Pregnancy experience with Jadon:
I
had a fear of giving birth after the birth of Jude. Time went on and I
kept putting off dealing with my fears, because, I was afraid. February
came and I got a severe toothache. I worried about infection reaching
the baby so Paul gave me a blessing that I would suffer pain no more in
the tooth. In March my tooth broke leaving a big hole in my molar.
Again, worry of infection. The dentists decided as long as I'm having no
pain they would hold off tooth extraction until after the baby was
born. At 28 weeks I found out the baby was in posterior position and my
hemoglobin levels dropped. More stress…..On May 21st, just 9 days before
my estimated due date I was awake all night with cramping. I spent the
night on the toilet and believed I was leaking amniotic fluid because so
much liquid was coming out of me. The next day I saw the midwives to be
tested for amniotic fluid leakage, I test positive. They advised me to I
add probiotics and echinicia to the supplements I was already taking.
They suggested I rest lots and drink lots of fluid to keep my amniotic
fluid levels up, take my temperature and make sure the baby is moving.
They believed all would be well. The last time this happened (baby #1) I
was hospitalized, put on antibiotics, monitored every 4 hours and
couldn’t leave till baby was born. I wanted a more natural approach to
child birth, that's what I was getting; I didn’t know what to think
though. I was flipping out! I called my previous midwife group where I
had birthed my last 3 babies and asked their opinion. They all said I
should be induced within 48 hours of the leak being detected because of
risk of infection. My anxiety was so high that I could barely function
as a mother to my other 4 children. I thought I was developing signs of
infection. I was such a wreck, not eating or sleeping for days, loosing 7
lbs (I was already thin). Stress, stress, stress……. Whose advice do I
follow? What is my intuition telling me? I couldn’t tell. I sought
another priesthood blessing from my husband. In it I was blessed with a
healthy, happy baby, that I will enjoy spending time with the baby and
that I will enjoy the birthing of the baby. I decided to trust my
midwives advice and go on as planned. For the moment, I was at peace
knowing the baby would be okay.
My anxiety continues. I get
acupuncture to see if that helps. I get another blessing from Paul
telling me that I have the necessary survival skills; I have what it
takes within me to do what needs to be done.
I
got another blessing. I was told to rely on the Lord for strength. I
went to a counseling session per my midwives request. On 6/5/09 I did an
energy healing session. I sought out other women who had overcome their
fears and had successful natural births. I contacted the baby blues
connection where I learned that there is a disorder called anti-partum
depression. I also learned that there is a phobia of giving birth called
tokophobia. I had both; I wish I had known sooner to have had more time
to deal with these serious emotional disorders.
The
night before I went into birthing time (6/5) I was seriously
considering giving up the whole home birth/natural thing and going to
the hospital for an epidural. I just wanted the baby out and in my arms,
I wanted this whole ordeal to end. It was affecting every aspect of my
life, especially that of my children. I certainly was not relying on the
Lord or I would have been at peace.
Birth experience:
6/6/09
my father in law came over. I sought a blessing from him. Through the
power of the priesthood my father in law holds, I was told that my
Heavenly Father loves me and is concerned for me. I was blessed with
health, as was my baby. Heavenly Father wanted me to know that I made
the right choice (in choosing a home birth) and to let my anxiety go. He
told me baby will come soon and this difficult time will be in the
past. I have great faith in the priesthood power and the words of god,
so I was at peace, finally, and decided to continue with my plans to
birth at home, and to rely on the Lord.
A couple of thoughts occurred to me
as I was pondering my blessing. Satan has been placing doubt and fear
in my mind about my birth plans, and about giving birth because he
didn’t want me to realize the power I have when I exercise faith in God,
and trust the power of my mind. In this “burden” as my first blessing
during this pregnancy stated, God gave me the opportunity to exercise
faith and rely on His power to get me through this, and believe in my
ability to do what I’ve determined to do. Those are the most important
lessons I learned throughout this experience of bringing Jadon into the
world. “If God brings you to it, he’ll bring you through it.”
