Week Six ... June 10 to June 16, 2012

From the time Heather went into labor in the early morning on June 8th until the afternoon of June 12th when we brought Heather and Sebastian home we were propelled into another space where anticipation, trips to and from the hospital, long periods of waiting, sleep-deprivation, and some anxiety existed. 


June 8th was a never-ending day for all of us but especially for Heather. Niels drove Heather to the hospital twice that day. The midwife, Noreen, wanted Heather to come earlier in the day to check her progress...by 5 pm we were headed that way again and this time she stayed. By then, Heather had been in labor for over 14 hours and she looked and was very tired. Noreen was very professional and immediately started monitoring her and the baby closely. After we got Heather settled into the birthing-room we quietly left her, Loren and Noreen to the task at hand. We had discussed before hand that she wanted us to wait in the wings and would call us in when needed/wanted. This was fine with us, it was all about them and their baby. The first time we went to Heather's room she looked much more relaxed. Noreen had given her a partial-epidural which helped lessen the pains and had certainly helped Heather relax enough that she actually got some long-needed sleep.  As labor went on and on and we waited and waited for word or for an invite to her birthing-room for a visit, we lost all concept of time. Our focus and thoughts were with Heather, that she would deliver sooner rather than later, and that she get on the other side of it.

After another quick visit to her room and many hours of waiting and sleeping in the waiting room, Noreen came to us. It was around 9 am the next morning now and she said they would be doing a c-section as the baby was stuck and could not come on its own. We were surprised by this and became concerned for Heather's safety...I guess memories of my own c-section story kicked in at this point which caused us some concern. Noreen said the surgery would only take half an hour but when no one came to us over an hour later we became somewhat distraught.  Finally, I decided to walk down the hall to the nurse's station to see if anyone knew how Heather was doing. I found a female nurse? doctor? in the hallway on my way there and she told me that she had just come from Heather's room and that both she and baby were doing fine. I was so relieved! As I walked down the hall toward the waiting room I saw  Niels peering down the hall from the doorway, looking my way, so I gave him a big thumbs up and by time I got to him we were both in tears and just held on to each other for a very long time. 

It wasn't until two hours later that we heard a voice in the hallway saying something about meeting grandparents. As we looked toward the doorway Loren walked into the room, with baby in his arms and introduced us to our grandson, Sebastian. He was a big baby weighing in at almost 9 lbs! And he was absolutely beautiful!

After Loren and Sebastian left to return to Heather, and now that we knew she and baby were doing well, we decided to go back home for a while to get some sleep and a shower.  It had been a long day and night and we were very tired. We knew there wasn't much we could do at that point and as much as we wanted to see Heather we knew it would be awhile until we could.

After a quick nap and shower Heather called and said she was now in a room and that she wanted to see us. We really wanted to see her too so we quickly got dressed and drove back to the hospital. As we entered her room what a beautiful sight: she with Sebastian in arms and Loren by their side! She looked really good and was thrilled to finally have Baby there. It was then that we had a chance to finally hold him ourselves and what a joyful heart-opening occasion that was! I believe we were all relieved the birth was over and both mama and baby were fine.

The next three days were a blur with many trips between home and the hospital. So many things to figure out with Sebastian: his tongue-tiedness, getting him to latch onto the breast, Heather doing her best to stimulate milk and learn the ins and out of breastfeeding while coping with stitches and major surgery recovery. We were there to help but really all we could do was lend as much support as possible...it was mostly up to her now to give Sebastian what he needed with as much help as Loren could give. The staff at the hospital were excellent with mid-wives on every rotation with so much encouragement and support for Heather. It was wonderful to see and I was so happy for Heather to have such amazing support.