Birth Story: Part 2

*Scroll further down the blog for Birth Story: Part 1

We get to the hospital, and I just hear chaos. So I keep my eyes closed, even as they transfer me- still on all fours- to the gurney and I think I hear nurses fighting about which elevator to take.  They were agitated about something, and it ruined all the tranquility of laboring at home in the tub.  And still, I am pushing. And the nurses are frantically saying, "Don't push!"  while my doula, God bless her (this is why I have her) is whispering in my ear, "It's ok to push, do what your body needs to do".  At some point, I don't remember when, someone asks, "Have you called your ob?"  Oh, no.  I guess we were rather distracted.  And then...

The next little while is fuzzy in my memory. We haven't even registered at the hospital  ( I did it online, where is that info?).  Yes it's a VBAC, name, DOB, etc. 
It was intense.  I think I remember being on all fours and it being said that something wasn't right for baby, so I labored on my side for a while, and at the end I was on my back.  And I had some moments of worry- I thought maybe I wouldn't be able to do this. I have never worked so hard or exherted such physical strength.
Dr suggested a vaccum to help. OK, anything to help me do this.  She never mentioned a cesarean.  The vacuum being placed hurt like hell. Contractions I could deal with, bit with this I actually yelled "Ouch!"  But then it didn;t take that much longer and.... the head!  I got that hige McGrath head out! And what I had dreamed of for so long occurred not too long after that. The swoosh of baby's body sliding out of me.  Oh. My. God.  It was beyond words.  I felt like that was what I had worked so hard for. 6:00 pm.
I was so stunned and amazed that I had actually done it that the next bit is fuzzy, I heard that his umbilical cord was unusually short and they had to clip it right away.  And I heard someone say "grandson"  and I said, "We have a boy?"  But I knew, I wasn't surprised.  Since I didn't review the birth plan after arriving at the hospital no one remembered that Pedro and I wanted to announce the sex.  What is very vivid in my memory is that my IV came out and they were trying to reattach something to my hand and I watched as a nurse held my bundled baby in her arms and gazed down at him and I thought; that should be me looking at him right now. He should be looking at me.  But then he was given to me. And he latched!  At least I had him on my breast briefly before we learned the next news. At some point we were told that he had the characteristics of a baby with Down Syndrome and that they would need to take him to the NICU to evaluate him.  I was surprised and yet I wasn't.

So I had my baby for around half an hour and then they took him upstairs and I couldn't see him for another 3 hours or so.

I was encouraged to rest that night, but how could I?  Of course I was tired but I wanted to be with my baby!  Our second visit and he had tubes in his nose, some oxygen help.  And I went, again and again, trying to breastfeed and hold a newborn with tubes all over him and beeping sounds as our lullaby.
The staff was great.  The doctors too.  And all the friends and family, los seres queridos, who drove me to the hospital, or offered to take my pumped milk while I stayed at home and slept, or brought meal after meal.  You all helped us get through one of the hardest two weeks of my life.  And he is home now, healthy and thriving. And surrounded by love.