The birth of J

It's been a week since my little girl's arrival into the world.
Last Thursday started very early with us travelling to the hospital for my caesarean appointment. Grandma met us at the hospital and her and little M spent about two hours in the waiting room doing crafts and playing board games whilst I was in surgery. She spent so much time and effort to help us last week, I'll be forever grateful.
H came with me to the theatre room; first we went to the anaesthetics room for me to get the epidural done. Now, this was something I was zero worried about since I had no probs at all with the epidural last time. In fact when I had it done with M, I only remember it as the moment the pain disappeared which was a good thing! This time was quite different.
First they took ages to find the right spot, and then once it started to work I got very, very sick (my blood pressure dropped really fast) and lay there vomiting into a bag. Once that had passed they wheeled me into the theatre room and prepped everything and I felt quite okay about it because they were all chatting with me and seemed all well.
The surgery went well, and J was born. She cried out once and they showed her to us and both H and I had a little cry. Then the midwife took her away to check her and so on, and all I was thinking about was how quiet she was. M just screamed and screamed and screamed when he was born but she lay all silent and I felt all worried about her. Later I was told by the midwifes it was because she hadn't suffered through the stress of labour, and that was why she wasn't crying. She was happy and calm...
As they started to stitch me up, I was feeling very unwell. My whole body from tummy and downwards was tingling from the local and then suddenly my chest felt really compressed. It was as if someone was sitting on top of it. I completely panicked and wriggled around hysterically and they topped up all of the pain killers and even spoke of putting me under (as in giving me a general). It was horrible and it scared my poor husband to bits, he was beside himself.
It lasted perhaps ten minutes and once I had calmed down the stitching was almost finished. The doctor said perhaps I had some amniotic fluid pushed up under my ribs and that was was the pain was.
H went away with little J to see Grandma and M, and I was wheeled into recovery. Stayed there for about 45 minutes, during which the nurse checked my epidural and realised it had travelled too high and onto my chest. She instantly put me on oxygen, and so this was the reason for all that chest pain! Yesterday I read through the paperwork about the epidural and this particular incident was under the "very rare" reactions together with death and meningitis. Dear me.
Once I was wheeled back up to the ward I was met by H holding J, and Grandma and M. M did not look happy about the state I was in, and he kept holding my hand looking worried. Poor little fella.
J had her first breastfeed and the midwives were thrilled with us both (several of them told me about their despair about so many women not breastfeeding) and then she slept for ages.
After that followed about 30 hours of me strapped to the bed hooked up to a catheter and a drip which was not nice, and I couldn't get to J without buzzing the nurses and it was annoying and I wanted to have a shower and my back was sore.
Then, once they cleared me, I had a shower and walked around and felt much better and the following day we were sent home.
All in all, the post-birth experience was a hundred times better this time. Partly because we did well with the feeding (because of no pethidine!) and also because the midwives were so awesome and helpful and kind and not judgmental bitches like they were at that other hospital.
And, that's pretty much sums up the birth of my little girl. She is just waking up, actually, and is going to be hungry, so I might leave it at that.