Counting blessings
Monday, April 19th, 2010
I’ll always remember the week that Jessica was born for being the week that the cherry blossom came out. It was later than usual, probably because we’d had such a cold winter, and for me it’s always been the first proper sign that spring is on its way.
Jonathan’s arrival into the world had been far from straight-forward and yes, I was definitely hoping for something a bit simpler this time around. If I’d been looking for a textbook delivery though, the only textbook I’d have found this one in would have to have been something like Midwifery 303: Unusual Cases.
From the start there was little that the different doctors and midwives could agree on. One began to wonder if they were looking for some sort of democratic result after getting the fifth differing opinion on Jessica’s readiness to begin the emerging process! 
Having finally agreed that we could actually get started, things went relatively smoothly until right at the very end (which actually turned out to be closer to the middle!) when the only clear consensus among the medical staff was that things weren’t going according to plan.
After a bit of a high at 07h00 when the midwife suggested it could all be over by 08h30, the lowest point for me was several hours later when one of the head consultants told us that there was now a 50:50 chance of requiring a C-section.
But through it all, the one thing that held the doctors back was the fact that the printout from Jessica’s trace (a baby-heartbeat monitor strapped to me) showed she was doing well. She might have been stuck partway out for 6 hours, but there was nothing at any point to indicate that she was distressed and this was commented on, with surprise, numerous times during the course of the rather difficult second phase.
In the end analysis, the complications which did happen were very much of a temporary nature and the most important aspect – an answer to the prayers of many friends – was that it was a natural delivery.
My recovery has been swift (thanks in part to a refreshing 2 units of O-negative), and it’s been such a pleasure to be able to walk around and do things for myself almost immediately afterwards. (Just had to wait for all the monitors to be removed.)
I had 3 nights in hospital while they kept an eye on various things, and that was also precious time for bonding with Jessica and having long evening chats with Tom, while our sleeping Jonathan was minded by the wonderful Granny Gaye.
Aside from an almost two hour wait for her first meal, which she endured fairly patiently, Jess has been an enthusiastic feeder from the start and a good sleeper. And now that we’re all back at home, our little “big brother” is gradually coming round to the idea that there is enough parental attention to go around and the extra little body isn’t a serious obstacle to happiness.
As I consider my lovely family and all the help and support we’ve had to get us this far, there is little else to add aside from the fact that I feel truly blessed.
