At pretty much every ultrasound since you could make out actual baby features Elara had been breech. Her head had been permanently lodged in my rib cage, which means she was also sitting on my bladder for much of the pregnancy! We elected to attempt an external cephalic version to try and get her flipped over into a head down position. We went into the hospital at 8am on July 19th, and after a shot of terbutaline to relax the uterus, I gritted my teeth and the doctor tried to coax Elara out of her comfy spot in my ribs. It was ridiculously uncomfortable, and it was just about all I could do to remember to keep breathing. Paul held my hand, my mom told me I was doing great, and Elara held her ground. The doctor could get her to move from one side of my ribs to the other, but just couldn't get her bum disengaged from my pelvis.
This left us with one option, a c-section. We just didn't know when that c-section would be, depending on my lab results, the doctor could take us down to surgery right then, or we could be looking at waiting another week. My 9 weeks of bed rest for pre-eclampsia had managed to keep my blood pressure and protein levels down to only borderline high levels, and the OBs are always very cautious about taking a baby out before 39 weeks (we were at 38+1 weeks). My doctor came back in, and let us know my newest pre-e symptom had popped up, and since liver enzymes were starting to climb, we were going to have a baby.
We snuck in a last minute belly shot, and Paul suited up to join me in the operating room. (Thanks to my mom for taking the great shot of him in his scrubs!) I think waiting for the OR to be set up was one of the longest waits of my life. I had to get a dose of antibiotics, and then they put in the catheter--possibly my least favorite part of the pre-op! They finally gave us the go-ahead, and I walked down to the operating room.
I climbed up onto the operating table, and the anesthesiologist had to make 2 attempts at getting my spinal in before it finally worked. I numbed up quickly, and they blocked my view of the action with a big blue sheet. After a few minutes of poking and prodding to make sure I was ready, they brought Paul into the room. I was surprised by how much tugging and pulling I could feel. Nothing hurt, but there was definitely pressure and movement. After a few minutes, they told Paul to look over the blue sheet, because they were ready to pull her out. You can see in the pictures above (if you know what you're looking at), she came out bum first! You can even see her little hand coming out!
E took a big gulp of amniotic fluid on her way out, and the NICU nurse, who also happened to be married to Paul's boss, had to work on her for quite awhile. They had to suction out some fluid, and put her on a little bit of oxygen until her stats came up. I was able to see what was happening, and spent the whole time trying not to bawl. I just couldn't believe she was finally here. I wanted to cut the cord with Zachary, but it was Paul's turn with our little girl. They weighed and measured her, and then they finally brought her over to me for a closer look. It wasn't exactly the birth we had hoped for, but I was so happy to finally meet her, that I couldn't have cared less!
Elara Lily Corriveau
7 pounds 2 ounces (exactly the same weight as her big brother!)
18 inches
July 19th 2012, 12:49 pm
Welcome to the world Elara, this is just the beginning!!
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