Sibling's big day... Surrogate Side

Well, it's been a while.  Three years, in fact.  Oops.  Sorry, folks! 

For those of you who have been asking, yes - everyone is okay and healthy.  I won't say everything was seamless or smooth sailing, but all turned out A-okay!  Now, let's get to the story you've all been waiting for!

As you probably already know, everything had been arranged in advance for the delivery and plans were in place for childcare of my children in the event that this delivery followed suit of each of my others and started in the middle of the night.  The plan was that we would call A for any night except for Saturday as she would be out of town; so of course we figured out a Plan B.  E was on back-up duty.

Historically, going into labor at home was relatively uneventful.  I would have significant pain and nudge the hubby to let him know it was time to go.  I'd call A to come on over and we'd be on our way.  It was no big deal.  This time around was a bit different.  It was a standard evening until it wasn't.   

Just a typical night of tossing and turning and the need to go pee.  However, at 2:00am after using the bathroom, I began to climb back into my super high bed and ... "snap!"  In my head I'm thinking, 'what the hell was that?'  Welp, folks.  That there was the snap of my amniotic sac.  My water broke.  ON. ITS. OWN.  I was so confused.  That had never happened to me before!  Clearly I don't handle fluid leaking out of my body well as I headed right to the toilet and was yelling for my hubby for help.  I had no idea what to do.  He was no help - he was just as confused.  LOL!

Eventually, I figured out that I needed to call A so I could head to the hospital.  I gave her a ring and let her know it was time.  She listened to me go on and on about my water breaking and then hesitated for a moment.  It then dawned on me that it was Saturday.  I said, "today is Saturday, huh?"  She confirmed and wished me luck.  I hung up with A and called E.  She was on her way. 

When E made it to my house, I was still sitting on the toilet at a loss of how I was supposed to get out of my house with fluid coming out of me.  My husband got the car ready to go and I meet them downstairs with a full-size towel shoved into my leggings.  A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do, right?!

At some point during the chaos of learning that my water broke and driving to the hospital, I called K&J to let them know that it was time.

At the hospital, the nurse brought us to our room and helped me remove the towel I was straddling between my legs.  I had told her that my water broke.  ((shrug))  Somehow, she didn't believe me and said she had to test the fluid.  Did she really think I was peeing myself?!  Anyway, I was right.  My water broke.  Duh.

Things progressed as normally as they did with any of my other pregnancies (except for the feeling of a constant warm trickle of fluid saturating the mattress pad beneath me - ugh).  However, unlike with Charlie, I was not trekking the halls to kick start labor.  Labor this time around was more sedentary.

This is where things get a little foggy for me.  Bear with me.

I recall being checked on regularly by the doctors and nurse and when K&J arrived to the hospital.  I remember getting an epidural and it not working properly (again).  The time for active delivery had come and my husband helped me through it as K&J witnessed the birth of their second child.  

As I mentioned, the epidural did not work properly and I was in what I thought to be some serious pain.  The baby was born, but the pain did not stop for me.  I was confused because, in the past, once the baby was born the pain would stop.  That did not happen this time.  The pain got worse.  

I was hemorrhaging.  The doctors and nurses (remember, I delivered at a teaching hospital so the room was chock-full of people) began moving really fast.  It was all a blur.  I remember mumbling, 'what is it?' because I still didn't know the sex of the baby and K walked over only to be redirected away.  My uterus collapsed.  My body couldn't produce the placenta.  I was in so much pain.  Pain that brought tears to my eyes.  I could hear K asking them if they could give me something for the pain.  I remember being injected in my leg with something, but the pain would not go away.  Until it did.  The doctor reached into the birth canal to pull the placenta out.  It was like magic.  Once it was out, the pain magically disappeared.

And then, after all that, the pain meds started working and I fell asleep.  LOL!

It was a BOY!  My instincts were right, although there was a time when I doubted myself and briefly hoped it was a girl.  Benton was born on Saturday, November 14, 2015 at 2:35pm.

Charlie and Benton with Santa!

The end.