Sigh. This is the ONLY reason I hate being a csection mom. I have absolutely no idea what labor feels like. Hell, they break your water and suck it away immediately so you don't even know what's happening during a csection. I was already cut open and my DS was almost here when they had my DH come in the OR with me. I kind of expected a play by play but I guess not! I did force my BFF to take pictures with my DD so I could at least see what was happening (albeit it after the fact but whatever).
I have had 2 scheduled csections due to macrosomia, btw. DS was 10 lbs 4 oz and 22 inches long and DD was 11 lbs 1.5 oz and 22.5 inches long. I was given the option both times to wait it out but I'm really glad I didn't. As much as I'd love a cool birth story, I know I'm not woman enough to push that out of my lady bits.
Sigh. Yeah. I'm so embarrassed. My family has been instructed that if this one comes out bigger than DD, we are lying to everyone. I just make big kids, I suppose. They're 13 months apart and almost exactly the same height.
DS's Birthstory: I had been on bedrest for HBP for about 3.5 weeks when my doctor scheduled my induction at 39 wks. We went in on Sunday night, got checked in, IV started, etc. I wasn't dilated at all, so they put in Cervadil to soften my uterus (which is kind of like inserting a tampon or a suppository in case any FTMs are wondering). Had minor contractions all night. They started Pitocin early the next morning and I labored all day. Contractions weren't too bad, very manageable. They checked me throughout the day and no progress. Finally at 7, then stopped the Pitocin and let me eat, then did another round of Cervadil. No contractions at all the second night.
Day 2, they started the Pitocin again bright and early. I dilated to 2 cm and the doctor came in & broke my water around lunch time to hopefully speed things up. Contractions picked up and then they maxed out the Pitocin. Soon after, they did the epidural. I was so scared of it, but it wasn't bad at all. The first numbing shot stung and then I just felt pressure when they did the actual epidural. It was the bomb until it quit working on one side. They had to try a few times but finally fixed it. After that, we just kind of waited and rested.
The nurse came in around 5pm to check me and I was still at a 2. 2 damn centimeters! She said that if I hadn't progressed by 7pm, then we were having a c-section. At this point, I was over it and just ready to get the damn c-section. By 7, still no progress, so they prepped me for the surgery. It happened so fast. They came in and shaved me, topped of the epidural and wheeled me back. Soon after, DH came back and sat beside me. We had an awesome nurse who explained everything that was happening. As the doctor was doing the surgery, he was listening to the radio and singing along to Garth Brook's "Two Pina Coladas." lol Maybe 10-15 minutes later at 7:40PM, DS was born! DH went to the nursery with DS while they stitched me up. Then I went to recovery for an hour or so and they took me to my room and then I finally got to hold my beautiful little boy!
At 41w3d, a Friday at work, I started having contractions that didn't hurt but had a steadier feeling that the braxton hicks ones (that's the best way to describe it) about once an hour. I was scheduled for an induction Tuesday morning, so I thought, great I might not need to be induced!
The painless contractions continued once or twice an hour for a few hours and then went away by Saturday mid-day (I slept through them but only sort of - I was too excited and slept really lightly. This was a MISTAKE). The contractions would start and get no closer together than 20 minutes, still basically painless, and then go away for a few hours all weekend until Sunday around 5 pm. At that point they were pretty steady at once every 20 minutes and starting to get more uncomfortable - but still didn't hurt. By 8 am Monday, they were about 7 minutes apart, and at this point they still didn't hurt and I was pretty sure that I might be imagining them, so we went to the hospital just to be sure that I wasn't slowly loosing my mind. The nurse said I was definitely in labor but only 1 cm dilated and sent me home.
DH and I took the day off work, hung out around the house and then went to the mall (because it was 102 and 90%+ humidity outside) to walk. By noon Monday, the contractions started to hurt like gas cramps and stayed pretty steady 5-10 minutes apart. By Monday evening, they hurt too much to walk or talk through and I was catching sleep between them. Tuesday was my scheduled induction because I was 42 weeks exactly and my doctor wanted me in the hospital at 4 am for some reason, so I barely slept Monday night.
