Things got busy all of a sudden. I got really excited when my OB came in the room, all ready for the c-section. I knew then that things were about to get underway. I was helped out of the bed for the “journey” through the doors and into the operating room. I don’t remember the walk, and am a little concerned that my “showy” hospital gown might have given people a peep show. I’d like to think not, but i honestly don’t even remember. The OR was the same one as with Jackson. Heck, as far as I know, that might be the only OR they have on that floor period. I walked over to the table and used the little stool to hop up onto it.

It was then time for the spinal. I was a little surprised, as if I expected some sort of “foreplay” or something before diving into the heavy stuff. Well, and also because I was a little nervous of the spinal. I’d had a quasi epidural before, but I was in hard and heavy labor and who the heck CARED. But I was going in pain-free and wouldn’t have labor to distract me. Dr. Kang was fantastic though, and he’d gone over all the procedure for getting a spinal with me, and repeated the process as he was doing it so I was at least well informed, if nothing else. I felt the “bee sting” of the local anesthetic. Then my legs started to feel warm. I pointed out that my left leg felt a little warmer than my right and Dr. Kang adjusted something. Then, they laid me back on the table. None too soon too, as I was already starting to feel the tinglyness crawling up my legs. Weird!

As the doctors and nurses prepped me for surgery, they discussed “Pirates of the Carribean”, which had just come out. There was much discussion about Orlando Bloom and how hot he was. Dr. Kang was the only guy in the room at the moment, and made a wisecrack about him being “dreamy”. Hehe! While this was going on, they were putting up my drape and giving me the betadyne rub-down. The my OB tested my spinal, much to my surprise, since I didn’t know until Dr. Kang asked if I felt any of that. Any of what? “Good,” he said. “She was pinching you pretty hard.” Yow! They made the first incision, completely painless. I don’t think I felt a thing at that point. Then Kile was ushered in. I remember looking back and being concerned about him seeing over the drape, since he had said he didn’t want to see anything. He has since told me that whatever he did or didn’t see didn’t bother him but the smell of the cauterized incision did a wee bit. I didn’t notice, of course, because I had some tubes up my nose. I guess I should be thankful.

After that, things went pretty quickly. Kile held my hand and I felt the strangest of sensations. All that I’d read on c-sections hadn’t even prepared me for how strange it felt. But it didn’t hurt, not one bit. It was almost a tickling feeling, high up in my chest. And I did feel the “breathless” feeling that Dr. Kang had warned me about, so I concentrated on just breathing deeply through it and I was fine.

And then? My OB said, “Here he is!” Kile surprised me by standing up to look. I heard a cry, the most awesome sound in the entire world. It was high pitched, a little squeaky, and utterly adorable. I’m not generally a weepy sort of person. I don’t often cry at things that most people do. But I definitely got teary in that moment and I felt enormous relief. And I had a smile permanently glued to my face. He was here, and he was safe. They held him up over the curtain so I got a glimpse of him. I was surprised how “clean” he was. Not your typical bloody newborn here! The nurses had barely to mention that Kile could accompany the baby to the warmer with them before he was gone from my side without a backwards glance. :lol

He stood over there snapping pictures like a regular paparazzo while I laid on the table, getting stiched back up again, and listening to my son’s cries. Kile did yet another thing he had said he wouldn’t do; cut the cord. Looking back, it was a good thing he did. Very theraputic for him to triumph over the very organ which had stolen our other baby from us. So I’m very glad he did it. And so is he. Overall, he thinks the c-section was “cool” and very interesting. And Liam’s APGAR scores were the stuff parents dream of. 9 right off the bat, and the nurses almost called the second one 10, before settling on 9. Truly, very good for a 37 weeker who wasn’t even 5 pounds! Kile grabbed some video from those early moments that you can see here.

Finally, he brought Liam over to me, so I could see him better and touch his little face. Sure, it would have been wonderful to hold him, but Kile was holding him and as happy as I was to see this baby here with us safe and sound, seeing Kile hold him and seeing his joy was unspeakably wonderful as well. I could tell behind his surgical mask that he was as happy as I’d ever seen him. So seeing my baby, and seeing my husband… that was the most awesome thing in the world. I could relive that moment for the rest of my life.

After that, things were pretty much by the book. Kile took the baby back to the nursery to watch and moon over, and then took my parents and Harry down to the nursery to look through the window at the little fella. Meanwhile, I was shuttled over to Room 203 a mere 30 minutes after being taken into the OR to recover. My nose was EXTREMELY itchy, but Joy cautioned me not to itch it. She gave me a cool, wet washcloth to pat at it with while the anesthesia wore off. I cooled my heels in recovery for quite a while, received a few visitors and basked in my enormous relief while waiting for my postpartum room to be ready. Thankfully, Kile brought me the camera so I could see all the pictures and video clips that he’d taken. Where was that wonderful gadget when Harry was born??

So that’s the story of Liam’s arrival into the world. Less than two weeks ago, but already I couldn’t picture my life without him. He is TRULY a blessing to us.