Chutney’s Here!

Yes, he came a week ago today. It was a little bit of a surprise because I had just had a test estimating the likelihood of going into preterm labor, according to which me going into early labor was not likely. But because I had gone into labor at 34 weeks with Nia and wasn’t ready for her to be born, I did everything to ensure we had all the necessities by week 34 this time around.

I was 35 weeks pregnant and my water broke in the wee hours last Saturday, so we went to the hospital. Even though at 35 weeks the baby is considered premature, the doctor said there was no point in trying to stop labor because my water had broken and there was a risk of infection. On the other hand, we were all concerned about the baby. He had been measuring bigger than average but there was no telling if he’d need to be in the NICU (newborn intensive care unit) until he came out. There were a couple of NICU nurses waiting on stand-by in the delivery room to make sure the baby was OK.

Unfortunately, I was barely having any contractions. At first, we tried to let nature take its course but after several hours of waiting, it became obvious that nature was in no hurry. Time was running out and we had to get the baby out, so as much as I didn’t like the idea, I had to be induced (again). Things went faster from there and I had a pretty good birth experience (much better than my first one). Everyone at the hospital was great and had every aspect of the delivery under control.

When Chutney finally came at 3:30 p.m. on 2/12, he measured 7 lb 5 oz (3.300 kg) and 19 3/4 inches (50 cm). His Apgar Scores were 8/9, which meant he didn’t have to go to the NICU. He looked and behaved like a full-term baby, which was a major relief for us. They had to run a few extra tests on him to be on the safe side but he aced them all and we were home a couple of days later.

We’ve spent the last week getting to know Chutney and he’s been wonderful. Her Cuteness, on the other hand, had a few rough days after we came home from the hospital. She had been sick before the baby came and we were trying to make sure she didn’t get the baby sick, which really frustrated her. She’d say things like “Now that Chutney’s here, you don’t love me any more!” and “He poops and you think it’s great but you don’t think anything I do is great!” for a couple of days but seems to be doing better now.

So slowly but surely we are getting to our new happy place. We could use more sleep but hopefully soon enough Chutney will be sleeping through the night.

Oh, and no, we did not name him Chutney. His actual name is Max Stefan Ray Swider. Stefan is my Dad’s name and Ray is Paul’s Dad’s.