We arrived at the hospital and I was 2 cm. After almost 24 hours of contractions and walking - UGH. They gave me pitocin and I sort of napped between contractions. By 9 am I could no longer even pretend to sleep, with contractions about 1 minute apart, I was still just 2 cm, so around 11 am they broke my water. Then the contractions hurt like I was dying and were barely 45 seconds apart. The nurse thought I was in transition, but no, just 3 cm and 100% effaced. I had them shut the pitocin off because I could not take it. The contractions still hurt but were manageable and were still about a minute apart. By 7 pm, I was so tired that I got an epidural so I could take a nap because I was still just 3 cm. My OB said she wouldn't talk c-section with me until Wednesday morning, so I figured I'd at lest get a good night's sleep before dealing with it.
Not only could I not feel anything below my waist, but the epidural got me really high - I making stupid jokes and feeling ahhhmaaazinnng. It really surprised me at first because I thought it was just supposed to numb you but the nurse said that "everyone has a different reaction" and that it was fine so I slept. The nurse woke me up around midnight and said I was just about 10 cm but that DD was still pretty high up (station 2) so I hung out until 3:15 am when she checked again and said that my OB was on her way to deliver my baby. At 3:30 she had me do a "practice push" because with the epi it's harder or something but stopped me halfway through saying I didn't need to practice. My doctor was there by 3:40 am and I gave it two big pushes and out DD popped just under 24 hours after we arrived at the hospital. DD was 7lb 5oz, I tore a bit and needed stitches, but I was just sore for a few hours and tender for about a week after.
In retrospect, I should have gotten the epidural way earlier because I credit it with letting me relax enough to have productive contractions but at least with the pitocin turned off, it just didn't hurt that much and I was hoping to do it without pain meds. With this baby, I know better and will sleep until I can't anymore instead of getting excited. I'm just hoping that my labor doesn't go on forever the second time.
On Sept 17, I had a routine weekly doctor visit. We had scheduled a growth ultrasound because my doctor was a little concerned about the baby's size versus the size of my pelvis. We were 37 weeks and 1 day along at this point.
After the ultrasound, they put me in a room for the regular doctor visit, and when the doctor came in, she asked how we would feel about having the baby earlier than our due date. When I asked how much earlier, she said "tomorrow."
The ultrasound results were very unexpected. My fluid level was dangerously low. I was either leaking fluid or my placenta had aged prematurely, according to the doctor. I had actually thought I was leaking fluid for a couple of weeks but when I called the doctor's office and talked to the phone nurse, she told me it was just urine or discharge and I didn't need to be worried. I'm still a little ticked off about that, but it's not even important anymore.
The doctor said we needed to check into the hospital that night - that the fluid level was not enough to keep Nathan healthy and that we couldn't wait for it to replenish. I was to be induced the next day. She gave us an hour and a half to do what we needed to do before being at the hospital. Hubbs and I went out for dinner, since there was no way we could actually go home and get anything during that time.
Luckily, we had a labor and delivery bag in my car, so we had what we needed for that night. We arrived at the hospital and got into our room. They inserted Cervadil to ripen my cervix and advised me to get some rest. They asked if I wanted a sleeping pill and I agreed because I knew I would never actually be able to sleep otherwise.
The next thing I remember is waking up in the morning. They took out the Cervadil and started Pitocin. The contractions started pretty quickly after the medicine went in. They hurt. Pretty badly! The doctor came in and broke my water. I was 1 cm when I got there, and got to 3 cm in the first few hours. They asked if I wanted an epidural and I said "yes please." The epi was great, other than the very odd sensation that my legs were paralyzed. I decided I hated not being able to feel parts of my body. But ultimately it was better than the contractions, because according to the machine they were very intense and I didn't feel them. I was thinking I could totally do this after all and that there was nothing to be afraid of!
Then the epidural wore off. Yeah, it totally did. They did a boost of medicine to see if that would help and it did for about 30 minutes. And then that wore off. They had to place another one, and when they came in to talk to me about it, they said when they place a second one, they usually do it higher in case the patient needs a c-section, so that they don't have to go in a third time. I agreed and they did the second epi. It worked. We went back to laboring and hoping for some progress.
