Welcome Viviana!

 

Viviana Sophia Harlow

2/15/11 9:30 pm

7 pounds 10 ounces, 19 inches 

Viviana's birth. 

On Tuesday afternoon, I went for my regularly scheduled 39 week appointment. Because I had been in the hospital over the weekend for a decrease in fetal movement, my doctor decided to do a quick ultrasound to check for amniotic fluid levels. She found that the fluid levels were fine, but that what we had thought was the baby's bottom was actually her head. The baby was breech. At 39 weeks, it was too late to try to turn the baby and the chances were low that she would turn herself around. So the doctor recommend scheduling a c-section for early next week. She wanted it to be before my due date so that I would avoid having to go into labor. So, I walked over to another office to schedule a c-section for the following Tuesday. I called Lyle to make sure that date worked with his schedule and as I was sitting in the office talking to the woman who does the scheduling, my water broke. And I've heard sometimes it's a trickle, but this was absolutely not a trickle. This was the gushing sort of water breaking. Fortunately the hospital is directly across the street from the doctor's office, so at 4pm, I called Lyle to tell him that his schedule no longer mattered, we were having a baby tonight. I headed over to the hospital and Lyle met me there after going home to get our bags. 

I had to wait until 8 hours after I had last eaten for surgery, so the surgery was set for 9pm. I had a spinal tap which numbed me from my toes to my chest. Just a few moments after surgery began, I heard the baby cry. Then they stitched me back up - the entire procedure took less than an hour. Immediately after the surgery, Lyle accompanied Viviana to the nursery where they cleared her lungs. They then joined me in a recovery room. My parents had made it up from San Diego by the time I was in recovery and they were able to visit briefly before the nurses took me to the post-partum ward.