holden’s birth – part 2

They brought Holden to me and laid him on my chest. He was still messy from his abrupt birth. They fed me ice chips because my throat burned like a mother fucker. And my nurse told me what had happened.

They cut me open, pulled Holden out of me and sewed me back together all in a quick six minutes. There was a knot in his umbilical cord which is why they had lost his pulse and my nurse had kept her hand in me because the cord can’t be the first thing out since that’s the baby’s oxygen supply.

Holden’s first minute Apgar score was a six and his five minute score was a nine.

While I was out, they allowed Steve into the room. He hadn’t been there during the operation and told me that he was freaked out for those long six minutes until he heard Holden cry from through the doors.

Since skin-to-skin bonding in the first hour is very important for a newborn, one nurse had asked Steve if he wanted to take his shirt off and hold Holden. My nurse said that nurse is a real cougar and tries to get all the dads to take their shirts off.

Holden was born at 11:34a – 8 lbs, 11 oz; 21.5 inches long. He has a full head of dark hair and was born with long fingernails. He is our beautiful miracle baby.