11 hours after beginning the Pitocin, the nurse checked me. She was just as anxious as I was to know how far we had progressed. When she said 4 cm, I nearly cried. She paged my doctor, who came in very shortly after to check for herself. Only 4 cm. The doctor said it was time to make a decision. She had felt for awhile that my pelvis was going to be too small for the baby to pass through. She said she could give me a couple of more hours to labor and hopefully dilate more, but that she was 99% sure we would end up needing a c-section no matter what, and that she wouldn't want me to go more than 12 hours after my water broke so the c-section would be that night unless we could manage to dilate all the way before that time. Hubbs said it was up to me. I decided to go ahead and do the c-section. If we were going to end up doing it in a couple of hours anyway, I decided to do it then so that hopefully I wouldn't be too exhausted to see the baby afterward. My blood pressure shot up really high - almost dangerously high, while they were getting me ready for the surgery. I ended up taking blood pressure meds for about a month after he was born because of this.
The c-section was a very odd experience. Once they got me into the OR, I started shaking. The doctor said it was because of the epidural boost they gave me right before going in. It was pretty awful, though. I hate being out of control and the shaking was seriously uncontrollable. Hubbs was right beside me the entire time. He held my hand until they got Nathan out and then he went to take some pictures of him. He was born at 6:03 P.M. on Sept 18. He was 7 pounds, 6 ounces and 21 inches long. They let Hubbs hold Nathan close to me so I could see him before they took him away to the nursery. He had some fluid in his lungs and they wanted to make sure that was okay. He spent a few hours in the special care nursery before we could see him, and that was probably the longest two hours of my life.
They sewed me up and wheeled me back to recovery. While they were sewing me up, I overheard the nurse doing the instrument count. It sounded like something was wrong. For a terrifying minute, they thought they had left something inside me and were going to have to go back in and get it. But they found whatever it was under a towel on the instrument table. Whew!
Our family members came in to see me in the recovery room. I was still shaking. Finally the epidural wore off and they gave me a morphine pump. I loved that morphine pump and was sad to see it go the next day!
They brought Nathan to us about 2 hours after he was born. He was perfect and beautiful and the lung issue had almost completely resolved itself. He didn't have to go back to the special care nursery after that because they said he was fine. We were in the hospital from Monday until Friday. That's a long time to be in the hospital when you've never been in one before. I wanted to go home more than anything in the world.
My c-section recovery wasn't too bad. It took a couple of weeks for me to be able to sleep in bed rather than in a recliner, and I had to be careful and walk slower than usual, but everything was good after that.
We will be doing a repeat c-section this time. It is scheduled for one week prior to my due date, but since we are measuring one week ahead, I'm not worried about development. I am hoping the pain will be less during recovery because there won't be 11 hours of labor to deal with too. I kind of want to watch the procedure this time. I wonder if they will leave the screen down and let me watch.
I
was scheduled to be induced on December 1 in the morning if they had
room for us. I was hoping we would get to go in because we had successfully
made it through Thanksgiving, the day after for shopping and Christmas
trees and past any date that the baby may have to share its birthday
with Thanksgiving in the future. It was also a Thursday, DS and DD1
were born on Thursdays.
So I
set my alarm and called the hospital at 5 AM. They told us to head on
in! I woke Hubbs up and got ready. He was so tired he doesn't remember
me waking him. I had to go back in the room to get him up to get
ready, hahaha.
I was dilated
to a 2 and 70% effaced at my previous appointment and had been that
way for 3 weeks. We got to the hospital around 6:45 AM and they sent us
straight into our room and started things quick. Dr D
from my OB office had just delivered a baby so they thought if I was
far along enough they would have him break my water before he left. As I
was reading and filling out paper work they put my IV in and checked
me. I was at a 4 and 90% effaced so they called Dr D
in. Within 20 minutes of being at the hospital I had my IV, fluids,
water broken and epidural on its way. I couldn't believe how fast it was
all happening.
