I am thrilled beyond words to announce that we now have another boy to join our family! Our little miracle cerclage baby arrived on Monday September 5th at 38 weeks 6 days!!!!
The day was absolutely PERFECT and labor and delivery could not have been any better to be honest. I truly feel like my experience was so wonderful to make up for all of the hard times that we have been through.
My mom arrived here at the house to pick up hubby and I at about 7am. I was very surprised because I was not nervous at all and even said to my mom that I was more nervous on the day that we were heading to hospital for me to have my cerclage placed. Hubby was more nervous than me I think, but I think his excitement played into this big time.
We arrived at labour and delivery at 8am and we were immediately placed into the room that I would be in for delivery. I met my two nurses and WOW was I ever impressed. They were incredible with me and very understanding and compassionate. I was very lucky to end up with the two nurses that I had. I honestly believe that my doctor had talked to them prior to me arriving. At 8:45am my amazing doctor came in to break my water. She asked if I wanted to start pitocin as well but I said I wanted to just see what my body would do on its own first and go from there. She was absolutely fine with that.
Off we went to walk the halls to try and bring on the contractions. I really wanted to avoid pitocin if at all possible. However I was told that most times more than one method is needed for a successful induction so I knew it was always a possibility.
I have to say I am glad it was a holiday because the hospital is always deserted on holidays and therefore my walks and dealing with contractions were not on public display. I was relaxed and trying to just enjoy what I could. On our first walk of the halls I had seven contractions. We had to go back to the room to check baby on the half hour, so our walks by the time checks were done, were only about 20 minutes each. Second walk I think I had about 9 contractions. Third walk they were definitely coming on faster and lasting longer. On my check after that, the nurse told me they were still the mild ones and that they would only get stronger. I thought to myself, "how do you know they are mild?!" LOL!!! They were NOT mild and I knew labour was progressing quickly. The next time we went to walk, it just wasn't going to happen. Contractions were pretty much on top of each other.
By 10:30am I was extremely uncomfortable. The nurse asked me at 10:45am if I wanted an epidural and I told her no. She told me that the the anesthesiologist was going to be going in to a c section at 11am and would be at least an hour. That meant if I did want an epidural during that time, I would have to wait. After a few more contractions I decided to just do it so I could rest and be comfortable.
Epidural was placed however I was still feeling the contractions. They were not as intense, but definitely still there. Turns out about an hour later they realized that the pump that the epidural was running through was not working right. After a change of the pump things settled down.
At 1:30pm I was 6cms dilated and a half hour later I was 8cms. By 3pm I was fully dilated and ready to start pushing. After just over an hour, I got to lay eyes on my beautiful, full term, healthy baby boy. I cannot even put into words how that moment felt. I had been asked by the nurses if I wanted the NICU team to be there for delivery to check baby over (for my peace of mind) or if I wanted to take the baby straight to my chest. That was a very easy decision for me to make. I wanted to experience everything I never had in the past.
At 4:14pm our beautiful son Lachlan Benjamin entered the world. He came out screaming and pink. He weighed in at 7lbs 11oz (much smaller than we were expecting for sure!) and was 19 inches long. Lachlan was a name that daddy really liked but to be honest it did take me a little while to have it grow on me. I didn't like it at all at first when he mentioned it but really grew to love it.
Benjamin was brought up by hubby as well a couple months ago. I had not really even thought of middle names at all yet for boys. Benjamin is my dads name and was also my grandpas. I of course loved the idea of using his name as our boys middle name because he has been one of our biggest supporters over the years and with the pregnancy of Lachlan.
And how incredible to be wheeled out of labour and delivery holding my new baby in my arms as we are taken to our room TOGETHER!!!!!!! I was really hoping to go home the next day however his bilirubin levels were in the high risk category so we had to wait until the following day to have the blood work redone. Thankfully the next day the levels were down but still in the intermediate risk zone. But we were still allowed to go home. Only TWO short days after giving birth!!! Our little man A was 227 days so this was just amazing for us to experience!
Speaking of little man, he was in the waiting room with everyone else while his baby brother was being born. This was the first pictures of them meeting each other.
Since coming home, A has been doing really well with his baby brother joining this household. Actually much better than I thought he would honestly. He already looks at him when you ask where his brother is and when you ask if he loves his brother, he smiles. I am so excited that he will now have a brother to grow up with!
I am loving every single second of being a mommy to two. It is really a big adjustment, but a wonderful one that I wouldn't change for anything. The toughest part has been the getting up in the middle of the night to feed, but the breastfeeding is again something that I always wanted to experience. The bond that I feel with him is again something that I can't even explain.
I really can't believe how good I feel either. I mean I really honestly don't feel like I just had a baby at all. The first few days my arms and shoulders were VERY sorewhich is a common complaint they said because of holding up your legs and pushing so hard. The only pain now that I have is down below if I walk too much or sit a certain way. This is expected though as I did have severe tearing that required lots and lots of stitching. But for just going through something so huge, I feel AWESOME!
Hubby and I are just totally in love. Lachlan is a definite blessing to our lives and one that we really thought at one time would never happen. Thanks to my main high risk doctor (who is in the picture with us below) our dream of having a healthy full term baby came true. It was definitely not an easy road, but the important thing is that he is here and we did it!!!
