JONATHAN DAVID
In July of 1992, we
discovered that we were expecting another baby. After two easy
hospital births, we had had our third baby at home, unassisted.
At that time, our main reason for having an unassisted birth was
the lack of medical insurance, which caused us to seek out God's
will for us concerning the place of birth. We felt God leading
us to just stay home and birth the baby into his daddy's hands.
Now we still didn't have any medical insurance, but even
if we did, I knew that home was where I wanted to birth my baby.
We prayed and asked God to lead us differently if we were not
to do the same again, but He never led different, so we prepared
as we did before.
My pregnancy progressed
normally, with us doing our own prenatal care. We would keep a
record of my B/P, my pulse, the fetal heart tones, my fundal height,
my weight..., everything that an OB. checks, except for blood
and urine tests.
Toward the end of my
pregnancy my husband, Scott, would periodically check for any
changes in my cervix. Using my LMP date, I estimated the due date
to be around March 8. Two of my previous babies had been a week
late, one was two weeks late, so I was not surprised when March
8 came and went. When I got to be 2 weeks late, I was starting
to imagine all kinds of possible reasons (there are a few deformities
that have post-dates as one of the complications). While the baby's
head was not engaged in the cervix, my Braxton-Hicks contractions
were increasing every day and my husband was noting slight changes
in the cervix. We continued to ask God to bless with a healthy
baby, and so I tried to be patient and not fret about being so
"late." On the evening of March 26, I noticed
some pinkish mucus and had Scott check. I was slightly more effaced
than I had been the night before, and a lot more 'slimy'. After
a couple of hours, I realized that my contractions were getting
closer together, so we called for my mom to come get the kids.
Also, my friend, Marla, came to stay the night, in case things
picked up. My sister opted to stay home, with the promise to come
first thing in the morning if she hadn't heard anything from us.
As it was still very
early labor, Scott went to bed, first telling me to wake him if
anything changed. Marla went to sleep in our recliner rocker,
but I was too excited to rest for long. While the contractions
were coming at regular intervals, they were still 10-12 minutes
apart with no engagement of the head. I knew that I should have
been resting, but I wanted to see if I could get my labor going
by walking around. By morning, there was some dilation to about
3 cm. with contractions averaging about 8-10 min. apart. Now I
was very tired with a lot of labor left to go. After my sister
arrived, our mother called, expecting to hear news of a baby.
At 4 p.m. I was only
at 5 cm. and had been there for a couple of hours. I was very
tired after not sleeping all night, but was not able to rest now.
The baby's heart rate was still good, so we weren't worried about
the length of time. Scott could feel that the baby's head was
still not engaged in the cervix, and we figured that that was
why it was taking so long for my cervix to dilate. There was no
direct pressure on the cervix to push it open. (We could feel
that this baby was smaller than my previous babies. Both of my
boys had been over 9 lb., so I was hoping this baby was a girl.)
We decided to try to get the head to engage by pressing down on
the top of the fundus during a contraction and holding it there.
After doing it for a few contractions, we found that we did push
the head lower. Scott checked the heart-rate, and it was still
good. After a second attempt, we succeeded in getting the head
to engage. We held it in place for about 4 contractions to make
sure it wouldn't go back up. The baby's heart-rate remained good.
After this, the contractions
really started to pick up. They were soon coming one on top of
the other. Around 6:30 p.m, Scott checked and found me to be completely
dilated. (I probably had been for some time, but he had been giving
computer technical help to someone over the phone, and only came
to check after being informed he was desperately needed to help
deliver a baby.)
After setting out our
supplies, he rigged up a sort of "birthing stool" in
the kitchen, and had me sit so I could deliver upright, with the
help of gravity. All this time I had felt no urge to push, so
he told me to go ahead and give a little push to see what would
happen. I gave a little push, and the head moved down some. Then
he said to push a little more, so I did. I'm glad Marla was ready
with the camera, because this time the urge to push came, and
the baby started to come real fast. Scott was shouting "Stop
pushing! Stop pushing! Breathe! Breathe!," but I couldn't
stop. My body just took over. Suddenly, the baby shot out, along
with the amniotic fluid from the sac breaking. Scott almost dropped
the baby, because it came shooting out so fast. He was unprepared
for such a quick delivery.
At 7:11 p.m. on March
27, 1993, we welcomed our fourth baby, and third son, Jonathan
David, into the world. He weighed 7 lb. 8 oz., my smallest
baby. He was very vocal about his long hard day. We have
a wonderful series of photos taken of the whole thing, showing
the gush of fluid over the baby's face, and of Scott's quick catch.
After examining me for tears, and finding none, Scott scolded
me for pushing when he said to stop. I explained that it wasn't
me, but my body was just doing what it was supposed to do. We
clamped the cord, and this time I got to cut it. The placenta
came soon with no problems.
After a visit with the
Well-Child Clinic, it was discovered that he had a club foot.
We were referred to Children's
Hospital, in Seattle, and his foot was
corrected using casting and a brace. At first we were told that
he had a 50% chance of needing surgery to fully correct it, but
Praise God, he didn't need surgery after all. We filed for his
birth certificate and S.S #, and thanked God for another blessing
born into his own father's hands.