For those of you not on facebook, you might not have heard that David Daniel Thomas was born on Monday, August 29, 2011 at 1:45pm via cesarean section. He was 9 lbs 2.4 oz and 21 inches long. He is gorgeous and wonderful and we are so glad to be home and have him be a part of our family.
For those of you who want to know more details, I’ll do my best to blog about my birth experience, although I still can’t talk about it without crying. Those who don’t want to know all the details, feel free to just look at the pictures.
Paul holding David
Brian and Christian holding David
Brian LOVES him!
His going home outfit
Christian kisses him as often as possible
Christian was trying to help burp David
I asked Aaron to help burp him the other morning. I can’t believe how big he’s getting!
Now for David’s birth story. We chose to be induced 4 days after his due date so that my own doctor could deliver my baby. I could have been induced a week early by another doctor in my OB’s practice, but my doctor wasn’t able to induce me before she went out of town without a medical reason to take the baby early. (In hind sight, I REALLY wish we had been able to do that, but unfortunately we didn’t know then what was going to happen).
We arrived at the hospital at 5:20am for our scheduled induction and the hospital was kinda busy. We waited an hour before they put in my IV (which really hurt!) another half an hour before they put the IV in the pump to start giving me fluid, then half an hour later my doctor arrived to tell me she wanted to wait until after she did another c-section before she got started with me. So again we waited. An hour later they started my oxytocin. One more half an hour later Dr. Corovessis broke my water then another half an hour later I got my epidural. We waited another hour and a half before the doctor came back to check me again.
At this point she told me I was progressing well, had gone from 3-4cm to 7cm, but she could feel that his left hand was resting on top of his head. Yep, he was waving at us! She and the nurses had me shift positions a few times trying to get him to move his arm and she tried to move his arm physically too. At this point I was at 9cm and it was 11:30am. A few minutes later I began to push.
After pushing for nearly an hour and a half my doctor made the decision that I needed to have a cesarean section. David still had his left hand on top of his head which could have caused him damage and made it difficult for me to deliver him. He also had his head turned off kilter, he was trying to come out a little crooked, thus making it even more difficult for me to deliver him. While I was nervous at the thought of having a c-section, I trusted my doctor and knew it was for the best.
David was born at 1:45pm and came out looking pretty beat up. His left hand was all puffy, there was a small dent in his head where his hand had been resting, and his face was all puffy where he had tried to come out sideways. Paul said he looked like he had been in a fight! Paul took him to the nursery and we found out he was 9 lbs 2.4 oz. They called back to the OR to tell us and my doctor said “Wow, He really WASN’T going to fit!” The nursery didn’t give him back to us for several hours as they had to clean him up and run several tests, but by the time I was able to hold him for the first time he looked great.
Dr. Corovessis holding David SECONDS after being born
See how beat up he looks!
I however, was completely unprepared for the after effects of the c-section. First of all, I assumed that I would have an easy delivery since things went so well with my delivery of Christian. I had never entertained any thoughts of having a c-section and really didn’t know what to expect. There are still several emotional repercussions from that.
I’m grateful for the epidural which allowed me to have a successful surgery without any pain. One effect of the medication, the procedure, and a very cold operating room, was that I was shaking uncontrollably for over an hour. That was pretty annoying! The epidural also made me itch like crazy for about 24 hours. Also pretty annoying.
I’m also grateful for the pain meds which I am on here at home which allow me to manage the pain from my incision. I am healing well, but it DOES hurt and I’ve been told it may continue to hurt for a long time. Today was better than yesterday though and I am hopeful I will continue to feel better everyday.
David is nursing GREAT! My other boys all had trouble nursing while in the hospital, but David nursed so well that my milk came in while I was still in the hospital. That’s good and bad, but mostly good that he’s doing so well.
I’m very grateful to my mom who stayed at my house for 4 days while I was in the hospital. She took care of my boys when I wasn’t able to and I knew I didn’t have to worry about them at all. Thanks mom!
I’m also very grateful for all the love and support my friends have given me. I got over 60 comments on my Facebook status that he was born! I have felt such an outpouring of love these past few weeks and feel truly blessed. Thanks to all those who have visited and have offered to help. I hope I am as good a friend to them as they all are to me!
For those of you who actually got this far and read all that…wow…you deserve a medal! We’re home, we’re happy, we’re doing great! I am so glad to have my beautiful baby boy here with me and have our family all together. I’m glad they’re mine!
