I honestly cannot believe that I am actually writing a Birth Story about my very own child from my very own womb!! An Infertility Fighter's dream come true!
In all honesty I really thought that Séamus was going to come early and in my heart of hearts I wanted him to come on July 17th because that was the Opening Day of Disneyland back in 1955. But like most children he had his own plans...including going 5 days past his due date 😐 which let me tell you makes for one anxious Mama. And that just goes to tell you how off my Mother's Intuition was! haha. Thankfully though he didn't make us wait an entire 13 days like
Finnley did (which was
way more nerve wracking).
Before I go into all the details I need to update you a bit on our like in July...because seriously how many hiccups can be added to ones life just mere weeks before you due date? On June 28th Cooper, our 11 year old dog, was diagnosed with diabetes and now requires twice daily insulin shots. So now our schedule needs to be more regimented as we need to ensure that he gets in injections in a timely manner. Additionally a few days after the 4th of July, Thomas was diagnosed with the Shingles 😁. So off he went to isolation at his parents house (2+ hours away) and his mom came to stay with me, just in case I went into labor (and to help with the girls) while Thomas was gone. Again I was convinced that I was going to go into labor while Thomas was gone and he was going to miss the birth of our child. But Séamus hung on and waited until we knew that Thomas was in the clear to be present at his birth!
On July 18, I had a membrane sweep to see if we couldn't get things moving along. Then my due date came along and nothing, then again on July 23 I had a second membrane sweep and was convinced that I was going into labor. Mostly I was hoping I was in labor since it was my Midwife's on call day at the hospital and I really wanted her to deliver my baby. So we went in for a labor check but it turns out I was just feeling some cramping from the sweep and the pain dissipated. I was glad to go in though for one more "consult" with my midwife and we were able to go through some of the consents for delivery. The next morning I woke up with some more contractions, but they were bearable and we took Ellie to swim lessons (Finnley had to stay out of the water since neither Thomas or myself could go into the pool with her). My hope was to get on an exercise ball while Ellie was swimming but the contractions were too strong that all I wanted to do was sit and watch swimming. Once we left (and I hit the bathroom) my contractions went away and we were able to go about our day as usual.
On Wednesday July 25th, I woke up and practically immediately started having some pretty strong contractions. I tried to deal with them out in the living room and sent my midwife a text where she thought it might be early labor!! She recommended coming into the clinic for a labor check...unless they got strong enough and close enough I should head to the hospital/midwifery center. My plan was to ride it out until the clinic opened but my contractions started to get stronger to I thought going into the shower would help me relax and breathe through. They just got worse...so bad in fact I couldn't even yell for Thomas that I thought we should just head to the midwifery center and the fact that I couldn't talk/yell confirmed to me that it was actual labor. So I started banging on the wall of the shower hoping it was loud enough for him to hear (he was out in the living room with the girls). He heard me!! he came into the bathroom and I said it was time to go - he went to get the girls ready to go and gather up the rest of our things, while I got out and barely made it to the bed. He came in and got me dressed (including putting my hair up) and then out to the car we went. I had to call the midwifery center to let them know we were on our way so they could send a nurse over and we made it there in record time. The contractions were so intense I don't really even remember the drive.
Once we got to the midwifery center (at 9:20am), I went into the triage room and couldn't make it onto the bed I doubled over on the chair they had in there and the nurse had to hook me up to the monitors from there until the contractions subsided enough for me to climb onto the table. When the midwife on call checked me I was already dilated to a 7+ and they moved me into the labor room. First they had be go to the bathroom then we tried the bathtub...but I was so nervous that I would deliver him in the tub that I wanted to get out and I spent the rest of my time rolling around on the bed trying to get comfortable. By then I was dilated to almost a 10 and was pushing...they went to get Thomas, who was just coming back in from getting the girls into his brother's car, and we all thought that Séamus would come in a matter of pushes. Unfortunately part of my cervix was just not softening and despite the Midwife's attempts to manually hold it out of the way, my insane pushes and the use of gas & air he was just not budging. The Midwife suggested that we go across the street to the hospital and try an epidural to see if that will help me to "relax" enough to get the lip on my cervix to finish opening up. I agreed and they made the arrangements. It probably took less than 15 minutes to get the transfer set up and me into the wheelchair but with the pain of the contractions it felt like it was taking hours! Once we finally made it into the L&D room in the hospital the anesthesiologist came in and got started on my epidural (he had to give it two tries...which has been standard protocal for all my surgeries all my iv's take two or three tries 😒) and y'all I couldn't feel a thing with that epidural. It worked and my cervix finally dilated fully, my Midwife told me to push and so I did, even though I couldn't feel it. Unfortunately it didn't make a difference and Séamus still wasn't budging. My Midwife had the OB on call come in and try out the vacuum a few times and then ultimately the OB said we should go for a C-Section since all our efforts were not working. I agreed and the amount of people in my L&D room was crazy as they were all preparing for the baby to come and now an Emergency Csection. They wheeled me to the OR and I swear there were at least 18 people in there all prepping to help Baby Boy into the world.
