A happy ending...

(l-r) Holly, Juno, Isla & Jess

Birth Story - Final

Jess and Juno came home on wednesday night - hence the tardiness of this post. We are all getting used to the new rhythms of living together as a family. Juno has pretty much dedicated herself to doing nothing more than feeding and sleeping, which is just another of the godsends in this little story. Most nights since she has been home she has woken about every three hours for a feed and then, plumb tuckered out from her efforts, drifted straight back to sleep. How good is that?

So we are now all home and settling in for the next phase. To round off the story of Juno's birth I would like to pay tribute to three amazing women. First and foremost to my gorgeous wife, Jess, who was so magnificent during what was such a difficult time. I know that Jess's decision to opt for a natural birth without the use of drugs was made solely for the health and wellbeing of the child she was carrying. To endure all those hours of pain and then to recognize that, again in the baby's interests, there had to be an intervention, was -I thought- an inspiring example of her capacity for love. I was in awe of her spirit and incredibly proud of her throughout this whole process.

And it obviously runs in her family, because her sister Victoria was just as committed to Jess and the baby through that weekend. Jess had attended both of Victoria's births (both at home in the pool), and the bond between the two sisters really beggars description. You just know that if -gods forbid- one of them needed a kidney, the other would be front and centre. I also know that there is no way I would have got through the weekend without Victoria's supportive presence: her compassion and empathy for Jess and the baby were instrumental in all of us pulling through.

The final woman is, of course, Juno Ruby: another strong woman in the mould of her mother and aunt. Undeterred by a rough start, she has just got stronger and stronger. And, with two wonderful women like Jess and Victoria as her role models in life, she is doubly blessed.

There you have it: the first week in the life of Juno Ruby Ryan. I will keep posting -probably a lot more erratically- little titbits as they emerge and photographs that chronicle the miraculous unfolding of her life.

Victoria, on the right, holding her niece

Birth Story Pt. 2

Vic and I helped Jess out of the car while Ann went up to the Maternity ward to brief the staff there. We helped Jess into a wheelchair and rolled her up to the ward. When we arrived, the duty nurse kindly wheeled in a tank of nitrous oxide; no wonder they call it laughing gas, its effect on reducing the pain of the contractions was a joke – still, Jess did her best Dennis Hopper impersonation, alternately sucking on the mouthpiece and quietly howling.

The doctor presently arrived to administer the epidural and, over the next half hour or so (I started to lose track of the time around here, hospitals have that sort of disorienting effect on you), Jess gradually returned to a state of relative comfort. Ann had hooked her up to a monitor, so we could see both the contractions and the baby’s heartbeat. At this point we all started to relax.

I whipped home and packed some stuff in a bag; clothes for Jess and the baby, some snacks, cameras etc., and was back within half an hour or so. While I was gone the Obstetric surgeon had come in and, after examining Jess and determining that she was still only dilated 6cm, had put Syntocinon into her drip: a synthetic hormone that increases the effectiveness of the contractions. We all figured that in a couple of pain-free hours she would have the baby and we could all go home…

You know that moment in horror films where the teens trapped in the house have withstood the waves of zombies/aliens/whatever for the duration of the night and finally day begins to break? That was this moment. I kicked back in the La-z-boy (every room has one!) and started to drift off to sleep – yep, big mistake. The shadow of the Queen just loomed over our intrepid bunch of campers… A couple of minutes later, the surgeon is in the room waving papers at Jess to sign and saying something about a caesarean.

Yikes! Suddenly, there is a lot of adrenaline in the room. An orderly comes in and, within a couple of minutes, she and the surgeon are wheeling Jess towards theatre. Apparently, the baby’s heartrate had started to plummet, hence the sight of a surgeon pushing a bed through the ward (they told us later that was a rarity).

Ann and I got changed into sterile gear and went into the theatre with Jess. It was now about 10.55, I think. Jess was prepped and, within the space of a couple of minutes, they were into her. It wasn’t pretty. I wouldn’t describe it as a frenzy, but –while it seemed very professional- it certainly lacked the calm, deliberative intensity you expect from TV.

At exactly 11 one of the crew said ‘It’s a girl.’ I think we had both expected this moment would be quite different; at home, no drugs and the baby would be delivered straight to mum’s breast. It couldn’t have been more different. Juno was whisked off to a separate table where another team worked on resuscitating her. Her Apgar at 1 minute was a 1 – out of 10. She was white, floppy and not breathing.

At 5 minutes, her Apgar was up to 3. At 10 minutes it had reached a more respectable 8. At this point they brought her over to us (Jess was still on the table being stitched up) so that we could meet her. I think we spent about 30 seconds together with her before they whisked her off to the post-natal special care unit. I left Jess and Ann and followed Juno.

