The Birth Story: Sometimes NOTHING goes as planned..

On Tuesday July 5th, I noticed that my contractions were coming pretty regularly since about 4am. They weren't super painful, but they were enough that by about 5pm I arranged for my kids to go to my mom's house, and to go into Labor and Delivery to be checked. I was 2cm the last time they checked me a week prior, so when the Dr said I was 4cm I knew something was going on. From the moment I walked through the doors of the Hospital my contractions started getting super painful very quickly. I remember thinking "Thank God we're already here!" The Dr decided to wait an hour and monitor me, then come check me again to see if I had made any progress. Meanwhile my IFs were still with family in Jackson Hole WY from celebrating the 4th of July. We called them and told them what was going on, and they anxiously awaited that hour until we found out of things were progressing or not.

After an hour of breathing through some very painful contractions, I was checked at a 5cm dilation. This was labor. I was admitted, and given a steroid to help with the babies lungs, and again placed on magnesium to give the shots 48 hours to work.

It was pretty awful, I didn't want to get any epidural yet because we were trying to put off the labor, and the magnesium again made me hot, and dizzy, and nauseated. By Wed morning 3am I was on an epidural so that I could get some rest. They performed an ultrasound and both babies were over 4lbs, A was head down and B was transverse with potential to turn vertex. The magnesium slowed my labor down when I had reached 6 cm. At that point they were not going to let me go home because of the risk that my labor could quickly progress and my waters could break when I was away from the hospital. My epidural was removed and I was moved to Anti-Partum. I was still unable to eat or drink while on magnesium and was so starving that I ended up throwing up the first thing I tried to eat after magnesium was removed. Luckily I was able to hold down a bowl of oatmeal. From Wed to Saturday I had continuous contractions. It was every hour, to every 10 minutes, and very painful. I was huge, and uncomfortable, but the most amazing feeling was that my IFs were by my side after a last minute flight from Jackson Hole to SF. They held my hand, and sat by my side for hours and hours at a time. They were so supportive. My husband had support in them as well, they all went to dinner and lunches together and with our kids too. It was truly a family affair.

On Saturday my contractions started picking up again. My nurse kept coming in to adjust my monitors and would see exactly how painful these contractions were and coming on about every 6-7 minutes. Jason was with me and we were watching Agents of Shield, pausing so that I could breathe. My nurse came back in and said my Dr was coming to check me.. I was a 7.5!! Once the decision was made to move me to L&D, they moved fast. A minute later there was a gurney by my bed for me, nurses were packing all of my stuff, and Jason was following close behind as they wheeled me to my delivery room (even though I would be delivering in the OR.) I met my nurse in L&D and we started talking about what to expect, when I would like my epidural etc. I requested the epidural soon as I knew they needed it in in case of an emergency C-Section.

The epidural helped so much and I remember being so incredibly tired, that when the anesthesiologist came in to explain the epidural process while in labor, my eyes were literally closing and I was dreaming in those fraction seconds. I don't think I have ever been so tired. When they left, I rolled to my side and slept. We all did. My IFs fell asleep on the couch, and Jason (bless him) stayed awake in his chair watching me sleep, looking for any sign of discomfort or my water breaking so he could get the nurse. He finally fell asleep at one point, and I was awake because my contractions were now coming every 2 mins and strong enough that I could feel them break through my epidural. They came in to give me some more medicine and checked me. 9cm! They wanted to wait a little longer and left me to rest some more. About an hour later I knew I was ready to push. My water never broke, but I had that incredible urge to push. They checked me, I was a 10 and ready to go! My IFs kissed me goodbye and waited outside double doors while I was pushed into the OR. Baby A was still pretty high up, but I was a 10 so my Dr asked me to give a practice push. "Whoa! Thats good ok stop!" Hahaha every time. My Drs always say, "oh but he's so high up still you have a while..." Nope. I know my body. I'm so happy my Drs listened to me, Stanford had a few other Drs talking to me trying to convince me to just do a c-section since baby B was larger and transverse, but I knew she would come down. I insisted on attempting vaginal. I'm so glad I did because Baby Boy A came out in 1 1/2 pushes and 1 minute, and Baby Girl B came out 3 minutes later and head first just like I knew she would.  The whole thing took 5 minutes total! While pushing out baby girl, the Dr broke my water... poor timing on her part because just like a water balloon ruptures, my waters broke and all over her. I apologized and all the nurses laughed and my Dr started cracking up. "Rookie mistake!" she told me later. It was so funny. I really wished I could have seen my IF's faces when they met their babies for the first time, but I understood after labor started that it would have been way too crowded in that delivery room. There were 20 Drs and nurses, not including Jason and myself and the two other little ones I brought into the room.

Ethan was born at 12:42pm at 4lbs 6oz on July 10th
Violet was born at 12:46pm at 5lbs 7oz on July 10th

 Ethan is still in the NICU but he is getting better and better every day. :)Violet graduated today from the NICU to the intermediate Nursery! She has tried some nursing twice with me, and hasnt been on the breathing machine for a while. YAY!  I am now home and resting and recovering with my family, and blessed that I get to see my IFs every day when I bring milk by the hospital. It was the most beautiful thing seeing them now as a family. Made every single hard moment worth it. Every pain, every discomfort, every time I wanted to cry and give up, because this pregnancy was difficult, totally worth it when I saw those beautiful babies in the arms of their daddies. I am so incredibly blessed that I have the family that I have. My village rallied around me in 100% total support, watching my kids, feeding my husband and family, and cleaning our home and doing laundry. Wow. We were called and visited, loved and enfolded in arms of strength. I never asked my family to sign up for this surrogacy with me, I expected to do this and shoulder the burdens as they came, so to have them step into action for myself and for my family as well as my IFs... Just amazing. So grateful.

Ethan

Violet

I truly gained family in my IFs. I am so happy for them, and it brings me such joy to see them as a family. This is their beginning. I will always be grateful that they trusted me to carry their little cuties. I will always love those two little munchkins, and their incredible fathers.

This was my last surrogacy.. I am now retired as a surrogate and I feel completely and totally happy.

Please view the video my husband took of my delivery below. He started filming after they got my legs up in the stirrups. Beware of the water balloon explosion of amniotic fluid haha... its not gory or anything.. just funny.