Natural Childbirth
Posted by Jennifer on 04 Nov 2010
This is the story of my natural non medicated childbirth, which leads into the medical problems my newborn faced. My natural childbirth video as well as my son’s story, can be found on my family youtube channel as well!
When I first learned that I was pregnant and would be welcoming my sixth child to the home, I was overjoyed and overwhelmed! My feeling of joy very quickly squashed any other initial worries. I love my big family, and all the conversations, fun, play, and chaos that comes with it. Knowing we would soon welcome another beautiful life to our world was exciting.
I have always paid attention to my health, making sure to drink plenty of water and exercise daily; I take my vitamins and try to include a wide variety of nutrients through the foods I eat. Now that I was once again nurturing another precious life within, it was time to be ultra aware of my health. Of the five children I already had, my oldest child, now 16 years old, has severe special needs. It began with seizures shortly after he was born. It is thought that some rare infection somehow reached my developing baby in utero, not affecting me, but leaving my oldest boy with severe challenges ranging from impaired vision and hearing (he is legally deaf-blind), to a seizure disorder, and low muscle tone. From this experience, I knew first hand how complex and fragile the world of the developing fetus really is. Though I was a very young 17 years at the time, a pregnant teen, a statistic…..I had done nothing wrong in my pregnancy and had no symptoms or issues myself to indicate my developing baby was in any trouble, yet somehow and some way, he had been. Having gone through such a situation taught me how to truly appreciate all the complex processes that take place at a micro level, to really have everything go right when a little person is forming, as there are so many miraculous little things going on. So, just like my other pregnancies, I took great care of my body and did everything within my power to assure my unborn baby’s health.
I found myself, once again, avidly reading books on natural childbirth. Among them some of my favorites were Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth
OK – so I had planned on giving birth without medication, for the sake of my son. I managed to do it with my last baby born 3 years ago, and I could do it again (how quickly we forget how it truly feels…). One thing I noticed with my last birth, un-medicated, was that I was able to immediately get up and walk around, care for myself and my new baby without the need of assitance….that was a wonderful feeling, and a welcome “no drugs side affect”.
My pregnancy was very uneventful, which is a good thing. Everything always looked GREAT and felt great. My blood pressure, my weight, my baby’s heart beat, my one ultrasound at the standard 20 weeks….it all looked fantastic. Physically I felt better than ever. There was never any cause for concern. So, it’s understandable how surprised we were when there was unexpected complications at birth…..
My other children were all born several days after my expected due date which made it very hard to believe we were experiencing the real thing when I started having contractions 2 weeks before my expected due date. I awoke that morning around 5 am, not in pain, but knowing these contractions were different than the previously felt “braxton hicks” contractions. When my husband woke around 7am, I even told him that I thought today could be the day we meet baby Jackson. As the day wore on, I just felt more and more strongly that I would get to meet my new baby boy before the day drew to a close, as my contractions became stronger and stronger. I finally decided I should be checked by my midwife before the office closed. Around 4pm, I met with her and was sorely disappointed when she reported I was only 1 cm dialated…what?! 1 centimeter dialated….and 9 to go. I was feeling them strongly enough, and after so many other pregnancies, you’d think I would know what to expect and when things were really moving…..but a 1? So, she told us to detour home….do NOT go directly to the hospital….okay.
Once at home, I took a bath, and a few of the contractions nearly brought me to tears. I HAD to be getting closer now, though it had only been 2 hours. By 7pm, I was buckling to the floor and felt we should probably head to the hospital. My sister, who waited during 3 long days of intermitten contractions during labor on my last baby, still wasn’t convinced I knew what I was talking about and asked me to forgive her for not jumping out of her chair. We headed to the hospital about 7:30pm, and by this time I was really trying to focus with each and every contraction, moaning and humming through each one.
