The New Little One

This picture was when The New Little One was just four days old! Yep... that was last Wednesday. And today he is ten days old. He was born on 12/27 and weighed 7 lbs 13 ounces. Time really flies with a newborn. Everything this last week is a blur. Except one thought that shines out perfectly clear. We are thankful for this precious baby!

Do you like birth stories? Would you like to hear how he came into this world? If I share how The New Little One came into our lives, I'll have to back up to my other deliveries. Would that be okay?

Rainbow was breech until 37 weeks when we turned her by using slantboard exercises. We kept her head down until 38 weeks when she was born in a very quick, uneventful, natural home-delivery. It was just what I hoped for -- a completely unmedicated and intervention-free birth. And the fact it was just 2 1/2 hours was nice too.

Spiderman was head down until I had dilated to at least 7 cm. I remember being checked at that point and his head was still pressing down on my cervix. However, after that point he flipped completely and his feet were presenting. We transferred to a nearby hospital. His labor lasted 20 hours and ended in a c/sec because he was a "double footling breech."

Witzy was breech until about 39 weeks. We turned her using slantboard exercises again... very uncomfortable at that stage of pregnancy! But, we kept her down for a few more days and she was born in another completely natural home-birth at 39 1/2 weeks.

Tickle... can you guess? Yep, she was breech until late in pregnancy when, this time, we turned her by seeing a chiropractor who performed the Webster Technique. So much more comfortable than the slantboard! She was born after my due date, but we were able to keep her head down until her completely natural home-birth.

And now The New Little One. This little guy preferred to lie transverse. His head was perfectly at home under my right ribs with his feet under my left. Yes, it looked like a tire around my front and not at all like a pretty little basketball! We did slantboard. We made trips to the chiropractor. He turned head down. He turned back to transverse. We did it all again. He turned again. And again.

At 38 1/2 weeks, we turned him for the last time. I was much more comfortable with him in this position. You see, with him lying transverse, it put dramatic strain on my hips. (I'm not a very big person... just a bit over five feet tall.) The last month of my pregnancy, I could only move with great pain... so I was pleased to have some measure of relief and some nights with some sleep during the last week. He stayed head down through Christmas... until...

Labor. I was checked at 8 1/2 cm and his head was still pressing down on my cervix. I went through another 1/2 hour of contractions, but I noticed that they were spacing out. Something was different. I was checked again, and I was complete. But, there was no longer a head presenting... it was an arm! Yep, he decided to lie transverse again.

But, all of a sudden my water broke. And with the flood came his entire cord and his arm too! It was all pushed back in. His heart tones were distressed, and I was rushed to the hospital for an immediate emergency c/sec. I rode the entire 45 minutes in an ambulance in a position that would keep the baby up high and off his cord... with no fetal monitoring (something ambulances are not equipped with) and no way to know if he was okay.

As soon as we arrived, the fetal monitoring started again and I heard my baby's heart tones in the 120s. That was the last thing I was aware of before going under. In just a few minutes he was in our world, but he had to spend the first six hours of it in the NICU... and it took about that long for me to come out of the stupor from the general anesthesia, even through I vomited from it for an entire 24 hours!

So that is his birth story. We are thankful to have him home with us, alive and well.

During this unexpectedly longer road to recovery, I am praying about how I need to be redeeming my time. What does this next season of my life look like? What will Health Begins With Mom look like? I'm excited to see how things unfold! Stay tuned...