A Baby Story

Welcome Kian Erick Dirks Pay, born on June 21 at 11:45pm, 8pounds 5 ounces, 22 inches long.

At 5:00pm on Saturday the 21st, we finally recived the call from the hospital saying that we could come in at 6:30 to be induced. This was supposed to be a 1 hour appointment and then we would return home and wait for labour to get going.

Instead, we got to the hospital to find out that I was already in labour and that my water had already broken (which I hadn't noticed at all). I got all hooked up to some moniters and an IV and they began to moniter my contractions and Kian's heartbeat.

After about an hour of being monitered, our nurses and my docter were concerned that Kian's heartbeat would go down after every contraction. No cause for alarm yet, but in 4 or more hours this could become a real problem. Especially since my labour wasn't really progressing, at least not quickly enough.

Our doctors wanted to make sure Kian was doing okay, and to do so needed to take some blood samples from Kian's head. Which meant I needed to get an epidural. And since I was planning to get one at some point anyways, plus on the off chance they needed to do a C-Section, I figured why not.

So, after they did the blood tests, both of the attending doctors recommended that I go in for a C-Section. They gave E& I a few minutes to talk it over, but we both agreed that we didn't want to risk anything happening to Kian by waiting for a natural delivery.

By 11pm I was wheeled into the operating room for prep. The actual surgery took less than half an hour, and Kian joined us at 11:45pm. Apparently the umbilical cord had been wrapped around his neck, and there was some concern about his oxygen levels and blood sugar levels. So all I got was a quick peek before he was whisked off to the neonatal ICU for monitering.

I was wheeled over to the recovery room for a few hours and then moved to a regular room. I didn't get to hold my Kian until the next morning when I got a wheelchair ride down to ICU to try and feed him.

But all is well, and after a few days in the hospital we were able to take him home.

So far, the hardest part is the few hours of 'cluster feeding' (crankiness and lots of wanting to eat, without the usual sleeps in between) that happens sometime between midnight and 3am every night. The rest of the time I mostly sleep when baby sleeps, which means I'm taking 2 hour naps every couple of hours, all day & all night.

But I love the little guy like crazy, he is sooo beautiful, and I'm getting to know what his different facial expressions mean, and can sort of predict when he'll wake up next for another feeding.

I'm sure I'll have lots more to write about K as we figure out this parenting thing.