The MilFam Diaries: Chronicles of a New(ish) MilSpouse Pt. 3

Continued from last week…

I didn’t realize how invasive a C-section is until I was getting ready to have one. The way people talk about it, a C-section seemed like no big deal. So, I thought mine would be the same. Boy, my expectations were way off.

Things I remember in flashbacks:

• The coldness of the table
• Shaking a lot
• Talking about that show “Sister Wives” with my doctor (Yes, she is the best.)
• Throwing up
• My husband trying to calm me down
• The pain I felt in my shoulders and arms from being strapped down
• Hearing the doctor say, “Pass the knife.”
• Knowing they were cutting me open (I could feel what they were doing, but the epidural prevented me feeling it in the normal way.)
• My husband bringing the baby over to me while they closed me up
• Thinking he was going to drop her
• Really, really, really wanting to hold her

The rest is fuzzy. I developed an infection and had a fever of 104.2 degrees. I was in and out of consciousness.

The nurses put baby Sophia on my chest, and I tried to nurse her. She was a champ — here I was barely awake, and she was wiggling her brand-new body around trying to eat.

I also remember how scared my own mother was in the delivery room. She later told me that she was processing in her mind what would happen if I didn’t make it. That was never an option for me. I wasn’t scared. I just knew my body would figure it out — and it did (with the help of triple antibiotics).

To be continued next Tuesday.