a quick resolution

Sara Katharine Moseley joined our world this morning at 6:27, weighing 9 lbs 7.7 oz. and measuring 22 inches long! She was delivered by emergency Caesarean section. Everybody is doing well. It's not what we were expecting or planning on, but the upside is that the whole labor experience didn't last long and didn't hurt Jennifer very much. Recovery is going to be more difficult, however. Sara has a head of cute short hair and has chubby cheeks.


Okay, so on to "why emergency C section?". When we got to the hospital at ~4:15 AM, we got checked in and into a room and met the nurses. They went over Jennifer's list of preferences and how she wanted things to go and were supportive of her desire to do things naturally, without being hooked up to machines and confined to the bed. We already knew her doctor was not available and were going to have someone we had never met. Fortunately, it turned out to be a doctor who Jennifer had heard a lot of positive things about.

Then the nurses checked on how things were progressed. Not much had changed since yesterday (besides her water having broken about 12:30 AM or so). However, the nurses were immediately concerned. They had found that Sara's umbilical cord was between her and freedom, which is very dangerous. One of the nurses couldn't figure out exactly what the situation was by touch. The other nurse found the umbilical cord in the way but could not find a pulse in it; however, we did know that Sara had a good heartbeat. The danger in having the umbilical cord where it was is that the cord can come out or otherwise get constricted and stop the blood flow. The nurses told us that it was pretty certain the delivery would be by C section, unless things happened to shift around on their own quickly.

The doctor showed up and talked with us a bit, then did an ultrasound to see what could be seen. He could see that the umbilical cord was looped kind of through her elbow. Her shoulder was pointed down and her head was off to the side, which was probably good because it would keep her head from constricting the cord. There was at this point no question about needing the C section. Things were moving very fast with a lot of people doing things in the room to get ready. I made a couple of phone calls to let people know what was happening. They gave me some operating room clothes to put on, which were rather small. Then without much warning they took Jennifer to get anesthetized and I stayed behind in the room. After they got her sedated (local only was the intention), they would come back and get me to come in and watch. That is, if they didn't have to go with a general anesthetic, in which case they would come back and tell me I couldn't go in.

After a while one of the nurses came back and got me. I went in and they had Jennifer on the table already working on her. I got to go sit back with her and hold her hand. She was doing really well despite all the unexpected things that had happened. I couldn't see much of what was going on with the surgery. They worked pretty quickly it seemed, then got her out and I could see her. She had her mouth wide open like she was screaming, but no sound was coming out. They cut the cord and took her over to check her out. I went to watch and take photos. They eventually took her over to let Jennifer see, then did some more work on her and got her ready to go to the nursery. On the way out of the OR, Jennifer called out to ask if we were going to give her the name we discussed; I said yes, and I went with (now) Sara to the nursery for some more checks, first shots, etc.

So more description to come, including some from Jennifer. I also didn't put in any parts about other people (Grandma and Granddad, the kids, etc.). It is nice to have wireless Internet in the hospital room...