Worth The Wait

After a long wait, yesterday was finally the day. My son Damon Dexter Laybourne was born. He was two weeks early, and the labor was induced because my wife had developed High Blood pressure and was showing signs of pre-eclampsia.

The labor was quick, only three hours in total, but it was not without the odd fright. The whole process went smoothly, but it was soon noticed that the umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby’s neck. This was quickly clamped and cut by the doctors, sending a shower of blood across the room. The baby was delivered soon after, but was clearly sluggish and not overly responsible. He was quickly whisked away, with me in tow to a small room beside the labor suite where we were joined by about 12 running doctors. In the end only three actually appeared to do anything, and after just a few minutes on the oxygen mask, the heart rate was back up from the 60 bpm it had been and into the normal range. The color returned to the tiny body and things began to look up. He even made a very clear case for his disapproval of the situation.

With baby in tow we returned to the delivery room where my wife was being prepped to go to the OR to have the placenta removed as it was stuck. This was done under general anaesthetic but noninvasive. They simple needed to have her asleep so they could ‘manouever’ the placenta out. 

Before she left however, and with one final attempt at natural removal, there was a pop and suddenly the suite was covered in blood, the floor, walls and cupboard units were splattered. The doctors were unfazed by this and said it was not dangerous. They mopped up and took her away. An hour or so later, when she returned, everything was fine.

I spoke to the doctors again while my wife was gone, and they seemed to be very keen on stressing how everything with my wife was not urgent, and rather standard procedure.

Both mother and Baby have had to stay in the hospital over night, at least one night, if not two. Depending on how my wife’s iron levels are today.

Before the birth, we were undecided on a middle name for the baby, and had as good as decided that Damon as a single name was just as good. However, with the bloody circumstances surrounding his arrival, I feel it was a sign from the gods, that Dexter was supposed to be his middle name. 🙂

He was born at 12:16 and weighted 3630gr or 8lbs (UK). Out of all 4 kids, he is the smallest by some 400 grams but caused the most problems by far. Happily, everything is now good, and I am looking forward to getting him home.