Chad McKay Sorensen made his debut April 17, 2014. He weighed in at 8 lbs 1 oz and measured 20 1/2 inches long. We are just so excited that he is finally here and that he made it safely and is one healthy little boy!!
His labor and delivery was by far my hardest. I was in the first stages of labor for over a week! I would get strong contractions daily that would last for several hours, to the point that I would have to really breath through them. For the last 3 of my pregnancies, that was a sure sign I was in labor and that I needed to get to the hospital. Well, it was not the case with this little boy. As soon as I would alert Mark, the contractions would stop. It went on like this for a week. At my last prenatal visit, my doctor told me I was dilated to 5 but only about 60% effaced. The baby was still sitting really high and she couldn’t believe that he would still be so high after all the contractions! She suggested to have my membranes stripped because I was so miserable and exhausted from all the contractions and hopefully it would get him here.
I went home and decided that I would clean my house and get everything ready because he would for sure come after getting my membranes stripped, right? Nope! He didn’t want to budge! I had more inconsistent contractions but no progress. So we scheduled April 17th to break my water and have our baby. I had planned on a natural birth because my experience with Sariah’s birth was just so awesome and I wanted that again.
I should have known that this one was going to be more difficult. It had been a difficult ride from the very beginning so why would it be easy at the end? I got all checked in and the IV placed and was ready for the next step. My midwife came in to break my water. She told me I measured a 7 but was still really thick. So it would take time for the cervix to dilate. It took her 15 minutes of trying to break the bag. She finally felt that she nicked the bag. There was no gush of water, not even a trickle. She wasn’t sure if she even got the bag so she told me to go walking and to see if the pressure would help the bag tear more. I walked for about a hour before I finally felt a gush of water and stronger contractions. I was excited to finally see some progress. I was checked again but there was still no progress with effacing. I went walking more to see if gravity would help get our little guy to drop. It did not! My midwife suggested to put me on a very low dose of pit. to get him down. I really didn’t want to go on pit. but I knew that my body was starting to get fatigued and was hoping that it would do the job. Once on pit. the contractions started to come and get harder. I was able to breath through them and use a birth ball to relax on. I still felt like I was in control.
I was checked again. I was dilated to a 8 and was now 75% effaced. I had a second bag of water that my midwife needed to break. I never heard of that happening before!
She increased the pit to the next level and that took the contractions to the next level as well! I started having contractions every 30 seconds and they were hard! I started to feel my resolution and calmness slip away. They were so intense and coming one right after the other that I didn’t have time to recompose myself. I was feeling a lot of pressure in my pelvic region and then my body took over and started to push. I told Mark to get my midwife because the baby was coming. She ran in and had me get ready. She check for his position and sadly told me that he wasn’t even in the birth canal! What!!! Then why is my body pushing!
I was so upset and in such incredible pain that I lost my resolve. I didn’t know how long it was going to take to get him here and the only way to get me to stop pushing was to not feel it. I pleaded for an epidural and was told that I still had time for one.
Getting it placed was easy and I was praying for it to work quickly. I noticed that my left side went numb but I could still feel my right side. They tried various things to make it numb which helped a little but I still had feeling. Then, while trying the tricks I got an incredibly horrible pain in my upper right thigh exactly where I had a pinched nerve. I just started to cry because it was such an intense pain. I told my midwife and she said that I must have a hotspot whicb is where all my pain is localized in one spot. It was so painful and I just pleaded for it to be over!
About 45 minutes after getting the epidural, our baby finally decided that it was his time to come. I got the OK to push and that’s what I did. It took several pushes to get him out and I couldn’t have been more excited to finally meet our boy!
As soon as he was born he was placed on my belly for Kangaroo Care. It was such a sweet moment to feel my son on my chest and feel him breathing and hear him cry. He snuggled right in and I cherished all of it. It was such a struggling getting him here that this moment was so special. I was overcome with such love and gratitude to my Heavenly Father for our sweet little blessing. He was finally here!!
We stayed snuggled together for almost two hours. He took to nursing like a pro which is another blessing. After bonding with him he was weighed and measured. I couldn’t believe he weighed 8lbs 1oz! With having only a two vesdel cord I was told that he would be on the smaller size. Nope, he actually is our second biggest baby. Another blessing which was given to us!
Mark was also able to give him a bath in my room so I could see. It was so fun to finally see one of my babies get their first bath!! He didn’t like getting his body washed but he such liked his head scrubbed.
After the bath, we were transferred to our recovery room. We had made a birth plan that stated we wanted our baby to remain with us at all times unless it was necessary for him to leave for testing. It was such a great time for both Mark and I to be able to bond with Chad. He is so adorable! He looks a lot like Owen but still has his own unique features. He makes lots of grunts and squeaks when he moves and stretches. It’s so darn cute!!
Cliff and Valerie brought the kids up to meet Chad that night. I was a little nervous to see how they would react. Sariah loves babies but would she like a real one? I was completely amazed with the reaction of each of our kids. They all were so excited and just smothered him in kisses and hugs. They all wanted turns holding him and the kept coming on how cute he was. The feeling that was in the room was pure LOVE and it melted my heart. I couldn’t be more happy and grateful for my beautiful family and our four children. They are truly my greatest blessing and I am so thankful that God has trusted us enough to place them in our care. I will always treasure this day as we welcomed our little Chad and completed our family.
