Adilene's Birth Story

 

Adilene's birth story really starts long before we knew she was on her way to her Earthly home. After Michael was born I knew I didn't want another C-Section, and certainly wouldn't schedule one. I joined a group called the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN) and Josh and I ended up attending the April 2011 Nationwide Conference that happened to be in St. Louis. It was like coming home, you know... that feeling of relief you have when you finally step inside your own house after a long trip. Everything is chaotic, dirty clothes everywhere, stuff to unpack and sort through, weeks worth of mail on the table that has to be attended to, maybe some unpleasant surprises- like the time I left a glass of milk out and left for two weeks. But even though there are a list of things to do and you've come back to reality, you have that happy relief of being home. That's how I felt at the conference, I came away with more questions than I had walked in with, I had a huge list of things to read, do, investigate, and then pray about, truths touched my soul, my mind was enlightened to the knowledge and potential of what I am capable of- like something I always knew but had forgotten, we learned so much about healthy, natural birth practices and how the western culture- in a well met attempt to meet the needs of higher risk women, have screwed things up for the majority of women. Many of the typical hospital practices are not evidence based and are decided based more on insurance costs instead of what's best for the laboring mother. Realizing that my odds of having a healthy, vaginal birth would depend a lot of the amounts of interventions I had/ or didn't have during the next labor I began to rethink my hospital based approach to birth. While further researching over the next several months, I realized that all my ICAN friends who had a Vaginal Birth After a Cesarean (VBAC) either had their kids at home or arrived at the hospital literally pushing. The more I learned and the more I interviewed potential OB's in our Metro East area, the more I became convinced that to have a positive- low intervention birth experience in this area, I would have to not walk through those hospital doors. It just isn't my space and the focus isn't on me- the laboring woman. So we started thinking about potential other options for the next time we had a baby.
   

On December 19th, we found out we were expecting our second child. we were so excited to welcome another child into our family and felt so thankful that Heavenly Father was blessing us with another one of His children. This also brought us to the real life bridge of our birth, we couldn't hang out there. We had to choose what land to stand on, which plan was best for us. After much personal and family prayer and going to the temple we made the choice to have this baby out of the hospital. In Illinois, a home birth is only legal if it is attended by a Certified Nurse Midwife (CNM) who works under a Physician who is willing to make house calls "should medical intervention be necessary" aside from the fact that this isn't to be found (how many MD's do you know that make house calls?) it also doesn't make since. If you need an intervention that your midwife can't provide, then that means you need medical intervention at the hospital, the MD wouldn't be very helpful coming to your house- fools. CNM's typically work in the hospital and typically don't have a "birth can be safe at home" mindset. This basically makes a home birth in Illinois "illegal". Midwives throughout the country that attend home births are usually Lay Midwives or Certified Professional Midwives. We decided to have an "out of hospital birth" in Missouri. We met and chose our midwife- Jennifer who is a Nationally Certified CPM and our plans were underway.

  My pregnancy went perfect and I learned a lot from my midwife. We were able to prevent possible urinary tract infections and yeast infections- which are linked to premature rupture of the membranes (which is why Michael was premature) and I am so thankful for the preventative measures rather then having to treat something later. We also took a birth class focused on having a natural birth and how to manage pain, etc. I wouldn't have made it through labor without some of the techniques I learned in this class. At 34 weeks Peanut was frank breech- Jennifer gave me a whole bunch of exercises to do that support turning a breech baby. I also visited SpinningBabies.com for help and it worked. Peanut turned head down and we were so excited that our plans were back on a stress free track. As the weeks progressed we decided to get another ultrasound (at 38 weeks) to confirm the baby's position, since Peanut's head was so posterior it was difficult to get a good feel of her head.

 So, on Tuesday. August 7th we had our ultrasound and confirmed that Peanut was indeed head down, and low enough that you couldn't even see the top of her head in the picture. That night about 10pm, my water started leaking. I called Jennifer to let her know and went to bed. I was having irregular contractions but slept through the night.

 

Wednesday I went to the park with Michael, taking advantage of our one on one time while he was still our only child. My contractions got closer together- 10 to 15 minutes apart and lasting for about a minute each. Dana came over with Cameron for a playdate and brought lunch. I was in contact with Jennifer all day and she had me start taking Echinacea and Vitamin C as well as taking my temp every 4 hours to guard possible infection- since it was clear at this point that my water would be broken for a while before the baby would be born. I was able to sleep that night too.

The next morning, Thursday I took Michael and Gemma to the park again and we spent the rest of the day reading stories and swinging outside. My contractions were more intense and 2-4 minutes apart at this point, so Josh took off school, we put Michael down for a nap and told him that Grandma would be here when he woke up and that mommy was going to have the baby soon. We called Jennifer and headed to her office in St. Louis. We picked up Applebee's on the way there and met Barbara, Jennifer's assistant at the office- she had been there doing last minute set up stuff. We ate and decided to go on a walk to Tower Grove Park- we walked about 3 Miles and came back to the office. Jennifer came a little while later and my contractions were still going strong but had slowed to about 7 minutes apart. I wasn't able to sleep through the night this time.