Since we
didn't know if baby was BOY or GIRL all the nurses and Dr's were
excited and kept telling us how fun it was for them when people don't
know. So everyone started guessing and wrote it up on the board.
The
same anesthesiologist when I had DD1 came in about 8:30 to give me
my epidural. As he was finishing up I remembered with DD1 they had
to give me some medicine cause my blood pressure dropped. I told him
and he said they would watch it. Sure enough I started feeling really
light headed and sick, they had to give me the medicine to stabilize my
blood pressure twice and have me lay back. After that I got stuck at a
5. Around 10:45ish
I realized that my epidural was wearing off. I could move my legs
completely and the pressure during contractions were starting to hurt.
The nurse had just checked me and I was still a 5. I kept commenting to Hubbs that I thought it was wearing off and it scared me. Finally it
got to the point that the pressure REALLY hurt and I was having to
concentrate really hard through the contractions to keep from crying. We
let the nurse know and she had the anesthesiologist come back in and
fix it. Boy was I so relieved when my legs started to feel heavy again. I
am not one of those women who WANTS to go through labor/delivery
natural and I feel more strongly about it now
Well
after that the nurse checked me again and I was ready. She couldn't
believe how fast I went from being stuck at a 5 to complete, about 20
minutes or less. They called Dr J, the on call Dr from my OB, to
come so we waited about 10 min and started pushing when he arrived. Hubbs and I wanted him to announce what our little one was when he/she
arrived. After only a few pushes baby arrived (man it seems to get
easier each time!)
At 11:27 AM they lifted our baby up and Hubbs said with a huge grin "it's a girl". I was a bit confused as I looked around at everyone's
faces to see them laughing because I thought he was teasing me. They
weren't laughing, just smiling at me. I had truly felt like it was a boy
the whole pregnancy but I was wrong and so excited to have another
little girl. They let me see her for just a second and then took her to
the table cause she wouldn't cry. They worked on her for a while and
she would only whimper, I was getting worried. They had to call in more
help for her but she finally started crying hard. I was so relieved
when they put sweet Vivi in my arms, she was so perfect! Viv has a very
chubby face and a darker complexion. We named her Vivian after my great
grandma Hawkins and Jean is after my grandma Gloria and Kellie.
Hubbs texted
everyone and said "we have a new baby" and of course they all wanted
to know what it was. I wanted to wait to tell everyone until at least a few people came that we could tell in person. Especially DS and DD1.
Katie
arrived from Snow and got to see Viv first. Right as we were ready to
go down to our postpartum room we saw my parents, DS, DD1, my sisters and a few of Hubbs family. We had them
go to our new room and wait for us. My epidural had kicked in so well I
couldn't get up yet so they had to roll me onto another bed to wheel
down the hall. I thought it was really funny and kept laughing. The
nurses were practically running with me down the hall and bumping into
everything, it was quite funny.
Hubbs wheeled her in and everyone got to see her at once. It was so fun. DS was very disappointed to say the least. He didn't want to look at her or see her. He was so upset and embarrassed
as everyone looked at him. His lip was quivering and he was trying so
hard to not cry. He kept saying "but I said it was a boy", "its
supposed to be a boy". He came and sat by me as everyone held her. I
felt so sad for him. DD1 loved her right away. She wanted to hold
Vivian and kiss her and not give her up. By the time DS left he had
warmed up to her, holding her and he says Vivian is so cute! He wont
call her Viv or Vivi, he only calls her Vivian.
Our precious baby GIRL is here! Hallie Dawn was born on March, 11 2010 at 11:09 AM 7 lbs 9 oz 19 1/2" long
We
got up at 5:00AM and called the hospital, they told us to be there at
6:00AM. We got ready, ate a small breakfast and were on our way!
Luckily Katie came home early from school and stayed the night with us
so DS could sleep at home and not be up so early.
