The Newest Williamson

Matthew Rudy Williamson. Eight pounds and 2 ounces. 3:50am March 22nd. Three hours ahead of his scheduled entrance.

We are so thankful he is healthy and big and strong. But, so sorry that Amber has had to endure yet another stressful, dangerous, scary c-section. That first day was rough. Amber says she does not remember much. Maybe that is good. She says she remembers her mom pushing on her and telling her to breathe. But, we all took turns watching her and watching the monitors. Amber says she does not remember the oxygen mask, but she had it on and off until noon until they put on a hose nose type oxygen and then she seemed to settle down with better oxygen counts. At one point, the doctor was concerned about blood count levels. They ran blood tests and discussed a transfusion. It was a scary day because she was so nausiated and groggy, and the monitor alarms would sound and the nurses told us to wake her up! and tell her to breathe? yet, let her rest. And oh, the itching...just as she had been warned, but I wondered at all the changes and differences from the c-section with baby James just 14 months ago.

With Baby James, Amber had endured 22 hours of hard labor, reactions to strange drugs, and her first c-section. With Baby Matthew, the c-section was scheduled, and Amber was suppose to report at 5am for prep. But, she went into labor at 11pm the night before, and went on to the hospital about 2am, and then her water broke, and she started dihilating, and for some reason, after a spinal block, which numbed her from the neck down, they took the baby out in a c-section and Baby Matthew was born at 3:50am. Amber says she does not remember the picture in the delivery room, and they put her out to stitch her up. In my opinion, I am guessing that they gave her too much anesthesia, and too much "forget" medication, because her oxygen levels kept dropping too low. Amber fought the grogginess, and told us that it was different from what she remembers with Baby James. She knew she was too groggy to breast feed Baby Matthew, and was afraid of drifting off. The doctor and nurses acted as if she was hearing and tracking and kept insisting she eat and drink, but Amber threw up everything we gave her. And does not even remember me feeding her two spoonfuls of jello.

When I had two c-sections, they did a "bikini" cut, which was a big smiley face cut and PULLED the baby out. Now, the NEW trend is to do a smaller cut, and PUSH the baby through the smaller hole to simulate a vaginal delivery. Maybe this is better for the baby's lungs, as it expells fluids, but it makes no sense for the mother. How can they tell and control bleeding? Less for the doctor to stitch up, but the new pain medications in combination with the spinal block made breathing on her own a problem.

Amber had a very rough, rough first day. And it was scary, and we could tell that the doctor and nurses were concerned. We all took turns being in there with her, and helping, as James and Amber had had no sleep and sleep deprivation combined with throwing up was so hard on Amber.

Baby Matthew came out with just this wonderful cry, a full range of emotions in a cry that we could hear from James' cell phone. We felt like we were given the privilege of being a fly on the wall! I think James slipped his cell phone in his pocket of the scrubs, and we listened in amazement. Baby Matthew sounded so healthy and strong and voiced his opinions of the change of environment. It was a gift to hear him. And a gift to get to hold him so new and cute with his long silky spikey hair, and long fingers, and furrow brow. Such and expressive use of the brow and eyebrows..oh, my!

So, the contrast was amazing the next day, when we got to the hospital on Friday morning, and to see Amber sitting up, no catheter, no oxygen, no grogginess, no monitors...she was a different woman!!! She BOUNCED BACK! And we were so enraptured at the wonderful change. So grateful. So thankful she had come back to us!!! So much of the first day did not make sense. And she told us about how she could not remember half of it. Different ones would appear at her bedside and she would appear startled, but she did not remember it. Maybe that is good. Our worried looks might have alarmed her. As we would trade visits, and go watch Baby James in the waiting room, we would give Amber's parents the latest info from the doctor and nurses about what monitors to watch and all. I am glad to hear from Amber's sister that one of the nurses did answer Amber's mom's questions. Sounds like he was very patient to take the time when he had other duties and kept getting called by other nurses. I don't like male nurses in maternity. Just my opinion. this male nurse kept flirting with Amber's niece, and Amber DOES remember that. Bob called him on it, and alerted him to his lack of professionalism. Maybe we are old fogies, and maybe we are anti-tatoos, and this nurse had arms full, and maybe nurses joke with patients to test if they are tracking, but even Amber found him annoying. But, I am glad he was able to put Amber's mom's questions to rest.

Sorry to dump my concerns here, but this whole PUSHING the baby out through a c-section incision is bothering me. And this whole combining a spinal block with forget drugs and pain killers that suppress breathing is bothering me, too. I was so concerned we were going to lose Amber. I want Amber to enjoy raising her healthy, happy baby boys. And I fear for the next c-section. She has experienced two different and rough c-sections. And I know they want more children. And she is healthy and fit and is a fantastic Mom. I think the medical folks need to re-examine their practices. How many moms are dying day one from blood loss, and low oxygen levels?? Just my opinion. The opinions expressed here are my own.