You may think I’m nuts to be sitting here typing this at one day postpartum (well, I typed all this one day, but it took me awhile to get the pictures uploaded :P) but what can I say? A C-section means more required downtime than a vaginal delivery, Declan likes to sleep A LOT (yay!) and I have time to kill :).
Due to finding baby in a breech position at my 34-week ultrasound, my doctor and I decided to schedule a C-section for 39 weeks, as I posted about earlier. Monday, April 9th finally arrived and I was awake, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 4 AM despite having gone to bed just before 1 AM the night before. Chris was not so bright-eyed, but there’s nothing like quite like the feeling of knowing you are going to meet your baby to get you moving in the morning :).
We arrived at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo at 5:30 AM for my scheduled 7:30 procedure. After a stack of exciting paperwork, I was taken to my room where the nurse offered to perform a quick ultrasound to verify position. Imagine my surprise when we found that Declan HAD turned head-down! I thought for sure I would have noticed that.
At this point, the nurse started recommending heavily in favor of induction, talking about how second deliveries are usually much easier and faster, and stressing the longer recovery time of a C-section. However, I couldn’t shake the feeling that this baby was still meant to come by C-section. I was relieved when she checked me for dilation and I had only progressed to 1 cm, because I knew that improved my chances of moving forward with the original plan. My doctor was on board, too, so off we went!
I was wheeled back to the OR at 7:35 and Declan Andrew Poll came into the world at 7:53 AM. He was a healthy 8 pounds 7 ounces and 21 inches long -- even at 1 week early! – and his head is huge, as predicted.
He was having a hard time getting enough oxygen because he had aspirated a significant amount of fluid in the womb. After some torturous suctioning by the big, bad nurses ;-), he was good as new and I got to hold my baby for the first time!
After the delivery, my OB spoke with us and said we had definitely made the right decision in doing the C-section. Declan’s head was positioned very high and the umbilical cord was down very low. Choosing induction would have more than likely resulted in a cord prolapse (the cord comes out before the baby) which would have created an emergency delivery situation and potentially put Declan in distress. I am so glad that I listened to my instinct, even if others thought our choice was not ideal!
He is 8 days old and he is already shaping up to be like his big sister. Great eater, even better sleeper! We’ll see if it keeps up :). For now, we’re all enjoying the rest!
And now for the pictures!
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| BABY! |
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| Meeting Declan, and looking a little high ;-) |
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| Not much hair |
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| Loooong baby! |
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| Out for a walk around Mother/Baby with Mommy and Daddy |
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| Averie meeting Declan |
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| Grandpa |
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| Grandma |
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| LOVE |
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| Hi, Daddy! |
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| Grandma |
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| 2 days old |
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| Getting dressed to go home |
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| Happy (partial) family! |
