My due date was March 29. Almost every evening after my due date I have been having mild contractions, but until Saturday (April 3) none felt like the real thing. Saturday late evening contractions became somewhat more regular, I thought this might be it. Took the birthday cake out of the freezer that the children and I had baked a few weeks ago, and decorated it so that it be ready when baby is born. Made myself a strong batch of RRL tea, drank it, and went to bed, only to wake up around 3 a.m. noticing that nothing has happened.
Repeat on Sunday (April 4) night; regular mild contractions, strong RRL tea. I woke up at 12:30 a.m. and knew I was in labour. Waited until 2 a.m. in bed, with contractions becoming more intense and closer apart, then got up to call the midwife. Who kept me on the phone for 20 minutes asking so many questions, while making her assessment as to where I was in my labour. Contractions were 6 minutes apart when I started the call, and moved to 3 minutes apart during the call. DD's birth 3 years ago was fast (4 hours total!), so no surprise there! At 2:25 I woke up DH telling him m/w was on her way. M/w and her student arrived shortly after, set up things, while I was just lying on the bed, mostly on my side with a big folded pillow to held one leg up ( I found this "comfortable" ), working through one contraction after the other. My birthplan had requested an unassisted labour, without any internal exams, so my labour was only interrupted by the occasional check of the heartbeat with the fetoscope. I had a framed photography of a black panther to focus on, and a small stuffed black panther to squeeze with my hand during contractions; the black panther is my power animal, and these two items had helped me through the labours with DS and DD. At some point (likely around 4 a.m.) I started to feel the urge to push, and m/w made sure the secondary m/w was on her way to make it on time to catch the baby. A few big pushes, I reach out (or in?) and feel the head coming closer, a couple of more pushes, and out comes the head! M/w tells me later that the head was still within the membranes. And then baby makes a first loud cry! With the shoulders still stuck inside me, and the head still inside the membranes! One more push, and the next moment baby is on my belly, crying! We can relax, and enjoy this special moment. DH is on my side, and we stay like this for about 45 minutes, until I deliver the placenta. Only then, as I had requested, the cord is clamped, and DH cuts the cord. Then I lift up the baby to diagnose: it's a boy!!! -- Which meant we did not have a name! we barely the night before could agree on a name for a baby girl but knew we had not settled on a boy's name! -- Baby, with a little bit of mom's help, finds his way to the breast and has a good first meal. Some time between 5:30 and 6 a.m., I get up to clean myself up a bit, to go pee, the primary m/w starts packing up her things, while the secondary m/w does a newborn exam. Agpar is 9/10. I get our Master bed ready to accommodate the little one, anticipating a short hour of rest before our older children wake up to greet the new day.
This is where this story should end. A picture-perfect homebirth and just as I had envisioned, indeed!
But then things turn into the somewhat dramatic: I am in the bathroom, when DH comes and says "they want to bath him now". Me: "no!". (I had discussed with the m/w on a previous occasion that I did not want to bath the baby until day 2 or 3 after the birth.). DH: "yes. the baby is cold.". Me: "I'm going to bed with him now, then he'll warm up." DH: "they want to give him a really hot bath, because otherwise he has to go to the hospital, he is too cold." I comply, not really realizing what is going on, fill the bathtub, and go in with the baby. (His body temperature had dropped to 34 Celsius when that bath decision was made.) I hold him, fully immersed in the hot bath, for 15 minutes, and also let him nurse again in the bath. A great sucker he sure is! Then, out of the bath into heated towels, and then skin-to-skin wrapped up with me for 20 minutes. Temperature after the bath: 36.47 (they had aimed at 36.5, that's why they recorded all digits). Temperature after 20 minutes skin-to-skin with me: 35.9. They check under both armpits and rectally to be sure. I point out that my own temperature was 35.9 only when theyhad measured earlier, so why should baby reach higher? So Baby is transferred tomy "hot" DH, to be on his chest, skin to skin, covered in several layers of heated receiving blankets. Temperatures after 20 minutes on DH: 35.6 and 35.8 underneath the armpits, and 35.7 rectally. What a defeat. I realize that yes, that baby has a problem maintaining its body temperature. The decision that a transfer to the hospital is necessary is final, at around 7 a.m.
