[X-Forces]

Originally Posted by MQAAord

OMG stories like that scare the crap out of me, and I've been there, twice!

I am so sorry you had to go through that! What an awful ordeal! My c-sec was not a 'crash' section (done in an emergency) so there was plenty of prep time, and everything went like it was supposed to and I was still nervous! I can't imagine how scary that must have been!

So glad to hear everything is okay now!

Originally Posted by My Flight Surgeon

Congratulations on the new arrival. We are glad to hear your wife is doing well now. Yes. the complication is uncommon but does occur.

Anaesthesia is the most frightening part of surgery to me when I am a patient. We carefully pick our surgeon but never even ask who the anaesthesiologist will be. Most of the time, we never even meet them until we are in the operating room (someone else does the pre-op exam) and because of the drugs that are used are great for causing us to not rememeber what went on in the time around surgery.

Just trying to settle into a nightly routine, I had almost forgot about the good old 2:00 am feeds!


Anyway, as far as the prep time for the C-section, this thing was planned in late November! How’s that for prep time? Long and short is they simply messed up. This was also the second C-section for us, same hospital, same surgeon, hell it was even the same operating room. However, like the doc said above, all too often little attention is paid to the anesthetist and more is placed on the surgeon. We are guilty of the same oversight and it almost cost us.

The surgeon that preformed the operation is the chief of the entire maternity ward. This guy is renowned in North Germany as one of the leading natal physician-surgeons. Like I mentioned, he did our first C-section, and it was flawless, the whole experience. But even the first time we had no idea of the anesthetist’s skill set, everything just went right so we didn’t think anything of it. This time around it seems like we got Joe Blow anesthetist, with a sharp needle, bucket full of drugs, and some spare time!

Again, the surgeon did a bang up job, and the funny part is that we thought once the baby was out, and we were holding her and taking pictures, the worst of what could happen was behind us and we were out of the woods. In fact, by the time my wife required the emergency treatment the surgeon had already finished up, shook my hand, and was on his way out of the O.R. Little did we know what was in store.

I think the part that bothers me the most, as I can look back at it now, was they way they played it down, making it seem like everything that was happening was normal. I am not doctor, but I am not an idiot either. I know what a heart monitor is, I know what a sphygmomanometer is, and I know what their readings mean. I could tell just by the tempo in the room that something was very wrong. Shortly after they told me that I would have to leave the room, and more people flooded in. By that point I was pretty much holding back tears. Then finally when they entered the room where I was waiting with my daughter and told me that they had to move my wife, and that I could either stay here with my new born or accompany my wife to the observation/recovery room, but they preferred that I went with my wife in case any “decisions” needed to be made, I think they took ten years off my life.


Anyway, it’s behind us now, and that was the last time for us.



Thanks again for the support.



Photos for anyone that is interested.

Photos