- Joined
- Nov 29, 2005
- Messages
- 887
I'm happy to report my family's acquisition of a new E.D.C., a week ago. 21.5 inches long, 8 lbs., 13 ounces. This E.D.C. is neither a small knife, nor (as the above stats might imply), a huge chopping blade, but my wife's and my 5th baby (4th son), Elijah Daniel.
Mandatory knife material: Got to field-test (well, hospital-test) a scalpel, with which I cut the umbilical cord. This new model came with an integral scabbard--sort of a transparent plastic thing, same material as the handle, which retracted onto the handle part, exposing the exquisitely-sharp blade. VERY thin--nice for slicing. Sailed through the umbilical cord smoothly, with minimal effort, and in one stroke. Unfortunately, I didn't catch the maker's name. Also ended up using a Leatherman tool for something or other during the hospital stay, but I forget quite what. But one more confirmation of the lesson that a multi-tool is ALWAYS going to get used, if you have one with you, so you might as well work redundant ones into all your gear.
Interesting lessons learned, survival-wise: Lesson 1: Babies can come more quickly than you expect. Sure, we're experienced parents; we'd had 4 babies before. From previous experience, we figured that we realistically had about 6 hours between when contractions heated up and the baby was born. Right? WRONG! My wife called me at the office at 5:50 p.m. to tell me that contractions were speeding up, but made a point of telling me that there was NO NEED TO HURRY. I set stuff in order at work and headed homeward (a 25-mile urban/suburban commute) at 5:55. About 6:00, I had a strange feeling that I should hurry anyway. (I later learned that my wife was right then on the phone to my office, to tell me that I should hurry, after all.) Wove through traffic, paying attention to where adjacent cars were, pulling around cars at stoplights when that was feasible. Made it home in 27 minutes, which was about half what it often takes during rush hour. Found wife bending over counter with contractions, saying "It's time!"
Got her into the car--seated on a waterproof pad purchased previously at Target and left in place, just in case--and en route to the hospital. I'd previously done a dry run or two to make sure I had the route, parking, and timing all sorted out in advance. Mental note: a walk to the car, ordinarily taking 30 seconds, can take a lot longer when one is in active labor. Got under way to hospital around 6:35 p.m. Had obstetric delivery kit (previously purchased from medical-supply store) in the car, just in case.
Time: 6:39 p.m.; 2/3 of the way to the hospital: wife announced "My water just broke." Glad we had the pad in the car. Rupture of the amniotic sac triggers massive release of prostaglandins and, often, oxytocin--hormones that hasten labor and stimulate the uterus to expel the baby. Contractions intensified spectacularly and immediately. Stopped at a stoplight, I kicked myself for not (illegally, but excusably under these circumstances) pulling through a parking lot on the corner and avoiding the red light. Lost at least 30 seconds there.
Time: 6:42 p.m.: Reach hospital parking lot, zip to the OB triage parking area, reserved for in-labor mom dropoffs. Lot is full and closed. I do a violent 3-point turn that narrowly avoids creaming two other cars, play chicken with a third car trying to exit the parking structure (I think the driver read my face pretty well and decided to let me win the game of "chicken".) Made way to nearest parking space--well away from hospital entrance, unfortunately. Wife said, "Get me a wheelchair!" I tried to figure out an alternative to leaving her there, but could not. Ran beeline across hospital's desert landscaping, dodging cacti and leaping bushes, drawing stares all the way to the entrance. Just inside was a row of wheelchairs. Appropriated one and ran out the door before anyone could ask what I was doing. About 6:45 p.m., ran into two OB nurses who were just heading in for the night shift. "Can we help you?", one asked. (Guess!) (My answer: "[Puff! Puff!] My wife's in labor!" They: "Which baby?" I: "FIVE"). The nurses exchanged glances, then hurried with me to the car, to which my wife had returned. Got her onto the wheelchair, nurses pushed her into the OB triage area, and got her onto a gurney. Uterus was dilated to 10 cm (= 4 inches, about the diameter of a standard U.S. coffee can; the diameter at which labor is mostly over, and the mom just has to push the baby out). One of the attendants said "The baby is RIGHT THERE!" We wheeled the gurney up the hall, onto an elevator (amazing how slowly people can move when you've got an emergency they're unaware of), and upstairs. Got into the labor and delivery room, wife was transferred to a birthing bed, and delivered the baby within probably 1 minute (give or take) of starting to push. Baby was born at 6:56 p.m.: 11 minutes after we met the nurses in the parking lot, and thus probably about 9 minutes after my wife was pushed through the door into the hospital, or 66 minutes after she called to tell me to come home, but not to hurry. My wife is nothing if not efficient--but that was cutting it close, indeed!
Doctor was doing a c-section in another room, and didn't make it until about a quarter-hour after the birth. Helped deliver the placenta; inspected my wife for any tearing, but couldn't find anything to stitch. Doctor told my wife, congratulatorily, "YOU don't NEED a doctor!" My amazing, petite wife once again wowed the medical staff by delivering a very large baby in a very short time, without anesthetics. Having had some problems with bleeding in the past, we knew to encourage the hospital folks to put the baby to her breast quickly; the sucking of the baby stimulates production of more natural oxytocin, which causes the womb to contract and shut down bleeding. (At a previous birth, the nurses had taken their time cleaning and taking care of the baby, and my wife had lost more blood than she should have; this time we were prepared a bit better.)
