Sunday, May 5, 2013

Lachlan's Birth Story: Part Four

Find parts 1-3 HERE
 
I asked for a napkin as my baby’s first meconium poop filled my hand. I didn’t care. I told him he could poo and pee all over me, I loved him and I loved his poop. I didn’t get to hold him long before everyone had to leave the room so that I could get x-rayed to make sure the surgical team had not left any instruments inside me as the surgery was so rushed they didn’t have time to do a final instrument count. Andrew says that upon hearing this he said that if they had left something inside of me he would punch the fucking doctor in the face. He was very tired at this point…We are thankful to the talented OB who got Lachlan out in under five minutes. The reason Lachlan’s heart rate had dropped was that he was so small that when he entered the birth canal the  umbilical cord came with him and was pinned next to his head so he wasn’t getting enough oxygen. It’s called cord prolapsed occult. I had heard of cord prolapse but didn’t realize there were different versions, undetectable during labour. We will never know if I could have safely pushed him out but he is here and healthy and that’s all that matters.
Once they finished the x-rays I got the baby back, we were wheeled to our room and we started trying to breastfeed. He was brilliant. Andrew and I took shifts doing skin to skin cuddling while the other parent tried to sleep. The trauma of the day caught up with Andrew early in the morning and he got sick so we called my mom to come cuddle Lachlan while we tried to get some real sleep. She arrived and sat in the rocking chair with our baby for over three hours. That day almost all of our family came to visit. My recovery was very painful at first, putting me back in the “never doing this again mindset” but after a few days I felt better. We spent five uncomfortable, sleepless nights in the hospital, two of which Lachlan had to be in an incubator because of a jaundice scare. On Friday March 29th we finally went home. We felt such relief to be in our own beds and start our lives as a family of three. We couldn’t be happier with our perfect boy. All the pain, frustration and exhaustion totally dissipates when he opens his eyes and looks at us.
Nothing about our birth went according to plan but we got our healthy baby boy home safe and sound…I guess that was the plan all along.





 

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