Lincoln's Here!!!

First of all, Jenn and Lincoln are doing very well. Jenn is recovering on schedule and despite being a bit sore, slightly uncomfortable, and very swollen, she’s definitely improving with time. Lincoln is getting used to life, and he’s been a joy in his first couple of days.

Nothing about the labor process went according to plan. Jenn and I have heard stories about women who arrive at the hospital and within a couple of hours have their babies and then go home. All labor experiences are unique, and for Jenn, a relatively quick, seamless, pleasant labor, now looking with hindsight, was just not possible.

She had her first contractions at 7:30 am on Wednesday morning. They were seven minutes apart and not too uncomfortable. She and Laura walked about four miles to get things moving. Later in the afternoon, we went on another two-mile walk in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park (down at Beaver Marsh). The contractions began coming faster, and around 8:45 pm we went to the hospital when the contractions were consistently three minutes apart. When we arrived, she was 1.5 cm dilated. We walked up and down the hall for another two hours, and she checked out at 2 cm.

Jenn then had to stay in bed with the monitors on (very uncomfortable) until morning, and her contractions maintained every 3-5 minutes, were lasting 1-2 minutes, and were very, very intense. She then checked out at 4 cm. We were finally able to move to a birthing room (there were seven deliveries the evening before and the rooms were full the night we were admitted), and she was able to get into the tub. This added just another cm, and Lincoln wasn’t moving into the pelvis.

It was at this time that the contractions were coming so quickly and so intensely that Jenn opted for an epidural. She has very small vertebral spaces, according to Dr. France, but the epidural helped out greatly… until it titrated a bit too low and Jenn could feel the contractions (oxytocin was now on board) literally one after the other. She was given another bolus, developed violent shaking, and checked out at 8 cm, making no progress from the previous check a couple of hours before. By about 8:00 pm Jenn and Mary (our CNM) began talking about a C-Section. Jenn was in the OR by 8:40. She was very peaceful about this decision because it had become apparent that Lincoln wasn’t planning on coming any other way.

By the time I got in the OR, Jenn was on the table and the OB had already started cutting. Jenn didn’t even know that the procedure had started, that’s how good Dr. France was with her anesthesia. So when the surgeons were in Jenn’s belly, they noticed a very large swelling, one of the assistants said, “Oh, my gosh, what is that?” It was Lincoln’s head… his big, long head. It popped out of her belly, and then they proceeded to get the rest of his body out. It was at this point that everybody in the room understood why Jenn had been in labor for so long with no progress with delivery: his head had never engaged the birth canal and was wedged on the side of Jenn’s pelvis & the cord was wrapped around his body in several places. He couldn’t have been born alive any other way.

The first evening went very well. Lincoln was alert from the start when the nurse was bathing him and checking his vitals. He cried a bit, but not too much. I held him a bit, and then Jenn was able to feed him while she was in Recovery. We didn’t sleep too bad the first night.

The first morning went very well. According the nurses, his first morning was typical. He was alert for a while, very happy, and not fussy. He fed well and napped well. Then midnight hit. Lincoln screamed for a long time from 12:00 am until about 2:30. Finally a warm blanket helped him get to sleep. Again, according to the nurses, this second 24-hour period was typical.

On Saturday evening Jenn and I were starting to see a setback on the horizon. Lincoln was losing weight faster than is normal for a newborn. He was getting inconsolably fussy after his feedings with ear piercing screaming for an hour or more at a time. Our brief visit with the on-call pediatrician on Sunday morning brought news that was discouraging: they wanted to keep Jenn in the hospital another day and supplement Lincoln with formula for a couple of days. His temperature was increased in the morning (from sitting on my lap for 2 hours) and he had to have another CBC and blood culture. (Human medicine drives me nuts sometimes.)

Over the next hour or so, his temperature normalized, and this was the first bit of good news on Sunday.  Secondly, formula supplementation made a BIG difference. We saw that Lincoln simply wasn’t receiving enough at his feedings during the previous days and that’s why he was screaming so much. The route for formula supplementation won’t negatively affect breastfeeding in the future, and it has provided satisfaction, contentment and nutrition to the point that after observing his progress, the doctor discharged him to come home!!! Mom was extremely happy, and commented in the car on the way home that it is amazing how much good news and going home can make one feel better.

So I’m sitting at home now finishing up this composition, and Jenn is downstairs finishing up Lincoln’s latest meal, and as of 8:30 on Sunday evening, we have a happy, healthy little boy.

We’ll let you know how things go overnight.

Jenn and Lincoln have their first pediatrician appointment with our new set of doctors tomorrow at 10:15 am, and what follows will be Lincoln’s first day at home. What a blessing!

We greatly appreciate your prayers over the last 4 days, not to mention the past several months. Don’t stop now! Lincoln will be growing a little every day, and his mom and dad need the grace of God to provide the best possible home for him.

(Remind you of anyone?)