Birth from a Grandparent's View Part II

-- If you haven't had the chance to read part one of this post, I hope you take the time now --

The long break between part one and part two of this portion of our blog wasn't NEARLY as long as Wednesday night at the hospital waiting for Alakai to finally arrive. The helicopter fiasco was a tiny diversion in our time at the hospital.

Thirty minutes after we settled back in to watch more Grey's Anatomy on the laptop, Matthew sent me a text message telling me that Anna was just about to get her epidural and that once the procedure was done, I could come back to see her. When I got back to the birthing room Anna was propped up on her bed all grins. No more pain! Although she was smiling, tension was flowing off the two of them in waves.

Matthew said that Anna had been in hard labor for about an hour when the announcement about Life Flight came over the PA. While John (YO) and I were having a great time with the whole situation, Matthew and Anna were panicked. The announcement shook them up, certainly, but the mother in the room next door was delivering her baby amid screams of pain caused the two of them to worry about just WHO the helicopter was coming for. Not very reassuring when you are trying to calmly deliver your first child. Thankfully, their wonderful nurse Theresa was able to calm them and explain the situation to them.

Finally free of pain, the sound of screaming women and whooping sirens, they were able to relax as Anna entered the last phase of dilating. Theresa shut the lights out and told them to get some sleep as she and I left the room. By this time it was around 3:30 in the morning. Sleep came in short fits for both of them as you never really can rest while waiting for something monumental to happen.

I walked back to the waiting room and to my very patient husband who was still fiddling with the computer and writing his own blog entry. Shortly after I arrived, Theresa walked into the room holding a cup of tea and told us we should try to sleep as well. Whatever! YO and I are great at all nighters! She resigned herself to the fact that we were going to wait up and decided to visit with us instead.

I've had some wonderful nurses in my time, but Theresa was absolutely exceptional as a birthing nurse/coach. She was funny, gentle, kind, knowledgable and loved her job. She also took a liking to our family, as we did to her. In fact, I plan to create a scrapbook for her to fill with her own pictures as a thank you for how much she meant to us. We got to know her not just as a nurse, but as a single mom of three, a new resident of Silverton and a person who seems to love life. I'm thankful and blessed that we got to spend time with her.

Another hour and a half passed by after she left the waiting room when we received a text from Matthew saying that Anna was fully dilated and ready to push. It was shortly after 5 AM. Time to get up anyway, so I phoned my son Jeremy and told him it was nearly time. He and my daughter Beth arrived to wait out the last hour or so with us. Hour or so? Yea right.

Anna pushed for an hour. Matthew tells me that she did such a great job; he was so very proud of her. But birthing is rarely easy and Alakai was coming out with his face turned to the side rather than down as it should have been. Because of this, he seemed to have wedged himself in the birth canal. (Funny that during birth we call it the "birth canal," but at other times it can have such disgusting names.) Not only was he wedged, but in fetal distress; he had a bowel movement. Now that seems funny when you think about it, however, imagine bodily waste floating in the air you breathe. If it comes close to your face and you have no way to avoid it, you're going to breathe it into your lungs. Much scarier when you look at it that way. Now I realize that babies receive their oxygen through the umbilical cord, but some of the amniotic fluid does go into their lungs.

As far as we were all concerned (including Anna's parents, John and Kristen) it was time to open her up and TAKE him out. Rather than do that, the epidural was increased and Anna was told to rest for an hour. We paced. We drank coffee. We all tried to lighten up the situation with quiet laughter. We took bets. Matthew joined us in the waiting room for a few minutes and went back when it was time to try again. And then we heard nothing.

YO had to leave the hospital, exhausted and concerned, to go to work for the day. He'd put in a full night and hadn't had one second to rest his eyes or his brain. I've no idea how he made it through the day. But he did. At 9:38 AM I received a text message that said "we have a baby boy! don't come in yet."

Alakai gave them a scare when he was born. He didn't want to take a breath. Our first instinct as a parent is to rush in and take over. Matthew had the good sense to stand by Anna and allow the physicians and nurses do their work. Finally, a breath, a cry. Nine pounds five ounces and 21 inches long... Alakai left his mother's womb to join us. It was after 11 when we were allowed to finally enter and visit the newly formed family. I was thrilled! Nearly "high" on the emotion of the night and the arrival of my grandchild. My son and daughter-in-law's child. That little bundle of love and stress and happiness. I hear they both cried when they met him. The tears this time were not the tears of fear that Anna shed in my bedroom 8 months earlier when she told me she was pregnant. I cried too.

The family is now home for their first night alone. I've let them know that I will have the phone on me at all times if they have any questions. I'm sure they have a long list of numbers they can call if needed.

Thank you for sharing this with us. As far as the goal portion of this blog goes, our goal is to be wonderful grandparents not only to our new grandson Alakai, but to Emma and Conner as well - our grandchildren in Illinois. This whole experience made us both long for the United States to shrink so we could be closer to the rest of our family. We've decided to do what we can to make that happen by keeping in closer contact with Laura and her children through snail mail and by purchasing those webcams. We don't want to miss out on a thing!!

Thanks again for taking the time to read!