We arrived to the hospital, and made the standard stop by triage so they could check progress. Again, I was disappointed to hear I was only 5 cm. dialated….5 centimeters dialated? Are you kidding me? I thought I was almost done! OK, so now I was beginning to remember just how this whole birthing process feels….yes it was all coming back to me now…and what was I thinking?? Yes, maybe I want an epidural afterall…yes I think I do….Everyone left the room except my husband, and it was my prime opportunity to beg for his help….”please, tell her to get me an epidural…..yes do it….” He looked concerned, like he could be in trouble with me later, “are you really really sure that is what you want?”……”yes, Jake just do it, please….I really don’t know what I was thinking….it hurts so bad.” He steps out and around the corner, I heard him say, to my mid-wife, “she wants an epidural.” Then, my heart sank slightly when I heard her laugh, “oh? She does, does she?” When she walked in, I immediately began pleading my case, “oh, it hurts so bad”…..My mid-wife with her sypathetic eyes, and years of experience showing through her calm patient demeanor, says, “of course it hurts honey….it’s labor.” She then reassured me that I would likely feel better after I got moved to my own room and had my jacuzzi bath tub, to help me through the labor pain. I agreed and put the pain medications out of my mind….but still, “really? Only a 5? I have to be 7 or 8….” She said that I was right, and I probably was then, though only a few minutes had passed since my confirmed 5 cm check.
Green light to go to my own room now! Jacuzzi tub here I come….let’s get this done. I walked a couple of short hallways, no more than a couple hundred feet - to get to my birthing room, and had to stop twice to deal with the knee buckling contractions, as they were coming right on top of one another. I felt like my moans must have been scaring all of the other birthing moms in the hospital wing, because it seemed so quiet beyond my own yelling….but I just could not stop my screams during those contractions. We just reached the birthing room, and I heard the bath water start for me…..but just then, a crippling contraction had my body involuntarily pushing and I knew I wouldn’t even be able to make it to the bathtub – it must be about time – and this is where my natural childbirth video starts rolling. And I was right! Finally, I was confirmed 10 cm dialted and ready to push…
After being helped to the bed, I prepared to push. At the rise of each contraction, I bore down and gave it my all….and all the while I just wanted out….out of the pain…. I wanted it over. I needed help. I comforted myself by recalling that that are billions of people on this planet, and they all got here the same way. Women were made to do this. My body is made to do this. Women have been doing this for tens of thousands of years….and they DO live through it. See, at this point – there is only one way out of this, and that is to push my baby out. This is where it helps to feel every inch of pressure and pain – because that intensity is the very driving force behind the strength of each and every push…..I am not sure, but it was probably 8-10 pushes only (we were only at the hospital about 2 hours before he was born at 9:52pm). I felt when his head was out, and it seemed like I felt when his shoulders came out, because I fully prepared for a massive rush of relief – I remembered that sweet relief from last time. Instead a new, more intense pain racked my body as my confused mind tried to understand why. He was not out yet. My mid-wife, mother, and husband were coaching me to really push as hard as I could….what?! How much harder could I push? I even reached down for answers, my hands feeling for answers….and as my hands met my son’s face, head and shoulders, I knew I was right about that part of it …but I did NOT know why he was stuck…lodged, now. Now, I realized he was in trouble… if I could not get him out right now. That, coupled with the extreme pain and pressure, drove a push from within – beyond any others I had mustered. It was all pure push. Yes! The relief washed over me, and I knew he was out, and I waited to hear his cry…..They did not put him on my chest, as I wanted. Yes, something was wrong. Suddenly I noticed the people teaming in the room, around my son. They quickly brought him to me, but only for a couple of seconds. It was then that all the concerned faces made sense…his belly was huge. His abdomen was abnormally stretched beyond normal limits, prominent little blue vessels and veins accentuating how stretched his delicate skin really was. I understood why he had to be taken away now…..I had no idea what was wrong though…..
(continued on Newborn Baby Faces the fight for his Life….)
* I have also uploaded a video which describes all five of my childbirths including a c-section, 2 with epidural, and 2 unmedicated natural childbirths: Childbirth
You can see video footage of my natural childbirth here:
Copyright 2010
...everything is alright.
MyOggy.com Business Directory and Social Marketing
RSS
Twitter
Facebook
NetworkedBlogs
YouTube
