[blparent] Learning about the signs that your baby is coming

Sat Apr 3 20:24:11 UTC 2010

I agree that having a birth plan written in advance is a good idea because 
it makes you think about what your ideal scenario will be, and lets your 
care providers know what's important to you.  But I do have to stress 
flexibility, which others have mentioned.

I WENT Into the hospital at nine o'clock on a Saturday morning, hoping for a 
birth close to the one Dena described.  I labored all day Saturday, and I 
didn't really find the pain too bad.  I wouldn't call it fun, but I'd been 
through much worse with migraines and some procedures on my eyes, and Gerald 
and I worked well together with relaxation and breathing techniques.  After 
my membranes were ruptured, the contractions were stronger than before, but 
I could still walk around the labor deck, which the nurses said didn't 
usually happen when a woman was seven or eight centimeters dialated.  For 
me, walking around or sitting in a chair and rocking back and forth with the 
contractions worked well--much better than lying on the bed.  At about seven 
in the evening, I received Fentinol in my IV to take the edge off the pain, 
mostly because I was tired enough that I knew I wouldn't have the energy for 
pushing if I didn't get a bit of a break first, having at that point been up 
since Friday morning.  It wasn't long after that when I started pushing.

And then things stopped going according to plan.  I pushed and pushed and 
pushed, for over two hours, and the baby wasn't moving at all.  Not even a 
little.  When the monitor started showing stress in her heartbeat, the 
doctor called for a C-section.  I was given an injection to stop the 
contractions.  Let me tell you, once there was no longer a purpose behind 
those contractions, a reason to be having them, the pain hit me like an atom 
bomb.  Plus, the medication to stop the contractions had me shaking 
violently.  I was scared and disappointed.

The C-section turned out to be okay.  I had an epidural, so I didn't feel 
anything at all, but I was awake, and Gerald was with me.  It turned out 
that Sarah had her head cocked sideways in the birth canal, as if she'd been 
looking backwards to where she'd come from.  The doctor said I could have 
pushed till the end of time and she never would have made it out.  He said 
that people complain about modern medical interventions and how they get 
overused, but at one time in human history, one in three women died during 
childbirth.  He said a hundred years ago, Gerald would probably have been 
asked to choose which one he wanted saved, me or Sarah, because there would 
have been no way for both of us to make it.

I got to have Sarah on my chest for a few wonderful moments after she was 
delivered, but then she was whisked away, and I was sewn up.  I had to stay 
in the recovery room for a little over an hour, till the terrible nausea 
from the anesthetic passed and I could wiggle my toes.  That was one of the 
longest hours of my life.  I kept trying and trying to wiggle my toes, which 
I couldn't even feel, and I wanted to sob and scream because I wasn't with 
my baby on account of my stupid toes, which I couldn't have cared less 
about.  Gerald had to keep going back and forth from me to the baby, since 
the staff wouldn't let her in the recovery room with me having so much 
nausea.  I was lucky because I had a really good anesthesiologist, who was a 
fairly new daddy himself, and he stayed with me and described what was going 
on when Gerald wasn't there.  I don't know how I would have made it through 
without him, and I always wished I could let the hospital know somehow, but 
I don't remember anything except that his name was Matt, and he was an angel 
from God.

By the time we got into a hospital room on the maternity ward, I was just 
plain too exhausted to try and nurse.  I suspect that part of the reason I 
never got a good milk supply was that nursing was delayed nearly eighteen 
hours.

Still, the birht of my daughter is something I'll never forget.  It didn't 
go the way I would have wished it to, but the most important thing is, I had 
a healthy baby who has grown into a healthy, active toddler.  Remember that 
the birth is only the beginning of the story.  It may come off perfectly, or 
it may take turns you wouldn't have asked for, but no matter what, you still 
get to write the whole rest of the wonderful, beautiful adventure with your 
child.

--------------------------------------------------
From: "Dena Wainwright" <dena at envogueaccess.com>
Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 1:25 PM
To: "NFBnet Blind Parents Mailing List" <blparent at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [blparent] Learning about the signs that your baby is coming

> this is very true. having a birth plan written up when you go to the 
> hospital is a very good thing. obviously, things happen, and you sometimes 
> have to deviate from your ideal scenario, but it's good to let your 
> practitioners know what you want. e.g., we included things like one of us 
> had to be with our daughter at all times if any sort of medical procedure 
> was to be done, and that epidurals were not an option for me due to a 
> spinal injury. we also included that Jason wanted to cut the cord, and 
> that we did not want extraction devices to be used during delivery.
>
> I ended up needing Pitocen (which was definitely not a part of my plan), 
> but otherwise, I really did have the perfect birth. I agree with Carla 
> about non-medicated births. in many ways, they are really amazing and 
> extremely empowering. I really do feel, after living through a 41.5 hour, 
> medication-free (aside from a tiny bit of Nubane which took the edge off 
> the pain, but by no means eliminated it) that my body is capable of 
> enduring almost anything. I joked with my midwives the day after my 
> daughter was born that I was ready to run a marathon now. it was amazing 
> to be able to walk around within 90 minutes of giving birth. I ate, had a 
> shower, and rocked my baby in a rocking chair all before she was 2 hours 
> old. I was able to immediately begin nursing her, and she was with me at 
> all times from the moment she emerged, except for the times when her daddy 
> held her. our hospital staff didn't even clean or weigh her until she was 
> about 2 hours old. the only "medical" things they did to her within the 
> first 24 hours were to take her vitals and suction out her mouth and nose 
> (and this is while we were holding or touching her).
>
> Dena
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Karla Hudson" <HudsonKC at msu.edu>
> To: <blparent at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, April 03, 2010 12:47 PM
> Subject: [blparent] Learning about the signs that your baby is coming
>
>
>> Hi >> >> vanessa Hernandez,
>>
>> Many have given great information on this list. I also did not have my 
>> water
>> break until my daughter pushed it down the birth cannel. What a pop! The
>> look on my face must have been priceless. This was after a 28 hour labor 
>> and
>> she was born after two more hours of pushing. Everyone is different that 
>> is
>> for sure. I never really did feel my water break with my son. This big 
>> boy
>> at 9 pounds 14 ounces came with two pushes in about five minutes after a 
>> 28
>> hour labor. Both my children were born with out medication. A great book 
>> to
>> read is the Birth book my William Sears. I love his books and he inspired 
>> me
>> to have a nonmedicated birth.
>>
>> I hope this helps. You really have to educate yourself about the kind of
>> birth you want to have and then pray that it all works.
>>
>> Karla
>>
>>
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>
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