Tyla - Birth Story

We left for the hospital at 6am – I had been awake since 3.45am staring at the ceiling, and I had only gone to bed at 1am – I just could not sleep. We got there at 6.30 and I was prepped and then there we sat waiting for the doc and the anesthetist to arrive. They were late of course, and I finally got wheeled into theatre at about 8.30am. The anesthetist was telling me not to be nervous and I said no of course not, what is there to be nervous about, and he proceeds to give me a list of exactly why I should be nervous, Idiot!!! He tells me that sometimes he has to try 2 o 3 times before the spinal block will take, so I was shaking like a leaf by the time he gave me the local in my spine. Luckily as soon as he put the block in, my one leg kicked out and it had taken.

They brought Mathew in and started the procedure and at 8.48am I heard my gynae say :Goodness Colleen, where does she get this hair from? Apparently, the first thing he saw when he cut me open was this head of yellow hair. Then I heard the pediatrician also commenting about the blonde, and then Mathew commenting, and all I could think was, oh get over you, so she is blonde, what’s the big deal. Then they brought her to show me, and I gasped and said “Good grief, look at that hair!!”

They cleaned her up, did her Apgar and put her on my chest for a bit, but then the doctor asked the nurse to take her and Mathew out. The nurse led them out and I was left on my own on my side of the sheet for a while. The anesthetist then gave me something to calm me down as baby was out, but it made me feel horrible and I was sorry that I had agreed to it. I got dizzy and was battling to breathe. I then realized that the two doctors were pushing and grunting and shoving at me and I had no idea at that stage that they were battling to get my insides back in. The next day the gynae told me that he did the sterilization but then could not get my womb back in as it was huge. He says that he checked for Fibroids which is the most common cause of a bulky womb but could find none. They then proceeded to tilt the bed so that my feet were elevated above my body and the anesthetist was holding onto my shoulders so that I wouldn’t slide off the bed. I honestly felt everything, no pain, but I felt all the pushing and shoving while they worked on me. Finally, I heard the doctor say that they were done and I heard him busy with the staple gun and asking the nurse to put a pressure bandage on me. I mentioned to him that I am allergic to elastoplast, but he said that he had no choice, there was too much bleeding.

They wheeled me into recovery and I was so sore, not from the c-section , but more up towards my chest, it felt like I had been punched repeatedly. I remember when Aaron was born, asking them to hurry up in recovery, and this time I dreaded going back to the room, I didn’t want to face the day, I was just so sore. They wheeled me back and Mathew, my mom , Daigan and of course Tyla were waiting in my room. They left me lying flattish which wasn’t pleasant as I wanted to hold Tyla, but in that position I could only really hold her on my chest. Later on I asked the nurses to lift me a bit, but when they took hold of my arms to lift the bed, I nearly hit the roof so I cancelled that order.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. I was so full of pain killers that I really do not remember much of the day. I had contractions all day, it was like I was in labour and I can only think that this must have been from the sterilization, as I did not have this after Aaron’s birth at all. I started feeling better later on in the afternoon, except that I was battling to breath lying on my back, I could not get my breath. I asked the sisters when I could get up and they said only the next morning. Well I was onto the phone with my gynae immediately, I could not face lying down for another 12 hours, no way!!! – He phoned them and told them that they could get me up at 6pm and then my friend Tanya arrived and took Tyla and the nurses removed my catheter and drip and Mathew and one of the nurses helped me up and got me to the bathroom. There the nurse washed and dressed me and I immediately felt more human – I felt better sitting up and was able to breathe better.

Later that night at about 11pm, I started getting a really bad pain in my right shoulder, gosh, it was horrible – like a wind, and my breathing deteriorated again because every time I tried to take a breath it was like someone was punching me in my stomach and sticking a knife in my shoulder. I sat in the chair the whole night, watching the clock – it must have been the longest night of my life. The next morning when the doc came to see me I just burst into tears, and those sobs hurt me more than I can say. He got a physician to see me immediately and blood tests showed that I had lost too much blood , one point away from a blood transfusion and that coupled with the morphine was probably causing my breathing problems. They removed the morphine pump and about an hour later I felt some relief. I then got a physio to work on my shoulder and he nebulised me as well and from then on I was well on the way to recovery. I had a brilliant nights sleep and the next morning I felt like a different person.

So now, I have to see the doctor in six weeks time for a check up and to assess my womb. He is quite baffled by the fact that it was so large. He mentioned having to cut to get it back in, but I forgot to ask him what he actually cut at. He said that apart from Fibroids there is another condition that causes a large womb like that, and if I have that condition I will probably need a hysterectomy – but……… we’ll cross that bridge when the time comes, I don’t want to think about it now.