He weighed 6lbs 2oz and was 19 inches long.
He was two and a half weeks early. Kelly and I had an appointment for a c-section consultation at the Rockyview Hospital. When they went to confirm by ultrasound that he was still breech we were all very surprised to find that the little turkey had flipped!
The doctors decided that they would try and stimulate labour to take advantage of the situation as Hunter was considered at that time a term baby at 37 weeks 5 days gestation. I was already 2 cm dilated and 85% effaced. When they went to stimulate labour I started bleeding, they monitored me for a few hours and decided that if by 3:30 am on Saturday I hadn't stopped that I would have to be admitted. I stayed at the hospital while they sent Kelly home. 3:30 comes along and I still haven't stopped so Kelly was called back into the Hospital.
Wow! We were going to be meeting our little boy later that day!
At 10:30 am we were finally admitted and in our labour and delivery room. They broke my water and induced me with Pitocin. Everything was going fairly well for a few hours but then Hunter's heart rate started dipping. They had me lay down on the bed and move in different positions until it evened out again which it did. The contractions then started getting more intense so I requested some Nitrous. It kind of helped for a little bit but then the Pitocin really kicked in between two contractions they intensified 10 fold. I requested a epidural at that point after going through about 10 contractions I couldn't handle the pain anymore.
Once the epidural was placed I slept for 2 hours....it was amazing...the anesthesiologist is my very best friend at that point!
All is going fine I am progressing but then Hunter's heart started dipping again, they came to the conclusion that the cord was getting stuck somewhere. I was tossing and turning to help him adjust, it would help for a short while but then would drop again. They decided to place a scalp monitor on his head to measure his heart, a monitor inside me to measure how strong my contractions were and a amniofusion to bring saline solution into me so to buffer Hunter and hopefully relieve some pressure on his cord.
After about an hour they had to turn off the Pitocin and there for my contractions weren't strong enough any more. Everytime I had a contraction it was too hard on Hunter so they had to think of ways to get him out sooner then later. By this time I rolled over to adjust and I broke the epidural tube. The pain there for was increasing again. They fixed the epidural tube and realized a while later that the button that releases the medicine also had been dislodged from the machine. I was too far gone medication wise that the epidural was no longer working. They had the anesthesiologist come back in and give me something else. It helped a little.
Plan A was that Hunter needed out soon, they wanted to try the vacuum and see if that would help. If not Plan B- c-section. Haha.. I laughed at this one. Funny we came in for a consultation the night before for a c-section, go through all the pain of natural birth to have the option of a c-section in the end.. haha.
Anyways, they got ready for the vacuum. In 2 pushes Hunter was out and sure enough the cord was wrapped around his neck. Although it didn't seam to matter he had lungs on him like no other and not a hint of blue anywhere on his body.
I was very out of it when Hunter arrived, it was a very long 9 hours. Because I had been bleeding since the night before, my hemoglobin levels were very low and I was in shock. They tried to get me to have a shower and I fainted. Then after about an hour of rest they tried to get me to the NICU to see Hunter. I was in the NICU for 30 seconds and fainted again. My body just was not ready to be up and about yet. I went to sleep until the next afternoon.
Hunter is a beautiful, healthy little boy. He has both a cleft lip and palate but it doesn't seem to stop him from being such a great eater and the cutest little boy I have ever seen. Kelly and I are so in love with this little guy we couldn't be any happier with his arrival!
He eats out of what is called a Haberman Bottle. It allows for him to suck but we assist him by squeezing the nipple so that he doesn't have to work as hard. A cleft lip and palate makes it feel like they are sucking up milk through a straw with a whole in it. Its just a lot more work for them :)
