operonscript.com

Welcome Oscar!

19th May, 2009 - Posted by karen -

Dan and I are happy to announce the birth of our second child, Oscar Dietrich. He was born on May 12th at 7:12 AM weighing 8 lb 14 oz.

As always, you can expect an exciting and adventure-filled birth story from me (for example, see the story of Evelyn’s birth). This one promises to be thrilling in it’s own way.

I was due to deliver May 5th. My doctor was checking my progress for being ready for labour since April but unfortunately at every check-up there was no change. Even more distressing for me was the fact that he hadn’t “dropped” yet, just like Evelyn. At 38 weeks, my doctor was somewhat concerned over the size of my tummy and sent me for an ultrasound to try and see how large Oscar was. The weight was 7 lb 11 oz, which was slightly more than Evelyn when she was born. After Evelyn my doctor said that as long as the next children were not much larger than her I would be able to deliver normally. My doctor wasn’t concerned about the weight estimate so we kept on waiting.

By the time 39 weeks came along I was desparate to get things going on their own so I didn’t have to be induced again, so I started doing a lot of walking (around an hour or two each day). However 40 weeks came and went and when I saw my doctor she scheduled me for another induction on May 12th. I was pretty depressed for a few days since the induction did not go well at all with Evelyn and I was concerned we would go through another traumatic birth experience.

I had been experiencing boughts of strong contractions in the evenings for two weeks prior to Oscar’s birth, but nothing had come of them. On the evening of Monay May 11th they started again but this time kept going. Since I was scheduled for induction the following day I thought I should try and get some sleep but I woke up half an hour later at about 11:15 PM due to the pain of the contractions, which progressively got stronger. So Dan and I packed up and were at the hospital by 12:30.

Once we were all settled in at the hospital things progressed quickly. The contractions were strong, but manageable. Oscar, however, was still at -2 station of birth (0 station is engaged at the cervix and at the top of the pelvis) which was the same with Evelyn. By 2 AM the water broke and I had to stay in bed since at -2 station there is a risk the umbilical cord can get compressed. By 3:30, however the pain from the contractions was getting much stronger. As with Evelyn, I felt a lot of pressure in my pelvis and unique to this experience, I started to feel like my back was being broken. Apparently my tailbone also curves in steeply which was part of the problem for Evelyn. I don’t know if this was related to the back pain I had, but I can definitely say it was excruciating. Since pain and childbirth are subjective experiences and everyone’s is different I can’t comment on whether this was normal or if it was more painful due to my abnormal pelvis, but I was ready for the epidural. Unfortunately the anesthesiologist was busy with a C-section and he wasn’t able to come until 4:30. That hour went by in a bit of a blur and I can only remember three things: 1) with some of the contractions it felt like there was something “snapping” in my lower back 2) I screamed a lot (just like you see on movies!) and 3) one of the nurses told me I should be doing breathing exercises rather than screaming. Breathing was painful and screaming felt a heck of a lot better. At this point I was only 4 cm dilated and I am sure I would not have made it to 10. Also I was unable to relax between contractions, which was another similarity to Evelyn’s birth.

Anyway, the anesthesiologist arrived and after a short time I felt much, much better. Whoever invented the epidural is definitely my friend. By 5:30, the nurse helped me turn over and Oscar’s heart rate started to drop erratically, yet another thing in common with Evelyn’s birth. After much fiddling with the heart monitor, the doctor on staff was called in to assess the situation. At 6:15 he did an exam and told me that Oscar’s head was not fitting well into my “very narrow” pelvis and for that and the fact that his heart rate was not where it should be that he wanted to do a C-section. I said I was in complete agreement, having gone through the same experience with Evelyn. They took me down to the 3rd floor where the OR is and tried to give me another dose of anesthetic through the epidural. I could still feel quite a bit when they tested so they had to give me a general anesthetic - and frankly I am glad since the last thing I wanted to do was feel the surgery, thanks. I was only conscious in the OR for a few minutes, but it was really impressive to see how well managed and organized everything was given that there was an emergency surgery being performed.

The last thing I remember before I was out was the orderly saying “here’s some oxygen to breathe” and then I woke up as they were wheeling the bed down the hallway. The same orderly said “Karen, your baby is doing just fine” and then I spent a good 2 hours in recovery. My arms were shaking uncontrollably and everything was spinning in a clockwise fashion (again, just like the movies). Dan came for a visit and told me that Oscar was in the nursery and doing fine and that the cord blood was successfully collected (I hadn’t mentioned it to the OR staff and was worried it didn’t get done).

By 10:00 I was upstairs in a room and at 10:15 I was able to nurse Oscar for the first time. I was totally amazed at how well he nursed and how strong his suck reflex was. The story of our stay in the hospital and our first week will have to wait for another post. The good news, however, is that I am doing much, much better than last time and I can say without a doubt that a C-section was the right choice. Also this time I dit not lose my milk and I have been able to feed Oscar well so far. That says a lot about how bad Evelyn’s birth was!

So to conclude, apparently I am well made for pregnancy and not at all made for delivery. The baby factory is closed now so at least we will never have to go through that again!