Birth Story, Part II: Delivery

LukeMotherhoodZoey

Mar 27

Written By Kristen

(If you haven't already, you can read Part I [about my labor] here.)

So, 9:30 PM-ish, I got taken to the OR, my husband with me and what seemed like about 15 doctors, nurses, etc. It was crowded in there!

Honestly, the first part of being in the OR is a blur. Bright lights. Lots of activity. I was scared and my husband was calming me down. There was a basketball game on the radio, kind of quiet in the background. They moved me from my bed to this table with big black boot-like things for my legs, and my husband joked this was the closest I was going to get to snowboard boots this year.

And then the doctor took a look at me and said, kind of panicked, "I need everyone ready NOW! This baby's crowning, one push and he'll be out. Look at the head of dark hair! And where the hell's the anesthesiologist?Somebody get him here NOW!"

My husband stood at my side, and somebody said there was a contraction coming, and the doctor told me to push as hard as I could to the count of ten, and then to do that two more times. I pushed hard, until I was out of breath, but I didn't feel a thing.

Another contraction came, and she had me push again. And then another, and the doctor said, "here he comes," and then I heard a baby cry and somebody said "she." (Everyone had thought our boy was in position to be born first, but it actually turned out to be our girl.)

My husband was crying, and they put our daughter on my chest for a minute, she was so beautiful, I felt so much love the second I saw her. And then they took her away to check on her and my husband went with her and I was listening to make sure she was OK, I'm sure I asked if she was OK, too, because one of my fears was that the babies would not be healthy. And then it was a couple minutes later and my husband was back at my side, (still crying, so sweet) and I did three more sets of pushes and out came our boy. I felt him slip out of my body, but no pain whatsoever. Actually, I'm really grateful I had the epidural, because he came out with his arm beside his head and I tore...I cannot imagine how painful that would have been without drugs.

Again, they gave him to me for a minute, again the crazy intense love, then they took him away to check on him and my husband went with the babies, which they handed to him not long after. He went to introduce them to the grandparents, too, who were waiting in my room. I hated that the babies were taken away, but the doctor had to sew me up and that took some time. Blood everywhere, it seemed like. And I was shown the placenta, which was really big...the two placentas had grown together.

My husband came back shortly after, still all teary (love him for that) and we just held hands and said over and over, "We did it, we did it, we did it."

Without a doubt one of the happiest moments of my life. So crazy how fast it happened though...no one ever tells you things could happen like that.

"You were born to birth babies," my doctor said, and my husband said something about me being the birth goddess. It was incredible for it to happen so smooth and easy, so incredibly grateful...

Here are some pictures: