NATURAL CHILDBIRTH – Part 2: Home Birth

Nature, Personal, Scientific 4 Minutes

Thankfully, we were able to get the military to agree to pay for a home birth. I doubt if that would happen today. Family Birth Associates helped us organize everything. They introduced us to our midwife, who insisted I participate in Lamaze classes, which teach you how to breathe during each stage of labor, among other things. If the Father is available, they are also required to take the classes to learn the proper way to support the Mother. She gave me the name and number of an RN who conducted the classes and would help supervise the birth.

We attended the class every week and she routinely took blood tests – when I was low on iron, she directed me to eat liver and raisins, and I began taking FemIron. I made it to the last critical class before going into labor.

We had everything arranged – our closest friends, Rick and Linda, agreed to come and help direct things and support us. We brought in a hospital bed and set up speakers to play our favorite music. IIRC, it was “Jonathan Seagull.”

Rick and Linda Mims

My midwife kept calling me to say, “Listen, I’ve got someone who is trying to get their Midwife license and they need to witness a live birth. Can they come for the birth?” Hospitals prevented anyone but the husband from being present and they do NOT like midwives! One of them was a Jesuit priest! We had ten people coming, in addition to the midwife and the RN.

The Wednesday following the last critical class, I woke up early in the morning to find my water had broken. We immediately called the RN and midwife, as well as the Jesuit priest, who had requested a call. As the day went on, my labor would start and stop, start and stop. We tried everything – herbal teas, an enema, a warm bath, jogging, running up and down the stairs. At one point, she even told us “You know, an orgasm wouldn’t hurt! No penetration, tho!” and sent us upstairs.

Nope – that didn’t work either. About 7 pm, they were listening to her heartbeat through a contraction and heard it dip, which indicated the cord was around her neck – my labor would probably never progress. During a contraction, pressure was exerted on the umbilical cord. This caused her body to secrete adrenalin, which then signalled MY body to stop the contractions. She left it up to us on the decision to go to the hospital or not.

We conferred and decided it was not worth endangering our baby’s life, but we did NOT want to go to WR. The hospital at Andrews Air Force Base was the only military hospital in the area that had a Midwifery Program, and my midwife happened to know the female Colonel Director……and she just so happened to be on duty that night.

She called and arranged it for us and off we went to Andrews. At that time, they had begun using internal monitors – they literally screw it into the babie’s scalp!!!! Since my water had already broken, they wanted to do that and we said absolutely NOT!!!! They also wanted to shave me – nope, not happening! The word went out all through the hospital that this crazy couple had tried to have their baby at home. Horrors!!! “It’s not done!”

Internal Monitor

They fitted me with an external monitor across my belly but Heather kept moving so they had a hard time tracking her heartbeat. They tried again to talk me into an internal monitor so the attendant didn’t have to stay at my bedside every minute. My reply? “Tough shit – just do your damned job!!!”

They hit me up with a very high dose of pitocin, a synthetic oxytocin, which triggers the contractions. Due to that high dose, when Heather started coming, it was FAST. They wanted to cut me so I didn’t rip or tear – I said no but my hubby freaked and I was too tired to fight it. He said they used what looked like a tree lopper! That was NOT a pleasant sound, let me tell you! It was a very loud “POP!” I had no pain killers whatsoever throughout and did not even feel it when they cut me. The cord was, indeed, wrapped around her neck so as soon as her head came through, they cut the cord.

Heather was finally born around 1:30 in the morning and, altho we both ran a low fever for a time, all was well. She was tiny – 5 lbs 6 oz – but otherwise healthy. She was 5 lbs 1 oz when we took her home and was the ONLY baby in the nursery who was not jaundiced (caused by bilirubens).

I was in the hospital until Friday; when I left, I wore my regular jeans – that extra 30 lbs? Gone! The following Sunday, we took her with us to the Lamaze class and everyone oohed and aahed. Five days old:

I bathed her myself for the most part until one day my hubby wanted to do it. The idiot took a soaked washcloth and plopped in on the top of her head – of course, the water poured down her face and scared her to death! I refrained from hitting him, miraculously! I began a campaign to rid her of that fear by bringing her into the bath tub with me. Peaceful and unfraid, enjoying the sensation of floating! I succeeded – she was never scared of water again!!!



Published by NebraskaFilly

Army veteran (1976-1979), retired with entirely too much time on my hands

Published

160 thoughts on “NATURAL CHILDBIRTH – Part 2: Home Birth”

  4. Liked by 2 people

  5. Liked by 1 person

    1. And the chances of Congress passing some good, solid, workable and enforced laws alongmthose lines is probably just about zero.

      Liked by 2 people

  7. WHOA…harsh, but true
    copied from tcth

    SparrowHawk
    June 27, 2022 3:25 pm

    ” If you still want an abortion , try the Pfizer vaccine ” — @postlogix

    Liked by 1 person

  8. reading some interesting theories today–all over the place–when you realize how much time, thought and effort the dems put into cheating in our elections…how would that knowledge affect the view of the current “change of heart” dem voters turning to repubs? are they really going to leave the dem party? or are they the new weapon? “taking one for the team” so they could install rinos or force the splinter strategy to make it easier for dems to win?
    are they THAT devious?

    Liked by 2 people

  14. EXCERPT: “Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) is demanding answers from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) after video recently surfaced of an employee brutally beating a 73-year-old Vietnam veteran at a VA clinic in Atlanta, Georgia, according to a letter first obtained by Breitbart News.

    Roy wrote to VA Secretary Denis McDonough in a letter sent on June 27 about the assault, which occurred at the McPherson VA Clinic: “This vile display of behavior is horrifying and antithetical to the VA’s critical mission of caring for ‘those who have borne the battle’ in defense of our nation.”

    The assailant, Lawrence F. Gaillard, Jr., is a VA patient advocate, according to Stars and Stripes. Gaillard was arrested and charged with a felony for the assault, but was ultimately released on $10,000 bond. He was suspended without pay, according to the VA.”

    https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2022/06/27/exclusive-rep-chip-roy-demands-answers-va-brutal-beating-73-year-old-vietnam-vet/

    Liked by 2 people

  15. EXCERPT: “NEW YORK (AP) — The company planning to buy Donald Trump’s new social media business has disclosed a federal grand jury investigation that it says could impede or even prevent its acquisition of the Truth Social app.

    Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp. dropped 10 percent in morning trading Monday as the company revealed that it has received subpoenas from a grand jury in New York.

    The Justice Department subpoenas follow an ongoing probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission into whether Digital World broke rules by having substantial talks about buying Trump’s company starting early last year before Digital World sold stock to the public for the first time in September, just weeks before its announcement that it would be buying Trump’s company.

    Trump’s social media venture launched in February as he seeks a new digital stage to rally his supporters and fight Big Tech limits on speech, a year after he was banned from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

    The Trump Media & Technology Group — which operates the Truth Social app and was in the process of being acquired by Digital World — said in a statement that it will cooperate with “oversight that supports the SEC’s important mission of protecting retail investors.”

    https://www.breitbart.com/news/company-buying-trumps-social-media-app-faces-subpoenas/

    Liked by 1 person

      2. He can’t be involved with any social media platform

        IF He StAYS IN POLITICS … don’t think family members can either

        Liked by 1 person

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