The race for a New Year's baby

I have a client whose water broke early: at 35 weeks and a few days. We were unable to go to the University hospital because they were so busy that they couldn't fit another person in - they had zero beds available! So they told us to find another facility. We went to the general, and the OB said that she wanted to induce my client, because in her words, "the lungs are already developed, so what are we waiting for?" Full term, maybe?! Don't get me wrong, induction after 34 weeks for when the water breaks is an acceptable plan of management, medically speaking, but so is waiting (with antibiotics to prevent infection). The clients were informed and wanted to wait. So, we went to a Catholic hospital close to University hospital where I don't have privileges. She would be a transfer of care in any situation, so it didn't make much difference where we went. So they gave her antibiotics, and admitted her. The next day, the OB that was on wanted to induce. They declined. Then the next day, a wonderful resident sat down with them and talked out the risks and benefits, and really addressed some of their concerns. They decided to induce.

At 10am on Dec 31st they called saying that they were being induced, and were just waiting until the husband and I could get there. So I went and we waited until 10pm, when the board was empty enough that they could start her. Apparantly they had quite a few people walk in either in labour or "I think I'm in labour, please induce me". So, the race was on for a New Year's baby.

So the IV got started, and the oxytocin turned on at 11pm. This woman has never taken longer than 3 hours of active labour, so the possibility was definitely there for the New Year's baby. Unfortunately, the nurse forgot to come in a couple times to turn up the pump and so it ended up being a 2am baby instead of probably closer to 1am. The baby did really well, and this hospital was so breastfeeding friendly that he was in the room with mother by 6 hours postpartum (he did initially have some grunting to work out of his system), which would definitely not have been the case at University hospital. So the baby is off to a good start. I think sometimes things happen for a reason. I'm glad that U hospital was full, because in the end this baby got a good start with breastfeeding.

All in all, a wonderful New Years.