He's here!

Monday, March 25th, 2013.  This is the day little Baby D was born.  My hubby and I arrived at the hospital around 7:00 am to be induced.  G&M arrived just after 8:00 am.  The nurse hooked me up to monitor baby's heartrate and to see if I was contracting at all.  I was contracting about every 3 minutes, feeling some, but not all of them.  Baby's heartrate was great.  The doc came in to see if I was dilated anymore.  He said I was about a 3, but baby's head wasn't engaged yet, so he wasn't going to break my water.  I received my first dose of cytotec at 8:00 am.

We did a lot of walking the halls to try to get the contractions going.  The doc came back in around noon to check me again.  No change...I was so bummed!  So I received another dose of cytotec.  More walking the halls, sitting on the exercise ball, swaying my hips.  Doc was back around 3:30 pm and I was at a 4.  Baby's head still wasn't engaged.  I received my 3rd dose of cytotec at 4:00 pm.  I began feeling the contractions more consistently.  They were getting stronger!  Doc came back once again around 4:30 and I was at a 5.  Baby's head was down, but doc still didn't feel comfortable breaking my water yet.

It was turning out to be a very long day!  G&M were getting more emotional as the day progressed, understandably so!  Doc checked me just before 7:00 pm.  I was at a 6 with a bulging bag of waters, head waaaay down.  He finally broke my water.  That feeling in itself is like a little bit of relief.  Things sped up after that.  I had to start breathing through the contratctions at this point.   Around 8:00 pm, they were coming every 30 seconds and lasting around a minute or more.

With my other deliveries, my thighs would start to shake once I got to 9 cm.  This one was no different.  By 9:00 pm, my thighs shook and I had to fight the urge to push.  Doc said I was, in fact, 9 cm.  I had to breath through the next 4 or so contractions until I was at a 10 and then it was go time!!  Everyone got ready.  Being able to push after trying to make your body NOT push was sooo wonderful!  I pushed through the next 3 contractions.  Baby D was born at 9:14 pm.  He is beautiful!!  G&M helped clean him off and stimulate him while the cord stopped pulsating.  Once it did, M got to cut the cord.  G wanted skin-to-skin contact and to try nursing asap after birth.  He didn't really have any interest in eating though.  He weighed in at 8 pounds 1 oz and was 20.5 inches long. 

As the doc was finishing me up, getting the placenta to deliver, making sure I didn't tear (which I didn't!) and all that, all I could do was stare in such awe at the new family we helped create!  I honestly can't think of strong enough, emotional enough, deep enough, words to describe what we saw.  G&M just couldn't take their eyes off of Baby D.  It was such a magical moment and I feel so very blessed to have been a part of it.  I can't even think of the moment without crying.  They aren't sad tears though, the absolute opposite actually.  I have no feelings of sadness, just pure, overwhelming happiness. 

It was such a different feeling than when I delivered my own children.  This has been the most gratifying experience of my life.  I was proud of myself for baking him until he was ready and for him being healthy.  I didn't feel the need to hold him or anything right away.  I wanted G&M to have their special time.  It was a room full of emotions, that's for sure!! I knew they would let me see and hold him when they were ready and they did.  He's so adorable, just so stinkin' cute! 

We had the kids come over to meet him yesterday.  Some family and friends also stopped by, which was nice.  Our boys were just so excited to finally meet him.  Our teenage daughter isn't much for holding babies anyway, so just basically looked at him a bit.  In the last month, she had expressed that she wasn't comfortable with the entire surrogacy.  That was tough to hear, since she was totally fine before we began the process and after the embryo transfer, saying she was cool with it as long as we weren't bringing another baby into our house.  She's having difficulties, since I'm not bringing home a baby, but she didn't not want G&M to have their baby. 

It is spring break for the kids this week, and she is at her dad's house.  In the midst of our teary (happy!!) goodbyes this morning, her dad sent me a text.  Not to air my dirty laundry on here, but I have to get this out.  The very first sentence was, "You are the most selfish person I know!"  My, how he knows how to ruin a wonderful moment, don't you think?!!  I'm trying to not let it get to me, since he is just being himself....the usual asshole.  I didn't even read the entire text at the time, but he basically said I was selfish because our daughter was having trouble dealing with this and I was a horrible person because I was doing something that made me happy.  Little does he know, that WE weren't even made aware of how she felt until a month ago!  ONE month!!  I can't exactly stop a pregnancy!  We will handle this and we will get through this.  It is an emotional event in all of our lives.  We are all going to handle this in our own way.  I just really wish she was here with us, so we could do it together.  He would never let that happen though.  Time will tell how things go with her.  Just like any parent, I don't like seeing my child upset and will do whatever I can to make her better. 

Anyway, Brad came over to the hospital after taking the boys to daycare this morning.  G&M wanted to get on the road in the morning.  Brad and I wanted to say goodbye without the kids there, because we knew there would be tears from all of us.  We had the nurse take a pic of us 5 together.  Then G&M let me and Brad have some time alone with Baby D.  Tears were flowing, but not because we were sad.  I am just so happy he's healthy and G&M are so happy!!  This had been a long time coming for them.  They deserve this little boy and have loved him so much from the very beginning.  That is how I wanted this journey to end.  Although, we will still be in touch through emails, pictures and texts so it's not officially "the end".  Hopefully sometime in the future we can take a trip to PA to visit them.  I am extremely humbled to be a part of their lives and to have been the caretaker of Baby D for his first 9 months.  They are in charge for the next chapter in his life.  I couldn't be happier!!