Elijah’s Birth Story: Part 4

Oh yes, even though I had an epidural, there was pain. I had a walking epidural, so I could still feel my legs and everything was comfortable from 6 cm to about 9.5 cm but the pain returned and felt like it had at 6 cm plus I had the pressure from Elijah descending.

So the doctor told me that they were going to use some “gentle traction” to help get the baby out. I barely heard him but agreed. All I really heard was gentle and help. I remember thinking “gentle, yeah right…they just want me to feel better about it, but whatever it is will hurt!” I was right!

In the final minutes of pushing, the doctor also coached me. I remember him saying, “Ok now, Mrs. Owens, I need you to push now.” I thought it was kind of funny that my doctor was referring to me in such a formal way, especially considering the setting.

The doctor ended up giving me an episiotomy and vacuuming Elijah out. Elijah’s head was only lightly bruised, so yay! When his head came out, I exclaimed “yes!” because I knew the hard part was over. I was so excited to finally see him. The medical staff laid him on my chest, and just kept telling him “hi.” I told him happy birthday and introduced him to John, who had teared up and was speechless. It was like time just slowed down and I didn’t noticed anything else but Elijah and John.

Soon, they had John cut the cord and they brought Elijah further up on my chest, where I held him for a long time. I didn’t want them to take him away while they stitched me up. Eventually they did, but that’s because the stitches took forever.

I found out later that vacuum-assisted deliveries and an episiotomy are usually last-ditch efforts before a c-section, so I’m really glad everything ended up going ok even if my recovery has been pretty difficult. It turns out that little Elijah’s head isn’t so little. According to the World Health Organization, his head size was over the 99^th percentile at birth – 14.96 inches!!

My doctor hung around for a while after, too, to see what Elijah weighed, because he kept saying “that’s a really healthy baby!” At birth, he was in the 81^st percentile for weight and 97^th percentile for height at 8 lbs 6 oz and 21 inches long.

We just went in for his two week check up on April 14^th, and he was already 9 lbs 1 oz and had gained a little in length. He is now 21.1 inches and his head has grown to 15.35 inches. He doesn’t even fit in the 0-3 mo hats. I’m glad I knitted some larger ones for him!