by the way if you don't want to read about the actual birth process you might want to stop here and come back some other time when I post about my crazy nutrition philosophies, real food and traditional cooking, homeschooling or my adorable kids.
The Birth Story of the Smallest Rongey
Part 1
In honor of baby Rongey's first birthday I thought I would
release the “official” written version of
my birth story. I’ve kept it to
myself and close to my heart for a year.
It was such a life changing experience and it was so full of joy that I
wanted to cherish it and keep it private for a while. I’m ready to share now. I hope that others can benefit from my story.
I am high risk. I have been a type II diabetic for almost 20
years. Seriously, look it up in any
birth book. You’ll find diabetics listed
in the ‘must birth in a hospital’ section of
most any birth book. It can be the mainstream What to Expect
When Expecting or a more natural birth minded book. Most true diabetics would not even consider
seeking an out of hospital birth. I hope
my story will help change that.
To tell the whole story of baby R's birth
you have to understand a little of my past birth history. I was pregnant with
twins in 1999. I worked hard to keep my
blood sugar under control. I followed
the American Diabetes Association diet closely.
I monitored my blood sugar 5 times a day. At 7 months I was put on insulin. At 34.5
weeks I was hospitalized. The reason
for my hospitalization was never really confirmed. I had a high blood pressure reading and one
urine test where protein was detected.
No other symptoms of pre-eclampsia showed up and I never had protein
detected again but I was kept for 10 days.
They were born at 36 weeks via c-section. My daughter did great but my son was in NICU
for 10 days with breathing issues. 3
years later I was pregnant again. Again
I used the ADA VBAC . My son was born with pneumonia in both lungs
and it was touch and go the first 24 hours.
That was such a traumatic event that we decided to have no more kids
even though I really wanted another.
Fast forward 6+
years and I had learned a lot about other birthing options and even more about
nutrition and blood sugar management.
When I found my midwife I found someone with a like mind
about nutrition who would support me in this crazy thing I wanted to do. I wanted to have a homebirth. Most importantly, I wanted to know what it
felt like to give birth to a healthy baby.
I wanted the experience of not being separated from my baby for
hours. I knew that it would require a
superhuman effort to control my blood sugars all the way to the end of
pregnancy. I felt that I possessed the
knowledge to stay off of insulin I just needed to see if my body would
cooperate. I did whatever my midwife asked me
to do. I saw a chiropractor for the first time in my life and had regular adjustments. She was
amazing. I never was bothered by the sciatic pain that was constant in my previous pregnancies. I exercised daily. With extreme diet changes and some awesome
supplements I stayed off of insulin!* It
took 9 months of intense focus but I learned a very important lesson about
myself. If I want something I will make
it happen. And now for the rest of the
story:
My husband and I were sitting in the master bath on Friday night,
Jan 14th. We had decided to
set up the birth tub to see how it would fit in the space. All of the sudden I stood up in alarm and ran
to the other bathroom. I had felt a
small unexplainable gush. It soon became
clear to me that I was leaking fluid. I
felt terrified suddenly and began to shake.
I wasn’t ready for this to happen yet.
I was 38 weeks but still felt like I needed a bit more time to
prepare. I hadn’t even had one
contraction.
I called my midwife to let her know what had happened. She
asked if we were prepared. (as in did we have food, supplies etc…) I said no, we needed to go shopping. She suggested we take a leisurely relaxed
trip to the store and get what we needed and then mosey on home and get a good
night’s sleep. She planned to come the
next day to check on my status if she didn’t get a call in the night telling
her to come immediately. By this time I
was getting really excited that we were going to be meeting this baby soon. We gathered our children and told them what
was happening. Then at 10pm we all went to the grocery store. We had the most relaxing and fun shopping
trip. We were there about 45 minutes
then we went home, straightened the house and I went to bed. I was so excited it was hard to sleep but I
told myself I needed to rest while I could.
Much to my surprise I woke up the next morning fully rested and no signs
of impending labor.
My midwife and her student came over the next morning.
She did an exam and found I was not quite 1 cm dilated and maybe 75%
effaced. She said we had a couple of
choices, we could try and kick start labor but she knew that my body wasn’t
really ready or we could sit and wait it out.
I loved that for the first time in my birth history someone was asking
me to trust my body. No question about
it, we chose to wait it out. She gave us
instructions to take the baby’s heartbeat every few hours and take my
temperature 3 times a day. I was to call
immediately if there was anything outside of the norm.
She left and we
waited and waited and waited. Every
night I went to bed anxious that labor might start and every morning I woke up
amazed that I had gotten an uninterrupted night of sleep. After so much intervention in my previous
births, my husband and I were so excited to go along for the ride and watch my body
prepare itself to give birth. Don’t get
me wrong, I did get impatient and worried a few times but overall I was so glad
that I had a midwife that was okay standing back and letting this all unfold as my body planned it.
*By the way, I'm not a doctor and in no way should this be taken as medical advice. Just sayin'....
sound's like a good chapter to me cus! i think you can keep up with your little project.can't wait till next chapter .
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