All in all, a safe, uncomplicated birth. Having read up on things in advance helped a great deal. If I had it to do over again (which we might--my wife and I have figured out how babies are made, and we have discovered that it is kind of fun
), I'd have scouted out a better alternative in case the OB parking lot was full. I had bought a book on midwifery, geared toward 3rd-world medical practitioners, and studied up on how to handle when a baby gets stuck, or other emergency techniques for problems in childbirth. Fortunately, we did make it to the hospital.
Lesson 2: do not rely overmuch on modern technology. We found out that the hospital we went to has something like a 30%-40% c-section rate. My wife was asked to go in for many "non-stress" tests before the baby's birth. A non-stress test involves hooking the mom up to monitors which check the baby's heartbeat in relation to movement; the idea is that if the baby is not thriving, or not getting enough oxygen, or whatever, the baby's heartbeat will be depressed, or will not respond to movement, or the baby won't move much, etc.
The problem with these tests is obvious: if the baby happens to be asleep when the hospital schedules the test, the test will come back with a false-positive "baby is in distress" result. Depending on what you read, false positives for this test can be as high as 30% or even 50%. A false positive may lead some docs to order additional tests (also with high false-positive rates), and, if enough "bad" test results come up, the docs are inclined to induce labor artificially, and/or cut the baby out right away via c-section.
We'd previously resisted the suggestions of some of my wife's doctors, with the result that we'd avoided at least one induction of labor, and (maybe, because c-sections are what they do when an induction of labor doesn't go as fast as they'd like) possibly a c-section. The reason this is really good, from a survival perspective, is that once a woman has had a c-section, the odds that she'll need a c-section (or other surgery) for any subsequent pregnancy go WAY up. I have become a firm believer that, even if you PLAN on having a hospital available at all times, it is best to set up your life so that if for whatever reason a hospital ISN'T available, you can get by. Because you never know: traffic can keep you from the hospital; disasters and epidemics can shut them down or make them dangerous to go to, etc. The fact that my wife had never yet had a c-section made this labor and delivery much less high-risk--and if it had taken me a few more minutes to get home, we really could have ended up delivering this baby on the side of the road, instead of in the hospital. Similarly, even if we HAD needed emergency intervention, the nearest available doctor was in surgery and unavailable for about 15 minutes after the baby was born. Had there been a uterine rupture or other emergency, the outcome could have been bad.
Anyway: All's well that ends well, and we're very happy with our little newborn, E.D.C.!
Mandatory knife material: Got to field-test (well, hospital-test) a scalpel, with which I cut the umbilical cord. This new model came with an integral scabbard--sort of a transparent plastic thing, same material as the handle, which retracted onto the handle part, exposing the exquisitely-sharp blade. VERY thin--nice for slicing. Sailed through the umbilical cord smoothly, with minimal effort, and in one stroke. Unfortunately, I didn't catch the maker's name. Also ended up using a Leatherman tool for something or other during the hospital stay, but I forget quite what. But one more confirmation of the lesson that a multi-tool is ALWAYS going to get used, if you have one with you, so you might as well work redundant ones into all your gear.
Interesting lessons learned, survival-wise: Lesson 1: Babies can come more quickly than you expect. Sure, we're experienced parents; we'd had 4 babies before. From previous experience, we figured that we realistically had about 6 hours between when contractions heated up and the baby was born. Right? WRONG! My wife called me at the office at 5:50 p.m. to tell me that contractions were speeding up, but made a point of telling me that there was NO NEED TO HURRY. I set stuff in order at work and headed homeward (a 25-mile urban/suburban commute) at 5:55. About 6:00, I had a strange feeling that I should hurry anyway. (I later learned that my wife was right then on the phone to my office, to tell me that I should hurry, after all.) Wove through traffic, paying attention to where adjacent cars were, pulling around cars at stoplights when that was feasible. Made it home in 27 minutes, which was about half what it often takes during rush hour. Found wife bending over counter with contractions, saying "It's time!"
Got her into the car--seated on a waterproof pad purchased previously at Target and left in place, just in case--and en route to the hospital. I'd previously done a dry run or two to make sure I had the route, parking, and timing all sorted out in advance. Mental note: a walk to the car, ordinarily taking 30 seconds, can take a lot longer when one is in active labor. Got under way to hospital around 6:35 p.m. Had obstetric delivery kit (previously purchased from medical-supply store) in the car, just in case.
Time: 6:39 p.m.; 2/3 of the way to the hospital: wife announced "My water just broke." Glad we had the pad in the car. Rupture of the amniotic sac triggers massive release of prostaglandins and, often, oxytocin--hormones that hasten labor and stimulate the uterus to expel the baby. Contractions intensified spectacularly and immediately. Stopped at a stoplight, I kicked myself for not (illegally, but excusably under these circumstances) pulling through a parking lot on the corner and avoiding the red light. Lost at least 30 seconds there.
