Servant To A King

I checked into the hospital at 2pm three years ago today.  One week before my due date (2/9), I was about to deliver via c-section what my doctor had predicted to be a very large little boy. (Is that an oxymoron?)

Nervous, excited, scared to death and relieved were just a handful of the emotions I was feeling.  Nervous about the surgery, excited about the baby, scared to death about being a good parent and relieved I wasn’t going to be uncomfortably huge anymore. 

But because I was a scheduled c-section I got pushed back as more and more emergency c-sections were done ahead of me. 

As I sat there, I remember most vividly the fact that I had to go to the bathroom so bad.  I think it’s a nervous habit of mine.  If I think there is a possibility that I will not be able to go, I have to go even more.  So after several trips to the bathroom my nurse finally instructed me to get undressed.  She began to “prep” me for what would become the next phase of my life.  Motherhood.

Dressed in my fashionable “open in the rear” gown, I walked into the delivery room and propped myself up on the table.  By this time I had to pee so bad that my eyeballs were floating.  But my kind nurse (someone my husband knew from the gym) reminded me that I was about to be catheterized.  Hoping she would move the process along she mentioned that I may want to have my spinal first.  Good idea. 

I’ll never know, but I bet once they stuck that tube into my bladder I filled at least a whole bag. 

I remember feeling so alone sitting on that table.  My husband wasn’t allowed into the room until after I’d gotten the spinal.  There were noises all around me, people working to get things set up.  But I got the feeling I was just “the next surgery”. 

It was probably 20 minutes or so before my husband was allowed into the room.  There I was strapped to the table.  He took his place next tome – the big blue drape hanging in front of us.  I could see the excitement in his eyes.

I reminded the anesthesiologist that I typically needed a lot of “stuff” because I tend to still feel pain.  Basically, I think I’m just a wimp.  (And to think, I had planned on a natural childbirth up until this point).

Once the action began, I felt the expected tugging and pushing.  What I didn’t feel was any pain.  In a matter of minutes, the anesthesiologist asked my husband if he wanted to stand up and see his baby born.  At which point I felt strange again. 

 Everyone could see what was happening but me. 

My husband said that it was crazy.  There was one doctor (the largest of them all) practically sitting on my chest pushing down and the others reaching in and pulling for the baby.

And then it happened.  In an instant.  I heard the most beautiful sound in the world. 

Crying. 

Today, as we get ready to celebrate Birthday #3, I look back on that day with as much joy as ever.  It’s hard to believe it’s gone by this fast.

BTW…My little groundhog did see his shadow.  I guess winter is sticking around.  As long as there are cupcakes and pizza at his party tonight, I don’t think he cares if winter stays for good.