| The Birth Story of Xian Reed Mason |
| As you do not know what is the way of the wind, Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child, So you do not know the works of God who makes everything. Ecc. 11:5 |
| This is the short version of his birth. I hope to have a link to the longer version here soon. Just a warning . . . this story it is very descriptive and graphic. |
 |
| -Oct. 2 (12pm) I loose my mucus plug and start contracting lightly throughout the day. Inform the MW. -10 pm. Active labor starts. Inform the MW again. I then try to go to bed but I can't. It is uncomfortable to lie down and my mind is racing. I watch TV while sitting on the birth ball. -Oct. 3 (4am) wake up dh to keep me company and we decide to time them. They are like 4 min. apart lasting a min. or so. I am still on the birth ball. -5am. call the MW. -7am. MW (and family) arrive. I greet them at the door with a smile (which they probably did not expect). I am still using the birth ball. MW gets things set up and they fill the birth pool etc. I go put in my contacts and put some makeup on cause I know there will be video and pictures and I want to look good! -8 am. I get my first internal. I am 7cm. Yea!! Baby is very low. MW is surprised at how well I am handling it. There is no "pain" just cramping in my lower abdomen and discomfort. She "predicts" I will be pushing by noon. At this point I no longer want to sit on the birth ball and I just stand holding on to the dresser or dh and sway, rock, squat, whatever feels comfortable with each contraction. Time gets a bit fuzzy after that. I get in and out the birth pool.Oh, and did I mention that the a/c went out the night before and it was 80+ degrees in the house all day!! Noon comes and goes and I am not yet complete. I labor in various positions and places (probably in the water more than I should). I choose to moan through the transition contractions that never end and have peaks where my body starts pushing involuntary. Still in control, working with things. At some points I say scriptures to myself during the hardest ones. It never gets unbearable, just so so powerful and intense. I stayed completely relaxed and didn't tense up once or cry out in pain. I can't say I wasn't scared though. I was so scared that I would loose it and be overcome with pain. But that never happened through out the entire labor and birth, thank God. 5-6 pm. my water breaks. I go from 9 to 7 (thankfully the MW did not tell me this at the time). I think it was around 7pm that I was complete with a lip. I would usually not let the MW work with it manually but it had been 9-10 hours since I was 7cm and I was ready to push! It took quite a while for the head to get past the cervix (while the MW was holding it opened). After that I pushed in several different positions and places. Some time during all of this I tore (vaginal wall tear) and started loosing lots of blood. Every time I pushed it would gush out. The MW decided that I needed to birth on dry land (as opposed to a waterbirth that we had planned). Xian was a bit asynclitic so he was moving but very slowly. She had also never seen that much blood from a tear like that and was a bit concerned that perhaps some of it was coming from somewhere else. Then his heart started to decel fairly low during pushes. The MW knew that there was probably a cord around the neck and that she may possible need to resuscitate plus with my bleeding she thought I may hemorrhage after birth. She did however feel comfortable handling this but with him coming so slowly she didn't know how long to let it last. I was getting weaker with the blood loss and even though we got to the point where you could see his head, it was taking a while the MW didn't know how long she should let it go on that way. We had no more chux pads left, they were all soaked with blood. My family (all 11 of them there, though not all in the room) were crying and praying. I was not too worried though and neither was dh. The MW was worried but she never show it. I think the 3 of us were the only calm ones :-) Finally after 3 hours of pushing she decided that we needed to transfer. I didn't want to but I trusted her discretion. We left for the hospital at around 10 pm. I was finally allowed to push about an hour after arriving at the hospital. My MW was practicing "illegally" (she is a CPM, this was in NC). So she "played" doula. Because of this we had no medical records of the pregnancy to give them so they "freaked" about a lot of stuff (my dates, baby's health etc.). They were not worried about my bleeding cause it had slowed considerably. Xian seemed OK too. There was mec. when I started pushing (I am sure due to the stress of everything) so they called in the whole pediatric staff and I was not allowed to hold him right away. The only "interventions" I had were some oxygen and an IV of fluids (that I didn't want but needed for energy as I was dehydrated). I pushed for almost another 2 hours there before he was born at 1:36 am October 4th. (38 hrs after the first bloody show and light contractions, 28 hours active labor, almost 5 pushing). The lady who delivered was a first year resident. She kept trying to push the vacuum and episiotomy on me and I had to basically fight her off between pushes. I knew I could push him out myself and I neither needed nor wanted any help!! Thank goodness I had stayed calm throughout and was able to adequately express my feelings. And boy did I express what I did and did not want!! :-) Between pushes I was telling the peds. that I wanted no eye ointment, vit K or Hep. B. After his head was born the very inexperienced OB ripped his shoulders out (oh ya, I felt it!) and caused a 3rd. degree tear that was 1/4" from going through the rectum!! He did have a cord around the neck (no biggy) and to my dismay it was clamped and cut immediately after he was born. His apgars were 7&8. I held him minutes after he was born (I did not like the way he was handled by the peds. though). They insisted he go to the nursery for an hour because they had no records of his birth. I was so exhausted, and had fought off so much that I didn't fight it but did let them know that I was not happy about it (actually I hardly remember it). I sent dh out with him. I was treated fairly well considering. I mean no one was overly rude or condescending because I was a homebirth transfer (except some of the peds. the next day). There was just the normal inconsiderate impersonal aspect and atmosphere that anyone would experience in the hospital (as patients, not people). They were so very inconsiderate and just plain rude at times. We did give a great impression of homebirthers as being intelligent and knowledgeable though and I know some of the Dr's and nurses noticed this. I was also able to talk to 3 nurses personally about birth and homebirth so something good came out of the whole thing. I did not blame the MW for the transfer, even though it ended up being unnecessary. She did what she felt was best at the time and she too has learned from the experience. It took quite a while to come to grips with the loss of my homebirth. It was VERY hard. I believe we may have had a positive impact on some of the people we talked to at the hospital and I knew it was obviously Gods will but I did not like the fact that Xian and I had to sacrifice. It was only when I gave it to God (at about 5-6mo. pp) that I felt a peace, but I am still saddened when I think of it. I had had so much faith in my body and God and birth (I didn't even pack an "incase" bag) and I still do. My faith has not wavered one bit, it has just gotten stronger as I have gotten stronger. Just goes to show you that no matter how much you prepare things don't always turn out how you planned. But that is what makes it so hard. I was prepared, I knew better and I still ended up with things I didn't want. There are perhaps a few things I would do differently but not too many (like no internals . . . at all, and staying upright while pushing ). I love birth and talking about birth. I think that the female body and birth process were perfectly designed by God. I look forward to a "healing" homebirth next time. |
 |
 |
| Me and Xian on on his birth day |