I am a very privileged mother of three
beautiful children. So when it comes to birth stories, I can surely join in the
conversation. My first two children, Ruben and Adam were both born in Ireland.
On both occasions it was a natural delivery without any complications, other
than me thinking that I’m going to die, especially with the first delivery, for
with the second you know that you are going to make it J. However the story I want to share is the
delivery of my third baby.
We were positive that we were not going to
have any more children after having our two boys. I felt like a ‘boy mommy’ and
we were very content. However, God had other plans for us. Finding out that we
were expecting a third baby came as a shock. We couldn’t even talk about it to
each other or anybody else for the first three months, but gradually got use to
the idea. The first three months of my pregnancy was a stressful time with me
trying to finish of my Master’s degree, moving house etc. I was so unsure about
having another baby and had so many worries, being an ‘older mom’ now. I kept
Like all my previous pregnancies, everything
went very well. I did not even experience any nausea. However, at 34 weeks I
experienced severe contractions and was placed on bed rest for a week. This was
a huge turning point for me. The possibility of almost losing my baby made me
realized how much I wanted it.
At 38 weeks into gustation my water broke during
the night. Seeing that I had an appointment with my doctor the next morning, I
decided to wait for the contractions to start, but it did not. I went to my
doctor’s appointment at 9:30am with my husband and hospital bags for in-case.
My doctor was visibly upset with me for not going to the hospital as my water
broke during the night. He informed me that I must proceed to the delivery room
for an induced labour. After about 6 hours things was not progressing well. At
4:00pm the doctor broke my water again, for the original tear was sealed by the
downward pressure of my baby’s head.
Everything kicked into action then. I had
very little time between contractions and made use of entonox gas for pain
relieve while rocking on a birthing ball. My husband was with me from 4:00pm
onwards, after making arrangements for our boys for the evening. He was very
calm and relaxed, having been through this with me two times before. My doctor
came to see me at 6:00pm. He established that I was 4cm dilated and predicted
that my baby will be delivered at 10:00pm.
I was feeling desperate at this news and
couldn’t fathom being in such pain for another 4 hours. I informed my doctor
that I went from 2-10cm in an hour during the delivery of my first baby and
that was without being induced. I suggested that my baby’s arrival might be
much sooner and commented that I couldn’t possibly ‘hang in there’ until
10:00pm as predicted. The doctor said that we’ll see and advised me to start
walking to help things along, something I couldn’t contemplate at the time. The
doctor left for home, saying he will be back at around 10:00pm.
At this point I seriously considered having
an epidural. I told my husband that I’m just not strong enough to do this again
like the previous two times, without an epidural. He called the midwife so I
could discuss this with her. Once I enquired about the pros and cons of this
procedure, I decided against it once more. Feeling rather desperate and a bit
unable to think straight (effect of the gas), I decided to walk a bit. I felt
an urge to go to the bathroom. I sat down on the toilet to rest and then the
urgency to push took hold of me. As I started to push I called for the midwife,
announcing that my baby is coming. Out
of habit I locked the door as I entered the bathroom. Hearing her at the door I
got up to unlock and at that moment my baby started to drop downwards.
I have difficulty recalling the exact progression
of events after this. I just remembered seeing the midwife sitting on the floor
next to me holding my grey/blue baby. I kept looking at my baby’s little face,
seeing how she is struggling to remain conscious, passing out a couple of
times. I kept asking if my baby is okay and was reassured by the midwife. This
all happened during a change of shift, so there were two midwifes present to
assist with the baby, clamping and cutting the cord etc. I thank God for his
perfect timing.
My baby was taken out of the room while I
delivered the placenta. When I emerged from the bathroom, my husband was
holding our baby, all wrapped up in blankets. He assured me that our baby was
okay. Everything happened so fast with no big announcements at the end (it’s a
boy/girl!). Although we had an idea about the baby’s gender from viewing the
scans, it was not confirmed/real. We quickly opened the blankets to take a
peak. Our little baby girl had arrived at 6:35pm! We named her Isobella,
meaning consecrated to God/God’s promise. She was checked out by the
pediatrician and scored a 9/10 Apgar. Thank God for this miracle and for his
divine protection. She was placed on my chest and started feeding right away
like a little trooper. Afterwards she spend a couple of hours in an incubator
to warm up.
We thank God ever since for our little
miracle and for his divine intervention. May we be the best parents to her and
our boys with God’s guidance.
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