Back from the hospital and with things gradually settling in at home, there is finally time to catch up on the blog. So yes, he is finally here, strong and healthy, usually either hungry or sleepy, and of course, insanely cute. Oh, and of course the usual data:
And yes, he really is a Daniel! ;-)
| Birth day: | July 18, 2009 |
| Birth time: | 7pm |
| Weigth: | 8.050 lbs (3650 g) |
| Size: | 21.26 in (54 cm) |
| Head Circumference: | 13.78 in (35 cm) |
And yes, he really is a Daniel! ;-)
He made us wait quite a bit - by the due date (Monday, July 13), there were not the slightest signs yet of him wanting to come out any time soon. We already feared that we may be in for an induction or even C-section, so it was a big relief when at the doctor's appointment on Wednesday they could detect some light first contractions on the CTG, and his head had sunk low enough for the birth to start any time... Still nothing else happening, though - we were told to come back on Friday, and went back home to continue waiting. (Ok, we didn't just wait around all day, but with the ok from the doctor, we used the extra time to finally use up our Welcome-to-Aalen public swimming pool vouchers to get some relief from the heat...) Nothing all day, but at last, when we went to sleep, I started feeling rather regular contractions - not painful, but bothering enough to keep me from falling asleep all night! I already expected/hoped that we may be ready to go to the hospital some time on Thursday, but when I got up, once again nothing, for the whole day, and the following night I even could sleep. Finally, on Friday morning, I was feeling contractions again, even occasionally somewhat painful, and after another CTG the doctor conjectured that Daniel might even be born that very day still! After the experience on Thursday, though, I was a bit skeptical, and indeed, not much happening during most of the day. Only in the evening, lying down for a while to watch movies, I started noticing contractions once more, and this time getting even noticeably painful. Getting up, though, they seemed to get weaker once more, and only since they started coming more and more often, and I expected I wouldn't be able to lay down and sleep that night anyway, we finally decided to go to the hospital around 2am.
At the hospital, we first weren't even sure whether they might send us home again, since the contractions were still so weak. But when they found that I was 2cm dilated already, they made me stay after all. Probably a big mistake, since from that moment on things started being rather unpleasant. It started with the doctor putting a peripheral IV line in my left arm, something I immediately asked them not to do until absolutely necessary since I have always hated this "appendix" deeply. But they kept insisting until I gave up my resistance, and already my left arm felt "disabled" and "sick"... Next thing was that the room had pretty much a bed and two uncomfortable little stools probably only meant for you to lay down your purse or something. Since I had already seen during the last two days that lying around made me feel the pain much worse immediately, I asked if they had any sort of more comfortable chair or whatever, but all they could come by with was one of these air-filled exercise balls that they love so much in delivery rooms. Ok, better than lying, so I took the ball, Jefferson the bed, and then we were sitting/lying around and feeling completely out of place and wonderfully uncomfortable... So much that we were pretty relieved when they suggested to put us somewhere with two beds so we could try to sleep a bit, since it was so late at night. Nice if it would have worked, but as before, lying down immediately made me feel the pain much worse, and just two hours later it had become completely unbearable. I tried to sit up, but in the half-inclined bed it wasn't comfortable and the controls were too hard to reach for me to adjust it myself. I tried to get up and sit somewhere or lean forward, but again only these useless little stools and the bare naked hospital floor, so I quickly gave up on that idea. So by the time Jefferson woke up and the midwife checked on us again, I was already feeling completely horrible. And when the midwife checked that in the meantime, I had not dilated any further at all, I was ready for the epidural.
At the hospital, shortly after our arrival (2:30 pm) and the next morning (11 am).
