Archer's story... part 2

So... we went up to the labor and delivery floor after parking in the garage, and found ourselves in an eerily similar position as we were a little over a year ago.  I was in tears, and a little neurotic.  They asked if I would sit down and answer questions, which I promptly answered "no" to and said I would like to be hooked up to a monitor immediately.  Last year, with Amelia, I sat through over 4 pages of questions and information receiving - things like, "when you take your baby home, you will need to... blah, blah, blah..." and "you need to sign this, so that we have the information right for the delivery of your baby... blah, blah, blah..."  I just knew I might punch someone in the face if I had to sit through that again.  So they had a nurse take me into a room to be monitored - the same room as last year.  The same monitor, the same bathroom, the same... almost everything.  Almost everything, because this time, she found his heartbeat, not without some skepticism from me that the heartbeat was indeed his and not mine.  (They found mine last year, and thought it was Amelia's for a little while --- because mine was racing) She also found mine, and said that mine was indeed slower than his, and that there were two heartbeats present.  So everything was not the same, my nightmare, although fresh in my mind, was not going to repeat itself this time.  I still had not felt him move since I had gotten there, but his heartbeat on the monitor was a relief, and his lack of movement was most likely because of the constant contractions which were evident on the monitor as well at that point.
 
The boys were troopers.  After abruptly being awoken from their slumber, they managed to transform themselves into chatty little boys that acted as if they always get up at 3 in the morning.  Ev-babe was full of questions about everything in the room.  O-dog was more reserved, and his memory of that room was probably similar to ours.  Ev was likely too young to remember a lot of the emotion that was in that room last year. 

I was put on some iv fluids to get the contractions to slow down, which they did somewhat.  If I was going to deliver vaginally on my own, they may have sent me home.  But when the called my doctor, he said to plan on keeping me, and delivering in an hour because the OR was open and I was already there, as long as P and I didn't have a problem with it.  Uh... no.  We were more than ready to have this little one in our arms.  My c-section was scheduled for friday morning anyway, and since it was tuesday, and I was contracting regularly, it was a go. 

I didn't feel baby move until almost 4:30 am, and for the peace of mind alone, I am so glad we went in when we did.  I would have been an even more frazzled wreck by that time. 

My friend Julie was able to take the boys.  What a blessing her friendship has been to me.  She was even able to get the chatty boys back to sleep. :)

My nurse last year, the one that was first to try and find Amelia's heartbeat with the doppler, the one that held my hand as I found out there was no heartbeat on the ultrasound, the one that prepped me for surgery, and cried with us - complete strangers... was on duty that morning. She had been busy with a delivery earlier, but stopped by to tell our nurse she was there and wanted to see us. 

That morning was full of so many emotions. Similarities and differences between what we experienced last May.  I can't even describe the roller coaster of feelings I had.  The sounds and smells of the OR, and the routine procedures leading up to the c-section.  I am thankful for the memories of O-dog's birth too.  His birth memories, mingled with Amelia's, and now Archer's.  Everything went well.  He was born at 6:07 am, and his cry was the sweetest sound. Garbled at first, and then escalating - music to my ears.  Praise God, our son was here.