Joshua’s birth

 I do not recommend you read this if you are pregnant and subject fear.

I had been having Braxton-hicks contractions most nights for some time, but when a contraction woke me up at 11:55 Saturday night I thought it was the real thing. I got up and waited. After about two hours I was pretty sure (but not positive), but they weren’t always regular sometimes taking 15 minutes off a time, often followed by three good ones right on top of each other. I finally woke Hubby up and called the midwife and my mom. As spaced out as they were, I was reluctant to have her come on out, but the complications we had in my last birth made me want her here in case my water broke and we had another cord prolapse. (http://homeschoolwwh.blogspot.com/2007/10/miracles-do-happen.html)

My mom arrived a little before the midwife (M) and her assistant (D). M did a check and discovered that Joshua had turned breech, which didn’t really surprise anyone. I had been seeing a chiropractor and wearing a belly band for the last two months in hopes of making him behave but he had continued to do summersaults and evidently was determined by his birthday he was going out feet first.

Because I really didn’t want the children here when I birthed, my body scaled the contractions down. It’s amazing how the body works sometimes. The children couldn’t leave until after the morning milking.

I seriously thought about heading to the hospital, but if my water broke on the way, delivering a breech in the car was simply not a safe idea. So we waited.

After the dc left with my mom, the midwife suggested I go to the restroom (an empty bladder encourages labor.) My water broke while I was on the toilet (to no one’s surprise) but I felt “stuff” falling out. I called M and we discussed what we were seeing in the toilet. Meconium (Baby’s first bowel movement which appears before birth if baby is distressed)? Still in lumps? Odd.

As I walked out of the bathroom she called me to stop, checked something brushing my leg, and then ordered me into the living onto the daybed we use for a couch.

We had a full cord prolapse and it had already quit pulsing. This left us two minutes to get Joshua out before brain damage began.

God has provided M with the training she needed to know exactly what to do. Joshua was out in time, though things got pretty intense there for a while.

They put him on my tummy, told me to talk to him (his color was actually pretty good). M listened to his heart, rubbed his back and suctioned his mouth (to get any mec out). D rubbed, gave oxygen and called to him. I alternated rubbing and praying and talking to him. Hubby prayed big time.

I could feel his fingers move every few seconds and slowly began to feel the rumbles from his voice. I really don’t know how long it took,

but he finally began to cry and breath.

So, labor was 7 ¼ hours.

I pushed for about 2 minutes.

 He had apgars of 5 and 8.

No mec in his mouth.

No nerve damage.

Some slight bruising on his left leg.

M described my only tear as “a paper cut.”

If we had been in the hospital? Emergency c-section. Antibiotics for both of us. He would have been whisked away to NICU and kept there for some time (possibly a couple of days). This would have interrupted our nursing making it less likely he would have ever figured it out. It would also have traumatized both of us to be separated like that.

And there is no guarantee of less injury. In fact, breeches get injured in c-section births just like they do in vaginal births. And remember, all he had was minor bruising.

So the injury to me would have been far greater (major abdominal surgery, after all!) without gaining any benefits for Joshua.

Had we been unassisted, he would have died (baring a miracle revelation from God to my hubby of what he needed to do.)

Oh and he arrived on his due date, something only 5% of babies manage to do.

He had a bit of trouble figuring out how to latch on, so he and I discussed it a minute and tried on the other side and he got it. Now he nurses like an expert.

Joshua Clinton Tracy

8 pounds (my smallest baby!)

22 ½ inches

 

Thank You, God