The main words I remember hearing a staff member shout was, "We have a 32 weeker!"
I started to hear the buzzing of voices saying things about lung development and
"Oh, well, maybe he's going to be fine."
Due Date: Jan 15, 2009 ~ Birth Date: Nov 23, 2008
At about 25 weeks into my first pregnancy I was in a little parking lot accident. An older lady didn’t stop as I was driving by and she ran into the passenger side of my car. It was startling and I went through all of the steps to find out my car was totaled. I knew what to use for stress and shock~ Rescue Remedy!
Did you ever read the book “The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men”? Neither did I, but the title seems to allude it’s topic; when making plans don’t be surprised when they go awry.
In our case, we had planned a Birthing Center Birth with our Midwife and her Doula. I had gotten a pregnancy journal that included pages for planning your birth experience. I laugh now at the thought that we were writing down a playlist of music that we would want to play while in the state of delivery. We did think we were going to have the birth at the birthing center and we had seen the space.
It was two large rooms and 1 very large, nicer than nice bathroom with a sink in tub. In the event a laboring Mother would want to try a water birth or bathe during labor to relax. The other room was a kitchen with a couch and a large table and chairs. My Mother in Law was talking about the food they would bring and beverages for labor and post birth meal and hydration. I was still very nervous about the actual birth experience; I imagined it had to be painful. But the aspects that we could choose were feeling great and a little exciting; story book almost.
After a fun day of going to a Jewelry show, dinner and playing Balderdash with Omar's family and continuing our Matrix Movie Marathon~ I went into labor ~Six weeks after my fender-bender.
Because I was having preterm labor it was too risky to use the Birthing center and we were told to meet our Midwife in the delivery room at the hospital. Omar drove us in our newly purchased Trailblazer 30 minutes to our destination. I was offered a wheelchair when we arrived and up we went to Labor and Delivery. As I burst through the double doors, doubled over in pain with a baby literally making his way out I was asked to stand at the desk and fill out paper-work. (WOW! Can't I do this 'after' I give birht)
Once I shakily did that I wandered to a side room that had many little beds and began to lie down. A nurse rushed me out of there and told me to wait until my room was ready.
Getting into the stirrups was pretty easy, but was very different from what we imagined our birth story to be. The hospital room was just that- a hospital room. Bland and harsh. It was only 2 pushes for tiny Freedom to enter the world. He had to be taken immediately to the NICU. Omar asked me if he should go with Freedom or stay with me.
I wanted him to go with our baby.
This is NOT what we planned!
For the Birthing center delivery plan, we were going to have music and food and a warm bath for me and baby afterwards. We were going to have a mini celebration. We knew the probability of anyone else delivering at the same time through the Midwifery was slim and we would have solitude; a feeling of a home birth.
Instead, we are in the hospital delivery room going through some steps we never dreamed we’d have to go through. Freedom was taken over to a table with a bright light and initially examined. They swaddled him, brought him over to me to kiss his forehead and out he went to be further assessed. They wanted to find out if the cause of premature labor was infection. To do this they had to run an antibiotic through him for the first 24 hours. He was put into what looked like an incubator with many wires hooked to pads stuck onto his tiny body. He was 3 lbs 15 oz.
He was given his own little NICU room where he remained in his incubator and hooked up to monitors for 30 days. Besides the antibiotic, they wanted to give him Vitamins through a tube into his nose (which we questioned all of the ingredients and had to have what felt like an argument with the head nurse). They told us they had to take his blood each week~ so his little heal had to get pricked every Mon. And eventually they told me my milk wasn’t fatty enough and he wasn’t gaining weight at the rate he should be.
There are many good things I can say about AAMC and their NICU. We grew to really like a few of the nurses. They were extremely helpful and discerning. This was my first birth experience and I did not know what it would have been like, yet, to have a home birth. I myself did not have any kind of medical intervention and had a natural vaginal birth. But the post experience with Freedom was far from the Birthing Center vision we had. I was very emotional and honestly needed more than just the Rescue Remedy. We were extremely grateful to have the love and support of our family. Our family met us at the hospital that night and brought me soup. Four days later was Thanksgiving day and they came with Lasagna and salad. That was amazing. I spent every day for 3 weeks in the NICU from 7:30a to 11pm. Omar worked every day and came to the NICU to be with me and Freedom for the evening. At 3 weeks we were given a room in Pediatrics where we slept and I was able to be with Freedom 24 hours a day. He was gaining weight very slowly. He was unable to maintain his body temperature. The nurses were urging me to give him the baby formula they offer. I was solely nursing and felt very depressed about this fact. It was because I had Omar confirming, as well as his family, that my milk was perfect for Freedom and to have faith and all things would work out.
“And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
On December 23rd my favorite nurse came in our room and said, "Do you want to go home today?" Tears swelled and I said, "Of course." Freedom was exactly 1 month old. He had in truth maintained his temperature that day, but technically that day was the first he had been able to do so. In hind sight I realize they needed the room /space and wanted to capitalize on the moment. We wanted to leave weeks ago once we ruled out a virus causing premature labor, confirmation that his lungs were fully developed and he was no longer jaundice, which he did experience during his first 4 days of life. I had been hoping he would achieve his temperature goal and we could be home by Christmas Day.
It was a Christmas miracle for Omar, Freedom & I.
We got to be Home for Christmas ~our 1st Christmas for the 3 of us~
4 days old NICU Isolette NICU Room Bulletin Board
There is more to share regarding the positive mental attitude that we had to maintain to move through this tough time. We have much more to express in regards to techniques that helped us in that area. I have shared that we turned to Homeopathy and Bach Flower remedies, but the mind set shift we had to embark upon was the greatest challenge. Altering our paradigms and accepting change, learning the art of allowance; those were the most important aspects to our success.
I will be going deeper into these subjects and sharing with you our unique experiences and insights. I intend to be as transparent as possible without exploiting our privacy.
imagine Excellence Blog #6 a Home Birth experience
much love ~Peace & Blessings
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