Birth Story

Well, for those of you not aware, we have a new baby in our house. Russell Orion Van Harten Kuffner was born on Saturday August 23 at 1:00 AM, weighing in at a grand 10lbs 7oz.

We went in on Friday for an application of prostoglandin gel to ripen the cervix, but I'd been feeling crampy all day and my cervix was ripe, so they decided to bypass the gel and just keep me in the hospital to observe the contractions. That was around 6:30 or so. By 9:00 they decided to break my water, just to help move things along, and Kurtis and I went for a long walk all around the hospital and out to the car to get our bag.

After a few hours, the contractions were getting very intense and I decided I wanted an epidural. The anesthesiologist was busy and couldn't get to me until nearly midnight. By that time I was really glad to see her. I was checked after about a half an hour and the baby's head was crowning.

The OB on call was Dr Loosey-Millman and she was incredible. She somehow helped me push out a 10 and a half pound baby in eight slow pushes, without any tearing at all. She was such a wonderful, relaxed guide through the whole process. It seemed like she knew exactly what we wanted without asking. I guided the baby out and onto my chest. Kurtis cut the cord. I nursed the baby right after birth and the nurse and all the doctors left for at least twenty minutes after his birth so that we'd have a chance to be alone with our baby. It was all perfect and I feel very lucky.

We spent about three days, hemming and hawing, uncertain as to what his name was and finally decided on Russell for no apparent reason, really. It just sounded right.



And now, here we are and everyone says we're heading for the busiest time of our lives. It's true that the chaos has already begun and at times it is overwhelming. But I love chaos. I can't wait.