Baby Week 30 - Crowded Maternity Ward?
November 7, 2008
At my last doctor’s visit, I learned that there are 6 women all scheduled for repeat c-sections within 1 week of me. Apparently the end of December is a popular time of year to have a baby. I don’t know if everyone is trying to get the tax write-off for 2008 (not the reason for our decision by the way).
When Xander was born, we had a wonderful experience with the hospital staff. Our hospital is a relatively small regional one - only 4 post-delivery rooms, but that wing was entirely rebuilt (finished about 2 months before Xander was born) so everything is new and pretty high tech for our rural setting. Aside from one nurse who was a little obsessive about rules on the maternity ward, they were all awesome. The nurses were incredibly attentive. One nurse who usually works in the ER spent the day with me while I was in labor (filling in a shift) and actually came up to check on me the next time she was working. One of our doctors actually came in (with one of his kids) on his day off to check on me. Overall, it was a great experience. They were great with Xander - showed us everything a new parent might need to know, and they were always patient with us, never talked down to us, and truly seemed interested in our well-being. It was such a great experience that a week or so later when I was feeling up to a walk, we bought them a gift basket of cookies and brought it to the hospital (I should mention that our house is less than a mile away from the hospital).
I think one of the factors in this positive experience was that we were the only ones in the maternity ward for 3 of the 4 days we were there. The undivided attention was quite nice! This time, if we’re lucky it’ll just be full and not over-full.
So now I’m nervous. Not that I think the care will be any less amazing, but I don’t think that we’ll get the undivided attention that we got last time. When they have the time, the nurses will keep the sleeping baby in the nursery, allowing mothers to get some much needed rest as well. Again, this is only as time allows, so I suspect that this bonus feature will be offered far less during our upcoming stay.
I’m sure everything will work out just fine in the end - the baby will arrive, the doctors and nurses will give us great support, and we’ll go home a happy and slightly larger family. But, that doesn’t stop me from wondering about what to expect when we arrive 
I hadn’t ever heard the term “VBAC” (pronounced ‘v’ back) before I got pregnant this time around. Apparently if you have a c-section in your first pregnancy, you are sometimes have the option of having a “Vaginal Birth After Cesarean.” I happen to fall into this category. So now I get to decide, do I want to try another regular delivery, or would I prefer to go straight to a scheduled c-section? For those of you who don’t recall, my first delivery experience was quite lengthy and painful and ultimately ended in an emergency c-section. For those of you interested in the gruesome details, you can check out Xander’s first post 
First, I would like to apologize for my lack of posts in the past few weeks. As you may have guessed, I finally had my baby. So, for the squeemish, let me warn you that the rest of this post will have some details regarding the labor and delivery. The next post will be more warm and fuzzy about the joys of new parenthood.
We named him Alexander Grady, and are calling him Xander. Apparently Xander had been facing the wrong way - “sunny side up” and had refused to move into the birth canal, hence the c-section. At 6:39 pm on Wednesday September 20th Xander was born, after approximately 38 hours of labor. It was a very long few days, and an emotional rollercoaster for both 
Well, the little one is now technically considered “full term.” From what I understand, most of the development is done, and the baby is pretty much just adding weight from here on out - which, from my point of view, is a rather scary thought. My sister-in-law, who has 3 children of her own, told me a few months ago that I would eventually hit a point where I just did not want to move because it would take so much effort. A few weeks ago I thought I had hit that point. I was wrong. I have definitely hit it now - whether I’m sitting at home or at my desk at work, if I need to get up to do something, I hesitate now. I find myself actually saving up tasks so that I’ll only have to get up once (use the bathroom, print something, photocopy something and get the mail all in one trip, etc.). When I’m at home I find myself asking others to get things for me more frequently. Everyone has been great about that, but I still feel like a lazy slob sitting on the couch having people wait on me. Even walking up stairs or lifting my legs to put on pants requires so much effort these days. The pressure from the baby dropping makes my whole lower section ache every time I move. I have a suspicion this baby is pretty comfy and isn’t coming out early or on time, which means I’ve got even more weeks of this discomfort to look forward to. While I can tell myself that labor will be a temporary state, and that I will survive, at this point it feels like pregnancy is going to last forever - that I’ve got a permanent condition of “basketball belly.” So, please send me happy thoughts of a 6.5 pound baby, and a delivery that happens sooner rather than later 