Good Morning All-
We Have A Beautiful Baby Girl!!! Ruthann Sloan Routon was born at
3:03 am on Friday the 26th of July. Both she and Emily are in good
health and we are seeing the world through new eyes these days. God
is so good to us and we had a great experience. Ruthann is a good
eater and sleeper, she doesn't fuss a lot, and she loves to be held.
The hospital staff was amazing and we have a lot to learn. Emily
LOVES being a mom and finds herself just wanting to stare and hold
Ruthann. Suddenly, all the beautiful mountains seem less appealing,
and all fishing trips have lost their allure, we just want to be by
this little one. Emily's mother Cynthia was here a few days before
the birth and is so wonderful to have now. She will be here until the
8th and then my mom will come on the 12th. People have been so
helpful and great as we make this great life transition. Thank you
for all your prayers and support. For the full story of the birth...
keep reading
Love you guys,
 |
| Ruthann Sloan Routon: 7lbs, 11oz. 19 3/4 inches long. |
On Thursday morning (the 25th- our due date) Emily turned to me in bed
and said... "I think this baby will be born in 24 hours." She had
been having some Braxton Hicks contractions for about a week and they
were growing with intensity. She woke up to some spotting and mucus
in the morning. I went to work and sent out my previous email and she
called me about 12:10 and told me that she and her friend Annie (a
nurse) were going swimming, but that Annie had rerouted their swim
date to a hospital date when she head about the morning discharge.
Annie thought that Emily's water might have broken and that the pool
would be unsanitary. Upon a call to the hospital, the nurses agreed
and requested that Emily come to the hospital. I met Emily in the
parking lot of SEARHC and we walked in together. Our doctor, Valarie
Edwards, was in a meeting and came up to meet us and examine Emily.
She found that Emily's water had not broke and that Emily was 80%
effaced and was dilated 1 cm. Dr. Edwards said, "I'll see you
tonight."
We left the hospital to find things which could distract us. Emily
went for a walk and got things together for a cooking group. I went
to work. At 4pm Emily went to the cooking group and I laid down for a
nap (expecting a long night). At 5:45pm I went to go pick her up
because her contractions were getting more intense. We came home and
Emily hopped in the bath to help relax. Her contractions came faster
and lasted longer. I kept asking her if she wanted to go to the
hospital but she wanted to stay home as long as possible. When we
were unsure whether to go or not, we called our friend, Shelly Adams,
and she came over. (Shelley is a great nurse and wants to go to
school to become a nurse practitioner- and then a midwife. She agreed
to accompany us during our labor and delivery, and we thank God for
her... she was so great through the whole thing.) When Shelley arrived
at the house at 7pm, she asked if Emily wanted to labor longer at the
house or go into the hospital and Emily chose to stay at the house and
so we watched one T.V.episode of "The Dog Whisperer" and one episode
of "The Big Bang Theory."
After the shows ended, we agreed that it was time to head to the hospital.
At 8:30pm on our due date, we walked into the hospital and up to the
OB ward. Dr. Edwards inspected Emily and found that she was 100%
effaced and dilated to 5cm. We turned on some soft music and turned
down the lights and she labored until 10:30pm when Valerie again
examined her and said that she was now dilated to 8. Three
centimeters in 2 hours... pretty great! Emily then labored another
hour and Valerie examined her to find that she was almost 100%
complete, all but one lip on one side. Emily labored for another half
hour and Valerie checked again. The lip was still there and no
progress had been made. Valerie explained that the cervix was needing
to be stretched but because Emily's water hadn't broken yet, it was
like trying to stretch the cervix out with a water balloon. She said
that having the water broken would speed up the process because the
pressure from the head would put more pressure on the cervix. We
decided earlier that we wanted minimal intervention and so at 12:05 we
decided to labor for another 20 minutes before Dr. Edwards broke the
water. Emily tried several different positions and at 12:43pm,
Valerie broke Emily's water.
Emily felt right away the intensity of the contractions increase and
within 20 minutes, she was fully dilated and ready to start pushing.
Another 20 minutes of pushing and we could see the head of the baby.
