Evan Andrew Robert was born 6 weeks early on April 18, 2009 at 7:22am at McMaster University Hospital (34 weeks gestational age). He weighed 4 pounds, 2.9 ounces.
How it all went down...
After my water broke on April 15th (while proctoring a final exam...good times) and regular contractions started later the next morning at 2am, we headed out to McMaster hospital. I was admitted around 5am on April 16th (Andrew's birthday). The doctor told us that I would be in hospital until the end of my pregnancy. I then received my first IV. The doctors did their best to stop the labour since we were more than 6 weeks early by using blood pressure medication. I started steroid injections right away to help mature the baby's lungs - this treatment takes 24 hours to be effective - so we knew we needed to hold on until April 18th.
I was moved to a nice private room and started antibiotics. Over the next 2 days labour started and stopped three times. Andrew came in during the day to spend time with me and do some marking. It was difficult to sleep at night because I could hear all the other ladies struggling during their labours - and I was left thinking "God, what I am I going to be like when that time comes for me?" Andrew bought me ear plugs after the first night after I shared this with him and I slept much more soundly.
When Andrew visited on April 17th I was allowed to have a Subway sandwich instead of hospital food. We got a TV and VCR (old school!) brought into our room and watched True Lies - a classic Schartzeneggar film. It was nice to get our minds off of things for a while. Earlier that day, my water conclusively broke and continued to break every few hours - a very strange experience.
Around 2am on April 18th, I requested an epidural after the contractions became too strong. I got a great 6 hours of sleep after that and was well rested for a busy morning ahead. When I woke up, I was pretty sure that delivery was imminent since the epidural wasn't masking the pain anymore (I have a new found respect for women who deliver naturally). Because I had sent Andrew home since we weren't sure when the baby was going to arrive, I called him and asked him to come to the hospital right away.
The third stage of labour started after I hung up the phone, and after 30 minutes, Evan was born and was whisked away for assessment. Andrew arrived about 10 minutes later to my room. I told him that the baby had been born and he was taken immediately to see Evan. Andrew came back to my room and let me know Evan was doing fine, and then the nurses brought Evan in so that I could hold him for a few minutes before he was taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).
I was transferred to another private room on unit 4B (we were very lucky to get a private room since it's first come, first serve and let me tell you it was B-U-S-Y on the maternity ward). The nurses on this unit were incredibly caring and supportive. My nurse, Heather, got me set up with pumping right away and then Andrew wheeled me down to the NICU to see Evan.
Evan was placed in a cosy heated isolette in Pod A-9. To our relief, he didn't have any respiratory problems. His glucose levels were low, so he received an IV through his hand and resolved these levels within a day. He was also fitted with a feeding tube. The following day he developed mild jaundice and was placed under the Billi lights (photo-therapy) for a day. Evan was fitted with some eye protection that wrapped around his head like a cloth helmet. I put my hands in the isolette to comfort Evan when I went to visit him and noticed later that I had actually burnt the tops of my hands - these lights are powerful!
I was discharged on April 21st. I started driving into Hamilton and stayed at the hospital for 12 hours. There were a lot of resources for family - a private TV lounge, kitchen, pumping stations, phone, computer, you name it. I mostly worked in the uber large cafeteria to finish grading final exams and then visiting Evan every 3 hours on the threes (9am, 12, 3, 6, ect..).
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