Birth of Davis | Ascension Sacred Heart, Pensacola FL

Davis’s birth story at Ascension Sacred Heart in Pensacola, FL is one of those beautiful IVF success stories.

Sarah was really hoping to avoid induction and an epidural. Ultimately though, she didn’t go into labor on her own and an induction became the recommended course. The induction itself (without any pain relief) was super fast. We were all surprised and I found myself sprinting from the parking garage, praying I’d make it and expecting to be home well before lunch.

Dr. Calhoun was in the room and Sarah was ready to start pushing shortly after I arrived. But if you’ve followed me for a while, you know 10cm doesn’t always mean your body is ready to have a baby. After some pushing without much progress, it was decided that Sarah could try laboring down for a while.

After some more pushing without progress, Dr. Calhoun thought an epidural might help. Sarah was desperate for some rest, so she took a nap after the epidural was placed and I went out for nourishment. At some point I noticed that contractions felt weak and were slowing and we tried a Pitocin break too before ramping ourselves back up to push again.

Sarah pushed and pushed and tried every position we could think of. For another 3 hours. Baby Davis was doing beautifully and his head was RIGHT THERE. Dr. Calhoun felt like there was plenty of room for him, but he just wasn’t coming down and everyone agreed that it was time to go to the OR. That’s disappointing to hear after such a valiant effort, but ultimately we’d tried everything and I imagine Sarah mostly felt relief that it would all be over soon.

The minute Davis’s head was pulled out it was clear a c-section was the right call. His head thunked out like a bowling ball coming out of the ball return. I think I actually gasped out loud. (Though in retrospect, his head was swollen from being in the birth canal for hours and hours. I saw him again the next morning and he was noticeably smaller.) None of us were expecting an almost 11 lb baby. I’m still not sure where Sarah was hiding all of him.

Due to his size, Sarah herself actually sustained some trauma as he was delivered. For which a lengthy repair and a blood transfusion were required. We were in the OR for a long time after delivery. But everything is fine and Sarah was on her feet and going well when I went back for her Fresh 48 the next morning. She and Andrew are overjoyed to finally have the beautiful boy they’ve been waiting for.