The Birth - Part II

and at 11:25 Hailey is born. I don't hear her cry, actually we don't even know she was born. They whisk her through the door to the next room where her team of doctors is waiting. At 11:26 Hannah is born, she makes the tiniest little cry and Pete takes a picture. He doesn't get the chance to take a picture of Hailey because she's in the next room. But he gets Hannah before she's taken to her awaiting team. Then at 11:27 Emily is born. They had a hard time pulling her out - she sure liked being snuggled way up in me! She comes out wailing. Screaming and screaming and screaming. It was music to my ears. They take her away too. The relief of pressure is amazing. I feel like I can breath again. I have no idea what they do "down there" after the fact. All I know is that it took forever. At one point I had Pete leave to go see the babies. "I'll be fine - just go with them and make sure they're ok." The anesthesiologist never leaves my side but at one point I did get nauseous and needed something. No problem - he just gives it to me through my IV and I'm good. He asks if I want something to relax me while they stitch me up. "No - I'm fine." Until the counting. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Over and over. Is it in my head? No...someone is counting. What is going on? Everything starts to get really confusing. I'm sweating again. I don't like it. SHUT UP! Click, clang, click, clang, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Instruments. They're counting instruments to make sure they haven't left anything inside of me. "I'll take something now. I need something. Give it to me please." I get a sedative. It takes until 12:30 before I'm in recovery. I don't know if this is a long time or not but it felt like forever. I haven't heard anything from anyone. How are my babies? Are they breathing? What's going on?!?! Finally Pete comes in. He hasn't seen them yet. "I told you not to leave them!" He says "They won't let me see them yet. They're still working on Hailey." What does this mean? What? Oh Lord help me. The nurse comes in and brings a slew of people with her. My family. I don't want to see my family right now. I want to know how my babies are. She says that Pete can go and see the girls now. GO GO GO! She tells me I can't leave my room for 2 hours. They need me in recovery for that long. She also tells me to let her know when I start to feel some pain and she'll give me something. I say I'm fine and I want to see the babies before taking anything. This was a big mistake but I won't learn that until later. My family is here and everyone is saying stuff but I hear nothing. Pete comes bursting back in the room a while later and he has a smile from ear to ear. "They're PERFECT! They had to work on Hailey for a little while but all 3 are great!!!" He took pictures with his cell phone so he can show me. I'm so happy for all of us. I'm also starting to feel some pain but don't say anything. The nurse comes in and tells me that the family can see the babies. She wants to know if I want the family to wait until I see them first. "No. They're here and have been waiting a long time. They can go see the girls." They let the family and friends see the girls in shifts. I'm actually fine with this. As long as the girls are healthy I don't care who sees them '1st'. I got to spend the last 31 weeks with them all to myself. God the pain is horrible. The nurse suggests I take something for the pain but I am determined to see my girls before taking any pain meds. Finally my time in recovery is up. They wheel the whole bed I'm laying on into the NICU. I don't even remember seeing the girls. All I remember is how much pain I'm in. I see the girls, they are beautiful and I want to hold them but I can't. That was the worst thing in the world. Not being able to hold my babies right after they were born. They wheel me back to my room and finally I tell the nurse I'll take something for the pain. It's too late. For the next 24 hours they are trying to get the pain under control. It's horrible. All the pain meds and nothing is working. They say I waited too long to take something. I won't do it again I promise! Just take the pain away! Why didn't anyone tell me how painful this was going to be? Pete stays the night with me. Luckily because the nurses come in to take my vitals at all hours of the night and they leave the lights on, move my tray away from me and just really didn't care that I couldn't move. Pete has to get up several times to fix what they've done. I make him wheel me to see the babies as soon as he can. I want to hold them but still can't. They're perfect. And small. Hailey is 2lbs 6oz. More than they measured during the growth scan. This is good. Hannah is 2lbs 9oz. Emily is 3lbs 10oz. They have so much hair. Dark skin and dark hair. They look like Pete. Emily has my lips. We knew this before she was born. We could see her lips on the ultrasound! My babies are just perfect in every way.
Michelle