All in Due Time :

Third Delivery

The third pregnancy happened after they moved to Indiana. This one was an “oops” baby like the first one. The ultrasound was good and everything was going fine. Egina was considering trying a home birth for this baby. A friend had told them about her experience with it. For Egina, it meant she would not be dealing with medicine or have shots to fall back on. She would be forced to truly experience a natural birth. Also, the baby could come at the right time and not be induced just because the pregnancy was at 42 weeks. Jimmy was a bit hesitant and his family was really resistant to the idea. They lived close by and were very concerned about the safety of the process. All their babies were born in a hospital. They gave her a whole list of questions to ask the midwife.

Egina had found a midwife and had gone for a checkup to make sure she and the baby were ok. The midwife did not do home births, however, and that’s what Egina really wanted. The midwife gave them the name of someone who used to work at the hospital and now did home births. They were nervous but when they met her they found she was wonderful. Very nice, comfortable with working with Deaf people, open to discussion – they were thrilled. The midwife’s office was in the basement of her home. They went with their two other children to appointments, talked about what they wanted and felt comfortable with her. She was very supportive and patient with all their questions. It felt like talking to a friend. She was a certified, trained midwife with experience, so she was very qualified as well.

Egina asked if she could have a water birth (she loves to swim) and the midwife agreed. They borrowed a kiddie pool from a friend and practiced how she needed to be positioned for the birth. It was a lot harder than they thought – took them about 3 hours to figure out the temperature and how Egina should be positioned. Meanwhile, the kids couldn’t help themselves and played in the pool as well. Once they got it figured out, the kept the empty pool at the ready.

Finally Egina told Jimmy it was time. He ran to fill the pool. Really, this time Egina went to 42 weeks and still had not started labor. She asked the midwife what they should do and she said that they would wait until the baby was ready. They wouldn’t induce or attempt to force labor in any way – very different than their last two experiences. 43 weeks came and went. They did tests to make sure everything was ok and that there was enough amniotic fluid to sustain the baby until the birth. If there wasn’t enough fluid, the baby’s heart could have problems – but everything was just fine. It felt odd to just simply wait for labor to begin after all the effort they went through to induce it the first two times. Finally, at 43 1/2 weeks, labor began. (Which apparently is a record for the midwife…she’s never had a delivery that late before or since.)

During labor, Egina was very restless. She paced the hallway, going from her kid’s bedroom to her bedroom, back and forth around the house. Jimmy was running around – helping her some, making calls and both of them were a bit nuts. Egina’s parents were there ready to take the kids. Jimmy thinks her parents weren’t there but Egina reminds him that that was for J. P.’s birth. It’s understandable how he, too, would get confused after so many deliveries. They called the midwife. Jimmy took care of it because Egina was totally focused on managing the contractions.

Their first two children were born in the middle of the night and Jimmy was really hoping that this one would be born during the day. Alas, there they were again, in the middle of the night ready to deliver the third. It seemed they never managed to get a good night’s sleep before their babies were born. When the contractions were the right amount of time apart, they called the midwife and the interpreter. Both came over to the house.

The midwife said that things were progressing just right. Egina remembers how she was vomiting and that the midwife said that was a sign that the time was close. It had been about 7 hours since the contractions started. They got everything ready. The midwife also had a nurse with her. So Jimmy, Egina, the midwife, nurse, interpreter and Egina’s mother were all in the room together. (Egina’s dad was sleeping). Egina was really having a hard time. The nurse, who was a pediatric nurse and focused on how the baby was doing, was monitoring the situation and said that things were getting a little risky because the baby’s heartbeat was dropping now and then. Egina tried and tried and the baby just wouldn’t come. Egina’s only real connection with what was going on was Jimmy. She was oblivious to anything else that was going on, to any conversations happening, to the interpreter –Jimmy was the one person she could focus on during this whole process and he served as her support and interpreter.

Jimmy starts to explain more about their next decisions but Egina reminds him about the pool. Jimmy explains how their plan to have a water birth was not what they expected. Egina was in pain and thrashing around so much in the pool that it became a whirlpool. The pool itself was twisting and rocking, water was going everywhere. She couldn’t help it; she was in so much pain she just had to keep moving. It was hilarious to watch the water go round. Egina found she had nothing to really hold on to, unlike the hospital where she could grab the bedrails while she pushed. Jimmy was right there, ready to help. (All set with shirt off and snorkel on, he jokes). In reality, Egina did not like the whole water and pool experience although she didn’t say so at the time.

Finally her water broke and they realized they had a problem. There was meconium in the water and that meant that the baby could possibly choke. They ordered Egina out of the pool. When she said she was glad to get out because she didn’t like the water anyway the midwife asked her why she didn’t say so before! Once out of the pool, she still wasn’t able to deliver and they decided they needed to call the ambulance to take her to a nearby hospital. It wasn’t what they planned, but they had to do it. What they expected was the usual ambulance to show up. What they got was a huge truck pulling up in front of their house. They hauled Egina out and up into the truck, closing the enormous doors behind her. Jimmy had to climb up into the cab because there was no room for him in the back. They already had the interpreter, and midwife in there with Egina. So they went bumping along in this enormous truck to the hospital. Egina felt lost because suddenly she didn’t have Jimmy next to her to help her through it. She clung on to the interpreter and was hollering at the midwife about the contractions, pressure and pain. The midwife was monitoring some of the blood that was already passing and telling her to hold back and not push. It was crazy.

They lifted her down out of the truck and before they even got in the elevator door the baby’s head was crowning. They rushed her up to the delivery room where the whole medical team was not quite ready. The midwife and Jimmy went right to work and the baby came right out. The doctor then showed up after the fact and checked the baby, cut the cord and left. The doctor didn’t even charge them because the midwife had done the actual delivery. So they didn’t get the home delivery they wanted again.

Later, when Jimmy was telling the story of the birth, someone told him that American Indians used to bounce overdue pregnant women in a blanket to help the process along. For Jimmy, it made him think that the bouncy truck ride to the hospital was probably the ticket to complete the delivery! Egina is sure it was the ride that did it too – she was bouncing all over the place. She remembers clearly one thing from her trip to the hospital. When they took her out of the truck, she smelled cigarette smoke from a person standing just outside the doors and remembers wondering why the heck were they allowing someone to smoke there! She remembers the actual arrival of the baby as well. She was looking at Jimmy who was telling her not to push. She was nodding to him, telling him she wouldn’t even as the baby came out. Then she said, “Sorry, I pushed!” Jimmy remembers that as well.

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