#TheCountdownisOver: The Fabulous Baker Boys are Here!

{PART I: #TheCountdownisOver: Baby Watch 2015}

“She’ll have those babies before I get back.”

My husband's famous last words before leaving to pick up the kids.

Sure enough, he and my mom had just left when began to feel the urge to push. I alerted Nurse Julie. With that declaration, everyone in the room began to scurry and move at an intense pace. Contractions are unbearable.

Glad I spoke up when I did…shortly after being wheeled into the Operating Room and pushing 3 times, we welcomed Baby AJ into the world!

AJ

born 2:20pm

4 lbs. 11 oz.

And the tears begin to flow. Melissa and I can’t believe we did it! Even though I knew the boys would be white, I was still a bit surprised when I first laid eyes on him. HE came out of ME? It was amazing. I kept pushing. Come on, Julio. The sooner he came, the less likely I was going to have a c-section. C'MON JULIO!! I did my best, but the contractions stopped.

“Honey, your body is giving you a break. You need to rest. We’ll wait.

He’s gonna come when he’s ready.” Reassuring words from Dr. K.

Surprising since most doctors are eager to slice and dice a woman’s uterus via C-section. Every. Single. Person who stepped in my room said the word. At one point, it was almost like cussing at me. And I felt like cussing back. ”HELL NO, I AIN’T HAVE NO DAMN CSECTION!!”

Instead I took a deep breath and responded, “No. my doctor will deliver him breech.” She was keeping her promise. I love her for that. Nevertheless, I understand the pressure she in under by the hospital. The not so kind charge nurse had already chided us for the risk we were taking with my life. She was in the OR hovering over us and her negative spirit loomed.

30 minutes pass. 45. Then an 1 hour. By this time, my mom made it back. She literally made a U-turn in her job's parking lot after gettig the text about AJ. "Mommy!!" I reached for her. She rushed in and grabbed my hand.

As my eyes are closed recovering, my ears perk up to listen to any C-section conversations that might be swirling around me. I’m still in pain since nurses are steadily pumping me with Pitocin. My mother is looking around at the staff chit chatting and laughing. “Are they just going to leave you here in pain?” I noticed that the louder I moaned in pain, the more attention the staff would give me. I started wailing for no reason just to get them to notice me.

Emily was enjoying her new bundle when I heard someone say

“Give her some fentanyl.”

I’m the type of person who won’t even take pain relievers for a headache. I honestly have been moving toward more holistic methods of treating illness. My body is probably wondering what the hell I’m doing to it right now - fertility meds, antibiotics, vitamins, iron, Cervadil, Epidural, now this...

“MELISSA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I scream.

'Someone get Melissa. She’s calling for Melissa' the nurses call.

“What is fentanyl?”

'It’s pain medication. It was already in your epidural. It’s not going to make you feel all weird or anything. It’s just going to…'

“Ok. Ok. You can go back to your baby now.”

Dr. K later spoke of the special relationship Melissa and I have. There I am, in the OR with a doctor, several nurses, and a full anesthesia staff. Yet, I needed Melissa (a pharmacist) to comfort me. At that moment, she was the only one I trusted. Didn’t matter anyway. Julio was coming butt first and the medicine was too late.

'Push honey push,' was all I could hear.

“After this I’m going to sleep for 4 days straight”

'Ok, well use that as incentive,' The nurse was on top of my stomach holding her arms parallel to the birth canal so the baby wouldn’t turn or move at the last minute.

'Come on dear!! SLEEP FOR FOUR DAYS! SLEEP FOR FOUR DAYS!” the room chanted during my contraction.

I can feel the baby is partially out. My mom looks down “I can’t see anything but booty” It’s a weird feeling. Here comes another one…I’m pushing and pushing…he’s not coming out fast enough. If I could stand up or squat, this would be much easier. After having all these kids, I still can’t position myself the way I want. I’m so frustrated. The nurse is telling me to hold my breath when I push. Melissa is beside me about to pass out because she’s holding HER breath each time I feel a pain coming on.

The drawback of the epidural is that my legs are numb and my stomach hurts, but I don’t feel the urge to push. Defeats the purpose. Did I mention epidurals suck? Anyway, I feel a sharp pain going from one side of my pelvis to the other. A pain like nothing I’ve ever felt before. I used that pain to push harder than ever. Felt strange but I finally felt his head POP!

Baby Julio has arrived…And he is not happy!

Julio

born ~ 3:30pm

5lb 12oz

In my mom’s words,

“If you were pulled out of the womb by your scrotum, you’d be mad too!”

Unlike his brother, he wasn’t ready to see the world yet. We literally evicted him from his warm, cozy residence. In turn, he was grumpy. I heard him crying and took that as a sign everything was good. However, his lungs were having some problems and he ended up in the NICU. They call it wimpy white boy syndrome.

{I did not make that up! Read more about it here: Weak White Males and the Difference Race Makes in Preemies}

‘You did it! And you were amazing,’ Nurse Julie congratulated me.

“I bet you say that to everyone…” after all that I managed to get a joke out.

‘I honestly don’t.'

“And no C-section.”

“NO C-SECTION!!” the all-female staff proclaimed with high 5’s all around.

Didn’t dawn on me until that moment that I still had to deliver not 1 but 2 placentas. The first delivered pretty quickly. The second had some issues. Dr. K was able to wiggle it away. Then she had to scrape my uterus to be sure there were no remnants.

“I THOUGHT IT WAS OVER!!!” I barked angrily. This hurt worse than the labor!

‘Yes dear, I’m just making sure I didn’t leave anything in there,’ she calmly responded with her arm elbow high up my whoo-hah. She kissed my forehead and whispered, ‘You did a great job.’

“Thank you and I’m sorry for yelling at you…”

More tears. This has truly been a roller coaster from beginning to end. And it’s not over.

Emily comes over with a signature blue box wrapped in a white bow.

“Get away from me with that box. GET AWAY FROM ME WITH THAT BOX!”

‘What can you give a person who has done something like this for you?” she cried.

I wish a camera could capture the pure love and sincerity in the moment.

Completely exhausted... No other words to describe how I feel right now. Not long after being wheeled in recovery, I was greeted by my wonderful family. I could barely keep my eyes open.

‘Mommy, are you still pregnant?’ my youngest son is pressing on my stomach.

“No, I’m not. Now please stop. That hurts” before drifting off again.

I wake up periodically as my mom and family kiss me goodbye. I’m oblivious to it all. My body has 6 months of lost sleep to make up for. The magnitude of what just happened doesn’t hit me until 12 hours later….

{Part III: In the Still of the Night}