DeLoy’s blessing was inspired. I
went into birthing waves at about 9:30 that night and baby was born at
12:15 Sunday morning, the 7th. I am still in shock as to how quickly the
birthing time was. My past births have been 12-14 hours start to
finish. From 9:00-10:00 or so the birthing waves were very light and I
tucked the kids into bed, grabbed a small snack, watched my favorite
water birth clip, tidied up the house. By about 10:00 I thought this may
be it as I was having to rest during the waves, so I started calling
people just to let them know I may be calling them in the middle of the
night (expecting things to go on for several hours). I got the birthing
supplies out on the dining room table for easy access. About 10:10
things waves were getting closer and stronger. I woke my husband up
soliciting his help. He got my I-pod docked so I could start listening
to hypnobabies. I got out my information on turning a posterior baby
during labor. We spent a couple of waves doing the belly lift, hoping to
turn the baby. That was uncomfortable, so I got into the knee to chest
position hoping during this early time I could get baby to turn. Things
got VERY INTENSE, VERY RAPIDLY! In hind sight I should have began using
hypnosis the first few waves I felt because by now I was not able to get
my mind to relax enough. I had my husband start timing the waves at
11:15 or so because I just couldn’t. They were lasting 40-50 seconds,
with about a 60 second break between them. Deep relaxation was out the
window. My focus was on getting through one wave at a time. At first I
had the heat pad on my back because the back pain was almost unbearable,
when a wave would come Paul pressed very hard on my lower back, while I
cringed and moaned. We decided to put an ice pack on my back, and the
heating pad on my stomach instead, again hoping the baby’s back would
turn away from the cold and toward the heat. I made calls to my midwife
Kelly and her assistant Kelly, my doula Danielle, and my mom during my
brief breaks between waves, while my husband left my side to get things
ready, get the birthing tub filled up, then rushed back to push on my
lower back with all his might. As doula Danielle was driving to my house
she was able to speak calming words to me while I was on the phone with
her through one wave. I had never experienced such a fast, intense 1st
stage and I wanted drugs (which ultimately I’m glad I didn’t get). My
2nd choice would have been getting into the birth tub which was not
filled up, and wouldn’t be for another 45 minutes or so. I was so
grateful for the 1 minute break between each wave. I was concerned that
the waves like that were going to go on for hours. Just as I was moving
to the bed to see if that would be a better position for me, perhaps
more relaxing, apprentice midwife Kelly arrived. She helped me through
two waves, rubbing my arms and legs speaking calming words while my
husband pushed on my back. I did notice some discomfort in my uterine
muscles, but nothing compared to what my back was experiencing. After
those two waves I went to the restroom feeling like I needed to have a
small bowel movement. I took off my pants and gently pushed. I didn’t
realize the water broke and I was pushing the babies head out, luckily
Kelly was right there and noticed and had me
quickly stand up. Out came the head facing my back (yae! The baby
turned) with two little fists hidden under two fleshy cheeks. Kelly
checked my perineum, looked good. I leaned on the bathtub and almost
effortlessly pushed the rest of him out. Kelly caught him, removed the
cord that was draped over his shoulder and placed him in my arms. My
husband announced “it’s a boy.” I sat on the bathroom floor holding my
baby; whom we wrapped in a bath towel; in shock that I had just given
birth. I couldn’t believe how blindingly fast it went. During birthing
time I felt like I was in a trance almost, in a timeless state. It was
as if my subconscious mind had taken over, my conscious mind (except for
the part that registered “pain”) moving out of the way. This birth was
such a natural, smooth process, the way God intended birth to be. I felt
amazing! On top of the world! I knew that I could do anything and I
knew that I would be happy to go through that experience all over again.
My mom arrived just in time to
watch his body come out, doula Danielle and midwife Kelly arrived after
he was born. I guess my oldest had been awake the whole time, just
choose to stay in bed. My 2nd oldest woke up after his brother was born,
as more people arrived. The younger two stayed asleep the whole night.
We all enjoyed ourselves for the next few hours visiting, holding the
baby, in awe of what happened.
The
birth did not go as I had planned; it went how it was meant to go. I
did set my intention on a healthy baby, healthy mom, fast, easy
birthing, on having a very quick, easy, discomfort free second stage, on
having the baby come out face to my back, on having a drug free, home
birth, surrounded by my loved ones (even if they are sleeping), and
having the baby on a Sunday the 7th of June. All those things came to
pass.
Jadon
Bradford Graham weighed 8 lbs 4 oz, was 20 inches long. He was born at
12:15 am Sunday June 7th 2009 in the peaceful, loving environment of his
home.
Monday, September 10, 2012
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment