Birth Story #10

Happy Birthday Lorna!

  

 

I can't believe one year ago today.....we were parked just off the 101N freeway, on the 5 cities drive exit, at 12:55am in Pismo Beach, California, delivering you in the back seat of our 15 passenger van. What a great experience! Home Birth, Water Birth, C-sec, and V-BAC Car/Van Birth, I wonder what is next? Tree Birth?!? I don't know, but I would do it again and again.

 I love my little blessings, and I love the whole process of Miraculous Motherhood. Only God can give such good gifts.

     

It was one of the most peaceful and joyful events of my life. I am so thankful to God for

allowing you to come so quickly and smoothly. Safe, Healthy, and Loved. You still are all of those things and I think even more with each passing day. You bring such Joy to our lives. I am so glad we named you that, "Joy" totally suits you. Your name also represents so much of what your father and my heart is full of on a daily basis..... The Joy of the Lord! That is our prayer for you, that you will walk with the Lord, in joy, all the days of your life.

 

Before you were even born we prayed for you and prepared for your arrival. Look at that belly! Almost There!

This Birth was very interesting for many reasons.

1st- this was my first (and hopefully not the last) V-BAC

2nd- We live 40min North of the Dr and Hospital I was going to use.

3rd- My OB who delivered 3 of my babies, and was my back up for the other 6 home births, retired 3 weeks before my due date!

4th- I ended up finding a wonderful new doctor who was more than willing and happy to allow me to try for a V-BAC...... but....... his practice and the Hospital is over an hour in the opposite direction!

5th- Even though I know I have fast births, I don't necessarily have fast labors. They kind of trickle along for many hours until as I get from 1cm to 3 or 4cm. But then............WATCH OUT! I can go from 3-10 in less than 20 minutes.

6th- My sister and I were due within 24 hours of each other.... and .....we like to deliver each other's babies. She has helped me deliver 2 of mine now and I have helped her deliver 3 of hers. How was this going to happen? God knows as he always proves.

7th- Since I am getting very excited about herbal and nutritional healing, I decided to try a new labor prep tincture this time around. I started it at about 35-36 weeks of pregnancy and slowly built up the doses over those weeks. Well, let's just say that I didn't have to take Castor oil this time. BUT my labor was very different and kind of weird.

8th- I had great Braxton Hicks Contractions all month. The last week was more like a continuous labor. I have never been in Labor for a whole week before, but this was just that.
I could still function and was able to nest and try to light the fire under everyone's behinds to help me get the house ready. It just felt like my belly was in a constant contraction that wouldn't let up. I learned to live with it hard as a bowling ball until the end when it went from hard to harder!

9th- I was also having a very hard time coming to terms with the fact that I couldn't have a Home birth as I really wanted. I understood all of my family's concerns but I was so disappointed that there was no one locally who would care for me. No Midwife would come to my aid,  No Doctor or Hospital in the County that would even support a trial of Labor. For the midwives, it would put their license at risk for taking on a known V-bac patient if something happened to go wrong. I understand all of that but as the Birthing mother, it ........ you know what?... my emotions get so high when I talk about this.... I feel as though all our freedoms have been stripped away. It was a very lonely place to be. I felt abandoned, like the people/care givers I have come to trust, have been handcuffed and are being held hostage; by insurance companies and boards of trustees at hospitals who think they have the right to coerce a woman to be cut open unnecessarily. To treat childbirth as an illness and not a natural process. To be honest I still feel that way, because if I get pregnant again, I could be in the same place once again. Whoa, I will step off my soap box now. The bottom line is, I have the utmost respect for those in the medical profession, I am grateful for Doctors and Hospitals that are there to take care of emergencies and help restore the sick. I believe I was protected and blessed to have a safe Cesarean Section with my 9th baby. I also know exactly why it was necessary and am confident that was the best choice for that pregnancy. Key words: "that pregnancy"

The biggest blessing medically speaking, was finding my Dr. He was so supportive and encouraging. He clearly trusted me and believed me when I explained about my past births, what they were like and how quickly they go. How I usually can't really believe I am in Labor until I am almost to the pushing stage. He says he knew that I would never make it to the hospital because it was so far away. But he said he would be there for me anyway. He would come in to the exam room (the 3 times I met with him before my due date) and say "Hi, What is it that you would like me to do for you today? Do you want me to check the baby? How can I help you?" He was great.

I was due on the 15th of March, On the 12th, Saturday (I seem to like Saturdays for some reason, I think a large percentage of my babies have been born on a Saturday or in the wee hours of Sunday Morning) Anyway, on Saturday, I sent everyone off to go about their business, My husband had a breakfast to go to a church, in the evening my teens had a party they were invited to, so I stayed home with my little ones and hung out on the couch watching some old movies. I had my tincture in hand. I had laid off it for the last week or so. Whenever I felt the contractions were getting too much I would skip the next dose or pull back. The contractions were 20 minutes apart BUT  2 minutes  l o n g!!! Seriously. I lost some of my mucous plug on Friday night, so I know something was happening. But if you have had a baby before you know that that doesn't mean anything for sure. I was still excited though. It always helps to know you are moving in the right direction.

I knew that My Sister (who lives 40 minutes south) couldn't come up until she got her 5 children down to bed. I also knew that I would not progress until I knew she was safely on her way.

At 10pm I got into my wonderful bathtub and took a nice bath and continued to labor in there. I figured I was about 2-4cm about that time. She arrived with my Mom at about 10:45pm and checked me. I was about 3-4cm. The contractions were about 7-15 minutes apart and I was being asked if I thought it was time to go. I said "No, not yet".  Everyone was seeing how I was breathing and they were afraid I would have the baby right there. I assured them I wasn't that far..... yet. I was so comfortable in my bed..... my sister got all my blankets and pillows and set up a make-shift bed for me in the back seat of the van just behind the driver's seat.

It was lovely. She did such a good job. We got in the car at about 11:45pm and I was about 4-5cm. I laid down and closed my eyes and concentrated on breathing and letting this baby out. About 25 minutes into the ride I began to breathe deeper and it clicked in my mind. I remembered that with some of my favorite births(the ones that go really fast) I am sure to breathe in really deep and slow, then I hold that air low in my lungs as I slowly breathe out with tight lips so as to not let out too much at once. Before I have expelled all the air I breathe in again as the contraction is doing all the work but my full lungs are keeping the baby's head firm against the cervix. When I breath like that the dilation seems to go faster and I seem to get more than 1cm/contraction.

It must have worked because by the time we hit the County line my water broke and a few exits later I was asking my husband to pull over so I could push her out. It was awesome!!! I loved it!

Flying out!

Apgar......9 & 10

Lorna Elizabeth Joy was welcomed safely into loving arms.