On the Other Side

Life has been in the midst of change for us, especially since July 14 when baby Clara arrived. She almost arrived on Friday the 13th, but held out until 12:44 a.m. When she was born she weighed all of 6 lbs. 9 oz. and was 20 in. long. As of last Monday she weighed a little over 12 lbs. and was 24 in. long. With all of that growing, my time has mostly been spent feeding the baby (or so it seems much of the time.)


The birth experience was not what we expected as we had spent a lot of time preparing for natural childbirth, but I had a Cesarean. Labor itself was pretty painless because I didn't really have contractions that were strong enough to dilate my cervix past 2 cm. When I did start to have stronger contractions, the baby's heart rate dropped below 100 bpm. When this happened the first time, it was a bit bewildering to have the nurses and midwife come in and start rolling me on my side and giving me oxygen. The baby's heart rate recovered quickly and nicely. Later in the day they started me on a low dose of Pitocin to jumpstart the labor and again the baby's heart rate dropped. So, then they stopped the Pitocin and I did have stronger contractions on my own. Then the baby's heart rate dropped a third time and the midwife and OB/GYN decided it was time for the Cesarean. Even though the baby's heart rate increased right away to normal levels, the hospital staff treated it as an emergency situation. The nurses started poking and prodding to get me ready for surgery, which was all quite alarming...I remember thinking that I would really like to leave, but I figured I was stuck and if I tried anything of the sort they would have strapped me down. Once in the operating room, the OB's previously lackluster bedside manner drastically improved as he explained how the anesthesiologist would be giving me spinal anesthesia to numb me from my ribs down to my toes. Once I started getting numb, then they let Brian come in. Brian had asked the OB if he could take pictures, so we have all kinds of pictures of the surgery. Once they started cutting, it didn't take but 2 or 3 min. to have the baby out.

The doctor said there was a loop of cord right next to Clara's head when he took her out. That was the likely cause of the decrease in heart rate as the cord became compressed when the uterus contracted. The midwife felt badly that we didn't have the experience we were looking for, but later expressed that she felt that God was watching over us. If Clara had been positioned higher in the pelvis, the cord could have been over the cervix, which would have been a more serious problem. I hadn't wanted to go back for a checkup with the midwife because I was disappointed about the Cesarean, but it ended up being a good experience as the midwife actually cried with me when we were discussing the disappointment on both ends of how things had turned out. She became a midwife so that she could help women experience the joy of childbirth, not the trauma of getting cut open.

We didn't know if the baby was going to be a boy or girl, but most people who ventured a guess (and there were quite a few) said we would have a boy. Needless to say, we were slightly surprised when we were informed it was a girl. And, we had a "for sure" boy name, but only strong possibilities for girl names, so we waited until morning to give Clara her name. Since I was numb to my toes after Clara's birth, Brian had a busy night changing diapers and bringing her to me to be fed.

By the time we left the hospital Monday to go home I was getting around quite well and only taking ibuprofen for pain. The stronger pain medicine made me sick, drowsy, and loopy. I'd take a bit more pain over all that. As soon as I got home I caught the cold that Brian was finally getting over. It was a nasty one. All the antibiotics I received during labor sure didn't help my immune system much. A few weeks later Clara and I had thrush...another indication that my immune system wasn't in top shape. And, more than likely because Clara was born Cesarean, she had fluid left over in her lungs that didn't get squeezed out. So, for a couple of weeks while it worked itself out she wasn't the most comfortable, especially when sleeping. Clara had colicky symptoms for a bit too...inconsolable crying is just not fun. Luckily she is past that now and is generally pretty happy and smiley.

Having a child to take care of all of the time has been an adjustment, albeit a good adjustment. One day I was at the lab working with fruit flies and directing other people's work and the next I was breastfeeding and changing diapers. I'm still working on timing it just right to run errands when Clara is happiest and we're still working on establishing some sort of schedule. Brian likes to get up early in the morning, so if Clara wants to be a little rooster he is willing to take her for a walk or otherwise keep her entertained while I sleep awhile longer. He's a good diaper changer, too.




Above is a picture of Clara from last week. If you would like to see more pictures click here. Being pregnant was a wonderful experience, although being on the other side with a baby to hold is even more precious. Anyways, I'm starting to ramble. Now that we are getting into somewhat of a regular schedule, I'll try to make updating my blog a part of that schedule. Then my posts won't be so long. I should tell you about cloth diapering and chiropractic care for babies and my new job.
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