Large Fierce Mammal

Beyond the announcement of his birth, I still haven’t given you my complete perspective on the experience of bringing Baby LFM into the world, but that day will come. Some of it will no doubt be revealed in snippets sprinkled here and there in items written here by either Mrs. LFM or me, and still more in dedicated collaborative articles. Mrs. LFM has her The Bared Breast series that will address the specifics of being a breast feeding Woman in Nova Scotia, and I will soon be starting a new series tentatively titled Fathercraft that will look at the philosophy, methods, and practice of raisin’ up a boy to be a Man, as us LFMs know and teach the meaning of the word. But all this is after the fact because remember, I started off today by saying that, “I still haven’t given you my complete perspective on the experience of bringing Baby LFM into the world,” and by that I specifically refer to those 45 harrowing hours of labour, an episode of fetal distress, and the ensuing emergency C-section that brought Baby LFM into the world. Both Mrs. LFM and I are still a little too close to that experience to be able to speak to it with the clarity and sensitivity it deserves, so be patient good reader.

All the darker causes of hand wringing drama aside, My incomparable Wife Mothered a perfect boy at the end of it. What I have for you today is a pictorial essay chronicling, as the title says, the advent of a Small Fierce Mammal. Most of the images will be enbiggened if you click on them.

Mrs. LFM in our driveway just before we departed our home for the South Shore Regional Hospital. While you can’t see them in this picture, there were a lot of Bees visiting the flowers on the bush next to her, some of whom became interested in her. She told them that she’d already been pollinated, thank you, and they all went back to the flowers. Yes, she’s in labour here.

Expectant parents are encouraged to prepare a written birth plan that is used by attending medical staff as a guide for providing care to Mother and child through the birthing process. As with everything else we do, Mrs. LFM and I crafted ours together, in the full understanding that Nature will do what She does, no matter what we decide.

While childbirth is, as the saying goes, one of the most truly Natural things in the world – a task that a Woman’s body is designed to perform repeatedly – it does not come without risk, and anything can happen. Here’s a reality check for you – as far back as our decision to pursue conception, we were in agreement that if things went south and I was solely faced with making a decision to save the life of Mother or child, I would choose my Wife.

In the waning hours of 2 September 2013, and with Mrs. LFM finally able to recharge under the influence of a reluctantly accepted epidural, I briefly had to take my leave to drive the 10 minutes home so our Dogs could be let out, exercised, and then put to bed. I had my hand on the doorknob leaving for the hospital at just before 01:00 ADT on 3 September 2013 when my phone rang. It was the exquisite Dr. Kerry Jo Parker calling to tell me that after everything that had transpired, dilation had stalled out, the baby was beginning to move backward up the birth canal, and was showing signs of fetal distress. A C-Section was on.

Suited up for the OR after it became clear that Caesarean section was the only option. This, and all other images taken in the OR, was taken by a helpful Nurse in the early morning hours of 3 September 2013.

I have no words to adequately describe the well oiled machine that was the surgical team assembled to do the deed, led by the incomparable Dr. Sally Jorgensen, including the aforementioned Dr. Parker, calmingly competent anesthesiologist Dr. Atanas Dochev, and a smooth crew of OBS Unit Nurses who seamlessly did the usual heavy lifting that falls to them in such scenes. After prepping I was asked to wait just outside the OR door until all was in readiness, and it was from this vantage that I watched my Wife strapped naked in a crucified position on the operating table. When the high sign was given, I was at her side in two strides. She was trembling uncontrollably all over – a side effect of the epidural we never wanted but had to decide in favour of in the face of maternal exhaustion.

In the next few images you will note with clarity the physical effects of having your head pushed repeatedly and strongly for hours against a portal too small for it to pass through. No worries though because the skull of a baby is designed to reshape itself for the task without ill effect, and all was suitably round again in mere hours. I was gripping Mrs. LFM’s hand, and she mine in return, at the moment I watched th’ bairn emerge, and we heard the first cries you see captured visually here. Our eyes met and the joy was palpable.

02:10 ADT on 3 September 2013: All 8 pounds and 3 ounces of as yet unnamed Baby LFM first meets the world, and decides he doesn’t like it very much.

Months of floating in a safe, warm,wet environment that insulates you from the sharp edges of the world, only to be plunged in mere seconds into a place of gripping hands, loud voices, bright lights, and fabric touching skin that can’t yet filter pleasure from pain. No wonder his mouth, hands, and feet are all drawn together to make the same complaint.

If your feet are cold, put on a hat. Baby LFM sports a thoroughly Canadian touque as I watch performance of the neonatal assessments.

The Father is handed his Child in a simple ritual as old as humanity. This was shot immediately after I took him to meet his treasured Mother, and she him, for the very first time outside the womb.

When nothing else makes sense, skin to skin contact with Mum makes everything better.

A big difference from such a short time ago.

The next three speak for themselves. Such a Woman I am honoured to have.

Mrs. LFM and I had each independently formulated our own lists in accordance with our philosophy of baby naming, and had decided to wait until we’d actually met our son before comparing notes. It came as no surprise that Viktor was in the top two for both of us.

The stay in hospital deserves its own coverage, but let’s move on to that glorious day of freedom, and a few that followed.

Strapped in for the trip home. Get used to this my boy.

Free range Mother!

Sleeping through a visit with Nana Izabella …

Aunt LFM Dorothy …

And Cousin LFM Alyssa.

After a long and arduous journey, nothing beats finding your way to your own bed at last.

Close your eyes and rest my Son …

… The Trail of Life has just begun!