When we got there I was at a 3 1/2 and 80% effaced. We had the most wonderful nurse EVER! Her name was Susan and she was amazing. With DS I had really crummy nurses so this was a relief. I was hooked up and pitocin started by 6:45. I was having "lates",
that is what they called it. Her heart rate would drop after each
contraction and take a while to get back up. So she was lacking oxygen.
My nurse had to keep coming in and repositioning me and I was also put on oxygen. We
decided it was best to brake my water around 8:00AM. The doctor that
was supposed to be on call (whom I really liked, Dr R) was at another
hospital so he asked the one up in the office to come down and do it
(whom I had never met and he is a little odd, Dr G).
I started contracting a lot and it was getting painful after that. The Dr also put an internal monitor on the baby
at that point. He ordered an ultra sound to make sure it was placed
right. I got the ultra sound and then my epidural around 9:30 AM. At this point I was a five and assumed I would dilate
a centimeter an hour. I figured we would have our little girl around
2:00 or 3:00 PM! Then I took a nap and Hubbs got some breakfast. I
text my mom at 10:23 AM to let her know I was at a six and going to take
a nap. Susan came in to check me again around 10:30 and told Kevin to guess where I was. He was being optimistic
and said a 7, I was at an 8! I started getting nervous. This was
going to happen quicker then I thought. I was thinking I had a while to
prepare.
We talked with her
for about ten minutes and as she was leaving she looked at the monitor
and said "are you feeling anything with this contraction?" I was, a bit
of pressure! She checked me and said, you are complete! The monitor
came off the baby and she asked another nurse to call Dr R. Hubbs didn't hear her say I was complete and assumed the Dr was being called because of the monitor. I kept looking at Hubbs with a nervous look, it was sooo fast and our little girl was coming. He just sat there all relaxed in the middle of the room as Susan bustled around. He kept looking at me like "what"? Dr. R called Susan back and there wasn't any way he was going to make it so he said he was sending Dr. G down again. Hubbs finally asked if he missed something and Susan laughed, that is when he realized it was time.
As the nurses were setting up Susan kept telling the techs to not put certain things in spots and to hurry. Obviously Dr. G is very picky. Susan
even told one tech, don't do that or you will hear about it. Dr.
G arrived and started barking orders, nicely. He kept telling the
techs to update his card with info of things that were wrong. It was
quite funny. He was very kind to Hubbs and I. I started pushing at 11:00AM and she was here by 11:09! He pulled the poor girl out and held her upside down for about 30 seconds. My nurse tried to put her upright and he said it was better for her to be upside down for a minute. All I could see through my tears was her little toes. She needed a bit of oxygen so they took her straight to the table and did there stuff.
Hubbs got to hold her first and finally showed me her face. What an angel!
An easy labor makes a huge difference compared to a long hard one!
(DS labor was 18 hrs, 3 1/2 hours of pushing) So labor was only about 4 and a half hours long (if you don't count the
weeks of contracting before:>) About 3 weeks ago I told Hubbs it was up to him to decide on her name. I was sick of thinking about it and changing my mind. After Hubbs handed our little girl to me I asked him what he decided. Hallie Dawn She is such a good baby and hardly ever cries. She sleeps in 5 hour intravels at night so I can't complain. DS loves her and constantly wants to hold her. We are all sooo happy she is here!
Copied from my blog : My surro babe I carried for a dear friend
How do you put into words one of the most amazing experiences of your
life? I have been trying to figure that out for the last week. I guess I
will just try by writing about that day.
I woke up at 5:50 AM and called the hospital to check and make sure they
were still ok for us to come in and they were. I text B "they are still
planning on us, see you at 7 mama!" She text me back "Yay ok! Holy
crap! "
I hurried and got ready (that is one reason I love inductions, I even
got to curl my hair) and woke up hubbs to get ready. I kissed my
littleones goodbye while they slept knowing they would be in good hands
with my sister and we were off! It felt so unreal driving to the
hospital knowing I was giving birth to a baby that day. This whole thing
has just been surreal. Like I go through the motions but none of it
seems real. We arrived at the hospital and met B and N in the lobby,
took a pic and off to check in. When we got to the desk we explained to
them that I was the gestational carrier and that they were the mom and
dad. This would be the first time of many that this fact would be pushed
aside. No one at the hospital quite knew what to do with our situation.
