Sargent Crew: September 2008

Tuesday morning I woke up feeling really sick. I was so exhausted I could barely move and I was throwing up. We really needed to go to the store so I forced myself to get up and go. While we were shopping I had to stop several times cause I felt so dizzy. I took my blood pressure at the machine in the pharmacy and it was fine, 120/70 so I figured I had just caught a bug.
While we were checking out we were talking to our cashier. Suddenly almost my entire vision went black. I didn't feel faint or anything and was able to carry on the conversation with our cashier, I just couldn't see anything. When we got to the car I told Andy there was something wrong. He got worried of course and told me to call my doctor. I did and left a message. We then went home and I laid down on the couch to rest. While I was laying there I started to feel better and my vision came almost all the way back.
My doctor's nurse called and I told her I was starting to feel better the more I rested. I told her what my blood pressure read had been and that I thought it was just because I was sick. She wanted me to come in and get checked anyway, but she didn't seem too worried.
So around 2pm Andy, Talan, and I went into my doctor's office. Just walking into the office I started seeing spots and felt dizzy again. When the nurse checked my blood pressure it was 146/82. She laughed when I told her I had checked myself using a grocery store machine and it had been a lot lower. She said "those things never work right".
As soon as my doctor looked at my chart he said "well it looks like we're having a baby today". I of course started to cry, I was excited but scared and also really unprepared. We had Talan with us, my house was a little messy and I STILL hadn't packed my bags. At first they were going to schedule the c-section for 5 pm... then they found out I had eaten two tiny tiny tiny bites of an enchilada so they pushed it all the way back to 9 pm. I was sent over to labor and delivery to sit and do NOTHING, they didn't even have nurses checking on me or anything. I was just supposed to sit and wait. Andy in the meantime rushed home to pack up and wait for him mom to come pick up Talan. Around 5:30 the anesthesiologist came in to meet me. He asked when I had last eaten and when I told him he said "well if you promise not to throw up on me we can do the c-section at 7, we really don't have to wait all the way till 9". Of course I said yes... but then I freaked out cause Andy was still waiting for him mom and it was now rush hour traffic. We live 30 minutes away from the hospital in normal traffic... in rush hour it would take hours. I made them promise that if Andy wasn't there they would wait and they said of course.
Andy was finally able to leave our house a little after 6. I was freaking out thinking there was no way he would make it. But by some miracle he was there by 6:40 (he can drive really really fast when he wants to!). The anesthesiologist asked me if I had ever had a reaction to anesthesia. I told him how when I had my c-section for Talan I went absolutely crazy and was yelling, screaming and crying so much that the nurse had to hold me down and yell at me to calm down. He looked at me strangely for a second then said "ok... well if you start to freak out let me know... I've got drugs." About 2 minutes after he gave me the spinal I felt myself starting to freak out again. I said "k guys I'm freaking out"... and then I lost it. I felt like I was going to pass out and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't calm myself down. I was crying and I kept apologizing. Thankfully the drugs the anesthesiologist gave me worked pretty quickly and I returned to normal!!
This c-section was SOOOOO much different than the emergency one I had with Talan. With Talan everyone was super serious and rushed and I was crying the whole time. This time everyone in the room was joking around, they had music playing and it was a fun and excited atmosphere. It really helped keep me calm. As soon as the doctor started to pull Cohen out he said "oh boy this is a big baby!" They started to take bets on how big he was and my doc just kept saying "nope, he's bigger". He was sure he was at least a 10 pound baby!!!
Cohen was born on August 26th at 7:22 PM, he was 8lbs 10oz and 20 inches long... and that is with being almost 2 weeks early. I don't even want to think about how big he would have been if I had gone full term!!
His blood sugar and oxygen levels were a little low when he was born so they took him to the nursery. They brought him over to me before they took him so I could at least rub his cheek and give him a kiss. But it was so so hard watching my baby leave without me!!!!!! He was in the nursery about 2 hours and then they finally brought him in for me to meet. It was the LONGEST two hours of my life!! Heather and Andy kept running to the nursery to take pictures and then bringing them back for me to see. LOL My recovery has been so much easier this time as well. The morning after the c-section I was able to get up and walk around on my own. My doctor did tell me that I was on the borderline for needing a blood transfusion thanks to my iron levels being so low. So I'm still a little weak and pale, but I'm taking iron pills to help get over that. But Cohen is perfect! He is beautiful and sweet and we love him!!!