Wednesday, December 8, 2010

Briley Dawn Smith

The Morning of August 19th came so much quicker than we could have anticipated. We got the kids up and dressed and got them over to Auntie Cheryl's house to spend the day. (What a terrific Aunt we have!) Then we were off to the Lethbridge hospital!



You'd think that when they Schedule a C-section that you would know when you are having your baby...Well, as we found out the hard way, that is not always the case. We were set with the day (August 19th) and told to come in for 10:00a.m. My doctor told me that he didn't have any ER time scheduled, but that they would squeeze us in if anything opened up throughout the day. I had heard of other ladies having this happen to them and they were in fairly quickly, unfortunately that wasn't the case with us. We had arrived on time and as soon as we got there they got us all gowned up and preped with IV's started and waiting to go at a moments notice. I had to start fasting at midnight the night before and so when noon rolled around and they still hadn't gotten us in I was starting to feel a little on the queezy side. One of the nurses mentioned that she thought they might get us in around 4:00p.m. 4 PM!!! Do they know I hadn't put anything in my mouth since midnight!?!





I tried to sleep it off a bit while Nathan snuck down to the cafeteria to get lunch. I asked him what he had when he got back, but he refused to tell me just saying it was awful cafeteria food, and that I should be glad I didn't have to eat. (What a sweetie, eh?) We were lucky enough to have another couple waiting with us. The Barfuss' from Raymond. We actually knew her brother as he lives in Cardston. This seemed to help pass the time as we had someone to talk to. The guys provided entertainment as they started to experiment with things they found around the room, trying not to get caught by the nurses that occasionally poked their heads in to check on us.



Well, the hours continued to tick on by and my stomach was more than making it's pain known to me. Finally at 8:30p.m. we got word that they were going to come and get us any minute for surgery, and I was the lucky one that got to go first! Yippee! So they wheeled me down to the O.R. and got me moved to the operating table.








Then was the most dreaded part of the whole thing for me...the Spinal. The nurses helped me breath through the pain of the needle going in and within just a few minutes I was down on the table and couldn't feel anything from my neck down....Except the nausia. We told the anethesiologist that when my blood pressure drops that I start to throw up. He kindly nodded and said he would keep an eye on things. It wasn't until Nathan was holding a puke bin and I had lost what was never in my stomach to begin with, that he finally believed that I was telling the truth. He raised my blood pressure and I only had one more puking incident throughout the surgery.

We decided that we didn't want to find out at the ultra sounds whether it was a boy or a girl, so we were anxiously waiting to get word. Finally at 9:15p.m. I heard a little cry and the words "It's a girl!". I don't know whether it was the drugs I was on or just my utmost excitement, but I had a hard time stopping the tears from cascading down my face. After getting to have her wrapped up close to my face for a few minutes they wisked her away to get her bathed and I was left to my memories as they finished sewing me up.

On my way to the recovery room I was able to give my best wishes to the Barfuss' and then saw their little boy being brought out past me after he was born. It seemed like a lot of waiting, but 2 beautiful babies entered the world that night and both were worth the wait!


When I got back to the room I got to visit with Mom and Dad Smith and Uncle Stuart, as I waited for our little 7.6 pound, 21 inch long miracle to be brought in. We were glad she had finally made it here. In the beginning of my pregnancy we had 4 threatened miscarriages and by 4 months we had already had 5 ultrasounds. We were so excited that her birth was fairly uneventful!


We named her Briley Dawn Smith(Dawn after her great grandpa Donald Earl MacPherson). She has been adored by her siblings and such a sweet addition to our home!



3 comments:

Naomi said...

Oh Gen, she is soooo beautiful! Can't wait to meet her. Can't believe they made you go that long without food. Actually, I can. When I was at the hospital waiting for surgery to get my gall bladder removed, Ethan was 1 month old, they kept pushing my surgery back for other emergencies and was told to still not eat. Eventually, I wasn't producing enough milk for Ethan and I was starving and it was a mess! Glad all went fairly well though. We miss you guys!

Anonymous said...

Congrats, that is AWESOME! I had both my girls with C-section (feel your pain) She is adorable!

Shaneen said...

Gen - you're amazing! If I had to go that long without food I would DIE! I'm so sorry that you had to go through all of that. Briley is gorgeous and I can't wait to meet her. Love you guys!!!