We had tried to talk with them about it a few months ago and they made
it seem like they would figure it out once we were actually there. But
here we were and still no one knew what to do.
Our sweet nurse took us into the room and had me change into that lovely
hospital gown, asked me a zillion questions, hooked up my IV and
started monitoring the baby's heart rate and my contractions. I let them
know that I would like my epidural before they broke my water because
in the past once my water breaks I dilate fast and baby is here within
45 minutes. She checked me and I was at a 4, they started the fluids and
pitocin. I told them I would need lots of fluid before my epidural
because in the past my blood pressure has gone down really fast when I
get it if I don't have a ton of fluid first.
The doctor from the office upstairs came down and said he would break my
water, luckily my nurse told him I wanted my epidural first, yay for a
listening nurse! Soon after that the anesthesiologist came in and gave me
my epidural. Hubbs loves to watch and this anesthesiologist was really
nice and explained everything to him, not so sure I liked hearing about
what was really happening back there. B stayed up by me and N waited in
the hall. My blood pressure did great and the anesthesiologist said he
gave me the epidural a different way then I am used to (usually it is
effective immediately) and that within 20 min it should be in full
effect.
After about a half hour I told hubbs that I was pretty sure it wasn't as
strong as I would like. I mean hey if I am going to have an epidural I
don't want to feel the pain, right? At this point I could still move my
feet, legs, hips, etc. I explained to them that I could squeeze my butt
cheeks and feel it, not a good sign of a working epidural. Mainly I just
felt that tingling feeling but not numb. In the past I have been able
to feel the pressure of contractions and when to push and when baby was
born, just not the pain. I really like it that way I was a bit
nervous about the whole epidural not working properly thing. B kept
teasing me because my heart rate would go up when we would talk about
it.
I wanted to tell my nurse but she hadn't been in the room for a while.
The hospital was doing a training that day and our nurse had to keep
leaving to attend parts of it. I was quite irritated because it seemed
to slow everything down quite a bit and made me question the type of
care baby and I were getting. That makes me sad because my last two
little ones were born at that hospital and I LOVED it and felt very
cared for.
Finally she came back in with my Dr who was there to break my water, it
was about 10:15 AM at this point and I was in between a 4 and 5 so not
much progress. He asked if I wanted him to wait until they fixed the
epidural or not but I told him no and to go ahead and break it. After my
water was broken we thought everything would go quick like with my
previous births. Unfortunately baby's heart tones kept going down with
my contractions so the nurse would have to stop the pitocin. I was laid
down, put on my side and given oxygen. Baby Sweet got a heart monitor
put on his head so they could track him better. Also the anesthesiologist
came back and fixed my epidural, yay!
Around 11:00 AM everyone decided to show up at the same time (B's mom,
step dad, sister, stepdaughter, dad, step mom and my parents and Jean who is my sister and B's sister in law)
We had quite the amount of people in and out of our room from that point
on until little baby Sweet was born. Every one was so excited. It was
fun to have Jean (L&D nurse at another hospital) there and ask her questions about how things were and
what they did differently.
Well after a few hours of slowly upping the pitocin and then turning it
back down because baby's heart tones were bad and one instance when my
blood pressure went way down (the anesthesiologist came running in and
had to give me some medicine to bring it back up quickly) my Dr decided
it was a good idea to give me a amnioinfusion. This is where they put
water back up in my uterus to see if it would help with baby's heart
tones/dips when I would contract. They were thinking he is laying on the
cord so when I contract it squeezes it too hard. The water will help
with the pressure. At this point we had no pitocin going and I was only
dilated to a 5 still.
After about 30 min my Dr came back in to see if that was helping and if
we could start the pitocin again. Well guess what, I was at a 10 and had
been contracting on my own! I knew we were getting close because I had
started to feel the urge to push. After that things moved quick.
Everyone was out of the room, nurses and tables were brought in. This
was it!
