The chronologies continues..
11.00 am
My gynae met us before the entrance to the operation theatre. She told us that the team was still preparing the room. I remember how worried my husband was, perhaps he sensed my hidden fear. A nurse came and told my husband that he need to go to the next door to prepare himself with a special head cover and mouth cap, and a special operation gown, before he could enter the room. I did sense his hesitation to leave me as he kissed me before he went to change.
Then two nurses came and wheeled me into the room. The room was quite small, with two wide window, and in the middle of the room was a small and narrow bed, perhaps smaller than 2m x 1m. They have this big machine to check blood pressure and heart beat just by the side of the bed, a big lamp hanging on top of the bed, and few glass closets filled with a lot of things I just couldn’t recall of. And a wheeler filled with stuffs which I supposed they’re going to use in the caesarean operation.
I shivered a little, not sure whether it was caused by the coldness of the air or the fear I had. My eyes fixed at the door, anxiously looking for my hero to come and comfort me.. I was very scared, yet I pushed myself a smile. Two anesthetists came and explained how they would perform the injection. With Sophie, my midwife's help, I was told to sit by the small bed, and to crouch like a cat, bending my backbone outside. First they injected a local anaesthesia to numb the skin. Thank God they did that very quickly, it was so not comfortable. Then after about half an hour, they continued with the second injection, I guess that was the spinal epidural, and that was worse than the first one. I gritted my teeth to force myself handled the ‘weird numb pain’ when the needle and the medication entered my backbone. I think they took more than 30 second to insert the medication.
It took less than 2 minutes for the medication to start taking action. After a while, slowly, my lower body started to feel warm. Both my leg was strangely felt as if they were 'pricked' with thousands of tiny needles that neither painful nor relaxing. Then the leg muscles started getting weak. In less than 5 minutes I found that it was difficult to move even my toes, and my legs felt terribly heavy. Then I heard some noises, and saw a group of masked people with their head covered just over the small window at the entrance to the room. They seemed as if they were discussing something. Oh.. how nervous I was, as if that my stomach was going to jump out from its place.
The anesthetists then lifted my leg to a leg supporter on top of the bed and I was asked to lie flat. I wished they gave me a small pillow to support my head, as lying flat made me really breathless. The room was suddenly filled with a number of people. My gynae, Dr. Vaesen came and assured me that everything was in perfect order, and the operation will begin soon. Both my arms were spread wide on the arm support of the bed, and my left arm was strapped with a blood pressure strap that attached to the machine. They also sticked at least four wires to my abdomen, I guess that must be for the heart beat constant monitoring.
Someone masked (I have no idea who) came and took my undergarment away, and another person inserted a tube into my ureter. Then the anesthetists came again and perform a sense test. She swabbed a cotton wool with alcohol, swabbed my arm and my chest, and asked 'which is cold, here or here?' She repeated the test at least 5 times. And surprisingly, I did feel the cold on both sides at first, and in times, I couldn't feel the cold anymore, although she swabbed my tummy with it. And at the same time both my legs were completely paralyzed! I couldn't move my feet!
Then I heard a harsh male voice. I believed he was the head surgeon of the day. He put a green cloth on top of my body, leaving the tummy part exposed. Someone lower the big lamp to be just on top of my tummy, and another two person lifted a wide green screen in front of me. And then out of nowhere someone came and hold my hand (in urgency). I looked up, and how my heart sang! My beloved husband! Complete in head cover and mouth mask, and operation gown! He looked no different than the rest of the team of that day..
12.00 pm
I didn't know why I kept looking at the big clock hanging just on the wall by my right. My husband was just as nervous as I was. He held my hand very tight, and kept assuring me that everything will be alright. He reminded me to pray a lot, and chant 'selawat' as much as I could. He guided me to 'istighfar' all the time. I was so sleepy and exhausted, mostly because of the anesthesia. I remember the feeling of somebody touching my tummy, when my husband mentioned, 'they are starting to cut the skin'. It was completely painless. My husband kept holding my hand and stole some quick peeks across the big screen in front of me. When I told my husband that I was sleepy, he said, 'stay with me dear.. stay with me...'. I smiled, and pushed myself to stay awake.
I remember the moment when my husband told me, 'they already open the skin..', at the same time the grip of his hand was tightening. I knew, he was worried if they hurt me in any way, and yet he couldn't do anything but to wait and pray. He was very quiet, and how I wished I could read what's on his mind at that moment. I remember the pulling, the tucking, the pinching, but all of them were quite dull and painless. I breathed heavily, and I was expecting the 'sudden empty' feeling from the tummy, indicating that the baby was already born. I remember my husband said, 'patience dear, it's almost over, I can see the baby's leg'. I prayed silently, 'Please God, please protect my child..'
The tugging and pulling lasted for almost 30 minutes, then I felt something was taken away from my body. My husband whispered excitedly, 'the baby is here!' and his eyes were smiling! I was so relieved and silently said, 'alhamdulillah'. Then after a suckling sound, I heard the long-awaited cries. The cry was really different than my first born had. My husband went across the green screen, perhaps he was called by someone. And then he came back and held my hand, excitedly telling me that our daughter has already been born and was taken care by a paediatrician. He told me that she was so beautiful and have plenty of hair, and kept thanking me for giving him a beautiful daughter. Another person came, I was not sure who she was, telling my husband that he should come with the paediatrician.
For another 20 minutes, or more, the rest of the team were to deliver the placenta. Then my husband came, smiling, with our new, completely clothed little girl. Oh.. she's so beautiful! My husband told me that the baby was born healthy, cry very little, and already opened her eyes! After a while, I heard my husband whispered 'iqamat' to our newly born daughter, just behind me, above my head, while the rest of the team was still trying to deliver the placenta. Then he reminded my gynae to keep the placenta for us to clean and manage at home.
Finally after about 15 minutes, my husband said that they were doing the closing and the stitching. My gynae came, telling me that everything was perfect. The only male surgeon that day told us that the built of the scar was good, and should we try for a third child there should be no problem with another cesarean. Then I heard a sound, sounded like a stapler! 'My God! They use staples?' I was surprised. My husband smiled and assured me that they already stitched the inside layer of the incision, and the stapler was just on the outside of the skin. That's completely different than what I experienced with my son, when they stitched the skin opening with a self-dissolve thread instead of staples. Someone then put a wide plaster just on top of the incision, and the surgeon assured me that although the strap was big, the incision was quite small. After that they cleaned the swab remaining from my body and I was then left with my husband and the anesthetists and Sophie, the midwife for further cleaning.
... to be continued ...
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