Birth

Well, as suspected the mom that was ready to go any day had her baby early yesterday morning! She had a sweet, sweet baby girl. The strength and perseverance of this mama really touched me. After about 5 hours of pushing at home, and discovering hematoma on the baby's head, mom was ok with transferring and we hoped that perhaps the CNM at the local country hospital (20 minutes away) would have some ideas. Instead, when we arrived, they just preped her for a c-sect. They didn't even want to check her vaginally. Her baby sounded great, very healthy. Baby girl was born at about 2:30am via cesarean section. She was posterior and asynclitic. They had to reach up and push her up vaginally a bit, she was so wedged in there, and there were bruises on her back from the doctors trying to lift her out of the uterus. Apparently, the incision tore down into her cervix from their efforts to pull the baby out. Baby was very healthy and the mom was in her room with her baby very soon.

The hospital was very respectful, very welcoming to all of us. They have 'rooming in' and encourage breastfeeding (they got the baby latched on within 1 hour!).

I am sad to see such a conclusion to her birth, but I don't believe in accidents. For some reason, this was the path of this baby and mama. This mama's strength and beauty is awe-inspiring!

I have been busy reading lots and lots about Optimal Foetal Positioning. I feel like we tried everything we could to get her baby to turn into a better position. But, the way that it unfolded was the way it was to happen (proven by the fact that it DID happen that way). Still, I want to learn as much as I can about OFP. Heck, I could have used the information during my pregnancy/labor to help make it a smoother experience (or, so I like to think). But, my little guy came out to this world exactly as he needed to. There are no accidents, imo.

(Originally posted April, 2006)