The Seventh of December

Although Lola's appearance in this world was a lot less dramatic than her older brother's, it still should be documented. On Monday, twenty four hours before my scheduled cesarean, John and I walked to the hospital. Before we even left our apartment complex, I got this huge blurry floating thing in my field of vision It was probably just caused by stress or my upcoming "labor" but then I was thinking, "Oh my God, what the heck is this? Am I going to have a stroke? What were we thinking having another baby."

At the time, I thought my anxiety with the pregnancy was over. I was going to check into the hospital, no worrying about contacting the hospital in Japanese, no worries about dealing with going into labor in the middle of the night, no worries of my water breaking as I got my last haircut, and no worries of another premature baby. As I was completing the paperwork for my admission, I was really struggling to fill out the paperwork and sign the documents, I was nervous and couldn't see very well. But, I made it through and a few minutes later, a nurse came down to escort us to my room. Soon after, the blurry blob disappeared.

We unpacked and I got settled in. Nurses, my doctor, and the anesthesiologist came in and out to explain the procedures and get more signatures. I was started on an antibiotic drip and was told to relax. I had dinner and wondered if I'd ever fall asleep that night.

Before I fell asleep, I wrote Maximo a letter. I had planned to do this weeks ago, but never got around to it. I felt it necessary to write him a letter just in case something happened to me during the delivery. With all the talk of excessive bleeding and just being an all-around worry wart, it was something I had to do. I wanted him to have something personal from me. Unfortunately, I had no nice stationary or any paper at all, so I had to rip out a page of the Dinosaur Train coloring book that I had gotten him as a surprise to entertain him on one of his visits. Well, I sobbed and sobbed through it, hoping that none of the nurses were going to stop by while I was writing it. And really hoping that he'd never have to read it.

I did actually sleep better than I had expected. The next morning went surprisingly quickly too. I couldn't eat or drink ANYTHING, so I brushed my teeth about four million times before surgery. Midday, John came by and by 1:45, I was being wheeled into the operating room. The anesthesiologist first gave me my spinal block, which was uneventful. It was actually good because I could still move my toes a little (I hate the feeling of being paralyzed from the "bits"-down, as it happened with my cerclage surgery and my c-section with Maximo).

Everything was being prepped, the sheets pulled up, the lights put in place, then I heard a bit of a commotion on the other side of the sheet. Now, I don't know if this is a benefit or not, but I cannot understand anything that is going on in between the nurses and doctors because they are all speaking in Japanese. The anesthesiologist then says, "Well, your water just broke naturally." So December 7th was the day it was going to be, regardless of my scheduled c-section. Lola was ready!

Before the doctor could start on my c-section, she needed to remove the stitches placed in my cervix during my cerclage surgery this past summer. It took her almost a half hour. Then, when that was all done, she told me it was time for delivery! The whole time, I was trying to watch what I could in the reflections of the big surgery lamps, although it was a bit distorted. About ten minutes later, at 2:52 pm, Lola was born. When she came out, she gave a hearty cry and the midwives and pediatrician cleaned her up and checked her out. She scored 9/9 on her apgar, which was great, but made me think, Hmmm, I have no idea what Maximo scored. Really, it's probably better I didn't know.

After about ten minutes, they brought her to me to see. Is it horrible to say it wasn't love at first sight? She looked part monkey - part old women and I was struggling to find any Lemley-Wood resemblance at all. I gave her a kiss, then they took her to the nursery where John got to meet her and pose for some pictures with her. It took the doctor about a half hour to close me back up and I was back in my room by 4:00 pm.

I immediately asked for the baby and they brought her to me. She latched on well and was soon asleep. That first day, Lola slept almost 24-hours straight. I think I fed her twice. I was a bit concerned, but the midwife assured me that they can actually survive for almost three days with the stores from the womb.

It was a rough three days for me, on top of not being able to shower, I had spinal headaches, contractions, not to mention the pain that comes with being cut in half. By Friday, I was feeling a bit more human although slow and achy.

In Japan, c-section births require a 7-day stay and regular births are 5-day stays. It was nice not being rushed out of there, but I may have gone crazy if I had to stay any longer, although my *3* dinners from the Sheraton made the time a bit more tolerable.

So, Monday, John brought Lola and I home. Max has a cold and is adjusting - some minutes are better than others. She's eating-pooping-sleeping like a good baby should and is going 3-4 hour stents at night (which took Maximo about 6 months!).

Here's a few pictures of our newest addition: