On January 30, 2012, I was eating lunch with my sister, Amy Wogksch, when I got the much anticipated call from the hospital letting me know what time I needed to be there the following day. To my surprise they told me 5:15am! My C-section was scheduled for 6:30 am. Zac’s mom was in town for the birth of Ellie and to help us out with Gracie, so she came with us to the Blue Lemon to eat dinner that evening. After dinner we came home and I spent most of the evening getting my bags packed for the hospital. Since it was going to be an early morning, Gracie spent the night at her friend Cole’s house. I only got about three hours of sleep that night because of nerves.
On January 31, 2012, our alarms went off at 4:30 am and we left a half hour later for the American Fork Hospital. I kept saying, “I feel too good to go and have a baby this morning.” With Gracie I was much bigger and more uncomfortable; I labored with her for 23 hours and pushed for three hours. By the time Dr. Watabe suggested I have a C-section I just wanted her out! This experience was so different.
At the hospital I changed into a massive gown, which made me feel like I was in a space suit because it had hoses that hooked into it and blew in warm air. The nurses camein to give me my IV and after two attempts from a nurse-in-training she finally turned it over to another nurse who was able to place the IV on her first try. My hands and back were sweating from the pokes. I felt bad for the nurse-in-training because I knew she felt bad. After I was hooked up to all the monitors and my IV was going I only waited about 15 minutes until they said they were ready for me.
I said goodbye to Zac for a minute and walked into theextremely cold operating room. The anesthesiologist and nurse came with me; my nurse was friend’s mom, which I found comforting. I sat up on the bed and leaned over on a pillow, not looking forward to what was going to happen next. I felt a poke, a sting and then my feet started to tingle.I started to get a lot of anxiety because I don't like thefeeling of being out of control. They laid me back. Zacsoon walked in; I was so happy to see him.
I don’t remember much after that because of my anxiety. I had Zac sit down by my head and hold my hand.I was shaking because of a mix of nerves and drugs. I could hardly keep my arms from flying away. I felt like I needed to hold on to something.
They pulled up the curtain and got to work at 6:45 am.They started cutting me open at 6:45 am. The anesthesiologist was really good at keeping me distracted and I felt comfort in how relaxed he was. I felt a lot of tugging, pushing, and pulling and then they told me I was going to feel a lot of pressure for about 10 to 15 seconds. I literally felt like they were sitting on my chest. It was hard to breath. Next thing I knew I heard a little cry come from my sweet baby girl! I started to cry. It’s such an amazing moment. I told Zac to go! “Go see her!” His poor hand was probably about to fall off anyway from me squeezing so hard.
Ellie Ann Layton was born at 6:51 am, just sixminutes after they started the procedure. I heard someone say “six-fourteen.” I thought to myself that couldn't be her weight they are talking about. Gracie was almost two pounds more than that! Sure enough, it was her weight: six pounds and fourteen ounces and 18 inches long. I had felt through my pregnancy that she was going to be smaller than Gracie but Zac and I thought she would at least beseven pounds. I kept asking Zac who he thought she looked like. “Does she look like Gracie? Does she look like an Ellie?” His response was, “I don’t know, and I think she looks like an Ellie.” He brought her over and sat her on my chest so I could look at her for the first time. I remember she stopped crying when he laid her on me. She was beautiful.
They started stitching up my incision while baby Ellie was getting cleaned up. I remember Dr. Watabe asking me if I liked the opera. Then I asked him the same question and he responded he didn't know yet. I liked that the mood was kept light; it kept my anxiety under control.
Zac went with Ellie to the nursery for her first bath and vitals, and I was wheeled into my recovery room. My mom, dad and sisters came up to see me and keep me company while Zac was with the baby. I felt surprisingly great! It wasn't until later that day that the combination ofmy lack of sleep and the drugs from the C-Section caught up with me. I felt exhausted. I had to stay in recovery for an hour and then I was wheeled down to the mother-baby floor to see—and actually hold— my baby girl for the first time.
Later that day Gracie came and got to see he baby sister for the first time. I know she instantly fell in love with her. She kept trying to open her eyes with her finger.
My hospital stay was great! I was super impressed by the kindness of the staff and quality of the food. Since I had a C-section I stayed in the hospital for a full five days.They had a couch that turned into a bed for Zac, so he stayed with me for all the nights but the last one. The hardest part for me about being away from home was when Gracie came to visit and she would get really sad that weweren’t coming home with her. Even though I knew she was in good hands with Zac’s mom I felt bad that her world was momentarily turned upside down.
I was so lucky to spend five days in the hospital recovering and snuggling with my sweet baby Ellie. The first night, Ellie cried all night long in the nursery and they had to keep bringing her to me every hour. I was being stubborn and wouldn't let the nurses give her a binky or a bottle because I didn’t want it to mess up her nursing abilities.
The second night, however, I had a severe pain in my shoulder, something that happens frequently to C-section moms because of trapped gas. I asked them aroundmidnight to bring me a hot pad. They took my vitals and apparently my oxygen levels were a little low and so they ordered a CT scan on my lungs to make sure I didn't have a pulmonary embolism. Because of sleep deprivation andwiled hormones I started to cry; I just wanted to sleep. My nurse wheeled me downstairs and got me ready to go when the radiologist told me that if I was nursing I had to pump-and-dump for the next 24 to 48 hours because of the iodine that had been injected into me. Well, I started to cry even harder and was devastated I couldn’t nurse for the next two days. Come to find out, I didn’t have a blood clot and they also said I could nurse without limitations! I was on an emotional rollercoaster.
Since Zac and I both needed sleep we decided to let the nursery give Ellie a binky and the next three days and nights went by smoothly. Ellie was as healthy as she couldbe and I was recovering well. Saturday morning we left the hospital and came home to start our lives with two children. Whew!
We are so happy to have Ellie in our family. She is a sweetheart. We are trying to get into good sleeping and eating schedules so mom and dad can get some sleep. We have had so much help from family, friends and neighbors and feel so blessed to know them.
