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A Birth Story

Posted by Maggie Thu, 21 Jun 2007 16:52:00 GMT

It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I have a great post for you today, it’s a post about a little baby boy coming into this world, which is always a joyous occasion. (Warning: It’s quite long!)

My dear friend Jen (see sidebar for her blog, which will have pics on it soon), got pregnant a little over 9 months ago, and it has been a blast sharing this experience with her. She has been so excited to be a mommy. We’ve been great friends for 9 years, and she was there for the birth of Hannah. She really wanted me to be there for the birth of her little baby boy, Alton, and I did too. She was planning on a natural birth and took Bradley classes.

Well her due date came and went. Then we had our family camp, I was certain that I was going to miss the birth, but knew it was in the Lord’s hands. When we got back she was still pregnant and a week overdue. They scheduled an induction for Monday, June 18th, if this little boy wasn’t going to come on his own. Jen wasn’t sure if they were going to go through with it though, but wanted to make sure her baby was ok so they went to the hospital for the pre-induction testing. His non stress test was jut fine, but when they did the sonogram the fluid levels were only 3 cm! (5 cm is the low end of normal) So they admitted her immediately and started the cervidil.

Travis called me, I went home (I was running errands), packed up and hit the road with Hannah. Travis’ oldest cousin was going to watch her once I got there. So I dropped Hannah off and then headed to the hospital. Jen was doing just fine, no contractions yet. I remember this time of the induction, a whole lot of nothing, I slept, but they started me right before bedtime, Jen was wide awake. Since Jen was doing fine Travis went home to check on some things for work. Jen and I played Uno and she won (really I let her win so that her blood pressure would stay ok). :) When Trav came back I went to go feed Hannah and the sitter. After dinner I came back to stay for a while longer. Everything was going well, and I decided that I would stay with Jen overnight and call Travis if anything happened. After looking at the cot it was clear that he wouldn’t be able to sleep much at all on it and this would be his last night of sleep for a while, plus I fit on the cot much easier. :) All was going well until little Alton’s heart rate started to race. The nurse decided to pull the cervidil and he finally recovered, but it took a while so bed time was much later than planned. Pitocin was to be started at 1. Travis went home and we settled in. After they started the pit the nurses were in to adjust the monitors quite regularly, so while we did get some rest, we didn’t really sleep much. Then problem number 2 came. Around 5 Alton’s heart rate started to drop after contractions. They tried different things, but then stopped the pit and called her doctor. The doctor ordered a c-section. I called Travis, he came straight over and I was getting ready to go transfer Hannah to the next sitter. We thought that Travis’ family would be able to watch her but they had something going on, so a mom from their church home group took her. So I rushed to Jen’s house, changed Hannah, threw her in the car, relieved Trav’s aunt, and went down the hill. On the way Jen called and said that the surgery could be within the hour. So I went to this very nice ladies house, handed her my undressed, unfed child and then ran. I jogged from the car to Labor and Delivery.

Once I got there the nurses told me I couldn’t go in, but I looked down the hall and saw Travis in his scrubs, so I went to go talk to him and the doctor came and talked to the anesthesiologist and gave me the all clear to be in there with her. Jen was having some difficulties with the spinal and started to panic, it was quite hectic in there, but Travis was able to calm her down just fine. I was able to get pictures of baby Alton as soon as they pulled him out at 8:21 am. He was beautiful, nice curly red hair and quite a set of lungs. They then took Travis, Alton and I to the nursery while they finished stitching up Jen (who was much more calm after they let her hold him for a little bit). I was able to take pictures of the vitals, 8 lbs 7.6 oz and 19.5 inches, and then they shooed me out. By this time I just sat in the hall, realizing that I hadn’t gotten much sleep, only ate a banana for breakfast and jogged my 19 week pregnant self to get there on time. I then went to go see Jen in recovery, had some water and a protein bar and was feeling much better. Jen was doing superb, she was already able to move her legs, and was chatty. Family started to come and we enlisted their help (the ones we could pry away from the nursery window that is) to move all of their stuff to Jen’s new room in post op.

Jen finally got to hold her baby for real a couple of hours after the birth, by this time the family had gone, and would come back later. It was so neat seeing them all together. Poor Jen was a little stoned at this point, they had given her some benadril to help with itching and it made her drowsy, but she was able to try nursing her son and he did great! A quote from the nurse (slightly modified) “Oh, my gosh, he’s a Hoover Vacuum!” It made us laugh, but she sure was right, he’s a pro. Family came back and got to see and hold him up close and then they left again to let Jen (and me) rest. I slept on the extra bed and Jen took a nap and Travis sat and held his son, he’s such a good Daddy.

After nap time Trav had to go take care of some work again. He hasn’t had much for a couple of weeks and then the day his son is born he has clients wanting his attention (he’s in commercial real estate), but Jen and Alton were in good hands, after my nap I was able to be the responsible adult in the room again. After surgery they don’t let the mom be alone with the baby in case she dozes off, it’s a good rule, she was quite drowsy and would snooze almost every time he nursed.

When more people came I left to go get Hannah. She didn’t want to leave! She had a great time playing with their 2 year old, ate well and took a long nap. After prying her away we went back to the hospital and then went to eat dinner with one of their friends. Finally around 8:30 Jen and Trav were left alone and Hannah and I were on our way home.

I feel so privilege to have been a part of the whole thing and see how God worked in so many ways:

1. Hannah did great being taken care of by strangers, and was cared for. It worked out better than we could’ve planned she was being cared for by a Christian stay at home mom and was able to play! 2. Although surgery wasn’t something they desired they saw the need for it far before she went through any real labor, and it seemed to be the only real option, since he wasn’t responding well to labor. 3. I was able to be there for the delivery and didn’t pass out on the OR floor! :) 4. Although the surgery itself was a bit traumatic for Jen, it was a short time and she’s recovering great. Yesterday she was walking around and in her own clothes! 5. Alton is in perfect health and nursing was not hindered by the surgery or the separation. 6. I was able to be there for a couple of days which allowed Travis to take care of some important business and get some sleep the night before the birth. 7. Hannah and I made it home safely, after 2 days of little sleep.

Sorry this is so long, I wanted to make sure I got it all down for my sake and for Jen’s. I know I don’t remember much of anything of the first day of Hannah’s life.