AdventureDad

Thanks for all the good wishes from everyone.  It must have given us extra good luck and helped us give birth last night to a healthy baby girl.  As I was typing  the sentence in the last post yesterday afternoon, Sandra was standing next to me with a not so happy face.  I believe the words were something like "If you write one more word I will have the baby right here on the floor!!".    But we made it to the hospital just in time and gave birth to a girl at 8.27 pm CET (Central European Time).  Name has yet to be decided but she looked 100% like Sandra, 0% like me, was 50 cm. tall, and weighed 3750 Grams.  It was a quick delivery, thank God, and we're thankful to have a seemingly healthy girl after some worrisome issues during the pregnancy. We got to leave the hospital very quickly and I'm sitting on our balcony right now with a nice glass of wine reflecting on our last 24 hours.  Both kids and mother are asleep.   It's a weird feeling to be home already since our baby girl is turning one day old as I write this post. (Click on photos for larger sizes)

As mentioned in previous post's, we've had plenty of false alarms during the past few weeks.  I picked up Daniel from day-care at 3 pm. yesterday and took him for a bike ride.  Sandra had lots of contractions the previous night and thought that was it but the contractions  disappeared during the day so we had once again kind of given up.  But as I was out biking Sandra called me and assured me the water had broken.  After a call to the hospital she decided to stay home  longer since the contractions were not that strong.  Excellent, I explained to Daniel.  This means we can go biking a little longer…. Contractions were faint and far apart so there was no rush until the next call came 30 minutes later informing me that I better get home because the baby is on it's way.  After telling Daniel we were going to the hospital to find him a worthy sister we left him in good hands with Grandma and headed out. We arrived at the hospital at 5 pm. and Sandra was already in lots of pain and had strong contractions.  We checked into our room, unpacked, and put on some nice music for her to relax.  Contractions were getting stronger so Sandra used some laughing gas to help with the pain.  She decided to take a hot bath  and also used the gas in the tub.  Painful memories from Daniel's birth were on our minds and Sandra decided to go for an epidural.  A specialist was called and things were prepared for us.  (Un?)Fortunately the anesthesiologist got tied up in another emergency and we had to wait for 30 minutes.  Sandra was in terrible pain and was told the doctor needed another 15 minutes.  I believe the word "Motherfuckers" were said several times at this point……  Our midwife Pamela checked on Sandra and looked surprised, "We should cancel the epidural, you'r fully dilated and will be having a baby anytime now!".  Ehhhhh, What?? This was apparently true and there would not be enough time to set up the epidural. 

The private child birth hospital we go to is the same one where Daniel was born and it's phenomenal.  It's God's gift to parents  who want to have children.  Sweden tops the charts every year for the country in the world with the best health o women and children.  Our track record for child births is unbelievable.  And the interesting thing is that it costs half of many other nations and is built up completely different.  There is much more focus on talking and communicating with the parents, mothers especially, and there are not many tests made (unless problems arise of course).  Child birth is seen as a natural thing, relaxation and confidence of the mother is the number one priority.  It's not looked at as a medical procedure like in the U.S.  The private clinic we chose is accessible to anyone who wants to go there and it costs nothing, just like having a child at any other hospital in Sweden.  But our private clinic is extra relaxed and their whole mission is to listen and assist the mothers in any way desired.  Hot baths, acupuncture, hot showers, epidural, yoga, laughing gas, personalized music, and choice of staff are some helpful options.  All done in the most emotional, personal, and professional way imaginable. You really have to be there to understand the amazing feeling of being well taken care of.  Every pregnant woman does feel like she's the most important person on earth.  And that means a lot when you are going though something as emotional and painful as child birth.

Sandra was by now in terrible pain and tried to push the baby out.  The head was almost down but was stuck two inches from daylight and not going anywhere.  I guess Sandra has some problems  since exactly the same thing happened to Daniel.  Our Pamela took the great, but at the moment kind of scary, decision of adding an IV with Syntocinon to increase the strength of the contractions.  If the contractions are too weak it may take forever to push out the baby and this will cause lots of extra stress and possible negative side effects for the baby.  And the mother might get too exhausted to complete the natural childbirth requiring drastic actions like emergency Cesarean. The hormone basically helps the uterus to increase the contractions and push out the baby and can be given in any chosen strength.  Downside is that contractions get a lot stronger and more painful.  Pamela was sure of her decision although Sandra was a bit hesitant  But just like a miracle things started to happen immediately.  After only three large contractions Sandra had the baby laying on her chest.  She gave birth at 8.27 pm sitting in a special chair and leaning backwards on my chest.  She was so close to me it almost felt like I was giving birth myself. Exhausted but happy she felt the baby take her first breath and reach for the boobies, something that we never got to experience the last time.

The pregnancy with Daniel was great.  No nausea, bleedings, or complications.  Until labor started. THen it was payback time for a smooth pregnancy. Some "highlights" :

– Child birth took 38 hours.  A whole day at home and 24 hours in the hospital

– Epidural was used and refilled but ran out during the most painful contractions.

– Syntocinon was used a high levels and Sandra suffered immensely when the epidural ran out.

– Daniel got very stressed during the long labor and defecated in the stomach several times and then swallowed some of it

– He was delivered blue, covered in poop, not breathing and throat full of crap on Sandra's chest

– Daniel was rushed faster than a bullet to the emergency room where they sucked his throat open and did all sorts of other  things. 

– I was with him the whole time and it was a surreal feeling.  I was there but still not present.  Sort of  like watching a movie

– Sandra's placenta ripped and she was rushed to emergency surgery.

– She did not see her baby until six hours later, out of surgery and heavily medicated with morphine

– Daniel spent a few days in specialist care  until they cleared him

– Sandra spent two days in wheelchair and breastfeeding got delayed two weeks because of the traumatic start and the chock to the body

– Daniel's head was mis-formed at birth.  It looked like a very oval egg.  This disappeared after a while and is now normal

– In addition to the deformed head another blood filled bulb formed on his head after he bumped against the pelvic area repeatedly during birth.  This also got absorbed by the body after a while. 

Those were just some of the highlights.  This pregnancy was filled with problems until the labor, which went very well. 

Normally parents spend two days at the hospital during the first pregnancy and only one day for the following children.  That's of course if everything goes as planned.  Cesarean causes longer hospital stays.  It's very unusual that people have serious problems delivering a baby, at least here in Sweden.  But the main goal of the hospital is to give parents some peace and quiet after birth.  And if things have gone well the best place for this is at home.  We spent one night in a family room at our clinic which was enough.  Breastfeeding started five minutes after birth and is progressing nicely. Our girl is reaching for the boobies whenever she's awake.  A huge majority of people breastfeed in Sweden.  It's something like 99%.  Which is part of the reason why we have the healthiest babies in the world.  Staff is of course available after a family comes home and the support system for families here is amazing.  We entered the hospital 5 pm on Wednesday and were out of there at 11 am the next morning. All done in a  relaxed and family friendly way.   All follow up visits during the next week have already been booked for us and that is always a big help.  Staff even comes to your home during the first few visits to see how things are going.  Not only with the baby but also physically and mentally for the mother and father. I'm taking the mandatory ten working days of daddy parental leave, and a little more, to help out at home nad bond with our litle girl.  And I also receive 480 almost fully paid working days parental leave which I can take at any point.  Next summer I'll probably take a few months off and spend time with the kids.  It's a shame not more people get to experience the feeling of spending some time in a society where family and children is number one.  It's a nice feeling.

I wish you all a nice weekend!

Categories: Family, Tanditas
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