Warning: It's a LONG post! I wrote this all out for posterity sake, you can just scroll through pictures to keep from falling asleep.
Taken about 16 hours after birth
Grayson Frank DeVito joined our family on April 21, 2011. He was born at 37 week 4 days. He weighed 8 lbs. 15 oz and was 20.5" long.
At 28 weeks the midwife started talking about me having a c-section, because of the difficulty of Isabella's birth and the shoulder dystocia. She was very worried that with a 2nd baby and a boy he would be a bigger baby and would get stuck and could suffer permanent damage. I was very against having the c-section and was fighting it. The dr. wasn't excited about doi
ng the c-section either. He told us that we should do an ultra sound at 36 weeks and see how the baby was measuring and then we would decide what to do.
At 35.5 weeks my mom came out for her spring break to help me get ready for the baby. We spent the week organizing baby clothes and stuff and cleaning the garage (wh
at else is new??). I booked my 36 week ultrasound early so that she could go with us.
I was nervous going to the u/s but I fully expected to go there and have the tech tell us - no big deal, it's a baby a little on the small side, but only 6 or 7 lbs. I had the whole thing pictured in my mind. Boy was I wrong!
The tech was doing the u/s and said, "are you expecting a big baby?"
Me: "Yes, that's why we are here, my daughter was 10.8 lbs at 39 weeks."
Tech: "Well, I can't tell you anything, but I can show you - look here at the screen."
We all looked at the screen and it was all I could do to not start to cry. He was measuring 8.14
lbs. AT 35.5 WEEKS! She took a couple more measurements and they were ranging fro
m 8.7 lbs to 9.1 lbs. Needless to say, I was freaking out.
The tech told us the dr. would *hopefully* have the results by the end of the day so we could talk to him tomorrow at my appointment. I think I got a call from the mid-wife less than 2 hours later. She said they got the results from the radiologist and the u/s was reading the baby was almost 10 lbs. I was driving while I talked to her - she should have warned me so I could pull over! The next day we went to the dr. and he did another u/s he was measuring the baby at about 8 lbs (with a 40 week head).
At this point he strongly recommended the u/s so that the baby didn't have the risk
of the shoulder dystocia. I reluctantly agreed and we scheduled the c-section for 39 weeks. The dr. was going to be out of town for the 10 days prior to that date.
Throughout my pregnancy I suffered from SPD - my pelvis was KILLING me and it was gettin
g worse by the minute it seemed like. At my 37 week appointment I was getting very anxious about the c-section, the pain, the doctor leaving out of town and me going into labor while he's gone and another dr. having to do the c-section. He wouldn't reschedule the c-section fo
r before he went on vacation, but he said he was on call on Thursday night. I told him I would be in labor Thursday and I would see him then - he didn't believe me.
I'm a big believer in the law of attraction and now I KNOW that God answers prayers (I knew it before but this was the most specific, desperate prayer I've ever prayed). For 4 days I prayed
that if this baby was healthy that I would go into labor on Thursday so I could have the baby before Dr. Johnson left town.
I also know that God answers prayers, but you have to do what you can to help them alo
ng. I started doing some research on reflexology and starting labor (I didn't want to do anything too drastic that would make me start labor if my body wasn't somewhat ready). Everything said reflexology wouldn't start it unless your body was ready - so I scheduled an appo
intment with my foot zonologist. She came over Wednesday night and zoned me, she g
ave m
e some clary sage essential oil to use. I put some on my feet (in the right spot) and the next morning.
At about 9:30 that morning I started having contractions when I walked (I had be
en having them for about a week) but every time I sat down they would stop. So then I started using the oil heavily and rubbing it on my belly, back and thighs. About 12:30 I started having contractions when I sat down too. I called the dr. to see how far apart I should let them go since I was having the c-section. They told me to start timing them and when they are 10-12 mins apart I should head to the hospital. At 1:00 they were 20 mins apart. I called Fran
k and told him I was in labor. I had stuff I still had to do - I hadn't really expected to go into la
bor - I thought I still had 10 days. I went to get a mani/pedi (you can't have ugly nails when you give birth) and the contractions were about 12-15 mins apart while there - they were about a minute long. I called the dr. office again to tell the dr. that they were getting closer (I tho
ught he might want warning) - it was about 4:00 at this point and the nurse told me I should probably go to the hospital right then. I told her I had some other stuff to do and my husband wouldn't be home until about 5:30 but that I lived 2 mins away so it would be ok.
Frank got home and we headed to the hospital about 6:00. The contractions at this point were about 10 mins apart and 2 mins long - by time we got to the hospital they were 7 mins apart. Once at the hospital I started to get really nervous and the contractions were REALLY strong. Much stronger than they were with Isabella this early in labor. The nurse was just k
ind of puttering around, she checked me and I was only dilated to a 1 but was effaced. She said
she'd go call the dr. but sounded like she thought I would be going home (despite me tellin
g her we had the c-section scheduled). She came back about 6:30 and said, "Good news and bad news, good news is you are having a baby tonight, bad news is it's at 8:00 and you aren't prepped."
(Picture taken while nurse was calling the dr.)
This is when the Larry, Curly, Moe show started. The nurses were scheduled to change shift at 7:30, so they were trying to prep me for the c-section and do a shift change - itwas the comedy of errors (I can say that now that it's over). The nurses were running around like crazy, trying to give me an IV and kept missing - telling me to not flinch despite being mid contraction while they were putting it in - they were trying to tell us what was going to happen, keep track of what drugs they were giving me, making sure I had all mywrist bands, blah, blah, blah. The anesthesiologist came in and pretty much told everybody to calm down and that the surgery wouldn't start without me.
The look of anxiety is because I was freaking out at this point.
They wheeled me into the operating room. On the way, I told the anesthesiologist that I felt like I was going to have a panic attack and I needed some Xanax. He said, "don't worry, the spinal will take care of that." The dr. came into the operating room, said hello, they gave me the spinal and everything after that was incredibly fast and easy! The anethesiologist said, "you'll feel some small tugging and then I'll let you know and you'll feel a big tug and the baby will be born." He turned around and we heard the baby cry he said, "that was fast, I missed it." The total time the dr. was in the hospital including the post op wrap up (whatever they call that when they record what happened) was 28 mins. I has back in recovery 15 mins after the spinal.
Everything went really well, Grayson was completely healthy and beautiful! He was perfect and "only" 8.15 lbs. All the nurses kept commenting how big he was but I felt like he was so little. We are all in love with him. Bella loves him and can't help but touch him and hold him and poke at him (and try to feed him goldfish crackers).
It took us 9 days to find the perfect name for him, but we finally did.
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