Everest Arrives - Part II
The drugs did their work, and things started getting a lot more interesting. As contractions got stronger, and things got more painful, we decided to get an epidural started sooner rather than later. They came to put it in about 8pm, and getting it set went flawlessly - Kim got multiple compliments from the anesthesiologist on her perfectly situated and steady spine, which he said was a textbook example of how to do it and perhaps the best he had ever come across. Chalk one up for those yoga sessions.
After the epidural had set in, they decided to check Kim's progress and her water broke almost immediately. Things started moving faster, and Kim and I took guesses on the time of delivery, and whether the birthday would be the 18th or 19th. I was shooting for 11:30 and the 18th. Kim was guessing after midnight (12:07 if I recall correctly) and the 19th.
Our midwife, Karen guessed that it would be before 1:00 AM. At about 11, Kim started feeling like she could push, but they wanted her to hold off because things didn't look like they were quite ready. I caught a quick catnap for 20 or 30 minutes, and Kim called them in again. Still not ready. After 20 more minutes, Kim called the nurse in and told her one way or another, she was going to push because she couldn't stop herself.
The midwife came in, they got all the imminent baby-catching hardware in place, and told Kim to go ahead. She asked to have some instrumental music on so she could focus. I fired up the Penguin Cafe Orchestra station on Pandora, and some jaunty Irish tune started playing. We were both pretty excited; baby was probably only about an hour of pushing away. He apparently had other plans - barely 5 minutes later, there he was.
They brought him up right away so Kim could hold him, and I realized that I was crying - he laid on her and we were both impressed to see that he was already picking his head up and looking around. Not terribly surprising, since he had been doing gymnastics every evening since Kim had been 6 months pregnant. You would see her belly contorting from across the room.
The midwife stuck the clippers in my hand to cut the cord, even though I had said before I didn't want to do it. I wasn't really opposed, I was just feeling hesitant about it because of everything that had happened the first time... I think I was half expecting some kind of problem with the cord or other trauma, because that was all I knew. I did the honors and he went back to nestle in with Kim - she was as happy as I've ever seen her.
In a lot of ways the basically problem-free delivery made this birth an entirely new experience for both Kim and I. What we remembered was the jumbled love and joy and terror of a delivery with complications - this seemed strangely simple by comparison. When I think of both births though, as different as they were, they stand out as the most meaningful experiences in my life.
It was complete, and we had a beautiful baby boy with us. He weighed in at 7lbs, 7oz - smaller than we had guessed, but still healthy and strong. He was 20" long, and had a healthy appetite right away. We watched him and held him until 2 or 3AM, and then we all slept. He woke briefly up once or twice, but was mostly quiet and content. When we all woke up for good, it was almost 9 on Sunday morning. We could see it was a balmy October day. Our good friends Jeff and Megan live within walking distance of the hospital and can see it from their place - Jeff knew we were there and happens to be a photography enthusiast - he got a captivating image of the sunrise over the hospital that morning.
Part I
Part II
Part III
The midwife came in, they got all the imminent baby-catching hardware in place, and told Kim to go ahead. She asked to have some instrumental music on so she could focus. I fired up the Penguin Cafe Orchestra station on Pandora, and some jaunty Irish tune started playing. We were both pretty excited; baby was probably only about an hour of pushing away. He apparently had other plans - barely 5 minutes later, there he was.
They brought him up right away so Kim could hold him, and I realized that I was crying - he laid on her and we were both impressed to see that he was already picking his head up and looking around. Not terribly surprising, since he had been doing gymnastics every evening since Kim had been 6 months pregnant. You would see her belly contorting from across the room.
The midwife stuck the clippers in my hand to cut the cord, even though I had said before I didn't want to do it. I wasn't really opposed, I was just feeling hesitant about it because of everything that had happened the first time... I think I was half expecting some kind of problem with the cord or other trauma, because that was all I knew. I did the honors and he went back to nestle in with Kim - she was as happy as I've ever seen her.
In a lot of ways the basically problem-free delivery made this birth an entirely new experience for both Kim and I. What we remembered was the jumbled love and joy and terror of a delivery with complications - this seemed strangely simple by comparison. When I think of both births though, as different as they were, they stand out as the most meaningful experiences in my life.
It was complete, and we had a beautiful baby boy with us. He weighed in at 7lbs, 7oz - smaller than we had guessed, but still healthy and strong. He was 20" long, and had a healthy appetite right away. We watched him and held him until 2 or 3AM, and then we all slept. He woke briefly up once or twice, but was mostly quiet and content. When we all woke up for good, it was almost 9 on Sunday morning. We could see it was a balmy October day. Our good friends Jeff and Megan live within walking distance of the hospital and can see it from their place - Jeff knew we were there and happens to be a photography enthusiast - he got a captivating image of the sunrise over the hospital that morning.
Part II
Part III
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