Time: 6:42 p.m.: Reach hospital parking lot, zip to the OB triage parking area, reserved for in-labor mom dropoffs. Lot is full and closed. I do a violent 3-point turn that narrowly avoids creaming two other cars, play chicken with a third car trying to exit the parking structure (I think the driver read my face pretty well and decided to let me win the game of "chicken".) Made way to nearest parking space--well away from hospital entrance, unfortunately. Wife said, "Get me a wheelchair!" I tried to figure out an alternative to leaving her there, but could not. Ran beeline across hospital's desert landscaping, dodging cacti and leaping bushes, drawing stares all the way to the entrance. Just inside was a row of wheelchairs. Appropriated one and ran out the door before anyone could ask what I was doing. About 6:45 p.m., ran into two OB nurses who were just heading in for the night shift. "Can we help you?", one asked. (Guess!) (My answer: "[Puff! Puff!] My wife's in labor!" They: "Which baby?" I: "FIVE"). The nurses exchanged glances, then hurried with me to the car, to which my wife had returned. Got her onto the wheelchair, nurses pushed her into the OB triage area, and got her onto a gurney. Uterus was dilated to 10 cm (= 4 inches, about the diameter of a standard U.S. coffee can; the diameter at which labor is mostly over, and the mom just has to push the baby out). One of the attendants said "The baby is RIGHT THERE!" We wheeled the gurney up the hall, onto an elevator (amazing how slowly people can move when you've got an emergency they're unaware of), and upstairs. Got into the labor and delivery room, wife was transferred to a birthing bed, and delivered the baby within probably 1 minute (give or take) of starting to push. Baby was born at 6:56 p.m.: 11 minutes after we met the nurses in the parking lot, and thus probably about 9 minutes after my wife was pushed through the door into the hospital, or 66 minutes after she called to tell me to come home, but not to hurry. My wife is nothing if not efficient--but that was cutting it close, indeed!
Doctor was doing a c-section in another room, and didn't make it until about a quarter-hour after the birth. Helped deliver the placenta; inspected my wife for any tearing, but couldn't find anything to stitch. Doctor told my wife, congratulatorily, "YOU don't NEED a doctor!" My amazing, petite wife once again wowed the medical staff by delivering a very large baby in a very short time, without anesthetics. Having had some problems with bleeding in the past, we knew to encourage the hospital folks to put the baby to her breast quickly; the sucking of the baby stimulates production of more natural oxytocin, which causes the womb to contract and shut down bleeding. (At a previous birth, the nurses had taken their time cleaning and taking care of the baby, and my wife had lost more blood than she should have; this time we were prepared a bit better.)
All in all, a safe, uncomplicated birth. Having read up on things in advance helped a great deal. If I had it to do over again (which we might--my wife and I have figured out how babies are made, and we have discovered that it is kind of fun
), I'd have scouted out a better alternative in case the OB parking lot was full. I had bought a book on midwifery, geared toward 3rd-world medical practitioners, and studied up on how to handle when a baby gets stuck, or other emergency techniques for problems in childbirth. Fortunately, we did make it to the hospital.Lesson 2: do not rely overmuch on modern technology. We found out that the hospital we went to has something like a 30%-40% c-section rate. My wife was asked to go in for many "non-stress" tests before the baby's birth. A non-stress test involves hooking the mom up to monitors which check the baby's heartbeat in relation to movement; the idea is that if the baby is not thriving, or not getting enough oxygen, or whatever, the baby's heartbeat will be depressed, or will not respond to movement, or the baby won't move much, etc.
The problem with these tests is obvious: if the baby happens to be asleep when the hospital schedules the test, the test will come back with a false-positive "baby is in distress" result. Depending on what you read, false positives for this test can be as high as 30% or even 50%. A false positive may lead some docs to order additional tests (also with high false-positive rates), and, if enough "bad" test results come up, the docs are inclined to induce labor artificially, and/or cut the baby out right away via c-section.
We'd previously resisted the suggestions of some of my wife's doctors, with the result that we'd avoided at least one induction of labor, and (maybe, because c-sections are what they do when an induction of labor doesn't go as fast as they'd like) possibly a c-section. The reason this is really good, from a survival perspective, is that once a woman has had a c-section, the odds that she'll need a c-section (or other surgery) for any subsequent pregnancy go WAY up. I have become a firm believer that, even if you PLAN on having a hospital available at all times, it is best to set up your life so that if for whatever reason a hospital ISN'T available, you can get by. Because you never know: traffic can keep you from the hospital; disasters and epidemics can shut them down or make them dangerous to go to, etc. The fact that my wife had never yet had a c-section made this labor and delivery much less high-risk--and if it had taken me a few more minutes to get home, we really could have ended up delivering this baby on the side of the road, instead of in the hospital. Similarly, even if we HAD needed emergency intervention, the nearest available doctor was in surgery and unavailable for about 15 minutes after the baby was born. Had there been a uterine rupture or other emergency, the outcome could have been bad.
Anyway: All's well that ends well, and we're very happy with our little newborn, E.D.C.!
... Still its a neat keepsake.
