Murron (pronounced MYRR-in)Rose was born on March 2,1998, after one and a half hours of labor. Our first child was born in a hospital with the help of a midwife, and we wanted the same for Murron. Actually we wanted a homebirth both times, but it didn't happen with Seamus so we definitely wanted it this time. I was again living in a midwife-hostile area and had to go as far as an hour away to find one. I worked with her and her partner until I was 30 weeks along, at which time we got definite word that our insurance would NOT cover midwife expenses. As my husband is in school and I am a SAHM, we really had no choice but to go with what our insurance would cover.
Anyway, the doctor I found turned out to be okay, going along with my birthplan in the case of uneventful pregnancy and delivery. I had made it through Seamus' birth with out the aid of medication and wanted the same for this one. I told him I also wanted no stirrups (yes, our area is very nonprogressive and stirrups are still used!), no monitor, no nurses checking on me every 10 minutes, I wanted a support tem in the room, my list wenton and on but he was very accomodating.
The baby's due date was the 6th of March, but on March 2nd I went into the hospital for an insert of prostaglandin gel. I agreed to this because my doctor had told me he was leaving town that weekend and the doc who rotated with him was not as "progressive" as he was and would most likely do a routine episiotomy, stirrups, etc. Besides, by this time I was ready for things to be moving along, so against everything that I believe about birth I went for another induction (my first baby was induced too but for legitimate reasons).
I got to the hospital around 7 and the gel was inserted. If it didn't begin labor, I was going home by 8. By 8 the monitor was showing "uterine activity." I thought they just wanted to keep me there so I lobbied to go home, but the nurse advised me to give it another few minutes to see what happened. By 8:15 I was feeling uncomfortable, like menstrual cramps but nothing regular. I went into the shower to let the water run onto my back. I came out around 8:30 with definate contractions. I called my husband who had just gotten home from work and told him it
looked as though labor had started and that he should be on his way. He asked me if he had time to eat something, and I said sure because contractions had JUST started, and I thought we had plenty of time.
Things intensified very quickly and when Billy got there at 9 I was well into labor. When I had a cevical check done upon arrival I was MAYBE a fingertip dilated. By nine o'clock I had had a half hour of INTENSE contractions and was only able to bear it by leaning over the bed. The nurse came in again and wanted to check the dilation and wanted me to get up on the bed on my back with my feet up. I said I wasn't mioving from this position and if she wanted to do an exam it had to be from this postion. She did and said I was only at 4. I wanted to die.
4?!? She said it was probably inaccurate as she had never done an exam in that position before.
Things get murky in my mind from here on because of how speedily things moved and also due to the fact that I was in horrid pain. I remember at some point the contractions were so bad that the only release I had was in crying. My water broke then and
people got serious. THIS BABY IS COMING--no matter that I had been in labor only an hour--IT WAS TIME!
The ring of fire was awful (I don't remember it being that way with my first one--although we had done perineal massage for weeks before Seamus so maybe that was why). But before I knew it the head was out and then the whole little body. Billy said, "Guess what? We have our girl." (He had maintained throughout the pregnancy that it was a girl, I thought it was another boy).
She was put on my tummy right away. I couldn't believe we had a girl. She was so precious. She nursed right away. If I had thought about the whole scene (me lying there stark naked with my legs spread and a pile of blood pooling around me while a baby nursed and glaring lights in my face on a slab of a bed) I may have been SOMEwhat self-consious, but all I could think of was that little thing laying next to me and how happy I was she was here.
About this time, the doctor came in with a sheepish look on his face and asked how everything went. The nurse filled him in on
the medical side of it while I grinned and said, "Great!" I felt so good after giving birth, I felt like I could have gottenn up and walked a couple miles. The doctor went to the foot of the bed and checked things down there. No tearing, no problems.
The staff tried to take her away then for all the tests but I said no. Then they wanted her to go in the bassinette under the heat lamp but I said it was plenty warm against me. I finally gave in after she had trouble regulating her temp and couldn't get it up past 97. She was in there for maybe an hour or so.
She was a grweat nurser right away and she smelled so baby-sweet.
We still hadn't agreed on a name. We were going betweeen Denali and Murron, finally settling on Murron Rose. She weighed 6lbs, 12oz at birth and was 19 1/2 inches long. Everyone who came to see me said they couldn't believe how energetic I was and
truly, I couldn't believe it either. The nurse told me that this was baby number 10 that she had had to help deliver. She said she sees a lot of women try for no meds but rarely does that occur. That is so sad to me, because I know if I could make it through without it, anyone could. I also know that that was a big factor in Murron being so alert and happy after the birth and us getting off to such a great start.
I took her home two days later singing to her the whole time "Met her on a Monday and my heart stood still, Murron-ron-ron the Murron-ron." Corny! But I was very smitten.
Three weeks after her birth she was diagnosed with pneumonia and had to be re-hospitalized. By that time
she had put on 3 lbs (in 3 weeks!). She went on powerful antibiotics which supposedly cleared up the pneumonia but really wreaked havoc with my baby. Never again will I let that happen. She has had no immunizations, no anitbiotics since that time and will not again except in a life or death situation. Thank God I haven't had to decide that as since 3 weeks old she hasn't had a single thing wrong with her--no colds, no ear infections, ABSOLUTELTY NOTHING. She was real cry-ey though for two months after her hospital stay for the pneumonia. But now we have a
six month old porkey little angel who is so healthy and happy. Praise God for my children!
Copyright 1998 by author
Used by permission
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