Emily found that this pain was different from the previous
contractions and she was amazing. I have never witness anyone
tougher. I have coached guys for years and been around some tough
men, but nothing compares to a woman in labor. I looked at her with
complete amazement and admiration when I saw how hard she was working
and what was happening. She said I freaked her out by looking at her
like that and said..."stop looking at me like that." I was
dumbstruck. Shelley and the nurses were great as they helped her to
relax between contractions and helped her learn how to push. The baby
was turned anterior and because of this, the progress was very slow.
After about 1 and 1/2 hours of pushing (with no pain meds) Emily was
getting tired and the baby was not making a lot of progress. Valerie
told the nurses to get the vacuum extractor ready and to notify Dr.
Kraft. She told us that sometimes just mentioning the words "vacuum
extractor" somehow coerces the baby to come out. About 3 contractions
later Dr. Kraft came in with the gismo. Dr. Kraft is a gentle man who
had been delivering babies for decades (who also delivered my pseudo
sister Alaire Hughey). His gentle demeanor and reassurance added to
my excitement that the baby would soon be out. On the next set of
contractions, the extractor was put on the baby's head but slipped
off. Dr. Edwards then asked if Dr. Kraft would apply and guide the
contraption. As Emily pushed and Dr. Kraft made slight turns, left and
then right, the baby's head made like an inch of progress in 2
seconds. (Emily has been working for about 1 hour to make 1 inch of
progress and so I knew the baby would be coming soon). I turned for 2
seconds to grab the surgical gloves and started to put them on... when
I turned back to Emily (only 2 seconds later) the baby was out all the
way to the hips! I was amazed! This strange thing that I had been
watching for the last 1.5 hours (the top of the skull with wrinkly
purple skin) has just turned into a FULL ON BABY! I was amazed and
made Emily laugh as I enthusiasticly said "Its a Baby! Its a Baby."
I then took the baby from the doctors and lifted it the remainder out
of the birth canal and the doctors prompted me to announce the gender.
So moving the baby to look behind the umbilical cord, to my minor
surprise... I didn't see a penis...No- that was definitely a girl
part... I then got to announce- "We have a beautiful daughter, she is
a baby girl!" Emily said "what?" She had fully been expecting to
have a boy as everyone had informed Emily that she was carrying a boy.
All the old women of the Yupik village Chefornak, all the women of
Sitka, all of Emily's friends, everyone but me and Kristen Scotchmer
said that the baby would be a boy. (For the record- at some parts of
the pregnancy I also thought it would be a boy too.) Emily was
shocked that we had a girl and not a boy. I was then reminded by the
doctors that I needed to set the baby on Emily's stomach/ chest. I
placed the baby there and Emily was ecstatic. The nurses towel dried
the baby off and Emily kept the baby warm with her body. Emily was in
great spirits and so excited. She looked great. She was so excited,
you couldn't even tell she had any pain. The placenta came out with
out much notice and Valerie put in a few stitches as we just oogled
over the baby. A nurse was there to help Emily start breast feeding
and the baby took to the breast pretty well.
Cynthia asked what the baby's name was and Emily and I agreed that we
don't need to keep the name a secret any longer and I got to announce
that her name is Ruthann Sloan Routon. (Ruth is the name of my
mother's mom who passed away when I was 7 and Ann is my father's
mother's middle name. Sloan is a Emily's Dad's middle name and is also
a family name. The name "Ruth" means a companion or friend, and the
name "Ann" means full of grace. Ruthann is a friend full of grace.
This was one of those life experiences that words can't describe. It
was an experience that was sacred... amazing... empowering...awesome.
Emily is an amazing mother and Ruthann is so precious. We are
learning a lot about parenthood and realize we need help and
expertise. We are hourly reminded of God's grace and joy as we look at
our daughter. We pray more than ever for wisdom and guidance. Our
hearts are more full of hope, love, and compassion than we knew was
possible. We are protective, proud, and joyful of our daughter. Our
previous desires for adventure or self- satisfaction seem a lot less
important compared with making sure this little one is cared for. We
depend on God's strength more and we require the help of others. We
are not independent, supermen, with superior insight. We are more
aware of our faults, and more aware of our needs. In short.....we are
learning what it means to be parents.
Thank you for your love and support.
Aaron, Emily, and Ruthann
PS- if you would like to see more pictures of Ruthann you can visit Emily's blog at http://embradford.blogspot.com/
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| The Routons in the hospital |
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