OTTO'S BIRTH STORY

OTTO PATRICK VIKLUND
MARCH 5TH, 2018
9 LBS 8 OZ

Otto’s birth story starts somewhere around 34 weeks, a few days before my husband was leaving for a work trip to New York City & amidst our kitchen renovation (aka- when our house was a complete wreck). There was a day where I’d had more coffee than water & had been doing a lot of physical activity around the house- mostly bending down to pick up toys & hurdling over baby gates. I began having pretty regular Braxton Hicks contractions, which progressed to feel more like real contractions. I was also experiencing severe lightning crotch. It was then that I began to think, “this baby is coming early”. My husband was nervous to leave for a few days but I drank more water & took things a little easier. Things began to calm down. Week after week at my OB appointments my dilation never changed- I was 2 CM at every following appointment.

On Otto’s due date, March 1st, at my 40 week OB appointment I was still 2 CM dilated. It was at that point that we decided to schedule an induction. I felt completely informed & supported in this decision & it was a collectively made decision between myself, my husband & my OB. My doctor believed the induction would be successful given my current progress & my history with delivering Buddy. My OB is the same doctor I’ve had for 5 years & he delivered Buddy. I trusted him & his practices so I was completely at ease when he said that. The hospital had availability on Monday, March 3rd, so we set the induction for that day.

As we were leaving my 40-week appointment we got into the car & called my husband’s parents to loop them in on the plan. Our hope was that Buddy would be in their care during the labor & delivery process. Given the fact that they lived in Connecticut, the scheduled induction gave us the time we needed to arrange for them to be here & because a big storm was projected to hit the northeast that weekend they decided to come out the Friday before.

Over the next few days, I tried many things to thrust myself into spontaneous labor but alas, nothing worked. Pat and I did get to sneak in one last date night & we stocked the pantry and fridge with post-delivery meals & snacks, so that was a wonderful bonus.

By Monday morning I had everything packed & ready in my hospital bag. I grabbed a yogurt & a lactation granola bar & ate them on the drive to the hospital. I felt very calm & at peace on the way. I reminisced for a bit about the same drive to the hospital when we had Buddy & how different it felt being in active labor.  

When we arrived at the hospital around 7:00am I was checked in & our nurse, Jody (who was also our nurse when we had Buddy & has become a wonderful friend to us), escorted us to our delivery room. She had set the room up with string lights & decorations for us. It was such a beautiful gesture & it brought both my husband & me to tears. Everything was touched by love & it all just made me more at ease and excited to welcome our baby into the world. We snapped pictures of the sweet details around the room & I changed into my hospital gown after taking one last bump picture in the bathroom mirror.

I was set up on the delivery bed with all of the monitors strapped to me & Jody started my IVs. Not long after that (maybe around 8:00am/8:30am) my doctor came in to break my water & get things going. The induction had begun. Pat was by my side & we just relaxed & enjoyed the moment together.

Everything from then on happened really fast, I was 2-3CM dilated still when I arrived & when I was checked again I had jumped to 5-6CM in a short window of time. I was beginning to feel slight contractions- nothing painful but definitely noticeable. When I was in labor with Buddy I labored at home for a few hours before getting to the hospital, & I would walk and breathe through my contractions. Because I was set up on the bed (& very cozy) the contractions were mostly just uncomfortable. Sometime around 10:30am I asked for the epidural & the anesthesiologist began setting it up.

When I delivered Buddy the epidural took a bit longer to kick in, so they increased the amount. But with Otto’s delivery, I wasn’t in as much pain and therefore the epidural worked slowly. I didn’t need the increased amount. I could feel the lower half of my body but not the pain, which had not been the case when I delivered Buddy.

After the epidural things started progressing even faster & I was really glad I asked for the epidural when I did because I don’t remember much time passing between the epidural & pushing. I think I had a grape popsicle at some point but I don’t remember doing a whole lot more than that. Around 1:20ish the nurse came in & I was 9-10CM dilated-- it was time to push!

I pushed once or twice & our nurse said, “Okay stop! He’s coming!”. They needed to get my doctor & the other medical staff in the room for the delivery still, so she paged him & my doctor along with the other medical staff joined us in our hospital room.

Once everything was all set, it was time to push again. One contraction came & I pushed with it. I liked being able to feel the pressure of the pushing, this was a sensation I didn’t have with Buddy & the lac of it had made it challenging to push. A second contraction came, & I pushed again. He was just about out. So the third contraction came, & I pushed, & pushed, & the contraction passed & they told me “keep pushing” so I pushed some more. Otto, being the 9 pound 8-ounce baby that he was had become stuck on his way out on the third push. I didn’t really know what was going on at this point other than the fact that I was still pushing beyond the contraction. At that point, Jody climbed on top of my belly & began to push Otto out from the outside. It all happened very quickly but I did feel the pressure of him being pulled from my body.

Otto didn’t cry right away, & for about 10-15 seconds (but it felt like 5 minutes) the doctors and staff were trying to get him going (he had gone blue on his way out when he got stuck). Finally, he began crying & the staff started cleaning us both up as we prepared for chest-to-chest.

I was a little freaked out by those few scary moments, it felt like my head was still spinning as I tried to wrap my mind around what had happened. But here he was, on my chest, looking up at me & his father. His sweet newborn smell quickly filled my nose with a sensation of nostalgia & joy. He smelled both familiar & new at the same time. I began admiring & memorizing his chubby, fresh face.

Once everything settled the nursery staff was able to weigh him & measure him. He was 9 pounds 8 ounces (a whole pound & 5 oz bigger than Buddy). It blew my mind that he was so big. Because of his size he had to have his blood sugar monitored for a little bit, & thankfully everything was healthy.

We decided to stay the full 3 days in the hospital even though we were cleared to leave the next day. This gave us an opportunity to settle in & get to know Otto. This was also our best chance at getting some sleep (albeit in short segments but while caring for Buddy during the day too we would have only been able to sleep at night).  At one point my doctor came in to check on me & mentioned something along the lines of Otto’s birth being pretty eventful. Apparently it’s not common for nurses to have to push babies out from the belly—but I’m so glad our nurse didn’t even hesitate to assist.

I have no regrets about making the choice to be induced, especially considering Otto’s size & the fact that he was “stuck” on the way out for a brief moment. I also have no regrets about electing for the epidural & doing it when I did. I feel proud to share this story and proud of how peaceful & calm Otto’s labor & delivery was. At the end of it all, our sweet family was blessed with our second, healthy, baby boy.