Say hello to Mateo

Mr. Mateo arrived at 2:30pm on Saturday, February 10, 2007 via c-section (unplanned). I started labor the day before at 4:20pm, arrived at the hospital about 11pm and went thru hours of hellish pain until I was finally given an epidural early in the am. After a few hours of pushing on and off, we all decided that a c-section was needed because of my heart rate and Mateo's heart rate were dangerously high, he was turned the wrong way in the birth canal (hence the hellish back labor pains I experienced), I was extremely tired and worn out from going thru a long labor and wasn't really feeling contractions that well (my uterus was also tired), and it seemed Mateo's head was stuck in my pelvis and any sort of progression would take an hour or two more before he'd pop out. Mateo suffered a bruised upper eyelid because he was stuck, but otherwise was in perfect health at a nice, plump 8 lbs.

Not only was the c-section unplanned, but I also left the hospital with an unplanned stent in my ureter because of a complication during the c-section. I was in the OR for over 5 hours, causing much unnecessary worry for my husband and family. My husband got to be with Mateo in the nursery while they were working on me, but eventually had to leave to move our stuff to another room. I only saw Mateo for about 1 minute, if that, after he was born. We met again around 10pm on Saturday evening.

Now I have double the doctor appointments I would of had normally, a stent removal planned for next week, and Kaiser peeps constantly keeping tabs on me (which is actually nice). I'm still not sure how the stent will be removed, if it's being removed at all, so that'll be nice and fun. I had x-rays done yesterday to determine if there really is any damage since they weren't quite sure during the operation.

Was it all worth it? Did you look at Mateo's face? So yes, it all was and is and will be.