January 21, 2007

• Memory Posts- Conor’s Birth

  This is a re-post from over a year ago: the series of posts that I posted immediately after our son Conor was born. Enjoy!

  
  Introducing: Conor Ross Flanagan
  Born on November 11 of the year two thousand and five at 10:06 AM on a warm Friday morning in South Carolina.
  Weight: 7 pounds 12 ounces
  Length: 20 3/4 inches
  Head: 13 1/4 inches
  Chest: 13 3/4 inches

  Visitation and calls: We will not begin having visitors until AFTER
  Sunday, November 20. On Sunday, we will put up an answering machine
  message with the days/hours we will have open to schedule visits (ie-
  Monday, Wed, Fri from 6-7:30 PM). Feel free to call then and tell us a
  time- based on what we decide on our message- you would be interested
  in visiting (please do so at least a day before the desired time!) and
  we will call back to confirm it if it is do-able. We wish to try to
  avoid having too many people over at once, of course, for the new
  mother and baby. We ENCOURAGE anyone nearby (or even those who are not)
  to try and visit… during the available times, of course! We’d LOVE to
  see new and old friends and show off our adorable baby, though I’ll
  warn that our house is a mess. Also: do NOT come if you are NOT
  comfortable with a rather homey, messy house AND being in the room
  while Mother breastfeeds- though she might just leave the room if she
  feels uncomfortable. Mothers breastfeed, it happens often and
  regularly- if you walk through our door, you will probably be around
  it, hopefully that’s okay.

  We’re excited to see folks soon!

  Calls:  If you wish to call and find out how things are going,
  feel free to call our home number (if you want to call and do not know
  the number, email me or give me your email and I will communicate it to
  you) any time. Right now we have TURNED OFF the phone with our handy
  Vonage account- all calls to our home phone go directly to voicemail,
  which explains the situation. Feel free to leave a message, a good time
  for us to call you back if you’d like, etc.

  For the comfort and recovery of Mother and Baby, we’re avoiding direct
  phone calls to us for the first week at least. This way we can sleep as
  we need to, and check our messages as able, then return calls at a
  convenient time. Thank you for your patience!
  ———

  The labour began with the blooming of Katrina’s Easter lilly, at 7 AM
  on Tuesday morning and ended at 10:06 AM on Friday- four days of
  labour, though the first two or so were pre-labour pains which
  progressed after an induction. The labour was not fully natural- there
  were labour inductions drugs, and then after a great deal of pain and
  more time to come we decided on an epidural. However, by God’s grace
  alone, a c-section was avoided by an incredible vaginal birth.

  
  
  Both the first one and the above picture were taken within fifteen
  minutes of Conor’s birth, immediately after his oxygen mask was removed
  (to be sure he began breathing well, since his cry was not as strong as
  they wanted). We have pictures taken a day or two later, but I feel
  these pictures capture his personality even better than more recent
  ones. He was, from the minute he came out of his mother, a beautiful,
  bright eyed baby. I’d expected- like many stories- that my baby could
  be “butt-ugly”, so I was incredibly and pleasantly suprised!

  
  After at least fifteen minutes or more- maybe 25 to 30- Katrina was
  able to stay conscious and was ready to take her baby, while Linda
  Ballist (her midwife) continued to sew up the vaginal tear from the
  tight birth. (and no, there is no nipple visible in this shot- not that
  you should really care. This IS a special moment after all!)

  
  Conor slept peacefully on my chest the very day of his birth, after
  everything calmed down and Kat and I got to rest and I brought Conor
  back from his probing and violations at the nursery. This is NOT from
  that day- Kat could not reach the camera- but it is the same situation,
  happening again this morning (Sunday) before we left the hospital in
  the afternoon. Here, Conor is still only two days old.

  I have more shots, but this is a good summary. It is a long, and
  incredible story. I got to hold Kat’s leg along with my Sister, my Mom
  comforting Kat at the ‘North end’ (wiping her forehead, putting ice on
  her, giving her ice chips and water to drink) while the midwife helped
  widen the vaginal opening, lubricate it, and coax the baby further out
  step by ever-slow step. Some people talk about how Father’s take such
  things roughly- I was fascinated. Rather than hurting for Katrina, I
  was incredibly proud of all the work and effort she was putting into
  getting Conor out! An hour before birth we were told that there was a
  50/50 chance that if she tried to continue to birth Conor vaginally,
  she might find his shoulders caught and she could be forced to have an
  emergency c-section. But Linda was an incredible midwife, and she
  immediately said- when she looked (she replaced Terri, our previous
  midwife, whose shift ended… and I think she felt Linda could do the
  job best, too) she said she was sure if Kat tried, she had a good
  chance at doing it.

  It was a beautiful experience, and personally I wish I could be
  involved in more births. Heck, I wish male midwifes were acceptabled
  because I’d BE one. Of course, a lot of women would probably not be
  happy with that- they probably only accept male OBGYNs because they are
  doctors and… well, doctors are often men, and know best, or at least
  that is what they say. *laughs* Personally, I liked the female midwifes
  we had. What doctors helps his patient make their bed, and then spends
  half an hour chatting with you and calming their patient down? None
  that I know of have time, even if they wanted to.

  There are many more pictures and stories to come. Until then, I am glad I can now officially announce the birth!

  Sincerely,
  The New Dad- Patrick

  • 9:02 pm
  • 3 Comments