Slice and dice

Until this week, the closest thing to surgery I had experienced was having my wisdom tooth out (I only had one wisdom tooth).

The bittersweet decision was made months ago to have my tubes tied in the hospital after Amber was born, so we had it all lined up with Dr. Weaver. At 2pm on November 5th, Jeff and Rose came to keep Amber company while I went under the knife. Dr. Weaver explained the procedure [small 1.5 inch cut under the belly button, then cut, tie, and cauterize the tubes], and the anesthesiologist explained about the spinal morphine and the "semi-conscious sedation." I felt calm all the way until I was in this bright blue refrigerated room right before the procedure. Then I realized how REAL surgery is and how much I did not like the idea of being cut open. I didn't have second thoughts about what I wanted to be done, just about the process of getting it done, if that makes any sense. Thankfully I don't remember a whole lot after that point of anxiety because of the semi-conscious sedation. The one thing I do remember is that they had music playing the whole time--it seemed rather festive for an operating room. The back of my semi-conscious mind was amused. 

I slept off and on for the whole procedure and it actually felt kind of good to be completely numb and have a nap after all the rigors of childbirth. After it was over, Dr. Weaver told us about a small...hiccup that happened when he was almost done with the surgery. Normally there is little to no bleeding in this procedure because it's such a tiny cut and all that, and he always waits for bleeding to stop before he puts things back in their place (shudder). When he let go of one part (I don't know the names of everything) an artery started bleeding, and he had to go back in, find the artery, and stitch it up. The operation took twice as long as it was supposed to! 3 hours instead of 1.5. Amber MISSED me during all that time. Because of the extra stitching, my right side is MUCH more sore than the left side and the incision under my belly button is twice as long as normal. Whew. I hope that's not too graphic or too vague. Bottom line: I'm WAY more sore than I should be. But I'm also safe! No more deathly deadly dangerous pregnancies for me! 

That calls for a brief photographic interlude:

 

It took forever for the spinal to wear off—I was so numb! It felt weird not to feel much. But when it wore off, believe me, I felt plenty. How come people who’ve had surgery always sound so nonchalant about it? It HURTS! A LOT! My stomach felt like someone had kicked it over and over. I’m so glad I never had to have a c-section. I couldn’t even lift my legs into bed it hurt so much. I had to take care of Amber all night from my bed, slightly propped up. Every time she needed a diaper change, I had to call a nurse to do it. It made me feel like the laziest person on the planet, but I really couldn’t move! It was awkward and hard to feed Amber when I couldn’t even roll to my side. BUT I survived and after lunch on the next day (Thursday) it was time to go home.

Jeff had taken my shoes (those nasty fluid-filled crocs) home to wash out for me, and he forgot to bring me other shoes. So I just wore socks and rode in a wheelchair out of the hospital. The nice nurse pushing me walked at a brisk pace across the sidewalk, and every bump jarred my stitched up stomach so much that when we got to the curb, I decided to walk in my socks across the parking lot to the car to spare myself further jostling. I made Jeff go like 1 mile per hour over all the train tracks on the drive home, and it took me forever to climb the stairs. I laughed at how different it felt to climb the stairs slowly because of pain vs. nausea. As unpleasant as pain is, I’ll take it over the nausea any day!

The one side effect of the pain that bugged me was my appetite was practically nonexistent. I starved for 9 months and couldn’t even enjoy food once it was over. Thankfully as the pain slowly receded, my appetite filled the void and now I can eat just fine. FOOD! YUM!!

I’m not healed up yet, but it’s getting better gradually. I have one more day’s worth of Vicodin and then we’ll see how things really feel without that strong medicine! And now for more Amber:

All ready to go home. She didn’t cry the whole way. Just at first.

All snuggled up in her very own soft flannel birdy blanket that I made her. Those rough hospital blankets rubbed her face raw. Now that she has softer blankets, her face is much better.

 

Jay is an old pro already. He loves her so much! Jay had Jeff give Amber a tour of each room in the house when she first came home because “then she won’t be worried or scared.”

I could look at her all day.

So I do.