The main event

It's now 5:53 pm on December 23.  Max Jacob Kaplan entered the world 9:05 am December 21.  It was about 8pm on December 19 that we entered the hospital, and we just got back.  Before we get to the main event, I (Todd - Delia's still recovering) should mention the delivery because, well, it's a big part of the birth.  And it was hellish.  I'll just give the highlights.

1)  We live 1 hour away from the Kaiser hospital in Sacramento where she's giving birth.  So, to be safe, we drove to the hospital to have Delia checked out before we went back.

2)  The Kaiser doctor thought she was in labor and needed to be checked in.  Here's Delia! Isn't she excited?

We realized over the next 36 hours that she was nowhere near ready to deliver.

3)  We weren't going home.  The doctor soon found evidence of an umbilical cord below the baby's head.  Since this could potentially have been life-threatening if Delia's water broke and the head smashed the umbilical cord, she had to be constantly monitored and bedridden.  To prepare for a possible C-section, she wasn't even allowed water - just ice and an I.V. tube.  At this point, she ain't coming out.  Then again, her body wasn't ready to deliver either.  Thank God for medical intervention to induce labor.

4)  Over the next 34 hours (we were thinking it might be around eight), doctors administered pitocin to try to move the baby down slowly, then when that didn't work, broke her water in the surgery room to deal with any problems with the umbilical cord (thank God there weren't any - it went to the side of Max's head) and to induce labor, and then when the water breaking didn't do anything, administered yet more pitocin in a painfully slow process.  We tried to sleep through constant nurse visits and a malfunctioning IV monitor that beeped every 10 minutes.  Our best rest, and I am not kidding, occured during a fire alarm.

5)  After Delia's 34-hour fast, she had to push for 2.5 hours lying on her back, which is now known as the most painful and least effective pushing position.  She's ready to faint.  The next photo shows the nurse who helped her.  She's sadistic.  Have you had an aerobics instructor who says "OK, just four more!  Four!  Three!  Two!  And...One!  OK, now 6 more!!"  That's this lady.  On the other hand, despite the obvious ensuing trust issues, she did very well to assist.

It was amazing that everything worked out exactly like the nightmare scenerio given in our childbirth class.  Because of the umbilical cord, we don't regret coming in.  However, both of us agree if we were in the same situation again, we'd just insist on a C-section and go home.

 

OK, where was I..we have the pain, now here's the gain:  Delia with the new man in her life.

Thankfully, Delia's recovering and has her color back.  

Here's me posing with him:

And here's Delia's mom, Agi:

Max was 7 lbs, 8.4 ounces, and was 20.5 inches long.  I was really surprised Max was that big given the premature delivery, but I guess I shouldn't be - Delia and I were both heavy babies.  

The only good thing that came out of this (besides Max) was we were forced to stay longer in the hospital to monitor Delia and the baby, given the ordeal they went through.  Even though it meant more sleepless nights (we were next to two colicy babies) we learned a lot from the nurses about baby care.

To those of you who don't have kids, take it from somone who didn't understand why anyone would want them:  I'm absoutely amazed how quickly I was smitten by him.  I hated babies.  Really.  Only a few days ago, Max was just a lump in Delia's belly and I was wondering if there was any way to stall the pregnancy.  Now I see him and I actually felt my brain change.  The first time the male nurse showed me how to burp Max and his head was on my shoulder ("his" from now on referring to Max and not the nurse), Max got restless, yanked his head back so he was upright, turned his head and stared straight at me.  Absolutely unforgettable.