Oran's Arrival

Oran arrived on Wednesday, July 12th at 11:10pm two and a half weeks before his due date at Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan. When I went into the doctor's office the Monday before his birth I had started to develop a condition called preeclampsia- a high blood pressure condition associated with pregnancy that puts mom and baby at risk and is resolved by delivery of the baby. Because my case was borderline, the doctors monitored me at the hospital from Monday until Wednesday morning. This gave "Granny" Kip and "Grandmama" Lucy time to arrive before the birth. On Wednesday morning my condition was confirmed and I was sent down to labor and delivery to be induced. Unfortunately, in order to deliver safely, they have to give women with preeclampsia magnesium sulfate to lower the blood pressure- this is the same medication used to slow or halt pre-term contractions. To make a long story short, the magnesium sulfate canceled out the effect of the inducement. We tried for labor for about ten hours. After there was no change we opted for the c-section.

Jason was allowed to stay in the OR with me during the delivery and see Oran as soon as he came out pink, with a healthy newborn cry. After the nurses did his initial apgar tests Jason was able to bring him to me. Dr. Faroqui who has seen us throughout the pregnancy and before, did an excellent job with the surgery and with lifting Oran into the world. After about an hour and a half for the entire procedure we were all taken to recovery where Oran got to try nursing and meet his grandmothers.

As far as deliveries go- there was a lot of unexpected involved in this one from inducement to the c-section. But, no matter the route everyone agreed that Oran is a perfect, beautiful baby! We were all so happy and moved to finally meet him! And, thanks to Beth Israel's pro family policy Oran was only taken to the nursery briefly before being returned to our bedside in recovery. Jason, Oran and I spent our first night together as a family!