Many of you, family, friends, colleagues, parishioners, blog readers know that Courtenay and I were expecting our first child on April 22nd.  And many of you know that the due date came and went.

Well, on Tuesday, April 29th, Courtenay and I went for a routine fetal assessment. She was a week over due, and we were going to talk about induction with our Doctor.

However, the ultra sound revealed that the there was not much amniotic fluid around the baby, which could be a problem if it is not due to broken or ruptured waters. And if the water was broken, that meant it was time for a baby to be born.

So we were admitted to a hospital that was not the one we planned to birth at, and we didn’t have any of the things, like baby bag and hospital bag full of stuff that we planned to bring to the hospital for labour and delivery.

So despite our unpreparedness and surprise at being told the baby was going to be born soon,  Tuesday at 1:30pm we were beginning the long process to induction. Wednesday morning, Courtenay began feeling contractions and by 4:30pm the rest of her waters had broken.

Throughout the evening, Courtenay laboured like a professional. The nurses and doctors were so impressed, they continually thought she had an epidural because she was managing her pain so well. Around midnight (36 hours after we had come to hospital), Courtenay was told to push. Our nurse and doctor said she was an amazing pusher.

However, after an hour and twenty minutes of pushing, the baby just wasn’t co-operating. The baby just wasn’t in a good position to leave mom’s womb. All along the way, the baby showed perfect signs of health, according to the staff. This  was a pretty normal, non-invasive labour for a High Risk unit up until this point.

So after the pushing, the doctors wanted to let Courtenay and baby take a break to see if things could get into a better position for birth. But by 5:30AM, things were not progressing.

The doctor offered to let us wait to see if things changed, but recommended a Cesarian Section.

By 6:10AM Surgery had begun.

And at 6:17AM, on May 1st, 2014 our baby boy was born.

Oscar Kenneth David Reedman Parker

8 pounds 9 ounces. 22 inches long. Huge flipper feet like his dad, and strawberry blonde hair like his maternal grandfather.

He is a beautiful baby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although it was not the birthing experience we had hoped for, it was the result we wanted –  a healthy mom and healthy baby.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To all our family, friends, parishioners, colleagues, and blog readers, we are excited to share this news. We know many of you hoped to  receive updates and news along the way, especially these past few days around the birth. It was a busy time for us and concrete hospital walls don’t make for good cell phone reception. In addition, there were stretches where Courtenay and I didn’t feel like we were in the loop either. Never the less, the pregnancy, labour and delivery are complete, and now we are looking forward to getting to know Oscar. There will be more here about our experience and the baby, so stay tuned for more. But for now, one more photo – with eyes open.

 

Want to offer congrats, share in the comments, on Facebook or on Twitter: Erik= @ParkerErik and Courtenay = @ReedmanParker