Griffin.Michael
“Making the decision to have a baby is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”
– Elizabeth Stone
First, my heart goes out to the individuals who desire to experience childbirth, but cannot.
These images document the mundane and momentous moments in the days leading up to and just after Griffin's delivery. Many of you have seen birth close up and know the sleepless nights, intrusive exams, bland chicken broth, intense pains/pressures, anxiety about the unknown, etc. I only observed from a male perspective 😊 My goal was to give Amy a visual record of all the experiences both pleasant and unpleasant so that those moments were not lost in the blur.
At 40 weeks and 0 days Amy was induced. We checked into labor & delivery on the evening of 2/3 and began. By late 2/4 there was little progress and the Dr broke her water to intensify contractions and expedite dilation. Just after midnight on 2/5 an epidural was administered and contractions were strong and frequent. Dr's hoped to see at least 1 cm per hour at this point. 13 hours later there wasn't much progress. Dr's recommended proceeding with c-section and at 2pm Amy was in the OR and the procedure began.
On 2/5 at 2:23pm little Griffin Michael was delivered. He made his presence known by filling the OR with sounds of life (aka screams). The staff did a quick drive-by to present our child to us and then weighed/measured him. 8 lbs and 12 oz, 21.5" long, 4.0 GPA 😜 I quickly became aware of a large bulb-shaped protrusion on the back of Griffin's head and sort of freaked out. Turns out he was partially engaged in the cervix, but at the wrong angle (asynclitism), which is why his head looked like a horizontal eggplant lol and why labor was not progressing as expected. His head was back to "normal" in an hour or so 😂 48 hours later we were discharged on 2/7 and we started life as a family of 3.
Over the weekend Amy experienced some strange feelings that pointed to a potential pulmonary embolism. On the evening of 2/11 Amy went to the ER to rule out PE. Instead she was admitted that night with the diagnosis of pre-eclampsia. We spent the next 3 nights in the hospital while they treated and observed Amy. With her blood pressure under control we were discharged on the evening of 2/14.
– Elizabeth Stone
First, my heart goes out to the individuals who desire to experience childbirth, but cannot.
These images document the mundane and momentous moments in the days leading up to and just after Griffin's delivery. Many of you have seen birth close up and know the sleepless nights, intrusive exams, bland chicken broth, intense pains/pressures, anxiety about the unknown, etc. I only observed from a male perspective 😊 My goal was to give Amy a visual record of all the experiences both pleasant and unpleasant so that those moments were not lost in the blur.
At 40 weeks and 0 days Amy was induced. We checked into labor & delivery on the evening of 2/3 and began. By late 2/4 there was little progress and the Dr broke her water to intensify contractions and expedite dilation. Just after midnight on 2/5 an epidural was administered and contractions were strong and frequent. Dr's hoped to see at least 1 cm per hour at this point. 13 hours later there wasn't much progress. Dr's recommended proceeding with c-section and at 2pm Amy was in the OR and the procedure began.
On 2/5 at 2:23pm little Griffin Michael was delivered. He made his presence known by filling the OR with sounds of life (aka screams). The staff did a quick drive-by to present our child to us and then weighed/measured him. 8 lbs and 12 oz, 21.5" long, 4.0 GPA 😜 I quickly became aware of a large bulb-shaped protrusion on the back of Griffin's head and sort of freaked out. Turns out he was partially engaged in the cervix, but at the wrong angle (asynclitism), which is why his head looked like a horizontal eggplant lol and why labor was not progressing as expected. His head was back to "normal" in an hour or so 😂 48 hours later we were discharged on 2/7 and we started life as a family of 3.
Over the weekend Amy experienced some strange feelings that pointed to a potential pulmonary embolism. On the evening of 2/11 Amy went to the ER to rule out PE. Instead she was admitted that night with the diagnosis of pre-eclampsia. We spent the next 3 nights in the hospital while they treated and observed Amy. With her blood pressure under control we were discharged on the evening of 2/14.
