Sven the Stubborn Swede

This is the story of Sven the Stubborn Swede, a.k.a. our son Gauge. One of the (Norwegian) ward nurses nicknamed him this shortly after birth, and here is the tale of why.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30 am on Friday the 30th, and quickly learned we were not going to go home, as they were going to start the birth process. Turns out I was 3cm dilated when they first checked, and labour came quickly, and progressed fairly well through the day. Motorcycle Mama came up to help and by the early evening, the day nurses figured there would be a baby before their shift was over... BUT Sven a.k.a. Gauge, had other plans. By early evening, I was completely dilated and ready to give birth, but no sign of the baby. Later in the evening, he still hadn't moved down the birth canal as one might expect, so the attending obstetrician went in for a feel and discovered his head was in the wrong position. There was still room, so she tried to turn his head into the proper position. Now, if you've never given birth, you might want to skip the next couple of sentences...
Despite the epidural, it was the worst pain imaginable. I laugh at it now, but I have never screamed so loud in my entire life. Errol declared he will think twice about how a cow feels when he does the same thing during calving season... A few good tugs and turns and his head didn't budge. Our options were forceps and a very difficult birth, or C-section. I was so tired I opted for the section.Preparations were made and off to the OR we went. Errol was able to join me and we waited while the obstetrician and her team worked. At 12:33am on Oct 31, our baby boy Gauge was born... in his own special way. When the obstetrician went into the uterus to retreive him by his head, he slipped from her grasp, did a 180, zipped past her and jumped into my abdominal cavity, where she pulled him out by his bum. In all the years she's practiced, she has never seen a baby do that. There were a few extra repairs to be made, and I was out of recovery and in my room by 4am. Errol, Gauge and Motorcycle Mama were all eagerly expecting my arrival, and we chilled until 5am when I could no longer keep my eyes open.

Gauge did great at the beginning. He latched well, was bright and alert, and just a joy to have around. However, not wanting to leave the hospital, he decided to be stubborn, and ended up with jaundice. Instead of going home after 3 days, he spent another 2 days in an infant "tanning" bed treating it. Thankfully he responded well and we were able to come home on Nov. 4th. We were so thankful to find a fridge full of quick to prepare food, and several more care packages arrived during the afternoon.

Now the real fun begins. When we got home, we looked at him and wondered "now what?" We've discovered that he's alot like me and needs to eat on a schedule and becomes completely inconsolable if food is late in arriving. So, every hour we rouse him, fight stubbornly to feed him, and eventually all fall away tired (and me hungry) from the ordeal. He's just showing mommy and daddy (and Motorcycle Mama) whose boss. But. Our little angel is just that and is touching the lives of those around us already.