I got to shower and that was the time the anesthesiologist-a Dr Tachy decided to come in to sign consent forms. I rushed my shower but he missed me so he came in later.
My nurse Alice came in to shave my pubes. I had already shaved it earlier but she shaved the areas I had missed
Getting cleaned up before the surgery
My nail polish being removed. I was also asked when to remove any contact lenses if I were wearing one-which I wasn't
My cocktail before the surgery, it was cooling and made me itch a bit (left ear arms)
I was wheeled into the operating room at about 2.50pm. It was cold and everyone was in scrubs and face mask so I couldn't see anyone's faces really. The nurses were kind and jovial. There were probably about 8 of them in the room. My husband followed me all the way to the main entrance and wasn't allowed in the operating theatre so he waited patiently for me outside. My back up blood supply took time to reach Al Ahli from Hamad hospital. So I was made to wait for another 15 minutes in the cold room. A nurse was making note of the tools to be used in the room
When my blood supply did reach the hospital the anesthesiologist got down to business. I was made to sit up on the table while he wiped my back and inserted a catheter up my spine. It hurt a bit and my right knee jerked. I wasn't suppose to move so much and I did try my best not to but I couldn't help my reflexes! Then he started to administer anesthesia ( I heard him say 5cc) and I could feel something cold running up my left hand where my IV was hooked up. Within 30 seconds I could feel numbness crawling up to my legs. I tried to wiggle my toes and they wiggled a bit. My legs started to feel heavy but somehow I managed to lie down on the narrow bed and (rather quickly, I was told to lie down slowly-but there was simply no place to rest my hand to lie down, the bed was THAT narrow)
Someone put up a blue paper screen clipped to two posts on both my sides and two arm rests were pulled out for me to splay my arms. I asked someone if they could lower the screen so I could see what is going on but of course no one listened to me they probably thought I was crazy.
As my lower body got numb, someone inserted a Foley catheter. I didn't feel a thing- I was numbed. Someone tried to put oxygen mask on me but it moved and blocked my breathing so I asked to remove it.
I didn't even see the doctor coming in, no one introduced themselves-it was business as usual. She was in scrubs; not her usual attire of high heels and saree. She got down to business. A Pfannenstiel incision was made. The anesthesiologist kept me updated of the progress and said the baby will be out in 10 mins. A nurse asked me about the missing Malaysian flights. And the next thing I knew the doctor was holding my baby in her arms-him covered in white substance and looking surprised. I think the doctor tried to be funny like hey he's out but it didn't look like she was enjoying it.
Someone took him away to vacuum him and inspect him. All I could hear was his cries. I felt teary myself. I think the anesthesiologist wiped my tear and said he's alright for his age, his weight is fine. I wanted to see my baby! He was cleaned up and brought to me. I asked the nurse if she could bring him closer to me so I could kiss him. I kissed him twice and asked her to bring him to my husband so he could see him. Again it was the anesthesiologist who delivered the good news to him and he came back saying your husband had 100 questions for me!
Since my baby was born before 37 weeks, the state law requires the baby to be kept in the hospital for observation before I could see him. A nurse told me my husband had opted for the NICU observation over the normal nursery observation (with other babies) so I said OK
I was stitched back up and I could hear my doctor humming to herself while closing me up. She was very good at her job I will tell you that. I went in at 3 pm and came out at 4.25 pm!
I was cleaned up by the nurses after the doctors were done. A single drop of drop had spattered to the blue screen. I was wheeled out of the room to another part of the delivery room where a nurse sat to write down the baby's & my details to be passed to the nurses on duty. I was given something to contract my uterus and it made me shiver like hell. I was wheeled back to my room where my husband awaited me and I regaled to him the story in the operating theatre. I wanted to talk to my mom so he took the phone and dialed my mom's number.
My husband could go in to see him and he came back with videos and images to show me how the baby looked like. All the IV tubes made me teary again so I told him not to send me those videos. I'd rather look at the pictures
That night I was given more antibiotics and some type of morphines which made me heaty I had to ask the nurse to reduce the room temperature twice. I was given to wear granny pads-no undies because the Foley catheter was still up my bladder. I was slowly gaining feeling of my legs but could not move much I felt numb at some places. I asked one of the nurse who came in at night with my medicine dosage if she could show me my urine bag and thank god the urine color was light yellow. She joked my urine is clearer than hers!
I wanted my husband to spend the night at the hospital with me but he was tired running around for his work, and our insurance and Hamad Card so we decided it's better anyways for him to just spend the night at home. He went to our local pub which we go all the time and spend 3 pints watching the baby videos over and over
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