f a m i l y Siblings: Emma Pilling Alexander Lawson Pilling Born: 6 JUL 2003, Toronto, Ontario Image gallery (5 images) Alexander at 2 weeks old on the bay window bench at 147 SIlverbirch, chillin' Alexander had us worried way before he was born. Ultrasounds in the 18th week showed an echogenic focus and a choroid plexus cyst which are soft pointers to genetic disorders such as Downs syndrome. More tests were done at Mount Sinai and showed that the cyst had disappeared. We turned down the amnio and went through the rest of the term positively (after some sound and comforting advice from Dr Roy McDougall). A week before his due date (2nd July) Ana's OB said that she was already dilated and that he would likely be early. The due date came and went with still no real contractions. Pics on the site tell some of the tale but I'll explain. We had been trying to induce Ana into labour for a few days (as I really didn't want to go back to work and Ana was feeling biiiiig) so we decided to go for a walk (we'd tried the other old wives tales) with Ana's best friend Jen and her boyfriend Josh. The beach is a minute's walk away at the bottom of our street, so we nipped down the pub for a meal, had a walk along the beach front then went to the icecream shop to really indulge. Then we went back to the house and had an evening on our back deck. Another couple came over Janet and Jason, who are also very close to Ana, and we spent the evening on our back deck with Beer for the boys and Daquiris for the ladies - even Ana had half a glass after a bit of encouragement from me - I was convinced that he'd enjoy a bit of alcohol. They left at midnight and we went to bed, sad that another day had passed without any signs of labour. Two hours later, Ana had a small contraction and a few minutes after that, she felt her water break. She woke me up from my slightly drunken doze to tell me to go into baby mode. Ana started timing the contractions and showered, while I prepared food for the hospital, cleaned the house, did the washing and dishes, emptied the rubbish etc We called the hospital and they told us to wait until 6am and call them back then. What bobbins!! By 3 or 4am, her contractions were 5 mins apart and lasting 2 mins, so we followed her Obstetrician's advice and headed to the hospital, ignoring what they had just told us. When we got there, we were given a private birthing room which you can see on the piccies at www.softandrearranged.com - very nice setup. The bath is a Jacuzzi, so you're seeing bubbles, but I thought it looked like ice too. There was a telly, chairs and benches for me, a nice toilet and bathroom, a monitor hooked up to a computer to capture fetal heart rate, Ana's blood pressure and the magnitude of each contraction. She was examined and had dilated further, and we were told that we came at a perfect time. Ana had asked for an Epidural as soon as the pain got too bad, but the nurses always try to keep it off until it is really necessary. After several hours of walking, being in the Jacuzzi etc, she couldn't take any more - I've never seen her like she was in the Jacuzzi - poor thing. So after the bath you can see the big "Thumbs Up" that she gave when the Epidural started to kick in - a happy-ish Ana once again. The breakfast arrived and the doctor insisted that it be clear fluids only due to the drugs, so we got a delicious feast of orange jelly, orange juise and hot water - scrumtious! Things are a bit blurry so I'm not sure of much of the timings, but I'm guessing that that was at about 8:30am-ish. From there, Ana wanted things to go quickly and asked the nurse to help her see if pushing would help. We got a big scare when the fetal heart rate fell drastically during some of the pushing. The room was instantly swimming with abot 10 people including the head doctor who was prepared to take emergency action and take him out quickly. After a short while, they removed the fetal heart rate monitor from her tummy and inserted one directly onto Alex inside Ana, and got a much stronger signal which looked quite normal. They gave us another hour to calm down after that and then the nurse allowed Ana to try pushing again as she felt that she had the urge. At this point she was fully dilated and he was only 1 inch away from life. After the monitor slipped again and we got another scare, the doctor asked that we try and wait until he had moved further down, but Ana really wanted to push, so I moved to the right of the bed to hold her left leg and the nurse held her right leg and she really started to push hard. Another scare caused the doctor to be called in again and at this stage I think he may have been wanting to get it over with so he rolled up his sleeves, so to speak, and got to work. Ana's contractions had shortened since she was full ydilated and she really wasn't ready for delivery, but she pushed through each one and made the most of it. She got some perfect and some a little too much front pushing, but before long, she had him very close. The doctor commented about what a big head he had and said that it may be tough to get him out and out came the vacuum aparatus. After 20 mins or so, during a larger contraction, Ana pushed hard and the doctor cut her a bit and sucked his head with the vacuum and out popped a head. They told us that he was looking around already and I couldn't help but look (even though Ana didn't really want me to) I cannot put into words how I felt at this moment without getting very emotional. At the next contraction, Ana managed to get his body out and I looked at him for the first time. 11:33am - 6th July 2003 - 8lbs 10.5oz - committed to memory - the best moment of my life Talk about brain overload - It was such a huge shock for me even though I thought I was prepared. They wiped him quickly and gave him to Ana and it was all a bit surreal. After a few minutes, they took him and put him under some lights to keep him warm, gave him a vitamin injection and an eye swab. I asked if I could see him and they told me I could hold him and take him to Ana. I did and felt very scared that I may not do it right, but managed. They let us chill out with him for an hour or so and then moved us to another room which you can also see on the piccies. I made some calls and helped Ana try to get him used to Breast feeding and by 7 or 8pm, we were tired. I had not eaten anything and so I met Zoran and Milena outside who brought in a feast for us - Ana had more food and I had enough to keep me going for another day. I managed to take the digital camera out with me so I was able to show them their grandson a little early and made arrangements for visiting the next day. We learned that due to SARS, that nobody was allowed to visit except me, as I was sleeping over with Ana and Alex. We got bits of sleep between our paranoid worrying over him not sleeping, not breathing, breathing too much, not eating enough etc. Some nurses were very helpful and some were a bit short with us - I imagine they see this too often and can't remember what it is like to be trusted with some helpless newborn's life. We made it through the night with help from several nurses (Suzannah, Christina, Beatrice) on call (although they confiscated the comfy chair)and wanted to get home to get comfort and guidance from our mum's, so we asked about being discharged and heard that it would likely be later that day. After a few more tests and attempted feedings, we were allowed to leave. We got home about 10 minutes before my mum arrived and you can see on the piccies all the happy grandparents in our bedroom.

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