Labour After Thoughts

- I insisted on stitches not staples. The doctor who was supposed to do my c-section was off call that weekend, and she is one of the few doctors who does sutures, not staples. When I asked Dr.M. to do stitches, he seemed annoyed and asked me why I wanted them and I just kept saying that I heard they were better. His response was, "well, I'll give it a try, I guess." Really, it's not like you staple on the inside, how big of a deal is it??


- My recovery has been amazing. I was walking around 6 hours after my surgery and the next morning insisted that my IV and catheter be removed so I could shower and wear normal clothes. I'm sure a part of this is not having staples. I feel so good. I have to be reminded by Chris to take it easy.

- The toughest part of my recovery was last week and the back pain I experienced. The doctor thinks that a big part of my back pain was how hard I was making Chris press for counter-pressure, and he even checked for bruising. :) It felt good at the time. A lot of the pain though was from having back labour for so stinkin' long.

- Every time I saw Dr. M. after the surgery I teased him about the stitches, telling him that I was going to spread the word that he did them for me and he was going to have ladies lining up for him to do their surgery. The nurses were surprised that he agreed because apparently he can be pretty cranky. I didn't find him cranky, just awkward. The first time he checked on me, he awkwardly rubbed my knee and the second time he kept rubbing my elbow. Maybe in "Bedside Manner Class" he was told that physical contact with patients is a good thing? I don't know, but it made for some odd moments.


- When Gavin was finally born, Dr. K., the anesthesiologist, announced, and this is a direct quote, "It has balls!" I remember saying something about his eloquent announcement, but he just laughed and said, "well, he does!"


- Both the midwives that I had seen my entire pregnancy and the doctor who I had been consulting with were off call the weekend I delivered. I was disappointed, but at the same time, I had an amazing midwife and a great doctor, so it all worked out in the end. I did feel bad for the midwife because we hadn't met until I was in labour, so I feel like she might not have gotten the best impression of me, what with all my groaning and telling her to stop talking, and getting angry at the contractions. At least my midwives that I had been seeing knew me a little and had seen my personality when I wasn't in pain.


- As much as I had been dreading staying at the hospital again, this time really was much more enjoyable. Many of the nurses knew and remembered me from my first c-section and then my appendectomy and came to say hi. Don't get me wrong - the food was still horrible and the rubber mattress on the bed hadn't changed, but I didn't dread every minute that I was in there.


- Why does the hospital insist on having someone come into your room at 5:30 every morning to fill your ice water?? Are patients parched at this particular time? It would wake me up every time no matter how hard they tried to be quiet.

- The same goes for lab work. The lab tech would cheerfully come into my room at 7 a.m. every morning, turning on the lights and opening the blinds to come and take her vials of blood. I don't get it. Are we not supposed to sleep past 7? Was the closed door and dark room not enough of an indication that I was indeed sleeping?

- Ooh and let's not forget the dreaded breakfast that arrives at 8. Cold, soggy, unbuttered toast (served with marmalade - who eats marmalade??), and unsalted porridge. Mmm... sign me up. Yuck.

I think that's it for now. Hopefully now I can move on to other exciting topics for my blog, rather than pregnancy, labour and hospital stays.