Life is good, that's all I can say. As far as the birth, everything went as well as it could for Carley. She was born on Friday, May 31st at 1:23pm, weighing 8.2 lbs and 20 3/4 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful, with the same dark hair her brother had, but even more of it! We'll see if it changes to blonde like Logan's did ;)
As far as Chiari goes, I'm doing pretty well. I can tell that my arms, shoulders, and neck are working harder and trying to adjust to consistently bearing more weight because I'm pretty sore everyday, especially at the back of my head and upper neck (surgery area). Sometimes it comes with a headache, but not always and for the most part ibuprofen is doing the job.
I wanted to share what happened with the anesthesiologist, starting when we first met him in the holding room. It was obvious when he came to introduce himself that he hadn't read my chart or prepared for my procedure at all. He assumed it was a typical c-section and approached it as such. I was the one who had to tell him that I wasn't having a spinal and would be under general anesthesia. He was shocked and immediately went to find my doctor. When he returned he basically tried scaring me out of the decision, which wasn't made by me in the first place, but my neuro team in Durham and supported by my OB. He told me I would be intubated and how that would affect me afterwards, which I was very aware of from my decompression surgery, he also kept calling my condition 'blood Chiari', what the heck is that?! It was obvious that like so many physicians out there, he had no clue what Chiari even was.
He was a complete jerk in the holding area and it continued in the OR. Patients are typically put under anesthesia within the first few minutes of entering the OR, then put into place for surgery, etc. I wasn't able to be put under until my doctor was literally standing over me with scalpel in hand and ready to cut because she only had a short time to get Carley out before the anesthesia would reach her. That alone was stressful enough, I didn't need an anesthesiologist arguing with my doctor during all of it. He refused to even come near me from across the room until we were 100% ready. My doctor even told him 30 seconds out and he refused, asking, "Are you 100% ready?" She said we would be in 30 seconds and his response was, "Well then call me when that is." If his nurse wasn't as great as she was, I may have had to ask for someone else. He literally was awful and nearly ruined the experience altogether.
Thank goodness for my doctor and all of the amazing nurses who made the experience what it was. Waking up feeling everything in recovery, not being numb from the waist down, was awful, but once the pain from the incision and the double dose of Pitocin was under control, it was tolerable. We had to wait a few hours to hold our baby girl, but she was safe and healthy and that's all that mattered.
It's hard to believe that this part of the journey has come to an end. From my diagnosis, to the unexpected pregnancy, surgery, and delivery...wow. In the end we have two healthy children we would do anything for, and we can't ask for anything more than that.
Thanks so much to everyone who has been there for us, come to visit, brought food and gifts for the kids, etc.; we truly have amazing friends!! I'll update once again after my appointment with my neurosurgeon next month...XO :)
One day old :)
4 days old :)
Newborn pictures with big brother, Logan, 8 days old :)
Mastered the 'froggy' pose like a pro ;)
