Delivery

The nurse called Dr. Lowder and he arrived quickly.  We got everything set up, but had to wait for two NICU nurses to arrive (the extra people that the meconium earned me).

We reallized that Kate was still in the room.  I asked Savannah to take her out, but Kate said she wanted to stay.  So we let her stay.  I told her to sit in a chair, but she wanted to be up watching the action.

Finally the NICU nurses arrived and I was given permission to push (I'd been ready to push for about 15 minutes, but we had to wait for everyone to be there).

I really only had to do one full push.  My dr had me push a little, then had me stop, then a little more, then stop.  Because of the meconium, delivery had to be very slow so he could suction out Gabe's mouth so he wouldn't swallow any of the meconium.  Finally he gave me permission to really push, and out came Gabe at 5:32pm!

I reached down and grabbed my baby boy and pulled him up to my chest.

As soon as Gabe was born, my dr told the NICU nurses that my baby was fine and gave them permission to leave.  I was so glad it all went so well.

And there was Kate, watching it all!  My dr. thought it was hilarious.  She wasn't freaked out at all.  It just made perfect sense to her.  I'd told her all along that the baby was in my tummy and that my dr would take him out.  So when she saw him come out, she was just like, "Yep!  There's my baby!"

Scott got to cut the cord.

I'm always amazed by the instant love I feel for my babies after they are born.  And also the instant familiarity.  I spend 9 months with them growing inside of me, wondering what they will look like, but the second I see them I feel like I've known them forever.  Gabe was perfect and I loved him.

Kate couldn't wait to climb up next to her new baby brother.

 

 

 

Before delivering Gabe, I had two major fears. One was that there would be something wrong with Gabe.  I knew the risks of having a baby at my age, and I worried that he might have some things wrong with him.  But he was perfect.  My second fear was having complications in delivery.  My risk of bleeding was high because I'd had so many babies already (your risk goes up after 5).  But, delivery also went perfect.  Labor was short (3 1/2 hours) and bleeding was minimal.  (Here are the gross pictures that my dr always tells me to take--bag of water and placenta.) 

Labor Story

This last pregnancy was a hard one and seemed to last forever.  But, it finally came to an end.  Here I am the day before I delivered.

February 18th, I was supposed to check in to the hospital at 7am to be induced.  I called at 6am to make sure they had room for me, and was told they were full and I'd have to wait.  I tried to go back to sleep, but couldn't.  At 8am I called again.  Still no room.  Soon the kids started to wake up for the morning, and were disappointed to see me still home.  We all got up and got ready, and then just sat and waited and waited and waited.  I finally called again at 11 and was told the next room to open up would be mine.  They told me to go ahead and come in, but that I might still have to wait a bit once I got there.  I decided I'd rather wait there at the hospital than at home.  So, Scott and I got our bags and loaded up along with Savannah and Sara and we headed to the hospital.

I have this same picture with every one of my kids.  At the entrance to the hospital.

We arrived just after noon, and waited about 20 minutes before finally getting back to our room.  I was just getting settled when Dr. Lowder came by.  He needed to head in to a surgery, so he needed to break my water.  I didn't have my IV started yet, so labor hadn't started yet, but he went ahead and broke my water.  We discovered I had meconium in my water.  Savannah was my only other baby to have that.  My dr said, "It will be ok, it just earns you a few more people in here at delivery".  After he left, the nurse went to work getting my IV started (two tries before she got it).  And then the Pitocin started.  I always get sick and throw up as the Pitocin starts, but this time I didn't, which was nice.  My nurse started my Pitocin pretty low and turned it up very gradually.  She said, "I really don't like to stress out meconium babies, so we'll take this slow".  It was probably around 2:00 when I finally started to have contractions.

We had planned to have Savannah and Sara come in for the delivery.  They really wanted to experience the whole thing from start to finish.  So they spent the entire time with me.

 

Contractions started to get stronger.

 

Scott rubbed my feet to help me manage the pain. 

I finally asked for my epidural around 4:00.  I wanted to experience some of the labor pain, but didn't want to wait till it got too bad.  After the epidural, I felt great.  We had my parents bring the rest of the kids in to see me.

Owen thought the room smelled bad (that sterile hospital smell). 

Aaron had done his best to dress up and do his hair so he would look good for his new brother.

Owen couldn't get over the smell and was really upset by it.  I was really sad, because he had been so excited about Gabe being born, but he was so upset over the smell that he just wanted to leave.

We tried to get him to try on a mask to help the smell, but he just wanted to leave.

So I had Scott walk the boys and my parents back out to the waiting room.  Kate wanted to stay a bit longer, so she stayed with Savannah and Sara.  I wasn't in any pain because of the epidural, but I started to get really really tired. 

I closed my eyes and rested while the girls and Scott just waited.

Kate loved that she got to hang out with us.

I started to feel really light headed, and I knew that it was almost time.  I put on an oxygen mask, and the nurse checked me to see if I was ready.  I was ready!