Of course things weren't perfectly smooth. Baby Sweet was facing up so
my amazing Dr. had the ultrasound machine brought in so they could try
and turn him. Hubbs was up by my head and helped hold my leg, the
ultrasound machine was next to him, behind the ultrasound machine/Hubbs B
stood and back in the corner on a couch N waited. ( I am sure it was
not the most comfortable thing for N to be in there through some of it
and I totally appreciate that he stayed in the back trying not to see
much).
Through the next few contractions my Dr. had me push slightly while he
turned baby Sweet head down, so glad it work! After that his next
concern was still baby Sweets heart tones, they kept dipping and I
could tell they were worried. My Dr warned me that at some point he may
have to use the forceps if we couldn't get him out fast enough. Well I
pushed super hard for about the next 5 to 10 minutes through
contractions and we made really good progress, I forgot how exhausting
it is! Hubbs was so supportive and encouraging, I love that about him.
Well all of a sudden my Dr said we needed to get baby Sweet out now. He
grabbed the forceps and with one more push the little miracle was here!
I had made sure to discuss with my nurse/Dr that baby Sweet be taken to
the warmer table first, not put on my tummy (I wanted his mommy to be
the first to hold/touch him). My Dr lifted him up so I could see him and
then handed him to the nurse to take him to the warming table. I looked
at Hubbs and started to cry, then I looked over at B and seriously the
world stood still. Being able to see the look on her face, tears in her
eyes as she heard her babys first cries will forever be a mental image
that I hold close to my heart. I don't think I have ever seen such joy,
happiness, relief and love on someone's face before. I started bawling.
We were all crying. You wanna know the first thing B did then, she ran
over to me and hugged me and thanked me. Then she threw her arms
around Hubbs and thanked him. I asked her what she was doing and told
her to get over there and see her baby. Hubbs mentioned to me that after
witnessing this he could see what I had seen all along, this outcome
and how happy they are. This moment is what made this whole journey for
us completely worth it.
It was also amazing to watch her and N see him for the first time and hold him. Then they let me have a turn holding him.
Baby Sweet
2.28.13
7 lbs 20 1/2" long
The next few days were fun having both our families come meet baby Sweet
and visit. It was also so fun to get to witness B and N with their new
baby. They are such good parents and are so extremely happy to finally
have their little baby! I am feeling great and am so happy for them. It
was everything and more of how I imagined it.
The hospital definitely had no clue what they were doing with a
surrogate baby. B and N were supposed to have the baby bracelets, Baby
Sweet was supposed to go by baby Sweet but the hospital had him down as
mine, they had me sign all the documents having to deal with baby Sweet.
We went through all the legal work so he would be theirs the moment he
was born. We were hoping they would be able to have their own room at
the hospital but it all just confused the staff. B and I stayed in my
room and everyone would come visit. We tried giving our legal papers to
the staff numerous times but no one wanted them or would listen to us.
When it all came down to it the hospital even made me sign the birth
certificate telling us that we would have to get it changed through
vital records. Basically the hospital didn't know how to handle it, and
had us do all the wrong things. It was a huge mess when we left the hospital. I should have never signed
the birth certificate and vital records had a hard time correcting it.
At one point they were even saying B and N were going to have to adopt
their own baby from me. We weren't about to let that happen, that's why
we got the pre birth order before he was born.
The hospital now is having a hard time trying to figure out how to bill
everything. On their records they only had a sweetsbabymama baby at
their hospital belonging to me. Well legally he is baby sweet, a baby
sweetsbabymama doesn't exist. At the time it all seemed stressful and
upsetting to me, especially just having a baby, being hormonal and
having the director of the hospital tell me I have to sign a birth
certificate and documents for a baby that isn't mine. Legally we left
the hospital and baby Sweet was mine going home with another mama. It is
a good thing we were friends/family or it would have been a lot more
awkward and could have been a bigger mess.
It was all worked out in the end and everything is good but there was a
lot of stress and things to work out that shouldn't have happened.
Re: Anyone want to share their labor and delivery stories?
