Daniel Truman Newbry

We are so happy to announce the birth of our second son Daniel Truman Newbry. He was born yesterday June 23, 2009 at 5:34 pm. He was 7 lbs 10 oz and 20 inches long. He has tons of dark black hair and is looking more like his brother Ben (only with dark hair) with each passing hour. His delivery was scary and we are feeling very fortunate to have him here and alive. Let me start at the beginning of yesterday.

Daniel Truman Newbry

Kenny and I arrived at the hospital at 7:00 am for my much awaited induction. The hospital was very busy with Mom's in labor, but luckily they had an extra room available to make into a labor and delivery room that they were willing to give me. Because they were so busy it took awhile to get things started. Around 9:00 they finally started me on Pitocin and things were on there way. Everything progressed slowly, but things were looking great. Dan's heartbeat was great, I got an epidural around 11:30, and we settled in for the wait time.

Finally around 4:30 things really started moving and we began to getting anxious for baby to come. Kenny and I, Dr. Leavitt and the nurse started noticing Daniel heartbeat drop when I would have one of my contractions. With each passing contraction his heartbeat would drop lower and lower and then bounce back up to normal when the contraction was over. The doctor gave me some medicine to stabilize my blood pressure (which had also dropped) in hopes of leveling off my blood pressure and Daniel's heartbeat. The medicine didn't help either of us and we were very nervous watching just how low his heartbeat would drop. Kenny and I were very much aware that there something wrong and all we could do was hope everything would turn out OK.

Dr. Leavitt assumed the umbilical cord was wrapped around Daniel's neck. He told me when Dan's head came out I'd have to stop pushing until the cord was removed from around his neck. Around 5:15 everything was ready and I was able to start pushing. I've never had to really push on any of my kids, except for little Daniel. Dr Leavitt thought it was due to the umbilical cord being wrapped around Daniel neck and the pull that created for him. I knew I needed to get him out as quickly as possible to prevent any loss of blood flow during delivery. I pushed for about 15-20 minutes and finally little Daniel's head came out. Surprisingly the umbilical cord was not wrapped around his head. I pushed him the rest of the way out and delivered a VERY purple 7 lb 10 oz boy. It took him a couple seconds to breathe and start crying, and I remember thinking to myself, "Cry baby Cry." When he finally cried I was very relieved that he was breathing, but still nervous because of how purple he was.

Purple faced Daniel just after birth.

We quickly discovered what had been the issue and just how lucky we were that he was born alive. Sometime while he was still able to move inside of me, he managed to make a figure 8 knot out of his umbilical cord. Knots in the umbilical cord are common, but not figure 8 knots. Dr Leavitt said he's delivered 3000+ babies and has never seen a figure 8 knot. He said he's heard of about 13 cases of figure 8 knots and of those all but about 3 of the babies were not born alive. Because the large knot pulls tight during delivery it can cut off the flow of blood to the baby and can in turn cause a stillborn baby to be born. I don't know why we were so lucky, but I'm so grateful that we were. It's scary to think that if I had not been induced when I was and if we had waited until my due date or a few days later, the extra weight he would have gained could have been enough to cause too much strain on the umbilical cord, and could have caused him to die. The placement of the knot may have saved him or maybe it was my ability to push him out in a somewhat timely manner. I don't know exactly what it was that made us so fortunate, but we are constantly counting our blessings that he was born alive and healthy.

The figure 8 knot in Daniel's umbilical cord (sorry if this is gross to you)

Dr. Leavitt and Daniel. We are so grateful to Dr. Leavitt for delivering our son alive and healthy.

Once he arrived everything went smoothly just like all the other kids have. They weighed him and I got to hold and feed him. He was purple the entire time I had him, but as the minutes wore on he did start to pink up and by the time he was done with his bath and tests in the nursery he was a much better color. My mom had been watching the other kids all day and stopped by the hospital on her way home. When Mom left they took Daniel to the nursery and Kenny went home to get the kids (who were now being watched by my Mother-in-law and sister-in-law) so they could come and see their new brother. I got settled in my new room and just after the kids arrived they brought Daniel back to me for everyone to see.

Grandma Gass and Daniel

Mommy and Daniel just after he was delivered.

The kids absolutely love their new little brother. They all wanted to hold him as soon as they walked in the door and Ben was really disappointed that Dan was asleep and there was no way to wake him up. They each took a turn holding him and we took some pictures. I think Hannah was the most in awe of him. Wherever he went she was right there with him touching his face, kissing him, trying to hug him, or rubbing his hair. She just didn't want to leave his side and she was very soft with him. Gracie on the other hand was just happy to see mom. She was interested in the baby, but she was very tired and just wanted to hang out with mom. I think she likes Dan, but I also think she's a little afraid of him. She wants to touch him and look at him, but she's afraid to hold him. I'm sure that will get better with time.

Ben holding his new baby brother.

Hannah loves holding Daniel.

Sarah Kate holding Dan with Hannah close by.

Kenny and Grandma took the kids back home to get them in bed and then Kenny came back to the hospital later that night. We are so grateful to both set of Grandma's (and Aunt Sarah) for being willing to watch our kids so we are able to be in the hospital together with Daniel. It has been so nice to have Kenny here to help me and to bond with our newest little guy. It's started to really sink in that now we have 5 kids and that's a lot of kids. We are lucky they're all such good kids. We are very blessed to have Daniel here safe and sound and have decided that his delivery was a little too scary and we are glad to not have to go through that again.

Sleeping baby Dan.

Both Daniel and I are doing well. Dan is a very mild mannered baby (so far) and is happy to just be sleeping. I seem to be recovering quickly and so far I think this may be one of my easiest recoveries. That's definitely going to be a blessing when I get home and have all 5 kids to take care of. We are truly blessed and are so happy to welcome Daniel to our family.