09/08/2007

A son is born.... and his name is Raymond Leonard Adair-Boder

On the 6th of August around 9 pm we left with Mark and Shanthi (a YA from another home who wanted to be present at the birth) to the hospital.
For the first few hours there was a midwife checking the baby's heart rate and the general health and well-being of mother and baby.
It was during this time that it was found out that the baby was lying face up instead of face down, and this meant that the contractions were not effectively doing what they are supposed to do - namely, dilate the cervix.

Serena was given a morphine shot and placed in a quiet and dimly lit room to get some much needed rest. I took a walk through the hospital for a while with Shanthi. Son we found a vending machine and after taking out time to figure out how to operate the hi-tech unit, we settled on having some OJ.

We went back up to the Birthing Ward and were met by a very unfriendly and legalistic midwife who declared that Shanthi had to wait outside of the Birthing Ward altogether. I felt bad for her... but I found another room in the hospital which was dark and relatively quiet where she may get a wink of rest.

I hobbled back to the Birthing Ward and again met the hag of a midwife who now requested that I turn off my mobile phone and not wake Serena up..... ha! I was obliging and acted like "Oh? ... you mean I should be quiet and stuff?".... ha!

Well Serena was awake and wanted a snickers bar. I went and got her one, but upon entering the Ward I was notified that it would most likely make her vomit... so she only took one bite of the snickers bar whilst the midwife made some Vegemite toasts which Serena dug into.

The rest of the night was tossing and turning with running back and forth for ice and other stuffs.

At 6:30 am the midwife broke the water bag in hopes of bringing on stronger contractions.
Morning came and Serena was only 3 cm dilated which meant that the whole night of contractions were un-affective and Serena we were moved to another room which was twice as big as this one, with a bathroom attached. The midwife was telling Serena to start walking around to bring on stronger contractions. But by this time Serena was worn out and the pain on her spine was unbearable.

The baby was still lying face up and this contributed massively to the pressure on Serena's spine with every contraction.

Then around 9 am we were advised to induce the contractions which would force the baby to turn and thereby allow for the right placement of pressure to be placed on the cervix allowing it to dilate. After much discussion and looking for any other possibilities it was decided that we would go along with an epidural for the pain, and the contraction inducement drug. More needles and more drips. Poor Serena hates needless and this just added to the drain and anguish.

Once the epidural kicked in Serena was fast asleep even though the other drug was bringing on contractions every minute on the minute.

Shanthi and I went to find some semblance of nutrition and found it in a chicken sandwich which we ate outside in the sunny parking lot.
25 min later we got back to the birthing ward and were met by the midwife who told me "I have a surprise for you". At that a million things ran through my head...

Well the news was that Serena was now 8cm dilated and the baby had turned around and his head was engaged. I was overjoyed!!!

Around 1:30pm Serena was starting to push in earnest. Unfortunately the baby had turned around slightly again so he came out more or less facing up with a fist right beside his head.

While the baby was being born I was holding Serena by the back of her shoulders with one hand and arm while the other hand controlled the camera, allowing me to snap away. Then the midwife told me to get ready to pull my son out the rest of the way. Once the head was out he was already opening his eyes and making whining sounds. as the shoulders appeared I set the camera down and with Serena making the final push, I pulled my son out the rest of the way and set him down softly on Serena's stomach.

He was fully awake and alert but did not seem to want to cry. The midwife was concerned and hit the yellow button which resulted in a dozen doctors and nurses swarming the room with machines and helping hands, all ready for anything! At that point the midwife flicked the underside of the baby's foot and this made him upset to the point of crying -- ha! Everyone sighed with relief!

Serena was pretty wiped out and it took the rest of the day to get her settled into the post-natal ward.

Shanthi was a great help and was there the whole time (17 hours). I stayed until Serena was settled down and Kay (Serena's Mum) came over to pick me up with some KFC for Serena.

So after about 22 hours I was back home with Leona, who had slept from 6pm to about 9pm. She awoke and bounced around for a couple hours. I finally fell asleep around 11pm and woke up around 7 am to get ready to go out for the day on pick-ups.... ha!

No rest for the wicked..... hehe

Thanks to Mike and Anaik who came to look after Leona whilst I went out to gather food for the household and also a capsule to bring the baby back home in that same day. That's right.... the day after Serena had the baby, they were coming home! TYL!

After running down to Babies Galore to fetch a extension piece we needed (thanks Mike for the lift) we were off (Pop driving Leona and myself) to the hospital to pick up Serena and the prince.

So Raymond Leonard Adair-Boder was finally born.
Here is something about the names Raymond and Leonard.

Both are of German Origin.
Raymond was a Teutonic name meaning "protecting hands" and "adviser". Raymond is pronounced "Ray-mund".
Leonard means "lion strength" and is pronounced "Len-ard".

Please continue to pray for Serena's back and head pains to completely disappear.
Love you all and thanks for your support and prayers. XXOOXX




5 comments:

Ruth Cortejos said...

Congratulations!! He's soooo cute & looks very alert.

Unknown said...

What a cutie! You did good Serena. Sorry that it was tough like that. I'm praying for your recovery!!

CrazyGurl said...

I love his face in that last pic...such a little boy!!! =D

our family said...

Congratulations Serena & Zeth! Praying for you Serena & that Zeth takes the baby lots so you can get your rest....(Zeth, hint hint)

Anonymous said...

that is the cutest newborn i have ever seen!

Quarantine and homeschooling week 3!!!

Well here we are in week 3, and it went as well as you can imagine, the first picture below pretty much sums it up. First of all getting the...