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On Wednesday, January 30th, we sat wondering when our first baby would decide it was time to come into the world. According to Meg's midwife, if the baby was ready to come out, the same act that made the baby would tell the baby that it was time to head out. If not, well, no harm done! After taking the midwife's advice, we sat around for a few more hours wondering if and how and when it would all start. Around 10:30 that night, Meg started to feel uncomfortable, describing severe cramps. By 11:00, it was obvious that she was experiencing contractions. After a few more hours of moving around our apartment, breathing together and timing contractions, we got to a regular four minutes between the waves, and decided to move to the hospital. We called the team together: our doula, Shawna Blevins, and our good friend Heather Handy met us at the Valley View Hospital in Glenwood Springs around 3:00 in the morning. In Carbondale, it was -8 degrees, and in Glenwood Springs, it was a balmy 0 degrees.
We were set up to work with a midwife rather than a doctor. "A Woman's Place", which has five midwives, always has someone on call, but we would not know which midwife we would have until we got to the hospital. Lisa was the midwife on call that night. Unfortunately, there were a few other high-risk births happening at the same time as ours, so the midwife had to spend much of her time with the other mothers. The four of us were in the birthing room without company for many hours, except for the occasional nurse. It seemed as though a different nurse came in every few hours. Luckily, between Meg's own strength, Shawna's knowledge and experience, Heather's readiness to help in any way, and Jon Ray's dedication to breathing with and supporting Meg, we had a solid team, even without the midwife in the room most of the time.
We felt strongly about making it the whole way without any pain medication, and with limited medical intervention. We breathed, walked around, rubbed Meg all over, sat in the jacuzzi bathtub in the room, used a big yoga ball, and breathed some more. We refused any IV fluids, and kept Meg hydrated with fruit juices and lots of water. The pain was tremendous for Meg, making her question the wisdom of refusing all pain medication. Remembering our many conversations on the subject during her pregnancy, we decided we needed to step up our support and encouragement for her.
After about 13 hours of increasingly stronger and more frequent
contractions, Meg was ready to move into the second, active, stage of labor. At this point, not only was our midwife, Lisa, present, but also another midwife, Bonnie, with whom Meg had met many times during her pregnancy.
She came in just to help Meg, even though it was not her shift. The
midwives were so encouraging, and Meg had some good strength left to push. In the end, the baby's heart rate and oxygen levels were dropping too low for too long, and he was finally brought into the world by a small suction device pulling on his head, and an epesiotamy. His birth was at 3:27pm on January 31st, 2008. He was 7 pounds 1 ounce, and 19 1/2 inches long.
Solomon was quite purple when he came out, with the umbilical cord around his neck twice. After laying on Meg for just a few moments, the nurses took him aside to take a closer look. Jon Ray and Shawna stayed with the baby, and Heather stayed with Meg as she recovered, at which point Meg decided pain medication was appropriate. Solomon's breathing was fast and shallow. He required some oxygen for a little while. His color slowly came around to pink, but it was obvious he had a lot of fluid in his lungs.
Meg had a slight temperature (about 100) at delivery, so they were concerned that perhaps an infection was passed from mother to baby.
He was taken to the nursery and put on an IV to get his sugars up, as his breathing prevented him from nursing right away. After a chest x-ray and some blood tests, the doctors determined that there was no infection, no pneumonia, and neither lung was collapsed. His breathing normalized after a couple of hours, his sugar levels normalized, and he looked like a perfectly healthy baby. After spending his first night in the nursery, he came to our room on Friday. Beautiful big snowflakes fell all day while Meg and Solomon rested in our hospital room. He took to nursing quickly, and indeed taught Meg a thing or two about how it is done. The doctors and nurses continued to monitor him occasionally through Friday night, and by Saturday morning it was clear we could go home soon. We got home around 12:30pm on Saturday, and are looking forward to a little rest and sleep.
As far as we are concerned, he is perfect.
More Pictures
Solomon's first moments of nursing
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Jon Ray holding Solomon for the first time
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Meg in the recovery room
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 Solomon sleeping peacefully at home
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Solomon at home with his eyes open
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Shawna giving guidance to Meg and Jon Ray between contractions
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The cozy recovery room at Valley View
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The snowy view from our window
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Meg and Solomon with Bonnie, one of our midwives, just before leaving the hospital
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Heather, who helped with the whole birth, holding Solomon at home
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Solomon wrapped in a towel just after his first bath
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