Monday, October 3, 2011

The Delivery: Part 1

Here is the story of Samuel Robert Wood's birth:
This little baby boy had been in breech position (butt down) pretty much from 28 weeks on, so I was having my doubts if he would be able to be turned. Around 36 weeks we had an ultrasound to verify his position, and he was indeed breech. We were referred by our Midwives to see an Obstetrician to talk about out options. We chose to see a Dr Silverstein. She is one of the OB's that I work with on a regular basis at the hospital, so I was very confident in her abilities and judgement. She evaluated my baby, uterus, and reviewed my history and deteremined that an External Cephalic Version (trying to turn him manually by pushing on him from the outside) wouldn't be an option in my case. Sooo, we scheduled a cesarean section to be done 2 weeks later. I asked for it to be done in the evening, so it could be done by my night shift co-workers and she was fine with that. So, we had the date set for Thursday, 9/22/11 at 7:30 pm but only told our families. We still wanted to suprise people with the birth. It was actually nice to have the date set, so we could get everything done beforehand, and that last two weeks went by really fast! It was so exciting to think that we would be having him soon!
So, this is me just before we are going to head over to the hospital to have our baby. I was 38 4/7 days along, and measured about 46 1/2 inches around, and had gained about 25 pounds.


At the hospital I had so many well wishes from my co-workers, day and night shift. I felt so cared for. Zibby was my check in nurse and got me all ready (Oh, I should have gotten a picture with her!) and then Jackie took over because it was scheduled for just after change of shift happens. I really have fabulous people that I work with!!
Us, just before getting wheeled to the OR.
This is Lauren, one of my midwives. She came to be there for the birth.
The handsome Papa waiting to be called back.
Here is a great shot of the surgical team. On the left side is my good friend Erika, in the middle is Mimi, and on the right is Dr Silverstein. Erika and Mimi are fabulous Surgical Techs! This shot is just as they are entering my uterus and had just punctured the bag of waters.
Just

about
Delivered!
It's a Boy at 7:43 pm!


This was them holding him up for me to see. He was way cuter than I ever imagined!

Derek cutting the cord... or "trimming" it, I should say.
7 lbs, 11 oz
19 1/4 Inches long
Apgars 9, 9


My first moments holding him and touching him... It still maks me cry when I look at these pictures and think about that moment. I already loved him before he was born, but it is still amazing how bottomless the love is I feel for him. It started the instant he started to cry, before he was all the way out of me, to feeling his weight on me, right as they pulled him out, to first seeing him under the warmer and then being able to touch him finally. I feel so honored and humbled to be this little boy's mother.

4 comments:

Sharon said...

Wow, those are some cool photos! It must have been so nice to have people you know surround you! he's so cute!

Mags said...

I agree with Sharon. It must have been really nice to have people around you that you know and felt super comfortable with. That relieves a ton of anxiety that could have come with a c-section. I also like the photos. It showed what was up without being too much. Good photography, cute little man you have Shavonne. Boys are so much fun.

Shaina said...

Oh, I love the picture where they brought Samuel to you, just after the C-section, with you and Derek. Love it! I'm so happy for you!

Karlah said...

I so wanted to hear this story! I'm so happy for you! And you looked very pretty in your last pregnancy pictures, by the way.