[In the meantime, DS and DD have woken up. They both greet the baby, although it takes a little while to overcome the fear of the 2 midwives and their student, and then wonder off to inspect the gifts the baby had brought for them. What a great distraction, given that I have to break the news to them that mom and baby head out to the hospital now because the baby is feeling too cold.]
M/w talks on the phone with the pediatrician on call in the local hospital, while I am getting dressed and closing my hospital bag, and making phone calls down the emergency list to find friends who can take DD and DS for the day. It is 7:30 a.m. now, just a bit more than three hours after given birth! Shortly afterwards I find myself driving my husband's car (mine had a battery problem and did not start up!! never had happened before!), with my baby in the infant seat that I had not thought of using in it's first week of life at least!, following the midwife's car to the hospital. It is a 7-minute drive. Which is good. Student midwife is in my car. Which is good. Keeps me sane. I have someone to talk to. It is overwhelming. DH stays home with the children, to get them dressed, fed, and picked up (can't bring them himself, he has no working car at hand.....) by their very-spontanous-all-day playdate, so that he can follow after as soon as possible.
At the hospital, we check into pediatrics, get assigned a room, and baby is put into the isolette under thick blankets. His breathing is too fast, and his temperature too low. He is hooked up with the monitor. It is around 8 a.m. I lie down on the bed next to the isolette (We have a room on our own, at least, an advantage to be admitted to pediatrics, rather than the maternity ward!). Shortly after, the lab wagon comes in to take blood samples. Poor baby is poked in his inner arms, but since he is so cold they cannot find a vein easily, more poking, switching to his other arm, in the end they get half as much blood as they need, so we know this has to be repeated later. I cringe. Baby still on the monitor and in isolette. They use the first blood sample to determine if his low temperature is caused by infection. Results come back one hour later: no infection! good news! that means no IV antibiotics. IV antibiotics would have meant: a minimum stay for 2 days, more likely up to 10 days. But, his blood sugar is really low. On the upside: tempareture improves, breathing stabalizes, by 11 a.m. he is out of the isolette and in bed with me. DH is there too, we doze on and off, and DH reads in the two name books that he brought. Around 3 p.m., and several blood samples later they say the baby has a blood sugar problem, and we have to supplement. I do have colostrum, but baby is too tired to drink, too sleepy. We are only given two choices: IV sugar water, or formula supplementation with the feeding tube. Choices??? Isn't there any third option?? No, expressing milk would not do it,the nurse says, the baby needs more than my colostrum can offer in terms of calories and fluids, the blood sugar is so low that therisk of falling into a coma, and the baby is showing signs of dehydration (he has been sweating a lot). As much as I loathe formula, this is what we go for. I just do not want this young man to suffer more with an IV poking in his body. Also the formula supplementation likely is allowing us to get out of the hospital faster. Which is what I really want: get out of here and get us home to be with my other children.
It is around 4 p.m. now. DH is out to collect DS and DD from their playdate, I reconsider names, and finally agree with DHs favorite: Arlo Alexander. So we'll have a name!
DS and DD come, they are both excited to see their little brother again, and I am so happy to be with them. I cannot hold back my tears as they walk into the room. Siblings as they are, they immediately start a fight who is getting to hold the baby first! Baby is still hooked up to the monitor, but in bed with us. The feeding tube and formula gets delivered, and little Arlo gets a good meal from the breast and the tube attached to the breast. He is sucking up the 30 ml in no time. More bloodwork. If he has two good consecutive blood sugar readings before midnight, we can go home the next day! Otherwise, we need to stay until we get two good consecutive readings. DH and the children go home for dinner and bed (only my sixth night away from DD -- we both cry when she is leaving), and I settle in for the night. Two more blood samples drawn from those poor little heels, followed by two more feedings with the tube. In-between I nurse as often as baby can, to keep the blood sugar up. By midnight we have two good readings!!!! The night passes quickly -- baby Arlo is tucked in bed with me -- interrupted only by feedings and a pee and a temperature check. The next morning we pack, DH comes by after dropping of the children at school and kindergarten, and we wait for the pediatrician on call to release us. At 11 a.m. we arrive at home, and our new life as a family of 5 can begin!
