Little Lermas!: Aubrey Lynn's Birthday!

***Warning: Super long post with a TON of pictures!***

For months and months, I had been planning on and dreaming of having a natural VBAC. I say "dreaming of" lightly because I am well aware that labor is painful, exhausting and difficult. But, I was determined to do it naturally as both my mom and sister did, and do whatever I could to avoid a repeat c-section. I read several books, researched it online, watched YouTube natural birth videos (some of which I wish I could un-watch!), hired a doula, and talked to as many people I knew who had done natural deliveries as I could. I walked a ton, took my evening primrose oil, did birthing ball exercises, and followed along with birthing meditations. As prepared as one can be for an experience like that, not having gone through it before, I was!

And then came the news that we would have to have a c-section, again. As I stated before, I was extremely disappointed, and certainly not looking forward to the month of recovery ahead.

But while it wasn't the delivery that I had been planning on or preparing for, Aubrey's birth was without complication and as much drama as last time so it made for an overall better experience.

She was healthy from the get-go, not quite as small as Bella when she was born (although Isabella was born 1.5 weeks earlier), and we were able to take her home from the hospital with us which was our primary prayer.

But before I get into taking her home, let's go over her birthday!

We headed to Northside Forsyth Hospital in Cumming, GA at 4:10 am, for a 4:30 am arrival. Wow, was that early! We filled out the paperwork and were checked in, and then brought back to the pre-op area by a nurse (BTW, why do we even fill out all that pre-registration paperwork, b/c the admitting paperwork is identical!?!)
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I got in the gown, laid on the stretcher (no bed in this hospital, because the pre-op area wasn't a room, it was more like a holding area), was hooked up to fetal monitors, and given my IV. Aubrey looked great the entire time that she was being monitored.

And this is what Jonny does when he's waiting : )

Our C-Section start time was supposed to be 6:30 am, but the doctor was running late. Actually, she thought that I had cancelled the c-section because of miscommunication between her and the on-call midwife over the weekend. I had called and asked to get a second opinion on whether a section was absolutely necessary on Monday, and while I expressed that I did not want to have it, and would rather monitor her daily or every other day and see if I went into labor on my own over the next week, with the recommendation of 1 other physician and 2 midwives, I agreed to keep the c-section date as is. Anyways, somehow the OB thought I cancelled, hence her still being at home when they called at 6:30 to figure out where she was!

Either way, I had an epidural placed in the pre-op area (which was different than last time b/c they did a spinal block in the OR), and then felt like I couldn't stay awake or think clearly.


SO not a flattering picture I know, but this goes to show you what a weak sauce I am when it comes to narcotics. One dose of fentanyl through my epidural and I was toast!

Once my OB, Dr Long arrived, it was go-time! I was still feeling super groggy and out of it, but they wheeled me into the OR, got me set up on the table and before I knew it, Aubrey Lynn was crying!!

**We had the BEST anesthesiologist ever! She was so great in taking care of me, and then offered to take pictures for Jon so he could just "enjoy watching his baby being born!"

She came out screaming and feisty...just as I suspected based on her activity in my belly!

She was born at 7:38 am, weighing 5 lb 13 oz, 19.5 in long.

Her APGARS were 8 and 9, and the nurses took her to the warming bed to check her out. Unfortunately they didn't allow for skin to skin in the OR like I did with Bella, but the time that it took for them to close me up and wheel us both over to post-op area felt like 45 seconds. In reality it was probably 30 minutes, but it just flew by!

I felt like death in Bella's c-section. This time I was just extremely tired and couldn't keep my eyes open! They did have to put oxygen on me about halfway through b/c my sats were dipping, but probably b/c I was so sedated and not taking great breaths.

Once I was all closed up, we were wheeled into the Post-Op area where we would spend the next 2 hours. I was able to breastfeed within 1 hour of Aubrey being born, and she latched on right away! That girl came out ready to eat!

She was given her bath and Vitamin K (we declined the erythromycin eye gtts), and we did skin to skin for the remainder of our time there to keep her warm (she had a slight bit of temperature instability once we were out of the OR).