Avi was born at 3:44PM on Monday. He's 8lbs, 11oz, 22" long, and very strong and healthy.
This is him about 30 minutes after being born, sleeping in my arms. He's a very happy and calm baby, not fussy at all. We couldn't as for much more in a baby!
The Wife has had a very difficult time and she's still recovering. Avi was face-up instead of face-down, which makes birth a lot more difficult. After 30 hours of labor she pushed for 3.5 hours with basically no progress. One of the doctors tried to manually rotate the baby, which means he lubed up his hand and went right in, halfway to the elbow. Definitely not a comfortable thing for my wife. They opted for an emergency c section as the baby's heart rate was starting to drop more and more each time she pushed.
During the c section they found that his head was stuck in her pelvis - he was simply too big to pass through there, especially upside down. They used a fetal balloon to dislodge his head and as they pulled him out he tore her uterus over to the side, tearing her broad ligament, where there's several arteries and the tube that goes from her bladder to her kidney. After they cleaned up Avi they let me hold him (I was in the surgery room with her, right by her head to provide support) and of course I pretty much cried my eyes out the second I touched him. I have never in my life felt such an incredible rush of emotion!
Anyways, after I heard one of the doctors curse and the other one handed him the cooler full of blood for transfusions, I started worrying. She was shaking and screaming from the pain, even through the epidural and some more drugs, so they gave her some very powerful painkillers and had me take Avi to the recovery room.
That was one of the most stressful moments of my life. I'm holding Avi and he's being great, but time kept ticking on and my wife wasn't out yet. I watched part of the c section. It's pretty gruesome. And by pretty I mean shockingly gruesome. I saw my wife's uterus sitting on top of her stomach. I saw her intestines. Blood was running onto the floor. An hour passed, then two. I was trying not to be negative, and I kept reminding myself that we were in a great hospital with excellent doctors, but after two hours I was really worried. Times like this when you don't get updates, your worst fears always gain a stronger voice and I was starting to worry that she didn't make it. After two and a half hours they wheeled her bed back into the room. She was super drugged up but they had managed to fix everything, although she lost a LOT of blood - almost half of her blood to be precise. To make matters worse, she also has a uterine infection and is running a fever now, on top of an already difficult recovery. And the pain killers they're giving her aren't working very well. She is healing, but it's been rough times.
After that experience we've decided that this will be our only child - it was something we were considering anyway. Due to these injuries any future pregnancies would be difficult and she could only have a c section.
Avi has been perfect. He didn't even cry when he got his vitamin k shot. He's passed all his tests with flying colors. He had a slight tongue tie so they snipped that and said he cried for about 5 seconds then just went back to sleep. He latched pretty much right away and he's got a good healthy appetite. And a strong grip!
Anyways, here's momma holding him for the first time, right out of surgery.