Repeat on Sunday (April 4) night; regular mild contractions, strong RRL tea. I woke up at 12:30 a.m. and knew I was in labour. Waited until 2 a.m. in bed, with contractions becoming more intense and closer apart, then got up to call the midwife. Who kept me on the phone for 20 minutes asking so many questions, while making her assessment as to where I was in my labour. Contractions were 6 minutes apart when I started the call, and moved to 3 minutes apart during the call. DD's birth 3 years ago was fast (4 hours total!), so no surprise there! At 2:25 I woke up DH telling him m/w was on her way. M/w and her student arrived shortly after, set up things, while I was just lying on the bed, mostly on my side with a big folded pillow to held one leg up ( I found this "comfortable" ), working through one contraction after the other. My birthplan had requested an unassisted labour, without any internal exams, so my labour was only interrupted by the occasional check of the heartbeat with the fetoscope. I had a framed photography of a black panther to focus on, and a small stuffed black panther to squeeze with my hand during contractions; the black panther is my power animal, and these two items had helped me through the labours with DS and DD. At some point (likely around 4 a.m.) I started to feel the urge to push, and m/w made sure the secondary m/w was on her way to make it on time to catch the baby. A few big pushes, I reach out (or in?) and feel the head coming closer, a couple of more pushes, and out comes the head! M/w tells me later that the head was still within the membranes. And then baby makes a first loud cry! With the shoulders still stuck inside me, and the head still inside the membranes! One more push, and the next moment baby is on my belly, crying! We can relax, and enjoy this special moment. DH is on my side, and we stay like this for about 45 minutes, until I deliver the placenta. Only then, as I had requested, the cord is clamped, and DH cuts the cord. Then I lift up the baby to diagnose: it's a boy!!! -- Which meant we did not have a name! we barely the night before could agree on a name for a baby girl but knew we had not settled on a boy's name! -- Baby, with a little bit of mom's help, finds his way to the breast and has a good first meal. Some time between 5:30 and 6 a.m., I get up to clean myself up a bit, to go pee, the primary m/w starts packing up her things, while the secondary m/w does a newborn exam. Agpar is 9/10. I get our Master bed ready to accommodate the little one, anticipating a short hour of rest before our older children wake up to greet the new day.
This is where this story should end. A picture-perfect homebirth and just as I had envisioned, indeed!
But then things turn into the somewhat dramatic: I am in the bathroom, when DH comes and says "they want to bath him now". Me: "no!". (I had discussed with the m/w on a previous occasion that I did not want to bath the baby until day 2 or 3 after the birth.). DH: "yes. the baby is cold.". Me: "I'm going to bed with him now, then he'll warm up." DH: "they want to give him a really hot bath, because otherwise he has to go to the hospital, he is too cold." I comply, not really realizing what is going on, fill the bathtub, and go in with the baby. (His body temperature had dropped to 34 Celsius when that bath decision was made.) I hold him, fully immersed in the hot bath, for 15 minutes, and also let him nurse again in the bath. A great sucker he sure is! Then, out of the bath into heated towels, and then skin-to-skin wrapped up with me for 20 minutes. Temperature after the bath: 36.47 (they had aimed at 36.5, that's why they recorded all digits). Temperature after 20 minutes skin-to-skin with me: 35.9. They check under both armpits and rectally to be sure. I point out that my own temperature was 35.9 only when theyhad measured earlier, so why should baby reach higher? So Baby is transferred tomy "hot" DH, to be on his chest, skin to skin, covered in several layers of heated receiving blankets. Temperatures after 20 minutes on DH: 35.6 and 35.8 underneath the armpits, and 35.7 rectally. What a defeat. I realize that yes, that baby has a problem maintaining its body temperature. The decision that a transfer to the hospital is necessary is final, at around 7 a.m.
