Final newborn picture of Jin-yeong, and some obstetric philosophizing

This is the second and last newborn picture we have of Jin-yeong. I love it that I know exactly what we were doing when this photo was taken. We were at Shannon (my sister's) house for Christmas. We were at that time making our decision to actively pursue adoption, though we had not yet settled on South Korea. How fitting that Charlie entered the world at exactly this same time.

The other thing this picture makes me think about is his delivery. As an obstetrician, I am particularly interested in the details of his delivery. From his records, we know that the delivery was vaginal and was at 41 weeks gestation. We also know that he weighed 3280 grams (7.2lbs). So he was the only one of my children who was term and a normal birth weight!! Was she induced? American obstetricians often recommend inducing labor at 41 weeks because the risk of stillbirth rises quite a bit between 41 and 42 weeks. From what I am gathering about Korean doctors, they seem even more interventional than American MDs, so my guess is that they do routinely induce at 41 weeks, although I have no proof or concrete knowledge of that. Did she have an epidural? The marks on Charlie's face in the picture (see them on either side of his cheekbones?) suggest to me that he was delivered via forceps, though this is not noted in his records. There is a space for "vacuum/forceps" in his records, and that space is left blank. If the delivery was via forceps, why? Did his heart rate dip at the end? Maybe she pushed for a long time with no success. As an obstetrician, it makes me happy for her that she had a vaginal delivery and not a Cesarean. I think this for 2 reasons. One (and primarily) is that it bodes well for the rest of her obstetric health. The first delivery going "well" (meaning a normal vaginal delivery -- even with forceps) paves the way for normal, even faster and "easier" vaginal deliveries in the future, thus avoiding the risks with Cesarean. Second, she has no physical scars from her experience. I can imagine that perhaps having a physical scar is a welcome reminder that she really did carry and give birth to a baby boy, sort of a physical validation of her emotional scar. But something tells me that not having that physical scar is better...

My fascination with his delivery is, of course, not just professional obstetric interest. His delivery was close to (or perhaps it actually was) his birth mom's last encounter with Jin-yeong. She had carried him for 9 months, made the decision to have him be adopted during her pregnancy (we know this from Charlie's records), and of course delivered him. As wonderful as we think adoption can be, I don't at all underestimate the connection that comes from having carried a child, and I don't just mean that from her perspective. There is no way that a baby doesn't bond with his mother during that time. There is just no way that he doesn't somehow, subconsciously, know that she is gone, even when he goes to a foster family at just 3 days old. She is a huge part of him, and therefore, of our lives. We thank her and wish her a bright and fulfilling life. We may even meet her someday.