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

Premature Birth

Premature Birth.

My Daughter Briannah was born at 27 weeks Gestation. Her water broke and she had barely any water in her sack, putting me into labour. I was rushed to Toronto Mount Saini Hospital In Toronto had a Emergency C-Section. Briannah came out blue and black due to a dry birth.

She was incubated right a way. She was very tiny. She had a lot of Apnoea Spells. I held her when she was one week old. It is hard when you are not allowed to hold your own baby and it is very overwhelming when you go into the NICU and hear all the beeping and see all the lights going off.

You see all these little babies who are in incubators that are hooked up to so many machines. Briannah was in the NICU for 30 days and in Level 2 for about the same length of time. Briannah came home on December 12th 2007.

She only weighed 4lbs 6oz when she came home and 14 inches in length. She was very tiny when I brought her home making it very hard to take care of her as I was always constantly checking on her to make sure she was breathing.

I cleaned everything 100 times a day and made everyone use hand sanitizer who ever was to touch her. I didnt want her to get sick. I pumped my milk for her for 3 months as then I dried up and could not produce anymore which was very stressful as This was the first time I had breastfed. I would try and try and then was just so upset that I couldnt give her what was best for her.

She is now 14 months old. She is 11 months corrected. Being a Preemie mom has made me the strongest person I can be. She keeps me going everyday. She can sit alone, she can slide on her belly getting around that way she is not crawling nor pulling herself up. She is still on Formula and eats our food now although she still loves pablem.

She is a very happy baby, she sleeps all night long. She has no complications just behind on her development. It was a very bumpy road and am glad she is bigger and happy.

From Crystal McGee- Elliot Lake