The Delivery Story

Three days ago Rhett and Harland turned a week old and I haven't hardly posted anything about those two darling boys! I'll start with the delivery and start posting more about the babies once I download some photos and find some time.

So nine days ago I was in a hospital delivering those boys. I was induced at 7 a.m. and by 11:00 I was in that zone, where my head gets clear and focused and my body shakes uncontrollably as I steel myself for what's ahead. By 12:00 p.m. I really needed to start pushing and five minutes later when the doctor came up I got started just as Mom came into the delivery room. Matt got right in the trenches holding one my legs and from there my delivery was a short and intense sprint compared to the hour fifteen minute marathon I had of pushing Jonas out. Ten minutes of hard pushing without hardly any respite and I felt Rhett slide out. He was briefly held up for me to see before his team of nurses whisked him to the back of the room.

Of course the relief was extremely short-lived. There was another baby to deliver. Harland's birth is really a blur. My OB GYN didn't keep me informed of anything during my delivery so I had no idea that Harland had done a 180 turn once Rhett had come out so that he was in a footling breech position. The birth would have been an automatic c-section position in most situations but my OB GYN proved her delivery room super star status here (the only instance throughout my entire pregnancy/delivery where she shone, but also the most critical situation). My doctor without a word of warning reached up and pulled Harland down by the feet and was extremely insistent I push as hard as I could without any stopping for the next five minutes. Rhett's birth was painful but Harland's birth was extremely painful. If I hadn't had a walking epidural I don't know how I could borne that pain. I don't know exactly what noise I made as I delivered Harland but I suspect it was extremely loud, savage and unladylike.

Then the next three hours in the delivery room were spent monitoring the babies and keeping an eye on my bleeding. I always lose a lot of blood after delivery and this time I was amazed as I surveyed the delivery room. Blood was sprayed across the monitors, table, walls and floor. It looked like something out of a horror movie. The babies had low blood sugar and needed to be bottle-fed right away but otherwise they were healthy. Rhett was 5 pounds 10 ounces and 19.3 inches long. Harland was 6 pounds 5 ounces and 20 inches long. After I had Jonas I remember feeling sort of bewildered when a full-grown angry screaming baby was placed across my stomach but this time I felt more in touch with my motherly side (I've felt a hundred times more relaxed this second time) as I instinctively snuggled those little bodies against mine and marvelled at my babies one by one. They were as different and distinctive as could be! Finally we could all be moved to the maternity wing where we spent the next three days.

At the hospital Harland had problems feeding. He spent two out of every three hours getting tired out trying to suck enough milk from a bottle. And the nurses' varying prognosis's of him "having a lazy suck", "needing practice" and "not being very hungry" made me furious. There couldn't be a more patient and diligent baby than Harland! He tried so hard to eat and stayed contented when most babies would have been screaming in frustration. Finally a paediatrician came to look at him instead of just having phone conversations with the nurses. Within two minutes, he discovered a cleft palate, in the shape of a hole, at the back of Harland's mouth. Harland had almost no suction because there was a gap in the roof of his mouth! Since then we have had a special double-valved bottle to feed him and he has been gaining weight back steadily.  On Wednesday we have an appointment with Cleft Palate Clinic in Calgary so specialists can decide the best way to close the cleft palate and so within six months it will be as though he never had a cleft palate at all. Such a blessing!