Obviously Melissa is alive and well and everything turned out great. Our only goal throughout the whole process was to have a healthy baby and a healthy mommy. Charlotte got 8 and 9 apgar scores and if they handed out scores to people for recovering from surgery, I think Melissa should have received 8’s and 9’s, if not 10’s.
The sound I heard was indeed Melissa being rolled into room #17. There were three nurses who brought her down from the post anesthesia care unit. She had all of the typical post surgery garb. Blood pressure cuff, morphine drip, antibiotics, pulse oximeter, pneumatic leg compression, etc. It took them a while to get her all set up, but as soon as she ready, I had the nurse bring Charlotte back down from the nursery so she could meet her daughter for the first time. Melissa was still a little foggy from anesthesia, but she held her tight and commented on her small nose and how much she looked like me. It’s amazing how I went from absolutely tired and ready to call it a night to charged with energy and excited to spend the night with my family.
The rest is history. We spent the next few days in room #17 learning what it meant to work together as a team to help Charlotte have a great start. I’ll spare the details, but breastfeeding is pretty cool stuff. I still catch myself just watching in wonder. It’s so simple and natural and I’m so glad that Melissa is able to get Charlotte off to such a great start. I’m not patting myself on the back, but you really get to see how much you love someone when they can’t pull up their own pants, dry certain parts of their body or even put their own socks on. I think Melissa recovered like a champ after her surgery and I am so thankful I was able to be there all day every day, so that we could do it together. We’ve always been a great team ever since we met in 1997 and Charlotte has only brought us closer and made us a better team.
Today, Charlotte is nine days old and she’s already gained half a pound past her birth weight. She eats like her dad and is sweet like her mom. This 4 part series was only going to be one post, but after I wrote the first section I realized that there was so much on my heart and so many things I needed to express.
After it was all said and done we found out that in the process of progressing so fast and pushing so hard and Charlotte not wanting to come out Melissa tore her uterus, cervix and into her vagina. It was a blessing that day, that dr. eads couldn’t be found. It meant that once he was located there were two surgeons to work on Melissa. One delivered Charlotte while the other focused on stopping the bleeding. On top of that, there were two anesthesiologists, several nurses and an urologist. Melissa ended up losing half of the blood in her body. At one point they found blood in her catheter and wondered if possibly something around her kidneys or bladder had been nicked. After a camera was inserted into her bladder they found that all was OK. It took just at three hours to complete her surgery and put her back together.
So....I’m thankful for whoever donated blood, so that she could receive two units of it. I’m thankful that dr. eads used the bathroom around 5:30 that day. I’m thankful for Katie waiting with me when things were uncertain. I’m thankful for great nurses and doctors who truly care about people and I’m thankful for the sovereignty of God.
psalm 55:22
Cast your cares on the Lord and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.