I have had 2 scheduled csections due to macrosomia, btw. DS was 10 lbs 4 oz and 22 inches long and DD was 11 lbs 1.5 oz and 22.5 inches long. I was given the option both times to wait it out but I'm really glad I didn't. As much as I'd love a cool birth story, I know I'm not woman enough to push that out of my lady bits.
Our family members came in to see me in the recovery room. I was still shaking. Finally the epidural wore off and they gave me a morphine pump. I loved that morphine pump and was sad to see it go the next day!
11:27 AM
Hallie Dawn
was born on March, 11 2010 at 11:09 AM
7 lbs 9 oz 19 1/2" long
We got up at 5:00AM and called the hospital, they told us to be there at 6:00AM. We got ready, ate a small breakfast and were on our way! Luckily Katie came home early from school and stayed the night with us so DS could sleep at home and not be up so early.
When we got there I was at a 3 1/2 and 80% effaced. We had the most wonderful nurse EVER! Her name was Susan and she was amazing. With DS I had really crummy nurses so this was a relief. I was hooked up and pitocin started by 6:45. I was having "lates", that is what they called it. Her heart rate would drop after each contraction and take a while to get back up. So she was lacking oxygen. My nurse had to keep coming in and repositioning me and I was also put on oxygen. We decided it was best to brake my water around 8:00AM. The doctor that was supposed to be on call (whom I really liked, Dr R) was at another hospital so he asked the one up in the office to come down and do it (whom I had never met and he is a little odd, Dr G).
I started contracting a lot and it was getting painful after that. The Dr also put an internal monitor on the baby at that point. He ordered an ultra sound to make sure it was placed right. I got the ultra sound and then my epidural around 9:30 AM. At this point I was a five and assumed I would dilate a centimeter an hour. I figured we would have our little girl around 2:00 or 3:00 PM! Then I took a nap and Hubbs got some breakfast. I text my mom at 10:23 AM to let her know I was at a six and going to take a nap. Susan came in to check me again around 10:30 and told Kevin to guess where I was. He was being optimistic and said a 7, I was at an 8! I started getting nervous. This was going to happen quicker then I thought. I was thinking I had a while to prepare.
We talked with her for about ten minutes and as she was leaving she looked at the monitor and said "are you feeling anything with this contraction?" I was, a bit of pressure! She checked me and said, you are complete! The monitor came off the baby and she asked another nurse to call Dr R. Hubbs didn't hear her say I was complete and assumed the Dr was being called because of the monitor. I kept looking at Hubbs with a nervous look, it was sooo fast and our little girl was coming. He just sat there all relaxed in the middle of the room as Susan bustled around. He kept looking at me like "what"? Dr. R called Susan back and there wasn't any way he was going to make it so he said he was sending Dr. G down again. Hubbs finally asked if he missed something and Susan laughed, that is when he realized it was time.
As the nurses were setting up Susan kept telling the techs to not put certain things in spots and to hurry. Obviously Dr. G is very picky. Susan even told one tech, don't do that or you will hear about it. Dr. G arrived and started barking orders, nicely. He kept telling the techs to update his card with info of things that were wrong. It was quite funny. He was very kind to Hubbs and I.
I started pushing at 11:00AM and she was here by 11:09! He pulled the poor girl out and held her upside down for about 30 seconds. My nurse tried to put her upright and he said it was better for her to be upside down for a minute. All I could see through my tears was her little toes. She needed a bit of oxygen so they took her straight to the table and did there stuff.
Hubbs got to hold her first and finally showed me her face. What an angel! An easy labor makes a huge difference compared to a long hard one! (DS labor was 18 hrs, 3 1/2 hours of pushing) So labor was only about 4 and a half hours long (if you don't count the weeks of contracting before:>)
About 3 weeks ago I told Hubbs it was up to him to decide on her name. I was sick of thinking about it and changing my mind. After Hubbs handed our little girl to me I asked him what he decided. Hallie Dawn She is such a good baby and hardly ever cries. She sleeps in 5 hour intravels at night so I can't complain. DS loves her and constantly wants to hold her. We are all sooo happy she is here!