Grant Christian Oakes

The big news here has been the birth of our little angel Grant Christian Oakes.
The short story of his birth goes like this. His due date was 1/4/11 (last Tuesday), but he didn’t want out just yet. At his appointment we decided to induce his birth (take medication to make contractions start and become more intense to help him be born). We decided this because the doctor thought he was bigger than 8lbs and the longer he stayed in there, the bigger he would get and this increased the risk of C-section.
After we set the date to induce we talked it over with women who have done it and researched it and Christine didn’t feel very good about it. Anyway Thursday (1/6) came and we decided to delay being induced another day to see if he would come, after we called the hospital they said they were too full to do it that day anyway. The next day Friday, the same thing. Mom Young got here Thursday and was really helpful with comforting Christine and helping me count her contractions because she went into labor Friday night around 6pm. It was pretty painful for her all night and she didn’t sleep at all. We went into the hospital Saturday morning (1/8) at 4am and they examined her and said although she was in labor she was not dilated enough and we had to choose to either start the inducing medicine then or go home and wait until labor progressed. We decided to go home but Christine was given a morphine shot to help her sleep during the painful contractions. She was able to sleep a little bit that morning and the rest of the day we continued to time her contractions and try and pass the time.
Finally 6pm came and we checked into the hospital, for our scheduled induction. When they did the initial exam they found that she was dilated to 4cm and her contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. So they had no need to use any medicine to induce labor, which was an answer to our prayers and surprising to the nurses and doctor. At this point she had already been “in labor” for 24 hours and was already pretty tired. A little while later she received her epidural medicine in her back to relieve pain. Shortly after this her water broke. The nurse was in and out and we both tried to sleep a little but were unable as labor progressed and baby came down lower through the night. Mom Young was in the waiting room the whole time and I tried to keep her updated. At about 3:30 am it was time to start pushing, they said it usually takes about 2 hours of pushing until baby comes. “Pushing” occurs for about 45 seconds every contraction (every 1:30 to 2 minutes) where she would use all her strength to push baby out. It is a very exhausting task and Christine was trying to sleep as her eyes would close between contractions. We soon found out that Christine had a increasing fever (this is not normal for labor), we later found out that it might have had to do with an infection that began when her water broke that was infecting the placenta. So she pushed for 3 hours and her temperature was increasing, eventually reaching 102 degrees. Christine was also extremely thirsty through out labor and kept asking for water and ice chips which unfortunately also made her sick-she threw up at least 10 times within the 4 hour time period. The doctor also noted that the babies heart rate was dropping during each contraction, an indication that the baby was under stress. Christine was put on antibiotics and was hooked up to so many things including: epidural catheter into her back, IV drip with her antibiotics and saline, contraction monitor, blood pressure cuff and baby heart rate monitor. She was poked many times throughout the delivery to give blood in multiple vials, especially after they found out about her increasing temperature to take cultures-hoping to find out what antibiotic to use to treat her. After 3 and a half hours of pushing the doctor came in and made the decision that the baby needed to be delivered “NOW”. This was due to Christine’s exhaustion, her temperature and babies dropping heart rate during contractions.
The doctor explained that they would be using the “vacuum”, which is really just a hand pump-pressurized suction that sticks to babies head and helps to pull him out. She said “baby will be delivered in the next few minutes”. They called the pediatric doctors into the delivery room to prepare for baby. Once the vacuum was on babies head, Christine was told to push hard 5 times (10 seconds each) while doctor pulled. On the fourth push babies head came out and we saw that the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, after doctor cut it we saw it was wrapped twice, and it was cut again. One more push and baby came out. He was swept away and given to the pediatric doctors, who told us “he wouldn’t be crying for a while”.
I became worried at this point because the mood in the room was very tense. The doctor spent a few more minutes working on Christine and baby was being worked on too. Soon it was clear that everything was just fine and baby was given to me to hold. He was perfect and so precious. Christine then got to hold him and we were overwhelmed by happiness. Baby Grant ended up being just fine, his temperature came down to normal within a few hours and Christine’s came down by the next day.
We stayed in the hospital for two days where they monitored baby and Christine. We decided on the name Grant Christian Oakes. It fits him well.
He is such a good baby. He was 7 lbs 13 oz, 21 ½ inches long has brown hair and a cute nose. He has really long arms and fingers and sharp fingernails. We are so happy to have him and is perfect. All of his subsequent check-ups have been great with no problems, no jaundice, he is eating and sleeping. On his first official doctor's appointment, the pediatrician said his check-up was as good as it could have been for his first check-up!

It was so nice to have Mom Young be at the hospital and before the delivery to help with stocking up our kitchen, cleaning, laundry, and taking lot's of walks around the lake! We appreciate her sacrifice and miss her. We were so fortunate to have Mom Oakes with us a couple of days after Grant was born and home. It was so helpful to have so much help watching Grant so we could get extra sleep and were able to go out for a night on the town! We miss both grandma's and can't wait to see them and introduce our sweet baby to everyone who hasn't met him.
We have been so blessed to be a witness of this miracle. Honestly, we are so happy and feel so much gratitude for our blessings at this time. So many people had been praying for us and for Grant and we really felt the magnitude and power of all those prayers, so many prayers have been answered.