This pregnancy went MUCH smoother than my last one :) My weight stayed within reason as did my blood pressure, I was much calmer and paid more attention to what I ate. Brian was a lot calmer too :) I was a lot more confident that I knew what I was doing this time around. My OB was a bit of a disappointment (I had wanted a midwife) and the first few visits I saw a different doctor every time I went, but around 6 months I started seeing the same OB and she was a little curt but listened to my concerns and didn't try to force me into taking meds I wasn't comfortable taking and tests I wasn't comfortable with. I had wanted a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) because, frankly they are much less traumatic to your body than a c-section. However, the only hospital that 'allowed' (thanks to insurance companies and lawyers) VBACs is three hours away from us. I was still willing to give it a try since I had a long labor with my son, but the closer I got to my due date, the more arguments I got into with Brian. His fears were: I would go into labor and he wwould be too freaked out to drive that far, uterine rupture, loss of me or baby. I tried to explain that the risk of complications were actually higher with a c-section, but he wouldn't accept it. In the end I discussed it with my OB and explained that I wasn't comfortable going through with it without the support of my husband and without her full support. She scheduled a c-section for Friday April 1st, my 39th week of pregnancy.
The day of the surgery I arrived at the hospital at 8 am and hung out in triage for about 2 hours, they asked me a buch of questions, got my IV started and checked my vitals. Then they took me to the operating room and put in a combination spinal/epidural, this too way too long and hurt way too much. After they finally got it in right they let Brian come in. They did all sorts of little pinch/poke tests to make sure I was numb. I got kinda giggly for about 20 min into the surgery but I was awake. The anesthesiologist chatted with us through the whole surgery. It seemed like it took a lot longer than the first one and I felt like I had a weight on my chest. I was warned about it beforehand, though, so I remained pretty calm. I remember when then finally got her out Brian got to see her first, then they peeked her head over the curtain for me to see. It was 11:30 am and she was 8 lbs 15 oz and 21 inches long. Brian's first words were 'she's got your eyebrows'. Then it seemed like *forever* before they got me stitched up and put back together. When I finally went back to recovery I was soooo sleepy that I just passed out for about two hours, turns out I'm a bit of a lightwieght on morphine. They actually took me up to my room before I was awake enough to see her. She had so much hair! Her cheeks were really chubby too, and she had a teeny little mouth (this would later prove to be an problem when it came to breastfeeding). I had told the labor and delivery staff that I wanted to breastfeed so they weren't supposed to give any formula or pacifiers but because of her size and because her blood sugar kept dropping she had had two bottles by the time I got to hold her :( I had pretty nice nurse though and she helped me get her latched on and she nursed for hour *!*
The actual Lactation Consultant was kind of snippity, I glad the nurses were there to help me get started, if it had been left up to her I think I might've given up.
Ian visited us the second day, his Grandma brought him in and he offer Jane the toy from his happy meal and then a chicken nugget *!* he very sweetly laid it on her chest, but then I had to explain (still have to) that she was too little for chicken nuggets and happy meal toys. She definately recognized his voice, the moment she heard it she started looking around for him :)
Brian's Aunt Lillian and Uncle Doug and their daughter Angela (friend of mine from way back in high school) visited us and brought some cute little pink gifts *yay* Lillian had some trouble giving the baby back! I suspect the pressure on Angela to reproduce may get a little more intense. *hehe*
They left us finally go home the third day after surgery. We were definately ready! And that's Janie's Birthstory!