The Birth Story of Seamus Emmanuel

I'd had an easy pregnancy, none of the usual ailments, not even any stretch marks even though I'd gained a phenomenal amount of weight. Supposedly the weight gain was due to pre-eclampsia (I had the other signs as well)--high b.p, proteinuria, swelling, etc. I still wasn't considered high risk though and my midwife was wonderful. We live in an area that is not midwife-friendly, and she was a treasure to find.

Anyway, being as this was my first pregnancy, I didn't know what constituted "alot" or "normal" fetal movement and thought everything was fine. I had questioned Jane (our midwife) about it before, but she'd done manual non-stress tests and said everything was fine. So I go on my merry way until the ninth month when I start doing kick counts. The baby (we knew he was a boy) always managed to get in under the wire, but the movements were never kicks or punches like I'd heard other women say. I called Jane and said I think something is wrong and this time I wasn't goung to take no for an answer. She said that she had thought about me all weekend long and was going to call me first thing Monday to say let's check it out. (I beat her to the punch by calling her Sunday night)!

Her and I go to the hospital on Monday am, and I get a complete biophysical profile. This whole thing takes about an hour and a half that I am on the monitor, the 2 technicians talking in whispers the entire time while I keep my eyes pealed on Jane to gauge her reactions.

When the test results finally come back, the baby boy had scored a 7. I was then told if he had scored a 6 an immediate C-section would have been scheduled because the baby was in serious trouble and had confirmed what I had been saying for a couple of months now, that this baby WASN'T moving as he should have been. Why? I went home and called my husband at work and told him I was packing up and heading for the hospital. Unfortunately because of all this, it meant I had to go on the monitor for 2 hours upon arrival and then intermttently every 1/2 hour (I think!). I had put in calls to everyone who was coming (my mom, sister, and Grandma)--they had to come from 4 hours away so they started ASAP!

Jane had thought we could try Cervidil (a cervical effacer) before jumping into an IV drip with pitocin. I was grateful. Cervidil had to be applied twice and can only be applied 12 hours apart so I was there for quite awhile! After the second application and it looked like it wasn't going to work, we scheduled the dreaded drip for 8 the next morning. I said goodbye to my family, who finally made it and some friends who had come to visit. This was about 10 o'clock.

Jane had told Billy and I we should try nipple stimulation or sex, "A baby comes out the same way he got in there..." was her advice. So about 11 we try the stimulation with Billy sitting behind me but concentrating more on the movie that was on than on what he was doing, so I said I could do a better job myself and started to go to the hottub. Just as I got up I felt a pop and said I thought my water broke. Billy was all attention then. :)

This was about 11:15, and the nurses had come in to check and they said that yes the water had definately broken (as if maybe I had in reality peed my pants or something!). We thought we'd wait awhile to call Jane as she had just gone home after staying in the hospital with us through an uneventful day. Well things started moving super quickly with no easy, gradual contractions. I was also very tired because I had stayed up all night the night before because I had been so excited. That wasn't really wise. I needed all my strength now, and I just didn't have it.

I was in the hot tub now and contractions were very intense, me falling asleep between each one and waking up to horrible pain. It had such a nightmarish quality to it--the bathroom was dark and the water was bubbling and swirling around me, and I was alternately cold then hot. Billy tried to be a great support but he kept whispering loudly in my ear all these encouragements and all I could hear was that when I wanted him to be quiet so I could concentrate on geting through these contractions. He went to tell the nurse that I should be checked to see how far I was and if Jane should be called, but as this was my first baby no one thought I could be progressing that quickly... When the nurse did get there and check, she shouted to the other nurse DOWN THE HALL to call Jane and said to Billy We have to get her out of this tub unless you were planning a water birth. Which we weren't.

At 12:30 I was fully dilated and effaced and ready to start pushing with the only problem being that neither Jane nor the doc had arrived yet! Just when I couldn't stand it anymore and had decided to push anyway Jane comes wheeling into the room, all windblown, and looking to me very beautiful indeed, and tells me in a gentle voice to push my baby out.

Seamus Emmanuel was born at 12:54am on a Wednesday--the best day of my life, thus far (Murron hadn't come along yet which gave me 2 best days). I remember the first thing I did when he was put on my tummy was laugh. "You're so funny" was all I could keep saying. He weighed in at 6 lbs and 11oz--my birthweight exactly. Turns out all the fuss was because taht baby had managed to lasso himself with his cord--his little arms and legs held fast to his body, effectively rendering him unable to move. We were all so grateful to God and impressed with the little cowboy. He must have moved and swam around so much when he was small that he just got caught. And now, almost 3 years later, I can see what happened--he still hasn't stopped moving!! He is so strong and coordinated and (I know I am moving a bit beyond the birth story into downright bragging, But...) beautiful that even those nightmarish times in the tub are remembered as joy.

Copyright 1998 by author
Used by permission