Part Two: The BIRTH
About 30 mins after the kiddos left, the nurse and midwife came in to have a talk with us. When laboring with the twins i never did progress past 8.5 cm--after 6 hrs of sitting (well in actuality, writhing in pain) we were hauled in to the OR for a c-section. So, the midwife basically told us they wouldn't allow things to get that far, and considering i was still sitting at 4.5-5 cm (which is exactly how dilated i was two weeks ago) after 7 hours of pitocin they were not going to let it go on much longer. We decided to break my water and insert an internal monitor to really gauge what was happening with my contractions.
Really that's all it took. My water broke, and the seriously awful pain and pressure came out of nowhere...like 0-10 in less than 2 minutes. My plan of making it with no epidural quickly vanished. I first told the nurses that the pressure was awful and i thought i needed to push, but my complaints were pushed off as they thought there was no way things could have happened that quickly.
When they left the room, in tears i told mike i couldn't stand pain like i was experiencing if i still had such a long way to go. So instead we agreed to the epidural. An hour later...and a very awful hour at that the anesthesiologist finally came to set me up. By that point i could have cared less what they were going to do to me. The pressure was so awful i could hardly focus.
Immediately after the epidural, the pain let up almost completely except that awful pressure was still there and my lower back and the backs of my thighs were still in intense pain through every contraction. The anesthesiologist didn't think that sounded normal at all and went to find my midwife. They came back together, the midwife checked me to see what was going on and was surprised to see that #3 was right there and trying to come out. She basically said "you need to push now". To which i was like, "yeah..no kidding". I've needed to push for the past hour and a half. 15 minutes later, my 10 lb 8 oz baby was laying on my stomach and crying.
The pushing was honestly a relief and since i had only had the epidural for about 15 minutes i could still move my legs and feel the contractions coming and work with them--and that made the pushing go much easier--which was one of the main reasons i didn't want an epidural to begin with. That and i wanted to avoid the tearing if possible--but having a 10.8 lb baby really didn't help that situation anyway.
It was honestly one of the craziest, but most awesome things i have ever done. Although of course nothing can compare to what it's like to have your first children--in a way this was like the first time for me. With the twins, so much went wrong--i wasn't even awake for the c-section and then i was in recovery for 36 hours. That is 36 hours that i didn't even get to lay eyes on the babies i had worked so hard to have and grow. Of course i was just so thankful to have delivered the twins safely and be blessed with such healthy children, but i really did feel like i missed out on something so awesome and perfect. With this #3 i really longed to experience childbirth, and be the first to hold this baby that had been growing inside me for the past 9.5 months. I am so incredibly thankful to have had the opportunity to do just that.
As Davis was coming out i was really just in shock. The midwife placed him right on my stomach. I was able to wipe him off and hold him and snuggle him. I was able to breastfeed and bond with him for almost 2 hours before they ever even took him away to check him out. It was the biggest high of my life. He was so perfect and so big and i couldn't believe that little person was just inside of me a few minutes before. Totally Awesome.
The Plan
He's Here!
Yep, look closely. Proof (as if you needed any, by his chubby cheeks) that he really does weigh 10.8lbs. We were shocked by the way that he weighed that much. We had been told a few weeks ago they thought he was around 8 lbs. so we were thinking with him being overdue he'd be more like 9 lbs. Surprise. Huge Baby!
first bath
first diaper...although mike and i had already been pooped on multiple times in the couple of hours we had him before they took him away to check him out!
one VERY HAPPY momma
