For Unto Us (the chabo's) A Child (or two) Is Born!

I apologize for the tardiness of this post. All I can say in my defense is that I have been very busy. :)

Welcome Alice Robin Chabo. 18 inches, 4 lbs, 15 oz. November 30th, 12:22 pm. Adorable.

And...

Welcome Penelope Anne Chabo. 18 1/2 inches, 5 lbs, 3 oz. November 30th, 12:23 pm. Cute as a button.


Late Monday evening, Nov. 29th, I felt a strange pain and wondered if my water had broken. So I told the hubby and scooted to the bathroom. A few hours later I was still very unsure. My honey is a natural worrier when it comes to me being in labor (which isn't really his fault considering he had to deliver our last one in the kitchen when we didn't get to the hospital in time. Plus, as a nurse anesthetist, he sees lots of births and knows all the things that can go wrong, while I am blissfully ignorant.) so he stayed up cleaning the house (his stress relief) while trying every tactic to get me to wake up the kids (at 1 am!) and drag them to the hospital so they could check and see if my water really broke. I flatly refused. I was having no contractions, no leakage, I was exhausted, and had a migraine. I was going to bed. He only accepted when I promised to go to the doctor the next day and have the 'i-think-my-water-broke' test done. Well rested the next morning, I got the kids up and ready, took Sophia to school, took Holly to get her hair cut, and finally dropped both Holly and Lucy at my girlfriend Elisa's house while I just whipped over to the hospital so they could confirm that my water hadn't, in fact, broken. I was mistaken. My water had, in fact, broken and I hadn't even brought the packed hospital bag. I had walked into the hospital with no more then my jacket and purse. And of course because of my speedy labors in the past and the baby on the bottom (Alice) being breech, they were all mad at me for not coming in sooner. (whatever OB people! I wasn't having any contractions and this isn't my first trip around the Birthing Center! At least I'm well rested!!) So they threw me in the OR and prepped me for a c-section.
The next 30 minutes was a miracle. Everything went great. Both my OB dr's happen to be there so they both helped deliver our 2 girls. The bassinettes were positioned such that I could see my babies when they came out, which I loved. Alice came out first and screaming. Penny was next and came out not so much screaming as grunting. (c-section babies often have goop in their lungs, and this was Penny. She coughed it out soon enough.) They were perfect. I was numb. It was heaven.
When I was still pregnant and moping about the baby being breech and needing a c-section, one girlfriend of mine commented that this way I will have experienced it all. Hospital birth, epidural, induction, home birth, natural labor/birth, and c-section. I have to say in my experience, natural childbirth is a 10 on the pain scale, and both induction without epidural and post surgery c-section pain are an 11. Holy cow. That recovery is some business. But, now 2 weeks out, I feel really great, my girls are gorgeous, and we're all happy. Hooray for babies!