On Friday morning I was tired, but felt great, so Josh and I went on another walk, when we got back I started some homeopathics to try and move things along. I also drank Caster Oil - vomited it up- and took more- slower this time. It progressed my labor. I had been eating and drinking regularly, which at this point was my only energy boost as I was unable to rest between contractions and sleeping was out of the question. My contractions were strong and I kept getting in and out of the birthing tub. I was feeling pooped but hopeful that all would be well. I decided to read my scriptures, I had been reading in the Book of Mormon and the last time I read had stopped in the middle of a chapter. Continuing where I had left off, I opened to Alma chapter 56- in which the righteous people of God are defending their city from the wicked- blood thirsty Lamanites...I opened to verse 17- which reads... And now they were determined to conquer in this place or die...  this made me laugh and gave me renewed energy to go into my primal brain and give birth. I decided that I needed to know what was going on so I decided I wanted to be checked at about 9:30pm, this was a "tiger" for me during our Birth Class that Josh and I talked about with our instructor (facing them so they didn't ruin labor in the moment of truth)- I feared I would labor for really long- get checked and not be very for along, I didn't want that to devastate me and slow or stop my labor. So it was something I wanted to try to NOT do- get checked I mean. But by 9:30pm on day 3, curiosity got the best of me and I asked Jenn to check me.  I was dilated to a 4! For real! We were all really surprised and had to face the possibility of me being too tired and worn out to see this birth through at the Midwife's office. We talked about the possibility of transferring to the hospital to be able to get some pain relief so that I might be able to rest, so that I might be able to still have a vaginal birth. The obvious downfall to this was that my water had been broken for an extended period of time, and even though I had no signs of infection and Peanut was great (her heart rate being checked every 15 minutes) that wasn't going to be alright with anyone at the hospital. I would have been wheeled off to the operating room.

 After praying about it Josh and I felt it best to stay put and work harder to get me into my primal brain, so that I could give birth. I delved deep. I was exhausted, and part of me felt like just going and having surgery again, I could try harder the next time around- no one would judge me- I wouldn't care if they did- at least it would be MY choice this time. And then I remembered that I was a woman, that MY Heavenly Father blessed me with this child, with this knowledge of what a woman's body can be capable of given the best circumstances- nothing is wrong with the baby, nothing is wrong with me... I'm tired and worn out- so what! Woman have done this in rice fields- and then gone back to work in the fields- with the baby on their backs! Woman have done this in the back of covered wagons, there is the story of the woman in South America who gave birth in a tree during a flood and Mary gave birth in a manger. I CAN give birth HERE and WILL. I got in the pool (it gave relief to my now terrible back labor) and focused on the fact that I AM doing this- it's slow- but it's going. I'm not transferring unless there is some health concern for me or the baby and at this point tired was not a health concern. I had energy, I am brave, I am strong and was made to give birth to this baby. At almost 11 pm I was checked again- my request. I was dilated to a 5... but was almost completely thinned. I got back in the pool, and stayed there.

Peanut was born at 12:44am Saturday morning- 14 minutes after I told Josh, "I think I need to push." His response, in a very casual voice, "then push." She was born- I pushed 5 or 6 times. I can honestly say that it wasn't the painful pushing I had expected. My body just did it, I pushed that first push but after that I had no control, there was a ton of pressure, and I think I was in shock at what my body was doing, but it was an awesome, peaceful experience. When she came out she was covered in vernix- it coated my stomach after I held her. We sat admiring her for several minutes before I remembered to look at what she was, when I did, I looked down and in shock said, "YOU"RE A GIRL?!?" We were so shocked! Everyone thought she was a boy, I carried the same as with Michael and just "felt" like the baby would be a boy... of course I thought Michael was a girls so I'm 0-2. She was so pretty and precious. When I pulled her up from the pool water she made no noise- just looked around and after two small puffs from the little oxygen mask thing she started screaming. It was beautiful.
Adilene Johanna weighed in at 8 lbs 4 oz, 20 3/4 inches long.

 

We got cleaned up a little and Adilene nursed and we all slept. We left about 7am to drive home. It was all kind of magical to me. I will forever be grateful to my Heavenly Father for blessing us with another beautiful child and for His tender mercies to me in granting me the experience I was hoping for, in a loving familiar atmosphere with only the people I invited being there. I am so thankful for the blessings in my life and for my beautiful family that has been expanded. My awesome husband with his strengthening and encouraging support and his worthiness to give me blessings when I needed them most, for my beautiful new daughter and her marvelous big brother.         

My heart feels like a bird uncaged. I love you so much my sweet little Adilene,
you have given me wings.