Elliot's arrival, part 3

[part 1 and part 2]

The regional perinatal center has (I believe) 4 doctors and 2 midwives on staff. As it turned out, this was one of their weekends when none of their regular practitioners were on call. Dr. Lenny knew the woman who was going to be covering for them and told us that she was really nice. That said, it was a bit of a disappointment.

Until Dr. Lenny was there at the hospital with one of his patients who had come in (as it turned out, she went home without delivering) and my covering physician agreed to let him do the delivery if we wanted. So our choice was to go with someone I'd never met or opt for someone who knew me and my preferences/philosophy well. It was a no-brainer, if he really was up for it, and he said he was.

Another check at about 11:15am after paperwork and a 20-minute strip on the baby: I was 7cm and 90%. Baby was still high.

Thankfully, Dr. Lenny was insisting on giving me intermittent monitoring (much to some of the residents' chagrin) and so I got to get up and walk, hoping that would help get the baby where he/she needed to be. Contractions were intensifying and I was continuing to gush fluid. And that was around the time when we realized that the fluid was stained with meconium. It ended up being nothing to worry about (as is often the case, I guess), but it was something to be aware of.

I have to say that from around noon until 3:30 or so, everything is kind of hazy. Things felt timeless in many ways, and not just because the military time on the digital clock in the room was throwing me off (though it was!). The contractions were intense and frequent. Every time I would get a "break," I'd realize afterwards that it was only that those two contractions happened to be 5 minutes apart instead of the 2 or 2-1/2 minutes apart that they mostly were. Despite the frequency of the contractions, I was progressing slowly, slowly, slowly from 7 to 8 to 9 and finally to 10 centimeters. And slowly, slowly, slowly, the baby was moving down.

If you've ever been in labor, you know that "slowly" is not what you want at that point in the game.

This was the first time I've ever seriously feared whether or not I had the physical stamina to finish. I do wonder if my severely anemic condition going into delivery contributed to that. In the past, I've reached points where I've not wanted to finish, but I'd never before so strongly doubted myself and whether or not I could. I am so thankful for Daniel, Mom, Camilla, Carina, Louissa, and Liana all telling me over and over again that I could. I needed their encouragement so much-- and how good God was to arrange things so that they were all there giving me just that.

Finally I got the urge to push and the clearance to do so. Again, I was gripped by fear that I physically couldn't. I felt so, so, so tired. Again, I was surrounded (literally) by the best group of cheerleaders a laboring woman could ever find. Seriously.

I pushed perhaps the longest this time out of all my deliveries, but it was still probably only 4 or 5 contractions or so worth of pushing. And there was rest between the contractions-- rest I desperately needed and was so thankful for.

At 4:03pm, he arrived. He cried immediately, a healthy, strong cry. I cried. They put him on me right away. I was amazed by how big he felt (though not surprised)! I was so glad to be done.

And for the first time ever, the placenta delivered with absolutely no effort on my part. I was physically wiped out, so that was an incredible blessing.

Not a single tear. No bruising. My hemoglobin was 8 on Wednesday; yesterday, 12 hours after the delivery, it had only dropped to 7. I lost very little blood. I feel amazing. Traveling home yesterday wasn't a bit uncomfortable and although I feel tired today, it's more of an I-haven't-slept-enough-in-the-past-two-days tired than anything else.

Elliot Hale
"My God is the Lord; hero"
9lbs, 8oz; 21"

We are blessed!

Pics to come...