Think and Wonder: 12 Weeks Later

It’s been quite a while since my last post --- over 12 weeks! I had hoped to write this post much sooner, but my days have been quite busy since the arrival of my daughter, Henley Elizabeth Wills. The story of Henley’s arrival picks up right where my last post ended. I finished writing my last post on December 13, 2010 at 7:38 p.m. during the time that I was holding a couple of evening office hours at Queens while Jay gave a final exam. We arrived home quite late that night. Just before we went to bed, Jay helped me with a few of my physical therapy exercises for my hips. He was so tired that night, but I seemed to have more energy than normal. In fact, we joked about how much energy I had and how we wondered if that meant that I would be going into labor soon. I climbed into bed right around 11:00 p.m., and just a few minutes later my water broke. Since my doctors had been monitoring my amniotic fluid level closely and since I also needed an antibiotic (for Group B strep) before delivering my baby, Jay and I knew that we would have to make our way to the hospital even though my contractions had not started. We got dressed, called our OB hotline, grabbed our bags (this time we were ready), and headed to the hospital. We arrived about 10 minutes later (we didn’t speed… the hospital is that close to our house). After checking in, we spent the next hour awaiting confirmation that my water had in fact broken. Then, I officially was admitted.

My hospital room was very nice except for the fact that the bathroom was about 50 degrees. We had problems with the temperature during our entire stay. In fact, the hospitality representative at the hospital visited our room and gave us a gift card to Target because of all the trouble we had with the temperature.

I could post pages of details about everything that happened between the time I was admitted and when I eventually gave birth at 12:25 a.m. on December 15; however, I’m going to try to only include the major points of the delivery.

Except for my first nurse, all of the nurses I had during my stay were terrific. Nurses really do make a huge difference when you’re preparing for and recovering from a rough delivery.
To start my contractions, I was given pitocin. After 24 hours of labor, it was determined that a C-section was necessary since I was not dilating past 6 cm and since Henley periodically showed signs of being under stress.
My least favorite doctor of all that I saw at my OBGYN performed the C-section. Although she’s very nice, she has never been gentle with me, and she wasn’t during the hours that preceded the C-section.
I opted for an epidural early in labor. I always thought that if a C-section were required, the epidural would at least prevent the need for general anesthesia. I was wrong. While in the operating room, the anesthesiologists started preparing me for the operation. As they administered drugs, the doctor would poke my belly to see if I could feel anything. I always could; however, the anesthesiologists were confident that what I was feeling was normal and that I was ready for the operation. They called Jay in to be by my side, and the operation began. I remember holding his hands. The pain was unbearable, and I remember asking if the doctor was pulling my baby out already. I heard someone say something about feeling better in just a minute, and then I saw heads popping in and out in a weird way with a very bright white light. I honestly felt like I was dying. The next thing I remember is waking up in recovery in excruciating pain. I have never moaned the way I did while there. I kept asking what they were doing to manage my pain because it was awful. I also wanted to know where Jay was and if my baby was okay. Someone came in during my recovery to ask if it would be okay to give my daughter some formula (since I was planning to breastfeed), and then the person asked what type of formula I wanted to give her. I had no idea, so I told the person to ask Jay. When I finally returned to the room, I requested that I be able to spend a few minutes with just Jay and my daughter before our parents returned to the room; however, I can recall seeing them in the hall as I was wheeled into my room. There was so much concern on all of their faces. Jay says that the first thing I did after entering the room was request that “that man” be turned off of my TV. For some reason, Glenn Beck was on (our parents like Fox), and I do not like him. After spending a few minutes with Jay and Henley, our parents returned to the room to see me before heading home. They had been at the hospital for many hours and needed rest. Although I was still hooked up to lots of things, I finally held my sweet girl for a few minutes.
Henley was 8 pounds, 1 ounce and 21.5 inches long at birth.

I spent the next few days recovering in the hospital, and Henley and I were finally able to go home on Saturday. Jay was as wonderful as he always is. I think he changed nearly every diaper during our stay. Other family members were very helpful, too. Although I was glad to go home, I knew things were going to be crazy for a while. I still had to grade final exams and report final grades, and the registrar’s office wanted the grades ASAP even though everyone knew about my delivery and recovery. In addition, I had so much swelling that it made sitting in a chair for any length of time very uncomfortable. I was so swollen that I could not wear any of my shoes and pregnancy pants. My mom had to buy me some pajamas so that I would have something to wear. I wore the pajamas and bedroom slippers to Henley’s first checkup and to my first visit with the lactation consultant. After several days, the fluid finally started leaving my body, and I lost 16 pounds in a 3-day period. My legs felt so much better!

Life was quite challenging for the first 5 weeks, but Jay, Henley, and I survived. Henley is doing quite well now, and she is so much fun to be around. Hopefully, I soon will have a chance to write more about the past 12 weeks, but this update will have to do for now. I’m just happy to finally have something written. I have included some pictures below.