I finally get to writing this unique birth story of ours. Baby Oz Levy was born.

1/28 Saturday (Shabbat) at 6:26 pm. Messured 22.5 inches

Weighed 8 lbs and 13 ounces

Fuck the birth plan forget about skin to skin and all those pretty birth ideas and fantasies you have. Well at least I had to. Don't wanna scare you mamas, but life and shit happen. And that's it, this is our story. But yea oh also forget about  feeding within the first hour of being born. In our case, a perfect pregnancy all throughout the nine months , no complications whatsoever, nothing wrong with genetics, my health my sugar the baby's blood pressure nothing was ever alarming, questioned or retested, all tests were absolutely perfect. Drs were impressed and congratulated me on my healthy pregnancy at 37 yo, I actually think the birth center would've accepted me... maybe the midwives there could've turned him? Got him out? Maybe.. just maybe and we will never know. Anyways, Impecable baby and perfect mama. I met my baby only four hours after being born and traveled to him into the NICU at 11pm on a wheelchair that my husband pushed. I breastfed and couldn't believe we made it. We actually made it, him and I. He had it rougher than me. My life was never in danger but his was. 

His name is perfect, Oz in Hebrew has the perfect meaning for him

We couldn't have picked a better more relevant name. 

I am writing this birth story slowly, days pass and I remeber more details. So here they are. My heart spilling out of me. One week and two days later I just share.

My doula said this experience may finish her doula career she is actually close to 71 and was thinking about retiring and now, what she went through with us may just close that circle for her. 

Contractions for me started on 1/26 I went to the hospital twice and was sent back once. We live 1 hr away from the hospital and actually the main quick road was closed so we had to take the alternate route which takes 1.5 hrs and with the fog we had that night we actually took 2 hrs,, contracting in the car ... ugh so so hard.

We took a hotel 5 mins away from the hospital. 

on 1/27 Friday we checked into the hospital because the contraction pain was so unbearable and it was around 2 am.. that's really what I remeber and gathering my husbands notes too.. 

We went into triage, got measured had dilated 3 cms. We finally got admitted as I made it clear I was not going back home or to the hotel, I was staying right here. 

We got a room in Riverbend peacehealth hospital and settled in.

The next day in the morning I started getting pitocin..to love things more quickly. 

Dilation was like 1/2 or 1 cm each 1-1.5 hrs

I started pushing around 2pm.

Pushed for almost 5 hours and pushed so so hard I felt he was too big to come out naturally. The doula said she had never seen such force in a woman. I felt proud and kept doing what everyone said. "Push push he's almost there I see his head push harder harder". 

After those five hours aprox 5pm

I begged for a csection.

Begged and begged for like 5 mins. 

I know it was on the birth plan I wanted to avoid it and both baby and I were healthy with perfect blood pressure .. but I needed it to save the life of my baby. Even my husband questioned me and he was so right to do so.. we had talked about it so much, we wanted to avoid any csection. We knew that we would only do it if any of our lives were in danger, but actually in those 5 hrs of pushing baby and I were fine and he saw also no reason for csection.

And so I did. But complications occurred.

He was stuck in the actual birth canal already inside the pelvis. I stuck him from my hard pushing and he didn't rotate and hey couldn't rotate him either...

So they listened to me finally. We started prepping for the OR (operating room) and the. I went to hell and sub hell and then back. 

Dr Sarah Gerhard needed another assistant surgeon help to push him out from under me.

I felt everything.

Baby being pulled

Struggle

Uterus being cut in a T form.

I felt everything with the epidural that didn't work. So they had to put me to sleep and give me general anesthesia. 

In the OR we were from 5:30 until 6:26 when he was born.

I woke up with no husband and no baby and no idea what had happened.

Ami followed the baby they had to help him breathe his first breath. 

The lack of details in the OR are simply because I don't want to write them. But my husband was inside the OR the entire time he heard me screaming like never before my blood on his shoes, my uterus on the operating table.. everything. My throat was swollen and sore from screaming for a few days. Instead of a two day hospitalization my csection insicion was almost 1.5 bigger than the norm. I was on OxyContin, ibuprofen , stool softeners and other IV pain meds for 6 das at the hospital. It was hell again but the treatment and he nurses and lactation consultants at the hospital made the ride so so much smoother, such professional care and attention. I was able to recover so fast only because of them and my loving husband, I couldn't have done it without them, ever, not here not there not ever. 

We are now in the car on the way to  Oz's first pediatrician appointment. So happens to be the best pediatrician in Eugene. Before Oz was born we wanted to make an appointment with her, Dr. Pilar Bradshaw which unfortunately doesn't take new patients. But here is the beauty of life, she was the one called in to check on him at the hospital after his traumatic birth and she actually came twice to room 5211 where we were. She said he is absolutely perfect. And now she wants him as her patient, so little Ozzie has the best doctor in town to grow up with. 

Thanks for reading.