As we reached the second floor, we wheeled past Victoria who had been waiting for news on Jess and the baby: what she gets is a glimpse of me, in tears, jogging alongside this impossibly small little plastic incubator on wheels. Not encouraging, you can imagine. Juno and I disappear into the special care unit and Vic has to sit there not knowing what the hell is going on.

I spent the next hour with Juno while the doctors took blood, jabbed her for Vitamin K and generally upset us both. Finally –it was a very long hour- Jess was wheeled in and Juno was placed on her breast, where she belonged, and immediately began to feed.

[Final -I promise- part published tomorrow]

The three faces of Juno - day 3 

Birth Story Pt. 1

Jess's waters broke at around 10pm on friday the 8th. She experienced mild contractions about every 10 mins for the next 5 hours...and then it all just stopped.

Saturday the 9th was a glorious day in Wellington and the in-laws, Victoria, Mike, Holly and Isla, came over to hang out for the day. By about 4pm Jess was feeling tired -not having slept much the previous night- and was wishing that her labour was under way. She hopped into a hot bath and then around 6 the first of the contractions started. By 630 I was on the phone to Victoria and had started to assemble the birth pool.

Vic arrived about 7 and by then the contractions were becoming more intense and were now around every 8-10 minutes. I filled the birth pool while Victoria massaged Jess's back and generally made herself indispensable. We spoke to Ann the midwife and she said call back when things intensified.

By about 11 things had intensified all right. Contractions were coming about very 3 minutes and were no longer being welcomed by Jess. She hopped into the birth pool and Vic started working on the acupressure points. Ann arrived about 1130 and all appeared to be going swimmingly...

Over the next 8 hours Victoria, Ann and I took turns working the sacral acupressure points as Jess went through the contractions. From 130 or 2 they were only 60 seconds apart and as morning drew closer they became more intense and closer together. Jess -through all this- had only been taking arnica and rescue remedy for the pain. She was so incredibly strong and brave; it was both heartbreaking and inspiring to watch.

By 530 or 6 Jess was starting to fade. There was still no desire to push and the contractions were now pretty much just a continuous wave. Victoria and I were starting to feel more than a little traumatized by Jess’s obvious distress and our mounting fatigue. It was going to get much worse.

At 7 Ann examined Jess and found that after 12 solid hours of labour, her cervix had only dilated 2cm out of the desired 10. We were all gutted. I gave Jess a dose of caulophylum, a homeopathic to intensify and strengthen the contractions (that has to go down as one of the great ‘seemed like a good idea at the time’ decisions made after no sleep and mounting shock) and then things really got hairy. The contractions were now continuous and of a monumental intensity.

Jess decided that she couldn’t take another 6-8 hours of solid contractions to fully dilate –and, frankly, neither could Vic or I- so we decided to head down to Hutt Valley Hospital for an epidural. Vic called Mike to come and pick up Isla and Jess hunkered down in the pool and tried to ride out the mounting waves of pain.

Mike arrived just after 8 and then we had to get Jess into the car: no mean feat when just getting out of the pool reduced her to a screaming, sobbing wreck. We made it to the car, with me driving and Jess kneeling on the back seat, facing the rear with Vic wedged in behind her with her thumbs buried in Jess’s sacrum.

There is only one set of traffic lights between Miromiro road and the hospital and of course they were red: with Jess screaming and Vic valiantly jammed in behind her, it wasn’t even a conscious decision to drive straight through the red.

We pulled up to the hospital around 8.25 and then it just, as The Duke might have said, got a whole lot weirder...

[Hopefully, I'll post Part 2 tomorrow night]

All three of us... 

Why Juno?

Juno entered the name stakes very late in the piece, probably on wednesday or thursday before the birth. After 9 solid months of tossing up possibilities (more often than not only to see them shot down because they reminded you of someone in third class who hit you with a ruler, or the most obvious nickname would be '#8^~head') suddenly we were both caught unawares by our unanimity...it just clicked. And a Jess's sister, Victoria (more on her amazing efforts in the birthstory) remarked, 'the name came along just as Juno did.'

Juno was one of the Roman gods. Consort of Jupiter, she was the Queen of Heaven, the goddess of light and by derivation the goddess of childbirth.

April 10 2005

Juno Ruby Ryan was born this morning at the Hutt Valley Hospital in Wellington, Aotearoa (New Zealand). Weighing nearly 8 lbs, Juno had a shaky start to the morning but as the day progressed she seemed to be adapting to life on the outside.

Only just arrived...