I'M A DAD!!!

Sigh… It’s been a long week. First, let me say that it’s not Hannah or Vanessa. Hannah is adorable and well behaved. Vanessa has been very sweet and it’s been nice to spend time with her.

On Monday (April 30th), we went to see Vanessa’s chiropractor. She has been seeing him regularly for about 4 months now. He specializes in adjusting pregnant women and children. Vanessa was 41 weeks pregnant, the baby hadn’t dropped, and Vanessa showed no signs of delivering anytime soon. He showed us a pressure point to relax one of the ligaments that may be keeping the baby from dropping and to get the baby to turn in the right direction. After that we went to lunch. While we were at lunch Vanessa started getting contractions. We hastily got lunch wrapped-up to go and headed home.

These contractions went on from 1:30 pm that day, until 9:00 am the next morning when they ramped-up and started becoming stronger. These contractions were coming every 5 to 7 minutes, so we didn’t get much sleep that night. The stronger contractions that started around 9:00 am were so strong that Vanessa couldn’t walk or stand on her own. They were coming every 5 to 14 minutes in waves. We called Vanessa’s mom, since she lives 2 hours away. Vanessa was able to take a nap and by 2:30 it was time to go to our appointment at the Midwife’s office. This wasn’t a comfortable drive for Vanessa.

When we got to the Midwife they examined Vanessa to see how far along she was. The midwife told her staff to close the office and cancel all of her appointments. YEAH!!! I followed the midwife out and asked her how far Vanessa was. She said 6 centimeters! Wow! She needed to get to 10 cm or so to deliver, so we were close.

For the next 14 hours, Vanessa and I became closer than ever before and we each learned a lot about each other. She is by far the bravest, strongest, and most determined person I have ever met. Most people would have not chosen a natural childbirth. Most people would have given-up after 5 or 6 hours. Vanessa was calm, sweet, and focused for 14 hours straight. I’m not going to go into all of the detail, but it was amazing.

For 14 hours the Midwife, her team, Vanessa’s mom, Vanessa, and I tried everything possible, but the baby would not drop. The Midwife, Amber, explained the baby’s head was tilted to the side and that was preventing the baby from dropping. Vanessa had contractions the entire time starting 5 minutes apart and lasting a minute, to toward the end the contractions were several minutes long and overlapping. At 4:00 in the morning, we called in a chiropractor that works with the Midwives to see if she could do anything. That didn’t work either. Finally, at 5:30 am, I went to talk to Amber. We both agreed that it was time to go to the hospital, which meant getting a C-Section.

I knew that Vanessa would never give-up unless everyone agreed it was the right thing to do. Even after telling her, it took an hour to get Vanessa to her Aunt Beth’s car. We all drove to the hospital. Amber went in ahead of us and took care of most of the admitting paperwork. Within 5 minutes of getting to the hospital, Vanessa was in a room. Within another 20 minutes, we had answered all of the questions about allergies, and signed all of the release forms. Amber was in the room with us the entire time acting as a buffer between the hospital staff and us. Remember, the reason we chose South Coast Midwifery is that we didn’t like the hospital environment and the possibility of a C-Section. Vanessa and I were wheeled to the surgery room. Vanessa and I gave each other a couple of kisses while fighting back tears. I dressed in scrubs, while they wheeled Vanessa into the room for surgery.

I had to wait until they had her prepped before I could come into the room. I went through so many emotions during those 10 minutes. Fear, love, exhaustion, worry, stress, love, excitement, and more exhaustion.

Once they had her on the table and had the epidural set, they brought me into the room. Vanessa was prepped for surgery. They had a draping separating her head and her body. They had a stool for me next to her head. I sat by her, held her hand, and talked to her as I saw the surgeons begin moving around. I could only assume the procedure has started, since I didn’t want to look over the dressing. There were 12 people in the room all either tending to Vanessa or waiting to take care of our new baby. Vanessa was giggling and talking to everyone. She wasn’t drugged, but she couldn’t feel anything from her chest down. The other relief is that she couldn’t feel the contractions anymore.

After two or three minutes I heard the doctor say, “Congratulations, you have a girl!”. I was in shock and just wanted to make sure the baby was healthy. Vanessa and I had several discussions throughout the pregnancy. We agreed that once the baby was born, that I would not leave the baby’s side. I looked at Vanessa and she said, “Hi Hannah!” She then told me to go to the baby. As I walked over to the table I could see Hannah was already pink, had a head full of hair, and was very alert. All unusual for a baby 10 seconds after being born. I glanced at her fingers and toes and without counting each one, I could tell they looked normal. I leaned my head next to hers and said, “Hi Hannah.” She turned her head and we locked eyes. It was clear that she recognized my voice from the stories I read through Vanessa’s belly button and the multiple conversations I had already had with her. The nurses commented on it as well. I reached out to touched her hand and she gripped onto my finger. I was immediately filled with love.

They brought Hannah over to see Vanessa. Vanessa got to say hello to her before taking Hannah to the nursery. I made sure Vanessa was okay, then followed Hannah out the door. They were pushing her in a little bassinet past the waiting room, so I peeked my head in and said, “it’s a girl!” The room lit-up. Everyone stepped into the hall to take their first peek.

That was Wednesday morning. At the hospital, sleep was a luxury not covered by insurance. We were fortunate to have a private room where I had a bed to sleep in. My best guess is that we each got between 1 and 3 hours of sleep each night. Those 1 or 3 hours were taken in 5 to 40 minute chunks. Part of this was because Hannah would wake up and need to nurse or a diaper change, part of it was taking care of Vanessa, and part of it was the interruptions by the nurse staff. We came home on Saturday around noon. There has been a lot to do around here, but it is much nicer being home. Hannah is sleeping well, and last night we each got 6 or 7 hours of sleep in 30 minute to 2 hour chunks. Much better. Hannah is a little angel and we just adore her.

We are looking forward to just spending time with her and introducing her to friends and family.

Thanks,

Hannah's Dad