off.

Everyone in the room was laughing and happy. I was so happy. There are no words to describe the feeling of hearing your baby for the first time.

The doctor then brought her around after being cleaned and weighed. She was so beautiful. She opened her little eyes and looked so tired after a tough journey. The doctor yelled that she was 9 pounds, 10 ounces and was 21 ½ inches long. She had a full head of black hair and beautiful blue eyes.

The doctors took her to the nursery and wheeled me to the recovery room. I was there for two very long hours. I wanted to see my daughter. After about 30 mins they brought her to me. I was so drugged though that I was having a tough time trying to breastfeed her. They then took her away and I went to my own private room. They brought her back in periodically throughout the day. That night I was able to feed her and change her diaper.

The next day at 9 in the morning I was told that she was taken to the NICU overnight because she was literally turning blue when she cried really hard. I then started crying. I was asking myself if it was something that I had done. Was it something that could have been prevented? The next four days went by so slowly. They proceeded to do countless procedures. They stuck a tube down her nose to make sure that her esophagus was straight and that there was nothing blocking it. Apparently she had what they call a stryker, where the tube collapsed whenever she tried to take a deep breath.

She was in NICU for the next 4 days. I, however, was recovering very fast for my daughters sake. In order to go and see her, I had to walk from my room on the 7th floor to the NICU which was on the 8th floor. So all the walking that the nurses suggested was definitely done. I had a really bad burning sensation on my skin and felt like my insides were going to fall out.

Whenever I went to the NICU I wanted to cry, my daughter was hooked up to all these tubes and monitors. I know that they were for her own good, but I wanted to take her away from there and run away.

But other than that the people at UMC in Tucson, AZ, were awesome.

I was able to go home with my daughter on the 15th of January. I will never forget that day. It was the best day of my life. Now my husband and I are expecting our son in late April of 2008 and Katrina is healthy and a month away from being one year old.

You can read more about Jessica here.

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