The Oldhams

Chaim is here! But not without his own dramatic birth story. So where do I begin? Lets start with Monday June 6th 20ll I have my 39 week appointment with Dr. P and to my surprise I was dilated 2+ cm and Dr. P made the comment that he would be surprised if I made it to the following Monday without going into labor naturally I had also been feeling a lot of contractions (which apparently is more normal with each baby) so I went home to finish the nursery, pack a hospital bag and write out my birth plan.. I know nothing like waiting till the last minute but hey this is number 2 and you just don't have all the time to prepare like you did with your first. My contractions intensified throughout the week even to the point of being 5 minutes apart for 3-4 hours and then they would stop. That week was probably the longest week of my life. I went to see Dr. P on Thursday of that week because I was nervous that with all the contractions I had been having my labor was going to be really fast once it started and I wanted to know where I was at going into the weekend. I went in and he said I was maybe at 3 cm but was concerned because the baby was still sitting so high. He made the comment "I hope his cord isn't around his neck because that could be why he is not dropping" I brushed this comment off one because there was nothing I could do about it at that moment and I didn't want to spend several days worried about it and two I didn't want anyone else to worry about it if it was truly nothing. We had decided that he would induce me on the 13th if he hadn't come by then because he was also worried about his size getting too big for me to deliver if I went much longer and at the appointment that thursday he said with me already dilated to a 3 my body was preparing and maybe this would get him to drop and move things along. Not to mention that compared to my pregnancy with Allie this one was much harder on me the pain level was significantly worse to the point where I was in tears every day for the last 3-4 weeks and I had gained a lot more weight and was very swollen which was all the opposite of Allie. So by the 13th I was more than ready. The weekend came and went and at 4:45 am the hospital called me so off Noah and I went. The check in process took forever but at about 9 am the meds had started and labor slowly began. Being induced was a totally different process than starting labor naturally and the contractions were pretty intense but I kinda liked knowing when it was all going to happen and that it was during the day and I wasn't up all night like last time :) Anyways by 9:50 they broke my water and labor started progressing really quickly by 12 am I was 5cm and 8 minutes later I was 9cm then my blood pressure started dropping around 40/70 and Chaim's heart rate would drop in the 60's so the nurse decided to stop the Pitocin and when she did that everything stalled. It went from us thinking I would be ready to push any minute to a prolonged weight. They added more water back into my cervix which made Chaim a happy boy but even at 9cm he still hadn't dropped down. They quickly realized it was his cord around his neck and it was keeping him from coming down naturally. He was also turned the wrong way which explains the intense back labor! After about an hour I was at a 10 and they wanted me to try to push even though he hadn't come down. Everytime I would push the cord would wrap tighter around his neck and would pull him back up rendering my efforts pretty much useless. Dr P told me he was getting nervous and started throwing out thoughts of a C section. Bascially he told me I had about 2 minutes to get this baby out or we were going to the OR. The cord was wrapped tightly twice around his neck but I was determined not to have a C Section. So with everything in my I pushed and got him to a point of no return where C section was no longer and option but he still was not in the clear. I continued to push and eventually after a total of 2 hours of pushing he was out. But instead of all the warm fuzzies of them putting him on your chest and dad getting to cut the cord they wisked him away put him on oxygen and were trying to get his circulation back to normal. They told me he was going to have to spend the night in the NICU because he was not doing well without oxygen and his circulation did not look good. Then slowly he started to do better and it changed to spending a few hours in the nursery to eventually he was fine and I could finally hold him after he was about 45 minutes old. That might have been the longest 45 minutes of my life I just wanted to hold my baby. Then they let me have him for about 10 minutes before taking him off to the nursery and I didn't seem him again for almost 2.5 hours. Needless to say I was a bit frustrated and just wanted my BABY! By the time I finally got him I was so excited and he was beautiful, perfect, and a complete blessing. I instantly couldn't imagine life without him. Chaim Joshua came at 4:58 on June 13th weighing 8lbs and 20 3/4th inches long. He is amazing and we are completely in love!