I slept surprisingly well the night before the surgery because I am a planner and there was a plan in place to save my babies. We had to arrive at the hospital around 10am and surgery was scheduled for 12:30pm. Pre-op took longer than anything but of course it's very necessary. I was able to see my husband for about 5 minutes before being wheeled back to the OR. I cried some anxious tears going down the hall and managed to gain my composure before reaching the doors. I am an avid watcher of Grey's Anatomy and that has been my only reference of what an OR actually looks like prior to this and it just wasn't quite the same. The operating table is small and it's freezing in there (to most people, felt pretty good to me) and there are nurses, doctors and techs everywhere. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me an epidural and spinal block, which literally was the most painful part of the entire day, and it worked almost immediately. They laid me down on the table and introduced me to more people and strapped me down. It was time to start.
I never heard the words "scalpel please" only "We're going to get started now", and they proceeded and walked me through the various steps.
1) The cut (which was an obvious first step)
2) Inserting the tube in which the camera and the laser would be run through
3) "We're getting some great pictures of Baby B!
4) We're mapping out the shared vessels
5) We're going to start the laser now and cauterize these vessels
6) We're all done.
Total time a little over an hour.
I managed to sneak a peek on the video screen of them taking pictures of one of my sweet girls and it was amazing but I couldn't keep my head turned as I would feel nauseous. I kept my eyes on the ceiling and in my head I talked to God, to my Mom and to my Grandpa who had passed just six days before. It made the time go by faster and kept me from hyperventilating and kept the claustrophobic feelings at bay.
They closed my incision and turned the lights on. They started removing my epidural line and getting me prepped for recovery. The last words from my surgeon were simple requests "Try not to cough or vomit" I agreed. I had no feeling from the chest down so I had to be moved to the transport gurney and we were on our way to a room where I would start my monitoring for contractions and could finally eat! Believe me when I say this hospital is not small. The OR is on either the 4th or 5th floor I can't remember which which meant that after turning corners and going over bumps I had to ride in an elevator. We make it to the room and they have to maneuver my gurney into the room so I can move to an actual bed. They wanted me to try and do it but there was still no feeling in my legs. I told them "I can see my legs and I know that they move and my mind is telling them to but it's not happening" so here comes the body board - roll this way, roll that way - and go. I make it to the bed and the room gets hot and I don't feel so well. I couldn't fulfill the surgeons request and got sick. But luckily did no harm.
We stayed in the small labor and delivery room for about 3-4 hours and they moved us to an antepartum room which was a lot bigger and more private. I was monitored for a total of 24 hours for contractions and had only a few. We were released to go home around 6pm the next day and I was on modified bed rest for a week and a half, The recovery was easy and surveying the damage I have a scar thats about ____ that big. One tiny little scar could save my babies lives.
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