Baby Naz

Its difficult to say when labor started for sure as I'd been having contractions during the night time for about a week, but every day when I woke up they stopped. I was at 39 weeks, and 6 days when the contractions finally continued through the night having started at about 2 in the morning.

We'd traveled up north to the Galilee to give birth at a friend of mine's birth center a few days before so we were settled and comfortable. I am a midwife myself and my husband is a medical student so we planned to labor and deliver alone only asking for help from our attendants should we really need it. My midwife, Mindy, checked me at noon and I was 3 cm and 70% effaced. We were elated! Labor seemed to be with us now and we were hopeful that we'd meet our baby later that day.

We walked around through the gardens and forest near the birth center, played a board game, and read some books during the day while labor slowly picked up speed. Around 4 pm we prepared some beans and rice anticipating that this would be the last meal I would be interested in eating for awhile. Around 7 pm contractions were lasting about 1 minute and were now about 5 minutes apart, we were starting to cook now and when Mindy checked me at this point I was at 7 cm and 100% effaced.

Wow, it has all been so much fun we were amazed that I was that far along. We continued through the night with the contractions increasing in intensity. We danced to some music my sister had prepared, and spent lots of time relaxing in the birth tub (so amazing!!!!). Adam was a star, being with me through every contraction rubbing me, supporting me, and keeping me focused. He was a rock.

Around 3 AM Mindy checked me again and I was still at 7 cm. We all felt a bit discouraged at this point and Mindy gave me some homeopathic drops to speed things along. Boy oh boy! The contractions really increased in intensity and I was sure we were getting somewhere. Then, Mindy checked me again at 6 am and I was still at 7 cm, and it seemed to her that the baby had actually moved from +2 position in the pelvis to +4, i.e, it was going back up the birth canal instead of down!

At this point we had a little pow-wow and decided it was time to move to the hospital in Nazareth about 20 minutes away. That decision was hard for me for a few moments. I cried, vomitted, and then was ready to move. I decided an epidural might at least allow to me rest and some pitocin might get this wee one to move, so off we went.

By some sheer force of will and deep meditation I didn't have a single contraction in the car on the way to the hospital, but when we arrived and I got out of the car I had back to back contractions with no rest for about 10 minutes. That is when things changed for me, physically and emotionally, I was exhausted.

When we met with the doctor I requested a cesarean. I did this because I trusted that if the baby hadn't moved down after almost 30 hours of labor, it knew something we did not and I wanted to spare it the trauma that a vaginal birth might present.

And with that decision behind us, Mindy and I went into the operating theater and Adam waited outside to be with the baby in the nursery. Mindy and I shared stories of the births and midwives we had worked with in Tanzania and before I knew it, there was my son, swaddled, looking at me, and then he was wisked away to join his Dad.

I wept with a joy I had not anticipated and couldn't wait to see him again. After two hours in the recovery room, baby Naz and I were reunited. He nursed immediately, and I was deeply in love.
The recovery time in the hospital was the most traumatic part of the experience for me as I've never really been sick so I've not spent anytime in hospitals and was totally unprepared for the noise, lack of privacy, and discomfort of being away from home.

Additionally, I had no idea how much it was going to hurt for weeks afterwards. I am now at 10 weeks post-delivery and feel great, but those first weeks were the hardest of my life. We also had some trouble nursing as he was losing too much weight those first days. We had to supplement with formula and that was really, really hard for me, but I finally encountered a nurse who encouraged me to trust myself, to nurse all day if I have to, and it will come. And it did!

All in all, I describe Naz's birth experience as the labor I'd always dreamed of and the delivery we needed. He is thriving and we are wonderfully happy together. I will do everything in my power to delivery the next baby vaginally, but remain open to the possibility that the next one may need to be birthed by someone else, as well.

I believe that the real key to an empowered birth is being open, feeling in charge of your decisions, and having support. All of these elements were available to me and so I feel really good about our birth. But again, I hope to push the next one out myself, we will see!

Sera Bonds Beersheba, Israel

"Be the change you want to see in the world" ~M.Ghandi