[In the meantime, DS and DD have woken up. They both greet the baby, although it takes a little while to overcome the fear of the 2 midwives and their student, and then wonder off to inspect the gifts the baby had brought for them. What a great distraction, given that I have to break the news to them that mom and baby head out to the hospital now because the baby is feeling too cold.]
M/w talks on the phone with the pediatrician on call in the local hospital, while I am getting dressed and closing my hospital bag, and making phone calls down the emergency list to find friends who can take DD and DS for the day. It is 7:30 a.m. now, just a bit more than three hours after given birth! Shortly afterwards I find myself driving my husband's car (mine had a battery problem and did not start up!! never had happened before!), with my baby in the infant seat that I had not thought of using in it's first week of life at least!, following the midwife's car to the hospital. It is a 7-minute drive. Which is good. Student midwife is in my car. Which is good. Keeps me sane. I have someone to talk to. It is overwhelming. DH stays home with the children, to get them dressed, fed, and picked up (can't bring them himself, he has no working car at hand.....) by their very-spontanous-all-day playdate, so that he can follow after as soon as possible.
At the hospital, we check into pediatrics, get assigned a room, and baby is put into the isolette under thick blankets. His breathing is too fast, and his temperature too low. He is hooked up with the monitor. It is around 8 a.m. I lie down on the bed next to the isolette (We have a room on our own, at least, an advantage to be admitted to pediatrics, rather than the maternity ward!). Shortly after, the lab wagon comes in to take blood samples. Poor baby is poked in his inner arms, but since he is so cold they cannot find a vein easily, more poking, switching to his other arm, in the end they get half as much blood as they need, so we know this has to be repeated later. I cringe. Baby still on the monitor and in isolette. They use the first blood sample to determine if his low temperature is caused by infection. Results come back one hour later: no infection! good news! that means no IV antibiotics. IV antibiotics would have meant: a minimum stay for 2 days, more likely up to 10 days. But, his blood sugar is really low. On the upside: tempareture improves, breathing stabalizes, by 11 a.m. he is out of the isolette and in bed with me. DH is there too, we doze on and off, and DH reads in the two name books that he brought. Around 3 p.m., and several blood samples later they say the baby has a blood sugar problem, and we have to supplement. I do have colostrum, but baby is too tired to drink, too sleepy. We are only given two choices: IV sugar water, or formula supplementation with the feeding tube. Choices??? Isn't there any third option?? No, expressing milk would not do it,the nurse says, the baby needs more than my colostrum can offer in terms of calories and fluids, the blood sugar is so low that therisk of falling into a coma, and the baby is showing signs of dehydration (he has been sweating a lot). As much as I loathe formula, this is what we go for. I just do not want this young man to suffer more with an IV poking in his body. Also the formula supplementation likely is allowing us to get out of the hospital faster. Which is what I really want: get out of here and get us home to be with my other children.
It is around 4 p.m. now. DH is out to collect DS and DD from their playdate, I reconsider names, and finally agree with DHs favorite: Arlo Alexander. So we'll have a name!
DS and DD come, they are both excited to see their little brother again, and I am so happy to be with them. I cannot hold back my tears as they walk into the room. Siblings as they are, they immediately start a fight who is getting to hold the baby first! Baby is still hooked up to the monitor, but in bed with us. The feeding tube and formula gets delivered, and little Arlo gets a good meal from the breast and the tube attached to the breast. He is sucking up the 30 ml in no time. More bloodwork. If he has two good consecutive blood sugar readings before midnight, we can go home the next day! Otherwise, we need to stay until we get two good consecutive readings. DH and the children go home for dinner and bed (only my sixth night away from DD -- we both cry when she is leaving), and I settle in for the night. Two more blood samples drawn from those poor little heels, followed by two more feedings with the tube. In-between I nurse as often as baby can, to keep the blood sugar up. By midnight we have two good readings!!!! The night passes quickly -- baby Arlo is tucked in bed with me -- interrupted only by feedings and a pee and a temperature check. The next morning we pack, DH comes by after dropping of the children at school and kindergarten, and we wait for the pediatrician on call to release us. At 11 a.m. we arrive at home, and our new life as a family of 5 can begin!
