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Sebastian's Birth Story (long)
Sebastian Charles was born 12/22/11 at 2:54PM. 8Lbs 2 oz and 20.5? long.
My due date was Dec 20 and it came and went with nothing happening. My DR scheduled an U/S and NST for the 22nd. In the early AM hours of Dec 22 I started to have contractions. I timed them at about 6 minutes apart and lasting 1minute. Eventually around 5 or 6am they stopped but came back once DH and I were sitting in the waiting room at the DR's office around 8:00AM or so. We went in for our ultrasound around 8:30 and found that our little guy was breech.
We also did the NST and an exam. I was 4cm dilated and having pretty regular contractions by this point. I had some options being as I wasn't too far a long in active labor and the baby was breech. We could just go ahead and schedule a c-section or we could try and turn the baby. I opted for trying to turn him first. DH and I left the DR's office and immediately went to the hospital.
We got to the hospital and checked intoour labor room. Immediately I started getting poked and prodded. Icouldn't believe how many needles, IV's, monitors, etc had going inand out of me that day! Being as I had planned on using the epiduralif I had a vaginal delivery they gave me the epidural not too longafter I got there. They figured either way it would help with thepain of trying to turn the baby and if we could do vaginal we could keep the epidural and if we ended up doing a section we could alsokeep the epidural. I started the epidural around 11 or so and Around noon time 2 of my DR's from my practice came in to start trying toturn the baby. I had only had a small test amount of the epidural,but even with this, the pain from trying to turn the baby was horrible! I had the 2 Dr's pushing on my stomach turning him with all their strength. He would turn a little but then flip right back tohis old position. After about 20 minutes my one DR told me they couldeither give me more epidural and try to turn him by reaching invaginally (yikes!!) or we could just skip ahead and go for the c-section. She told me that she honestly thought he had been breech for sometime and that she really didn't think they would be able toturn him into the correct position at this point since after 20minutes of initial trying didn't work.
I opted to skip ahead and just do the C-section. I wanted to be done with it and meet my baby at this point! So we prepped for surgery. I got more of the epidural and allkinds of other needles, shots, etc. I don't remember all the crap they stuck in me. LOL Finally got into the operating room. They made DH wait outside for a few minutes while they got me ready. I have never been in surgery and I really don't like hospitals, and I remember slightly panicking when we went into the operating room. I was so cold and they kept on giving me heated blankets. Those heated blankets were awesome by the way! DH was finally let in and things really got underway. The medical team was absolutely amazing! While I was being worked on there were a few people up near my head talking to me and keeping me calm and making small talk to distract me. I was terrified I would feel pain and that the epidural wouldn't work. Iknow that seems silly now, because they obviously checked to makesure it was effective. I didn't feel anything except some pressure when they started pushing the baby out. The worst thing of the whole process was the numb feeling in my legs. It felt like I had leg cramps in every single leg muscle and it was really the worst thing Iever felt.
It didn't take long before Sebastian was born! The sound of his cry when he was first born was so amazing! I didn't get to have him near me for a few minutes because he wasimmediately taken over to an area where they cleaned him up and suctioned him, etc (I'm not even sure exactly what they did....I should ask DH about this). I was so proud of DH during this time. Allthrough my pregnancy he kept saying he wasn't going to look when the baby was born because it was ?gross? and he certainly wasn't going to cut the umbilical cord. Well he ended up watching the entire surgery over the sheet they had up and he even cut the umbilical cord! I could barely see the baby on the other side of the room after he was born, but DH kept turning around looking at me and giving me a thumbs up. I remember Sebastian screaming crying and it broke my heart. I wanted these people away form my baby and I wanted to help him but couldn't. They finally brought him over to me and it was just so so awesome seeing him up close for the first time. Quickly though they took the baby downstairs to finish working on him and DH went with him. I stayed downstairs in the recovery room for a while. I was anxious to get back to Dh and the baby, but I was so glad dh got to go with him. I figured since I got to carry the baby for 9 months this was DH's special time with the baby. I remember I was starving and so thirsty. They hadn't let me eat/drink all day and when the nurse asked me if I wanted a graham cracker and a drink I was just ecstatic! LOL
FINALLY they let me out of the post oproom and wheeled me up stairs to my room. Laying on the bed and being wheeled into my room I saw DH sitting in a rocking chair holding our baby. After seeing the baby for the first time, this was the second most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life. I'm tearing up right now thinking about it. We stayed at the hospital until the 24th.The baby is doing great. I am also so happy with our hospital experience at Maine General-Thayer. Everyone I dealt with was so awesome and I am just so impressed with how everything went. Today we had a visit from the nurse who was in the delivery with us. I also had a follow up call from the lactation consultant and plan on utilizing their breastfeeding services (consultants and support groups) over the next few weeks.
We had some big struggles breastfeeding but are getting better everyday. Apparently because of theway he was positioned inside me, his jaw and neck were really tight. So when he would latch he would basically only be taking my nipple only, no matter what we tried...and he would basically chomp down on my nipple instead of sucking my breast. OUCH! The first day or so though I had so much pain pain and the baby was hungry and screaming and I just wanted to give up. I ended up supplementing with formula twice within the first 1-2 days. while in the hospital, We had an Occupational Therapist come in twice to do some manipulations on him and I alsohad the lactations consultants help us. We're doing much better now with breast feeding. Today Sebastian and I dealt with engorged breasts and cluster feeding... so the adventures continue!
Dh has been so awesome with everything. I am so impressed with what a good dad he is and how helpful he has been to me during the labor and afterwards with my recovery and helping me with breastfeeding (by checking the baby's latch, putting together my breast pump, etc) and so much more!
It's funny that last week at this time I still had a hard time picturing my life with a baby and now I just couldn't picture life without him!! I love my new little family. 
Re: Sebastian's Birth Story (long)
welcome Sebastian! He & Layla were EXACTLY the same size both weight & length:)
ETA:
I think it's awesome how your husband went from saying he wasn't going to look or cut the cord, but did, MH did the same thing, he ended up being very cooperative & participating much more than I thought he would when I was in labor. Definitely helps!