My 2nd Delivery Story - Alma is here!

Sivan

Alma’s due date was April 16. I was rooting for the 17th so we have a cool date (4/17/17).

On March 23rd, I lost my mucus plug. I know, TMI, but here’s why I tell you about it:

I was sure I am going to have the baby immediately because with Liam the plug came out 3 days before and the internet said it comes out usually 3-5 days before birth.

From that moment on, I would have this looming feeling of dread that any minute I will go into labor. My best analogy was: I’m going to be in a "car accident" (i.e. labor) but I don’t know when and how exactly it will happen. I would wake up at night, pausing for a second, checking if I’m going into labor. Then I would resume breathing​ and go to the bathroom :)

Elad:

On April 12th, Sivan was very energetic, she went with a friend to lunch and they did their nails.

Around 6pm, she was writing manager feedback for her reports (still holding on to work) when she started feeling that something was happening - a gut feeling.

I didn't take it seriously, after all she had a similar feeling every other day.

At 7pm she was spending more and more time in the bathroom.

Sivan:

Waleska (our nanny) had just left. For a second there I considered asking her to stay, but I was still not sure I’m actually going into labor, so I didn’t.

Elad:

She peed a lot and was sure that her water broke.

She called the doctor (from the bathroom) and doc explained that the water didn't break since Sivan can still control it but that the baby probably moved down and is pressing (even more!) on the bladder.

The doctor asked if Sivan was timing her contractions but she wasn't sure that she was having contractions, because they weren’t , yet, painful.

Of course, she suggested timing the contractions and to come in.

Sivan asked "to the clinic?" - she said "no - to the hospital"

I asked Sivan if she feels like she could wait until I put Liam to sleep (45 minutes I estimated) because Waleska was 30 minutes away, Mor and Ariel were in a comedy show and Ronny was at work (also 30 minutes away) - those were our backup caregivers for Liam.

Liam enjoying my contractions

Sivan:

I did not like that suggestion at all :) I was very scared of going into labor without epidural. So I said “hell no, pack the baby to go!”

Elad:

We ended up going out with Liam

We were on the street waiting for a taxi (yellow cab), Ronny had just gotten out of the subway and was literally running to meet us and head to the hospital.

If you look closely you can see I walk funny :)

We got to Labor and Delivery Triage at around 8:10. Sivan wobbled her way from the taxi into the hospital, calling me to squeeze her hips together during the now painful contractions. we handed the forms and went to the bathroom (for a urine sample) while Liam was outside with Ronny.

The urine sample was a no go (just like during Liam’s labor)

At this point we were waiting for Waleska (Liam’s nanny) to come pick up Liam and take him home for his night routine.

I was running in and out, squeezing Sivan’s hips during contractions and coordinating Liam’s pickup with Ronny and the Waleska (in the waiting room).

As I’m trying to figure out why Waleska is (still) not here, it turned out I sent her to the wrong hospital since they changed the name of the hospital and I used Google Assistant to send her its name.

Once we understood what’s taking her so long, Waleska said she'll just go to our place and we sent Liam there with Ronny to meet her so she can put him to bed (Liam, not Ronny)

Elad taking a selfie during a contraction

During this time, Sivan was in the room, getting seen by doctors, nurses, etc. Turns out, they made a point to separate us so they can ask her if she’s domestically abused. She said she wasn’t - phew.

All the time, she was asking for an epidural but they said that they have to get a blood sample and put in an IV (central line)

at around 9:30 the anesthesiologist came into the room after a few failed attempts of the nurses to put in the central line, he asked his intern to give it a try and after he too have failed, the anesthesiologist got it on the second try - finally.

Note how they poke me in both hands!

Sivan:

This was one of the 2 most painful parts of my delivery (the 2nd is the contractions of course). Four(!) people tried to put in the IV and only the 5th attempt was successful. At one point, I remember, someone was slapping my hand so fast and hard (in an effort to make my vein more visible) I was shocked.

In these times of pain, two thoughts kept me going: first, the understanding that they can’t insert the epidural without this and second, that this is my last labor.

Elad:

After 5 attempts, the central line was in and the epidural was put in pretty quickly, and by 9:39 Sivan sent a silly drugged selfie

An hour later we were in the delivery room

I went to get a pizza (despite Sivan’s complaints about it being passover) and she was angry at me for enjoying the pizza

Sivan:

We needed to wait to reach an opening of 10, so we tried to nap and get some rest (something that Jill, our doula in Liam's labor, kept on telling us). At 12:15am I had an opening of 9cm.

Around 1-1:20am the staff gave me an oxygen mask to encourage oxygen supply to Alma and asked me to lie down on my left side.

Soon after the doc came and said "the baby doesn't like this, so let's' break the water and start pushing". We were like, "what do you mean *this*?" and she said: "the environment". (note that I, Sivan, am that environment. So… baby doesn’t like me??)

Turns out her heart rate dropped down during contractions and we later learned the umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck. This is actually very common during birth and Liam also had the cord around his neck (though in his case it didn’t result in drop of heart rate).

Pushing

So.. we said ok. The doctor broke my water and then we waited. Waited for a contraction. Weirdly enough, from a consistent pace of 2 minutes contractions, we dropped to none. After 5 minutes or something that felt very long. Then one came (as I’m writing this down it sounds like I’m a surfer waiting for a nice big wave). I felt nothing, no urge to push, nothing. But I did what I did last time (i.e. pretending to have a “bowel movement”). It seemed like I was doing a good job since the feedback I got was “hey hey, slow down, you don’t want to tear!” so I slowed down, and then pushed, and slowed down.
I remember a distinct moment in time, when I looked between my thighs and saw a baby head, closed eyes, closed mouth. So weird, and I’ll admit, a bit scary.
Pushed some more and 5 minutes into pushing - Alma was fully born!

And tear free, hooray!

First Look

I had asked to cut the cord myself this time (Elad did that last time) but since it was causing an issue they did that while I was pushing.

I’ve also asked to do “skin to skin” so a moment after she emerged into the world, I was holding her, this slimy, helpless, tiny creature.

Now, first time around, with Liam, I did not feel emotionally connected to him. Yes, I said it. He was a resident of my womb, something growing inside of me and consuming all my resources. But I didn’t know him or his personality and I had no intention of faking it. When I held him for the first time, I said a couple of comforting words. But in English, which to me shows that I was doing it for the people in the room rather than for me or for Liam.

They rubbed her to clean her lightly, but we were still waiting for her to cry (you know, the sign that everything is ok) - she finally did that a couple of minutes after.
Now that I know what these babies turn into and based on how much I like Liam, this time around, I felt true compassion and kind of liked her. I comforted her, this time in Hebrew

Then they took her for a full examination and cleanup. She was 7 lb and 2 oz (3.2 Kg).

Who's who - Liam and Alma

At 4:15am they moved me to the labor recovery room, and informed us that once we move there Elad can’t stay (since it’s not during spouse visiting hours). I felt fine, like I can walk to that room, but procedures say I need to be wheeled on a wheel chair.

They took her to the nursery for her first bath and Elad went with to see (and take pictures).

Around 5am Elad went home and Alma and I stayed and tried to sleep.

On that day, around noon, Liam came to visit and meet Alma for the first time - he took it well, was gentle and seemed to like her!