Do you smell that? Part III

Okay, I’m here to try and finish this smelly story. When we last spoke of the shampoo memories of 2004, I was talking about the imminent birth of one little Tot. After those 2 or so weeks in the hospital, my husband walked around my bed and kissed me goodbye so he could go home for the evening. And, yep, you guessed it, my water finally broke. And when I say broke, I mean BROKE! For around 45 minutes, my bed filled and filled and filled some more with amniotic fluid. And I couldn’t get out of it. The whole cord-prolapsing/placental abruption/hemorrhaging thing prevented me from being able to jump up out of bed. Gross, right? Yeah, I think so, too. Well, after placental abruption, slight hemorrhage, and a baby who wasn’t tolerating labor very well, I was whisked away to the operating room for an emergency C-section.
I lay in that cold, bright, sterile room and realized that everything in my life was about to change. I just didn’t realize quite how much it was going to change. They cut, they tugged, they pulled and prodded, and finally, they lifted my little preemie right out of my stomach.
And she cried. And I cried. And then she stopped crying. And the nurses and doctors stopped talking. And I felt like I couldn’t breathe. And I asked what was wrong. And I got no answers. Only silence. Scary, scary, scary silence. No crying. No talking. Just silence.
They brought her around the curtain for 2 ½ seconds so I could see her. And then they took her away to the NICU.
And I didn’t see her again for 8 hours.

*Obviously, I have not finished this story. It turns out, to my surprise, that it is a little harder to share than I first thought. I will finish, just not today. Please bear with me. Your patience is appreciated.