It's a Boy - Otis

Well over a week has passed since Otis came into this world with a bang.

Let Me Start at the beginning. Sunday March 19th at 9am Dave and I went to the hospital to have medication inserted to help my cervix Ripen ( get ready to dilate) we left the hospital an hour later after all is well. This Medication Cervidel has a 50/50 chance of starting Labour. Dave and I went home to spend the day waiting to see what was going to happen.

The day was pretty uneventful except for the many phone calls we got from family wanting to know what was happening. Kathy came into town so she would be here for the morning when I was to be induced. I was feeling uncomfortable and some pressure here and there

Around 8:50pm just before the end of Extreme Home Make Over was to reveal the final rooms on a two hour episode, I felt a little gush of fluid. I rolled off the couch and went to the washroom. On my way there I said I don’t know if my waster broke or if the baby kicked me so hard I peed my pants. After a bit of investigation I decided to call Michelle the midwife to see what I should do next.

She suggested that we head to the hospital to see what was going on. Once we got to the Hospital Michelle confirmed that yes My water had broke and that I was 3cm dilated and having Braxton hicks contractions something I should have been having about three weeks earlier.

It was decide that I would spend the night in the hospital and get some sleep and they would induce me in the morning. I spent the night o a delivery bed it was the most uncomfortable thing on earth there was a crack in the bed right at but level. Around 9:45am the started the induction process with an IV of Cytosine. The next few hours passed with the nurses chasing the baby’s heart beat due to the baby would not sit still. They also were having a difficult time tracking the contractions. It was decided that they would insert a probe into my Uterus and a fetal heart clip to the baby’s head. Things went well there and I was 4cm dilated and the baby’s head had not come down. The contractions were starting to come more frequently and more intense. I was still able to go to the washroom by myself. While in the washroom I had a contraction standing and realized that if I wasn’t attached to all these contraptions I would be able to handle the pain much better I barely felt the contraction even though the one right before was becoming unbearable. I was starting to think I might want an epidural especially if the baby had not dropped and I still had a long was to go.

At 3:30pm I had the nurse check me to see where we were. 6cm and the head was still high. Baby was still doing fine. I decided it was time within 20 Min I was lying there not feeling a thing. The epidural was a strange sensation a large rush of heat ran through me and made me numb; from then on in it was very difficult to move they inserted a catheter to drain my bladder.
Things progressed the contractions were about 1 -2 minutes apart and I was able to feel them. I could not imagine what they would have felt like with out the epidural they were painful as is. Around 7:30pm I was checked and fully dilated on one side and just shy on the other but the head was still up there and the baby’s heart beat was started to drop and not recover as quickly as it should have and showing signs of stress. The OB on call Dr. Rabi came in and assed the situation and made the call a c section was needed they turned off the induction fluid and started me on two types of antibiotics.

Things went quickly from here. Within twenty minute I was in the operating room being prepped and Dave was dressing in another room waiting to come in. The anestisioligist started to freeze me and Dave was brought into the room. . There was a tone of people in the room due to all the students Michelle had a student midwife, my delivery nurse had a nurse in training, the anestisiolgist, the two doctors performing the surgery, the operating room two nurses and the Pediatrician who needed to be present because the baby had meconium in the amniotic fluid. I was shivering uncontrollably at this point. I had asked Michelle when they were going to start and she told me they were almost there and there would be a baby soon. The curtain they had hung to block the view was not very tall and Later Dave had told me that he saw my insides when he looked over. (so much for not going below the elbow)

Next thing we know we here a tiny squawk and some one say “Boy”. Otis was born at 8:21pm on March 20th. He was brought to the baby station where the pediatrician made sure he was alright and that the meconium had not gotten into his lungs. Dave and I were able to see him from where we were and he looked huge. Michelle was given the go ahead to take over for Otis things were fine with him while they got me put back together. Otis was brought over so I could see him and then, Michelle, Dave and Otis left to get him bathed and wait in recovery for me to get there.

