My Delivery Story (Part 3): Needles And Antsy Leggings

Hello there...
This is the third part of my delivery story. Hope you enjoy it!

I sat on the wheel chair bare-footed and was wheeled out of my room towards the Operating Theater (OT). On the way a few nurses in scrubs joined me and they asked me who was I choosing to witness the birth of my princess. I told them that I chose Boo. One of the nurses went back to my room to inform him. The doors to the OT opened and it felt as if I stepped into another world.

There seemed to be a lot of green everywhere *most probably because everyone was wearing green colored scrubs and the covers were in the same green color* Everyone in the room was rushing around, their voices muffled by their face mask. "Everyone looked the same," I remember thinking. Kind of like alien ants from outer space, scuttling around. *Yes, trust me to let my imagination run away with me, even a few minutes before going into surgery* I was brought to the operating table and asked to sit on it. It was sooooo narrow.. It felt as if it barely just fit me.

It was then time to be given my Epidural for the C-Sect. I was asked to bend over a pillow while the anesthetist probed my backbone to find the right place to insert the needle. It took him 3 tries in my case. The first time was because when he probed my backbone, I really felt as if the 'plates' or 'disks' of my backbone was going to 'separate' and break and so I straightened my back in protest *2 days later my mum told me that I had a black/blue bruise on my back*. Needless to say I was scolded. One of the nurses told me to hold my bent down position and held me so that I wouldn't move.

Seconds later I felt the prick of a small needle going through my back. I was saying every prayer that I know from the Al-Fatihah to the one that I made up that very second. When I felt like the needle was already taken out, I thought that it was safe to straighten up. WRONG! Turned out that the Epidural procedure was still not completed. Yes, I was scolded again. The anesthetist said,"Ini jarum sangat halus! Kalau kamu gerak, jarum tu boleh patah! Satu hal lagi nanti".

The nurse also reprimanded me, only gentler. The anesthetist probed my back again but not as long as the first time, muttering the whole while. I felt another, bigger needle go into my backbone and when that 2nd needle was removed, I was asked to count to 10. This time I stayed bent over even thought I had counted way past 10 just to be sure that I don't commit the same mistake trice. *Then again, I don't think that it would have taken 3 tries if only they had taken the time to explain to me the procedure of getting an Epidural and what to expect in advance instead of being lead blindly like that*

The anesthetist asked me to lie down. The arm rest on both sides were raised and my arms were put on them. On my left index finger they put some kind of monitoring clamp and my right arm was strapped to a BP monitor. The operating table was lowered in a slanted position with my upper body being lower that my bottom half. I felt panic starting to creep up to me. I itched to ask the anesthetist,"Are you ABSOLUTELY SURE that the Epidural is going to work? What if it doesn't? What if Dr. Ramesh starts cutting me and then I feel something?"

Before I could worry myself into a fit, he said that I should start to feeling my legs becoming heavy. I paused my worrying thoughts and felt my legs starting to tingle. An L-shape rod was raised above my head and my hospital gown was pulled up and over the rod, acting as a cover so that I won't be able to see the surgery as it goes on. Dr Ramesh came in and greeted me. He told me not to worry and that I would be walked through the surgery.. The bright 'focus' lights were adjusted in a position for Dr. Ramesh to see better *a position that unfortunately blinded me throughout the whole surgery* 

By this time I felt as if I was wearing a pair of leggings full of crawling ants. It wasn't painful but it wasn't comfortable either. I was then attached to a catheter so that I would not need to get up and go to the loo to pee for a few hours after surgery. Boo came in then and sat on my right side, near to my head. Seeing his face, I started to cry..

To be continued..

Love,
Phoebe..