Early last weekend we were contemplating now being a family of four, as the logistics for two kids increases exponentially.  It’s not a bad thing; rather I’m talking about this in terms of preparation and planning for anything you have to do.  Two kids to put to bed, two potential schools (depending on their ages), two kids to get ready to go anywhere in the car, two female reproductive systems to guard with an armory that would put small nations to shame upon entering their teenage years, you get the idea.

While Ally was a natural birth (albeit a difficult one with her insistence on traveling down the birth canal with her hand next to her head, pooping in the womb, getting a fever, giving her mom a fever, cord wrapped around the neck, needing to be pulled out manually, all while barely being over 6 pounds), Katie’s birth as a c-section kid was truly different.  She was scheduled for a Monday morning extraction but decided she didn’t want to wait, putting her mother into labor last Sunday.  Thankfully we got to the hospital in time for them to prepare her for an immediate c-section.

I was extremely thankful that they separate the mom and dad from seeing the surgery portion by using a sheet draped just below the mom’s neck.  You can hear suction sounds, smell that distinctive surgical room smell, listen to the banter of the operating staff all while your wife/ex-wife/mistress is being opened like a Thanksgiving turkey.  We’ve come a long way in surgery when you can be wide awake while someone pries a fetus out of your uterus and not feel measurable pain (until, of course, the pain meds subside).  It’s a good thing that we’ve reduced the mortality rate for moms and babies so much the past hundred years.

As someone who is very queasy around real life blood and also anything medical-related on TV (reality surgery shows and even blood on shows like ‘ER’), I was hoping that I wouldn’t accidentally glimpse the open torso during surgery.  I wasn’t too worried about any complications from her surgery but it was a tad unsettling as they were getting ready to remove the baby, the constant tugs that moved Megan’s body were odd to look at and I was hoping like heck that all-too-important curtain wouldn’t somehow get jostled and fall down.

When they got Katie out the doctor asked if I would like to see her.  Not wanting to be an admitted Queasy Stomach Man, I peered over the curtain and concentrated my stare right at Katie.  Her body wasn’t too full of gunk and blood although there was some of it.  The main thing I had to do was not concentrate on that vague red blob I knew were Megan’s innards right below my lower portion of vision.  Thankfully I didn’t succumb to looking down, as I’m sure I would have filled up my mask with vomit which would then have spilled right into Megan’s open torso.

Anyway, all is well and mom and baby are fine.