The obgyn, Dr. Peterson, scheduled the turning procedure for Saturday, August 20th, at 8 am, so we had a somewhat firm date for when baby would be here. If the procedure was successful, I'd be induced and likely have the baby the 20th or 21st. If it wasn't successful, I was already going to be in the OR, with an epidural, and baby was full term, so Dr. Peterson would just do the c section right then and there. I did not like knowing the date - it kind of stressed me out! I slept great my whole pregnancy up until when we knew the date because I started feeling really anxious.
When we checked in at the hospital that morning, they immediately got me hooked up to monitors, signing consents and answering medical history questions. I got an iv and they started fluids before the epidural. The epidural wasn't bad at all. I felt some of what the anesthesiologist called "zingers" down my tailbone, but it didn't hurt at all and it felt so cool when he pushed the medicine in haha. My legs also felt really cool, like I was floating on a cloud.
They rolled me into the OR at about 9. It felt weird to be getting rolled into the OR when baby and I were perfectly healthy. The turning procedure was quite unpleasant. I was very grateful for the epidural! Dr. Peterson did not hold back, she dug right in and pushed HARD. I got really light headed cuz she was kind of pushing up into my lungs so the anesthesiologist gave me oxygen. They tried turning him one way and he wasn't budging, so they took a break and checked his heart rate and he was doing fine. They tried turning him the other way and he wouldn't budge and his heart rate dropped to 70. They rolled me on my side and his heart rate recovered perfectly. Dr. Peterson asked us if we wanted her to try again. She said he wasn't budging, but she could try again, but he did go into distress and there's no way of knowing why. Greg and I felt like there wasn't a good enough chance that he would turn for us to run the risk of trying again. That was a hard decision to make cuz I knew what I was really deciding was whether or not I was going to have a c section right then and there.
We said not to try again, and it was go time. Tons more people came into the OR and they moved me to the operating table. I started getting really emotional, not because I was disappointed in the outcome, but because I knew we were moments away from meeting our little one.
The c section was also rather unpleasant. You're numb but you can feel things moving around. I felt when they pushed down on my tummy to push him out of the incision. He cried immediately and they let Greg peek over to see if he was a boy or a girl. He was a beautiful, perfect baby boy. They wiped him down and immediately brought him to my chest, where he stopped crying immediately. That was an amazing feeling!
It took them about 20-30 min to finish sewing me back up. I just remember wanting it to be over. At one point I got really nauseous. They took Lewis away to weigh and measure and I started dry heaving. The anesthesiologist gave me some medicine that helped a lot. He told me the reason I was feeling sick is that they took my uterus outside of my body to see it back up and now they were putting it back in. Yikes!
As a side note, my anesthesiologist was incredible. He honestly made the experience for me. He stood by my head the whole time, spoke calmly and reassuringly to me, patted my shoulder and head, and responded to my every need. I was so incredible grateful for him, and I was glad I got to see him later in the day so I could thank him for everything he did for me. I cannot imagine what it would have been like without him, I think I would have felt a lot more panicked and sick.
Once I was feeling better and Lewis was weighed and measured, they gave him back to me and wheeled us back to our room. It was over! He was here! I had a c section! So crazy to process.
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