CamFamLand: Happy Birthday Riley!!!

The nurses came in around 7:30 to begin getting Keri prepped. The anesthesiologist came in shortly after and explained the procedure Keri would be having. Keri had a "spinal" rather than an epidural. An epidural has a line that remains in place for medicine to be delivered to the spine. A spinal is a one time shot that numbs from the chest down for a couple of hours. There's no line that remains in place. I got into my scrubs and tried to steady my nerves before going into the OR. I did a lot of praying that night and day and knew my Grandad, Dad and Nana were with us. I won't get into my spiritual beliefs I will just say that I believe that our loved ones that have passed on are always with us and especially when we need them most. I know they were watching over us that day. Keri walked into the OR around 8:05 am and the anesthesiologist got started. They sat Keri on table which was about waist high. They put her feet on a rolling chair in front of her and had her arch her back while giving a pillow a bear hug. The nurse standing in front of Keri said something like "and how are you doing Dad?" I said I was fine and she said "no, I mean what do you want to see." I said that I wanted to get Keri through the spinal and then I'd rather not see anything else until Riley was all cleaned up (I'm really squeemish). I wanted to be in the room for Keri. I don't share the believe that witnessing the actual birth of your child or cutting the umbilical cord makes you any better of a parent. I'm sure there are a lot of deadbeat dads out there that cut umbilical cords or witnessed their wives poo during delivery. No thank you for me ;) After I told the nurse I didn't want to see much she pointed to a chair off to my left and said "go and sit there." I said, "no thank you. I'll get my wife through this part." She said, "I've seen dads faint in the spot your standing in right now and I'm not going to catch you. Go and sit over there." To which I replied "I'm not going to faint. I'm fine. If I do faint just let me fall. It will be my fault. I'm a big guy and I'll fall hard but it would be my own fault." She replied "I've had two surgeries on my shoulders from trying to catch a guy that fainted and I'm not going to do that again for you. GO AND SIT IN THAT CHAIR." My fuse got a bit shorter and I was adament this time. I knew Keri needed me. "Look, I'm not going to sit in that chair. My wife needs me. If I faint, let me fall. After we're done I'll follow all instructions but I am not sitting in that chair." That settled that and I helped Keri though the spinal. It actually wasn't bad at all. She hardly flinched. She was laid down on the operating table and everyone got to work prepping her for the procedure. The room was filled with the anesthesiologist, two doctors and five or six nurses. Keri was spread eagle on the table and all the nurses stood at the foot of the table having small talk with occasional glances at Keri's privacy. It's all so nonchalant it took me a bit off guard. They lathered the iodine on Keri's belly and put in a catheter. She didn't feel a thing. The Doctor that performed the c-section was Dr. Bray who came on duty at 8:00 am. Dr. Carder assisted. Dr. Bray was late so we got started around 8:20 am. The anesthesiologist asked Keri if she was ok and her two replies were "I feel fine. I feel so skinny" because she couldn't feel anything below her arms and "I feel like a bug on a windshield" because she was on the table in the crucifix position. They put up a "tent" in front of Keri that is supposed to block the view but it's only about 12 inches high. I could see right over it unless I ducked behind it. I spent a lot of time ducking down and looking at my shoes so I didn't see too much of the surgery. Dr. Bray looked over the tent and said to Keri "Did you feel that?" and she replied "no". Dr. Bray said "Good, because I just pinched you really hard with something really sharp and you didn't feel a thing." They got to work like they were technicians at Jiffy Lube and Keri was a Honda Civic. They really dive it let me tell ya! The worst part for me was the smell as they cut into Keri's abdomen. They don't use a scalpel. They use an instrument called electrocauterization which cuts using electricity. It cauterizes as it cuts and you literally smell the flesh burning. Not pleasant. It only took them about 15 minutes to get Riley out. I couldn't help but look on a couple of occassions but thankfully I didn't see much. Just lots of red. The anesthesiologist said "here she comes if you want to look" to which I replied "not really" but I did anyway. The first thing I saw was her full head of dark hair and then her purple little hands and feet. I told Keri she had a long head of hair. Keri was most curious about how much Riley weighed. They whisked her off to clean her up and she let out a good cry. Keri overheard someone say "she's a 9" which is a really good sign. They were talking about the APGAR score which assesses the health of a newborn immediately after birth by grading the heart rate, reflex irritability, muscle tone, and breathing on a scale of 1-10. I walked over to check her out and snap a few pictures. Then they took her to the scale to get her weight. It showed 8.04 lbs. I wonder what her lucky number will be? Dr. Dickey estimated that she would be a 9+ lb baby so Keri was glad that she wasn't too big. It took another 15-20 minutes to get Keri all buttoned up during which time I was going back and forth between Keri and the baby. They swaddled Riley and handed her to me and I walked out of the OR behind Keri on her hospital bed. I really can't believe how well Keri did and I am so proud of her. She laid on that table so relaxed that you would think she was sun bathing at the beach. I'm also pretty proud of myself if I may say so. I was dreading going into that OR but at the end of the day I'm so glad I did. Enjoy the pictures: