Dason Theodore Hrynkiw

Vital Statistics:
Pronunciation: "Day-son"
Born September 11, 2002, 4:16am
Birth weight: 9lbs, 14-3/4oz (4.500kg)
Length: 22 inches
Crown (Head circumference): 36.5cm

Pardon the mixed units - it was 4 in the morning, and I was too busy to write down notes!

The Process:

Well, nine months earlier... um, let me skip that for now.

Our appointment at the Maternity Care Clinic on Friday, September 6 had our doctor give us "50/50 chance" of having the baby that weekend. During the examination, a momentary drop in the baby's heart rate prompted the doctor to get us to get a "baby non-stress test" done, just to make sure the child was indeed ok. A few hours and a clean bill of health later we left for home with Cheryl being sure we were going to the hospital again that night. Sure enough, contractions started up later that evening, and we got her folks to drive up that night to look after Julianna and Glue, just in case. Unfortunately, the contractions subsided, and we were in for a weekend of waddling around and jumping off shallow steps.

The following Tuesday (the 10th) we went back to the clinic for another appointment. Cheryl had dilated from 2.5 to 3cm, and effacement had progressed to 70% (for you non-parents, that's a good sign). Sure enough, that afternoon (7pm-ish) contractions started up in earnest, and Cheryl started charting the durations and intervals. When they finally dropped to two minute intervals (!) I finally convinced her that it was time to go. It wasn't really that dramatic, as the intervals shortened only when she was in motion - sitting lengthened them to nearly seven minutes.

We checked into the Peter Lougheed Hospital at approximately 10pm, with myself and Yvonne (her mother) at her side. Fortunately, my mother (Fran) was able to fly in just that morning, and was more than happy to look after the family at home.

Cheryl and I had previously decided that we were going to make this delivery as "clean" as possible, and I'm happy to say that we managed to go until approximately 2am before requesting a shot of morphine to allow Cheryl to relax. An hour after that, we started using nitrous oxide gas to easy the contraction pains so Cheryl could relax enough to let the dilation progress the last 1.5cm. At just after 4am, Cheryl knew she was ready to go, and just over 11 minutes of pushing later, Baby Dason emerged into the early Calgary morning!