Due to the timing of everything and that we needed to get Baby out as quickly as possible I had to go under General Anesthesia since it would take about 20 minutes or more for another epidural. When I woke up they wheeled be back into the L&D room and there was Thomas holding our Baby. The first words out of my mouth "Does he have a penis??" and then I started to get a little emotional (as I am right now writing this) as I realized that I missed his birth! Thomas handed him to me and all I could do was stare at him. He told me all of his stats and said that he thought we should name him "Séamus Murphy" instead of Séamus Frey as we had been planning on, because of Murphy's Law and I agreed. Very soon after we started nursing and Little Man was so hungry and latched on pretty well! The nurses helped me to get us all situated and then we made the call to Thomas' parents to bring the girls to visit.
When the girls arrived Ellie was over the moon to finally meet her baby brother because she'd been waiting for the longest time for him to arrive and Finnley was ecstatic to get to see Mama and Dada again! Finnley was also excited to meet her brother but not quite as much as Ellie. All Ellie wanted to do was hold him and Finnley was good giving him a kiss and observing from a distance. The most challenging part of it all was the abdominal pain I was in from the surgery. While everyone was visiting I got moved downstairs to my recovery room and we all just enjoyed finally getting to see this sweet little guy that finally made his appearance. After a couple of hours they all left to go back home and then it was just the three of us. Our evening consisted of nurses coming in to give me meds, feeding our boy, staring at him, and just talking.
In the morning the new OB on call came in to check my incision and informed me that my birth canal is too narrow and I would NOT be a candidate for a VBAC should we decide to have another, the pediatrician on call came to check out Séamus, and then Thomas left to go home to do a few things and grab a fan because it was ridiculously hot in our hospital room, while I stayed put in the room with our boy. Thomas arrived back with Ellie in tow because all she wanted to do was hang out with us in the hospital. (It wasn't in our "plan" to be at the hospital so long, I was hoping to deliver at the Midwifery Center where we would have been released 6-12 hours after delivery but now with a Csection we had to stay two nights). Ellie loved being in the room with us and spending time with her baby brother. After a few hours Thomas parents came by for another visit with Finnley and then took both girls home for dinner and bed time. The lactation consultant came by to try and help me work on his latch and I made an appointment for the following week. The photographer in the hospital came by as well and set up an appointment for Séamus to have his hospital newborn photos taken and they were so adorable. We also had all the tests done on our babe that afternoon and he passed his hearing test in less than 5 minutes I swear! Our hope was to be released in the morning as soon as the pediatrician on call came to see Séamus, so we were looking at another night in the hospital.
Séamus had his bilirubin checked and it was a bit elevated so our nurse advised that I feed him as often as possible...so that is just what I did all day long. He was being a great eater but then when nighttime fell we were all three so exhausted that we all slept. We had to try to wake Séamus up to feed but he was just too tired. We had another bilirubin check and his levels were still elevated. Our night nurse suggested I hand express so I whipped out my Haaka and she was so impressed that I was able to get 10ml in less than 15 minutes!! We fed him with a syringe and then he finally latched on for a while and I got to feed him again. It was a little bit freaky, not gonna lie, but it all turned out alright. In the morning the Pediatrician On Call came by and suggested that we try to get an appointment on Saturday or Sunday with our Pediatrician to have a check on his bilirubin again so we made an appointment for Saturday. Then she got all the paperwork in order and we were released and could head home whenever we were ready...we didn't waste anytime and got to gathering up all our stuff. We were out of our room and on the road towards home before 9am and I was so ready to be home.
A couple of notes about our unexpected 3 day stay at the hospital: we got to have the same night nurse, Emily, for both nights and she was the best ever ever!! Our day nurse we had the first day was a bit goofy, she decided she needed to show Thomas how to change a diaper and she proceeded to get Séamus leg stuck in the diaper without even noticing 😳 it was so hard to not laugh at this because it was hilarious but hurt so bad! Our day nurse the second day was not nearly as friendly as Emily, so when Emily showed up again for the night shift I was so excited. Our day nurse the third day seemed like she was going to be great but we were able to leave within her first hour on shift so we didn't get to spend too much time with her. Despite the unexpected stay it really was nice being in the hospital and getting some extra attention with our boy. Although, it has taken us over a week to recover from the uncomfortable beds 🙈.
Even though Séamus birth didn't go as I had hoped, it went as I had planned because my birth plan consisted of "Having a Baby" and I did just that!! I wouldn't change any of it and had complete faith in my providers, their decisions for delivery, and the care I was given. Ultimately, I am just so happy that Séamus is here and we have our 3rd and final baby.
♥ Ashley