Once I got to the recovery room things were still a little shaky. My oxygen level had dropped and I guess I was unconscious for a moment. They had oxygen pumping into me and had me breath deeply. Otis was very hungry at this point but I was unable to feed him. We had made the call to get him some formula, I was a little sad that I couldn’t feed him but there wasn’t anything I could do. Dave gave Otis his first bath and dressed him. While in the bath Otis stood up, Michelle was in awe and said that baby’s are not supposed to do that so soon, he was also holding his head up. What a strong little guy. I finally got to hold Otis for the first time around 11:00pm


About an hour and a half in recovery they brought me to my room where Dave and Kathy were with me for a little while. I felt pretty good and finally convinced Dave that he should go home with Kathy and come back in the morning after a full night of sleep. Otis and I were off to sleep. Around 1:00am Otis woke up and I called for a nurse. They came to look after him being that I could not move to pick him up. While they were there they checked temperature and I let them know I felt a lot of fluid down below. The nurses had a look and then told me they were bringing me back to the delivery department where they would have a look at me. Otis and I went for a ride through the halls of the hospital. I had know idea what was to happen next. Once we got to a room in delivery a nurse took Otis and started to feed him again. There was a tone of nurses in the room once we got there and Dr. Raby who had performed the Delivery came flying through he hall and into the room. The next thing I knew my legs were in the air being held by two nurses, the doctor was doing whatever she was doing and applying an extreme amount of pressure on my stomach, someone was poking me about every five minutes or so with some kind of drug alternating legs, I was having blood drawn, out of one are the blood pressure cuff was going on the other arm and a second IV was being run getting ready for a transfusion. As this was all happening I was to keep my eyes open take short steady breathes and not blow them out. It was excruciating. The whole time this was going on Otis was off to the right of my squawking away. I was about to ask they get him out of the room the Dr. Raby Made that call. He was brought to the neonatal dept. to be babysat while I was worked on.

I was terrified at this point by myself and not really knowing what was happening, Afterwards it was described to me that my uterus was like an elastic which was stretched like an underwear elastic that no longer holds it shape and kept filling with blood. They had to get it back. For the next hour of so someone was constantly applying pressure to my stomach holding the uterus in place I make sure it would give anymore.

I spent the next several hours recovering and waiting for Dave to get here. I made the decision not to call him while this was taking place because there really wasn’t anything he could do. He would get to the hospital and not be able to see me due to what was happening and it would cause him to panic. . It Turns out that Kathy had to convince him to stay home and get some sleep he wanted to come back to the Hospital around the same time it was all happening. My mom also spent a chunk of the night worrying she knew things were not right and that something had gone wrong. They next day she called several times, including a message that said “would you get the phone hooked up and give here a call, she will pay for it”.

Dave got to the hospital around 9:00am in the morning where I filled him in on what had happened. Otis was finally brought back to us around 10:00am after the third large formula feed. We were told that we could stay in the delivery room until we went home which meant Dave had a place to sleep and take care of Otis due to I still couldn’t move. We spent the day getting to know our little boy and awaiting the on set of visitors. By visiting hours they had me up to go to the washroom. It was very difficult and painful getting there. We also had tried breast feeding him he was not happy about it. We had many visitors over the evening, my dad, Nona, Sean, Andy, Uncle Mike, Aunt Kathy, Amanda, Abby, Dave’s Dad, & Gail. Once visiting hours were over we gave breast feeding several tries. We managed to get him to feed for an extended twenty five minutes. Both Dave and I had awful sleeps due to the uncomfortable bed I had and the couch Dave had.

The Next morning we were told that Otis was Jaundice and lethargic due to the lack of food. They made the call at that time to give him formula for every two hours while getting his energy back, which meant still no breast feeding. Otis did very well And I was getting better. Thursday morning we were told we could go home. There were never sweeter words I could hear. Dave and I packed up and waited to get Otis discharged and have a lactation consultation. During the consultation we were told that Otis had a week latch and that he more than likely choked while he was babysat in the neonatal dept and that freaked him out. We were also told to keep trying but only for five minutes or so not to stress him out to much.

Otis did very well during the car ride home and once we got home. Dave headed out to get my mom and Lisa and Emily came by to help look after us while he was gone. The next several Days were a blur feeding, changing, sleeping, and burping in no particular order. Otis is doing very well and loving spending time with his Nona who has been spoiling him with love.