Saturday, July 5, 2014

Rose Hosanna Birth Story

I don't think I usually post birth stories of our children. They have all been very precious times but I guess I just haven't thought anyone would be amazingly interested.  But...this time I do have something specific to share.

Warning ahead of time...I will be discussing some "medical details" that may be more info than desired :-).

So, let me go back to the beginning of our childbearing years.  I was 29 when I got pregnant with Naomi, and 30 when I gave birth to her. 

Now I've said this before and I'll say it again, very few women who have a first child at 30 will have 9 children.  I never expected it, especially as it took us close to a year to conceive Naomi. 

But, obviously, we are a very "fertile" couple, and Lydia followed Naomi by 18 months, and Isaac followed Lydia by 18 months and then, wow, we had 20 months before we had Joseph!  (I haven't talked about our birth control stance and won't now -- suffice it to say that we weren't using birth control!)

Each child was and is totally precious and loved. 

The first 3 children had easy vaginal deliveries.  With Naomi, our first, I was in sluggish labor for a long time, but I only had to push 20 minutes.  Lydia and Isaac were easier still.

Joseph was a breech baby, with a placenta in the wrong place such that the OB couldn't try to turn him.  So my OB said he would be a C-section as she doesn't attempt breech vaginal deliveries.  I was nervous about that but we prayed and went ahead with the C-section, with the understanding that I would attempt a VBAC (vaginal birth after Caesarean) if we had another child.  I conceived Miriam when Joseph was just over 7 months old (our 2 closest kids) but in that short time, the hospital where I deliver our kids stopped allowing VBAC's!  So from Joseph onward, it has been C-sections.

There is no doubt that a vaginal delivery is preferable to a C-section, which is fairly major surgery. But a C-section is better, by far, than losing the life of mom or baby.  And actually, my first 4 C-sections went very well.  I never had problem with feeling nauseous from anesthetic, and I recovered fairly quickly.  It was also pretty mellow in terms of the delivery itself. Labor is definitely LABOR, it is hard work. But with a planned C-section, everyone else is doing the work :-).

Daniel was our 5th C-section, and it was the first time I had a real complication. During delivery, the OB discovered my bladder was adhered with scar tissue to my uterus.  She tried to separate them but the bladder opened up and had to be sewed shut, and I had to have a catheter for 8 days while the bladder healed up.

  Now in the grand scheme of things, a catheter for 8 days is nothing.  It is nothing like Joni Eareckson Tada, who became a quadriplegic at age 17. Nothing like the author of "After the Fall", who fell off a 100 foot cliff and was very badly hurt.  Nothing like cancer or a host of other things.

But I have to admit I HATED that catheter.  My first week post partum is pretty tough anyway, figuring out nursing, dealing with a big huge wound in my uterus, being exhausted, being hormonal. I've never had BAD baby blues but I have them, especially those first few days.  Adding the complication of a catheter (which was uncomfortable) and having to remember to empty the associated bag frequently was just another level of frustration. I really really really hated that catheter.

 So I'll  be honest, I was very nervous about getting pregnant again because I was fairly traumatized about the bladder problem.  Also, my OB said that my uterus had a lot of scar tissue and that things were kind of messy in there.  I have had friends who experienced long term pain from C-section scar tissue but I never have so I wasn't uncomfortable, but I was aware that I had had a lot of C-sections. 

  I was 42 when I had Daniel.  I have many friends who don't use birth control and rarely are they carrying babies to term past 42.  So...while I was afraid of pregnancy, I was also inclined to think I wouldn't likely carry a baby full term. I also kept sensing, once again, that this was an issue of trusting God.  I am not saying everyone has the same call from the Lord, but the Lord kept assuring me of His love and care for our family.  Given my age and the fact that few 44 year old women can even have a child, I handed over the question of pregnancy to the Lord.  I knew that in a way, another baby would be unlikely -- even given my history of getting pregnant easily.  And I also knew that every baby is a gift.

Obviously, I got pregnant with Rose.  I was 43 and 11 months when we conceived her.  I half expected a miscarriage but the pregnancy went very smoothly with no real scares.

  And during all that time, I struggled with anxiety about the delivery. Part of my anxiety was concern about her, since we chose not to do a bunch of "old mama" testing.  We weren't going to do an amniocentesis, nor would we abort, so we decided we didn't need the worry of testing which is often wrong. But there was still a chance she would be born and we'd discover she had a pretty big health issue.  Down Syndrome is 1 in 25 for a 44 year old woman, so that was a possibility. (We did do ultrasounds and everything looked great with Rose, so that was encouraging.)

  A big part of my anxiety was the delivery.  I prayed that the Lord would heal the scar tissue so my bladder wasn't adhered to anything.

  On June 16th, we went in for the C-section. Kevin reminded my OB about the bladder problem from Daniel's birth, and she said, "Well, it may happen again."  I said (bravely), "Well, if it does, it does."

  She opened me up, and as I lay there she said, "Oh wow, the bladder is totally STUCK to the uterus. I'm not even going to try to separate it. I'm just going to work to the side and get the baby out that way." And she did.  Rose wasn't a big baby and the surgeons just moved over and got her out without disturbing the adhered area.

  So everything was fine.  I didn't have a catheter (YEAH!) and Rose was healthy and beautiful and nursed well.  It is, as usual, not an easy time and yes, Kevin and I are very tired. But I'm healing well.  And Rose is such a blessing.

  So it is interesting...I really wanted God to heal the scar tissue but actually, there was so much scar tissue that it made sense to just leave things as they were.  And that was an answer to prayer, just not the answer I expected.

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