I’m in a bit of a fog here in the hospital, but I wanted to let you all know. After feeling labor pains on and off for a couple of days, hubby and I went to the labor & delivery wing of the hospital for the fourth time in 10 days. Now, however, I was past 37 weeks–and Baby Boy was officially full term.
Sunday night, Trent William–AKA Baby Boy 2.0–was delivered via c-section. I was indeed in labor and had dilated to 4cm, but alarmingly Trent’s heart had an arrhythmia. The OB on call was concerned the stress of labor may increase that problem, and with my history of back surgeries, he suggested stopping my labor and instead giving me a C-section. Scared the poop out of me. They sent in a tech to do an ultrasound so they could check his heart as well as fluids and such, (which were fine), and two nurses came in and very, verrrrry carefully listened to Trent’s heart on the monitor. I hadn’t a clue anything was wrong until they mentioned the arrhythmia (he was moving so much his heartbeat was often hard to hear). The OB said “We can do the C-section in 2 hours.” Yikes! But, we realized it would be best for Trent…and so I had my C-section that night.
Because I had had two back surgeries since the birth of my first, they had to knock me out, which was a bit unnerving. Actually, I was terrified. Being wheeled in to that cold room, knowing I was being knocked out, having my arms srapped down, being worried about baby’s heart, not having hubby with me…gah. I started crying and had to fight the urge to completely break down sobbing, but the nurses were all very sweet and reassuring. It took me a while to wake up enough to meet my little man, but I did and kissed his precious little head while hubby cradled him.
It was a very, very different experience than I had giving birth to my first. Cold, clinical, sudden, frightening–but in both situations, I still got a healthy baby boy out of the deal.
Trent was born at 8:54pm, weighing 7lbs 5oz and measuring 19 3/4in long. That’s 6oz lighter and 1/2in longer than his big brother. 
Oh, and his heart was FINE–they think maybe the contractions were causing stress, or it could just be an unknown. The pediatrician said that sometimes they see things in utero that just disappear at birth–this, thankfully, appears to be one of those situations. Once he was out, all things were normal. And despite barely being full term by their standards–37 weeks 1 day–his lungs are working just fine. As we all deliver by 37 weeks in my family, I wasn’t surprised.
I have some pictures I’ll upload when I’m not so foggy headed. It takes a few days for the general anesthesia to get out of my system. Bleh.
BTW, Trent was initially a little hesitant (“What do I do with this thing?”), but after about 12-16 hours has taken to the breast. He’s already had several mini-meals of mommy’s milk. Good boy! (And yeouch–lanolin cream, please!)
