Monday, November 19 turned out to be Alexander Tijmen Swaters' birth day. This was not a surprise to us, since the delivery was induced. The doctor though it best to deliver Alex a little earlier than his due date, because the sonograms indicated that he was going to be a big baby, and carrying him to full term would have made a caesarian delivery very likely.

At 5:15 am the alarm went off, and we got ready to leave at 6. We had to be at the hospital at 7, and we got there 10 minutes early, thanks to the amazing cooperation of all the trafic lights. Cindy was hooked up to three monitors, one for the fetal heart rate, one to measure the contractions of the uterus, and one to measure Cindy's blood pressure and heart rate. This was a bit of a bummer, as Cindy had hoped to be able to be up and about, to walk a bit and take showers to ease the labor pains. With all these cables and tubes connected to her, she was confined to bed, unfortunately.

At about 8 am, she was hooked up to an IV, and at about 9:30 am the doctor started the pitosin drip. Pitosin is a articial hormone that is very similar to the body's own oxitocin, a hormone that starts the contractions. The doctor briefly considered not doing it, because Cindy was already contracting a little bit on her own, but it was not very regular or strong. Once the pitosin entered Cindy's bloodstream, the contraction became stronger and more regular. The amount of pitosin was increased during the day, and Cindy's contractions grew stronger and stronger. They were uncomfortable, but manageable. Rob and Kathy helped Cindy through her pain with massages, using tennisballs!

Because of the contractions, things were beginning to happen. The doctor had announced she would come in in the later part of the afternoon to break Cindy's bag of waters, but that turned out not to be necessary, as Cindy's waters broke on their own of 3:15 pm. The nurse checked the dilation at that point, and found that it was only 2 centimeter. This was a bit of a disappointment, since the labor had lasted for 6 hours, and there was only 1 centimeter progression.

But the breaking of the waters signified a marked change in the delivery. Because the waters broke, Cindy's body started to produce oxitocin, and the contraction became a lot stronger, and far more painful, to past the point where they were bearable, and Cindy asked for and received pain medication.

By 5:15 pm Cindy had received a walking epidural, named so because it allows the patient to walk whilst still experiencing far less pain. Cindy was a lot more comfortable. A little while later, the nurse checked the dilation, and she thought is was 6 centimeters, but when the doctor checked it again a few moments later, just to be sure, she could feel any cervix at all, indicating that Cindy was fully dilated, and that she could start pushing!

Rob went to find Cindy's parents, so they would not miss the joyous moment. By 6:15 pm, the room, the doctor and nurse, and not in the least the mom-to-be were ready to start pushing. The first bit was a little tough, but slowly more and more of the baby's head became visible. By 7:45 pm, the doctor thought it would only one or two more pushes. Indeed, at 7:50 pm, he came into the world, surpisingly swiftly, and surprizingly long! He weighed 4320 grams (9 lb 8 oz), and he was 56 centimeters (22 inches).

The pictures above where taken right after Alex's birth. On the top left Alex is being cleaned and checked. This is only minutes after he was delivered. After his tests, he was wrapped into a warm blanked, and put on mom's chest. Alex struggled to open his eyes to look at his mom, but he was having a terrible time because of the bright lights. Still, he kept going and a little later he was looking his mom into the eyes. In the lower right a picture of both proud parents and their cutest baby in the world!

After the initial and way to short bonding was over, Alex was brought to the nursery by dad (lower left picture, where Alex is already winking), where he would undergo some more tests and get his first bath. Dad was with him for the first scary moments during which he got a vitamine K shot, and some of his blood was taken for testing. Alex did well on the tests, and after he was back asleep, Rob joined Cindy again.

A little before midnight, Alex was brought to Cindy for his first nursing. Alex quickly grasped the concept of being fed, and he started sucking away. After his first meal, everyone was really tired. Cindy went to sleep, and the rest drove home to get some sleep.