Part 3 - the op

After M left, I had a reasonable night. The emergency alarm (loud) does go off an awful lot in the labour ward though which is perhaps not surprising but disconcerting nonetheless.

The next morning I am up around 7am and on the laptop seeing if they have wireless access at the hospital - they do! This is excellent news as even though I love reading books, it is nice to be able to get online as well.

Things move fast and it's not long before I am being prepped for theatre. Back on with the lovely embellism stockings. The anethetist comes to discuss options. I say that as long as there's no risk to the baby I want a general. He says there is no risk but even so advises a spinal. I tell him that I didn't react well to this last time and had a panic attack and particularly since I was on my own today, I wanted to be out for the op. If M had been there, it might have been different. Happily he could kind of see my point and agrees to the general - hurrah.

Then, a blow. A doctor I have never seen before comes in and tells me she will be doing the stitch. I question her - the lovely consultant I had seen the night before assured me it would be him and he would come in this morning specially to do it. She tells me he's not available. I tell her it's not acceptable and I don't feel comfortable with the situation.

I didn't feel like a nice person at this point. Who am I to question her surgical skills? However, it's all about peace of mind and when it comes to pregnancy, asking for and getting what you want to achieve that peace of mind. I've learnt this the hard way. The thing is that the stitch was meant to go in the day before and my consultant had said that the team that work on that day was excellent and highly experienced. I wanted that team. Moreover, I had met the guy and liked him a lot, I felt confident with him.

She left saying she would see what she could do but I didn't hold out much hope. By the time I am in the theatre, in the gown and the silly hat and being dealt with by the anesthetist, I'm feeling pretty anxious and stressed. Who will do my stitch? Will it work? Then, I look over at the door, there is my guy waving at me with a reassuring smile and a coffee in his hand. He's clearly just arrived in the nick of time! I have that peace of mind now and I enter the strange world of general anesthesia feeling a lot more confident.

When I come round the first thing I say is "Where's M?" I hear "M's not here." My brain then clearly kicks into gear as the second thing I say is "Did the membranes rupture?" "No" they say. Relief. I fall back to sleep.

An hour later I am fully awake and fine and chatting with lovely nurse Florence (from Sri Lanka). If it wasn't for the fact that I am tied to a blood pressure machine and heart monitors I would be up and about. Hurrah for the general anesthetic. All I have to do is go for a wee, have some lunch and then I can be discharged. By 1pm, 4 hours after the op, I am ready to go home. Since Mum gets lost on the way to the hospital I don't actually end up leaving till 3pm though - by this time I am sure they were happy to see the back of me!

Final part next: recovery.