That was kind of a "procedure" in itself, getting hooked up to IVs and having to sit still under bad contractions while they were messing with my spine and making my leg feel like it was getting electric shocks and starting to kick randomly. But at least after that, I slept away most of the morning and early afternoon, especially since one of my legs was completely paralyzed with the epidural, and besides, with all kinds of pipes now hooked up to me I wouldn't have felt like moving much anyway... Jefferson spent the time finishing reading a parenting book, going home to get a new book, starting to read this one... Another shift change and a new midwife, who quickly showed her love for drastic interventions when there was a short drop in Daniel's heart rate (like a few times before, recovering within seconds). This time she ran out of the room to call a doctor, jammed an adrenaline injection into my veins (after Daniel's heartbeat was already recovered!!!), made me breathe through an oxygen mask and wonder what the hell is happening now. Next step was to give me some labor inducing medication to have stronger contractions for the last phase of the birth. And when I was reluctant to accept and getting upset at all these (and various others that I am omitting here to save space) additional procedures that I doubted were really necessary, she started insisting and justifying these in a very uncomfortable way until I finally just nodded and agreed to everything since I just didn't know what else to say any more...
Finally, around 4pm or 5pm it was getting about time to start pushing, but somehow Daniel didn't quite want to come out yet. So I spent a long time just turning from one side to the other to hopefully help him, but without success. I was supposed to get up into a different position, but with my left leg paralyzed this was impossible. I was supposed to try pushing even though he was still too high up for this, but it didn't seem to do anything either. Turning down the pain medication didn't help my leg, didn't help the pushing, but at least was not completely without effect since it made me feel the pain again... ;-) So eventually, after everything else failed, they had to use the ventouse and "cut the path open", but well, at least that finally did the job.
Apparently, Daniel didn't like this rather violent way of coming out much, especially with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck (maybe the reason for all the difficulties?)... He didn't want to start screaming immediately. So suddenly the whole room was filled with doctors and nurses and they took him to the other end of the room and worked with all kinds of pipes and other equipment on him or just ran around trying to be busy... (There didn't seem to be room for everybody to actually do something, and 2-3 of the people there really seemed to be just running back and forth aimlessly.) We tried to ask what was going on, but didn't get any reply. Luckily Jefferson had seen Daniel move his legs immediately, but even so it was very scary to watch them and not get any information on what was happening. Eventually everything turned out completely ok, and after some minutes of being scared to death someone finally told us that apparently Daniel's heart rate had again dropped when he hadn't started breathing quickly enough. But once he started breathing and screaming he was doing perfectly fine in every respect.
Finally, around 4pm or 5pm it was getting about time to start pushing, but somehow Daniel didn't quite want to come out yet. So I spent a long time just turning from one side to the other to hopefully help him, but without success. I was supposed to get up into a different position, but with my left leg paralyzed this was impossible. I was supposed to try pushing even though he was still too high up for this, but it didn't seem to do anything either. Turning down the pain medication didn't help my leg, didn't help the pushing, but at least was not completely without effect since it made me feel the pain again... ;-) So eventually, after everything else failed, they had to use the ventouse and "cut the path open", but well, at least that finally did the job.
Apparently, Daniel didn't like this rather violent way of coming out much, especially with the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck (maybe the reason for all the difficulties?)... He didn't want to start screaming immediately. So suddenly the whole room was filled with doctors and nurses and they took him to the other end of the room and worked with all kinds of pipes and other equipment on him or just ran around trying to be busy... (There didn't seem to be room for everybody to actually do something, and 2-3 of the people there really seemed to be just running back and forth aimlessly.) We tried to ask what was going on, but didn't get any reply. Luckily Jefferson had seen Daniel move his legs immediately, but even so it was very scary to watch them and not get any information on what was happening. Eventually everything turned out completely ok, and after some minutes of being scared to death someone finally told us that apparently Daniel's heart rate had again dropped when he hadn't started breathing quickly enough. But once he started breathing and screaming he was doing perfectly fine in every respect.
Maybe it really was that critical, or maybe he just would have needed a little slap on the butt - we'll never know. So whether we were lucky to be in the hospital with lots of (over?)eager doctors around, or whether that is actually what made all these crises happen in the first place: no idea. I only know that the time in the hospital was not exactly fun. But of course, what matters in the end is that our little Daniel is finally here!
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