When my husband and I got married, we talked about waiting a year before “trying” for a baby. On our 1st wedding anniversary, I got pregnant.
No morning sickness, praise the Lord! I felt good, the baby was growing well. I decided to go with midwives. The entire pregnancy went well. I did have one random pregnancy symptom. I had a lot of saliva, like extra saliva in my mouth for a month or two, in my second or third trimester (can’t remember exactly now) and I would have a “spit cup” so I didn’t have to keep swallowing it… ya, kinda gross, but honestly, didn’t bother me much and it did stop.
My due date was March 11th. Midwives said the baby was healthy and an average weight. I planned to have a natural homebirth. Mid-February, a month before the baby was due, we got the inflatable pool ready and blown up in a room in our house. During the last week of February, I was experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions.
On February 27th, just before 7 am, my husband woke up. I was having Braxton Hicks contractions all night. I told him I didn’t want him to go to work because he worked over 30 minutes away and if I went into labour that day, I wanted him with me. He was torn because he wanted to stay with me but didn’t want to start his parental leave early if the baby wasn’t coming yet. He went to shower and while he was showering, he prayed and asked God to give him a sign if he should stay home before he would leave for work…
I was lying in bed when I heard a pop like a balloon popping and I felt like I was peeing myself… except I couldn’t stop it and then I realized, my water broke! I ran into the bathroom, screaming, “My water broke!” and my husband thought to himself, “Ok, God, that’s the sign!”
Little did I know what was about to happen… but God knew.
Contractions started right after my water broke. I called the midwife. She said she’d come around noon. When she came, labour had started already, with 5 hours of contractions so far, she checked me and said I was only 2 cm dilated. She informed me that because my water broke, they would want me to deliver the baby within 24 hours.
She told me to meet her at the hospital to check how far along I was at 8 pm. She said if they check and I’m further along, we can go back home, but if I’m not dilated enough, I may need to deliver at the hospital because I would need to be augmented. I was planning to deliver at home, that’s what I wanted, that was my plan. But I agreed with what the midwife said.
I didn’t understand why at the time… but God knew.
At 8 pm we met the midwife at the hospital. I was only 2.5 cm dilated and it had been 13 hours since my water broke and with consistent contractions that were getting stronger. So much so that the pain was becoming very uncomfortable.
She told me we would have to stay in the hospital, so my idea of a home birth wasn’t going to happen. But at that point, all I wanted was to deliver my baby safely, and for both me and him to be ok and so I prayed and felt that God was with me, and not to worry.
She then explained that before they augmented me, I needed to decide if I wanted an epidural. I didn’t, I wanted to do it naturally, but being over 12 hours of labour and not knowing how much longer it would be, I prayed and agreed to get the epidural before augmentation would start.
I didn’t understand why at the time… but God knew.
Because it was at night, they only had one anesthesiologist in the hospital that was currently in the OR so I had to wait. They got me and my husband in a room and I called my mom and asked her to come be with us too.
It wasn’t until 1 or 2 am that the anesthesiologist finally came to give me the epidural. It was such a relief once that kicked in because the pain of the contractions was bordering unbearable. Now the augmentation could begin.
The midwife would check me every hour, and I was dilating about half to one cm an hour… until it was the 24-hour mark which was 7:00 am on February 28th and I was now 9.5 cm dilated. She said that the baby should come out soon, I just needed to get that last half cm dilated before I could push. She checked me again at 8 am still 9.5 cm… again at 9 am still 9.5 cm… again at 10 am still 9.5 cm… again at 11 am still 9.5 cm…
I didn’t understand why at the time… but God knew.
At this point, the midwife had been up for over 24 hours and I guess that’s the point where midwives tap out and get someone else to come in. So she called in another midwife, one that I’d never met before.
Somehow it got to be about 1:30 pm, and the new midwife had arrived, she checked me, and I was still at 9.5 cm… but now I was feeling pain in other parts of my body and was not comfortable, no matter what position I would try, even though I had the epidural.
When midwives get to the point where they don’t know what else to do, they consult an OB. She called for an OB to come check on me. When the OB walked into the room, she took one look at me and said “That baby will not come out that way, he is too big. I’m cancelling the scheduled c-section I have and you need an emergency c-section. We need to get the baby out now.”
I didn’t understand why at the time… but God knew.
My mother started crying and ran out of the room. I could tell that my husband was trying to be strong for me. The OB then checked me and said my son was stuck. Everything became a blur. I was planning a natural home birth. What was happening was not part of my plan. I’d been awake and in labour for over 30 hours, I was at the hospital, got the epidural and now I was getting wheeled to the OR for an emergency c-section. But even though I didn’t understand what was happening or why at the time, I stood on God’s promises and I stood on His Word, knowing that He would never leave me and that He would get me through.
Once in the OR, they gave me whatever drugs they had to through the epidural. It took a while to get my husband by my side, they had already started cutting me. My body was shaking; I couldn’t relax. With my arms out by my sides, strap down, my body was shaking beyond my control. I felt like I was a fish out of water and I couldn’t stop the flopping. The anesthesiologist (a different one from earlier that morning) told me that I had to calm down or he’d have to put me out.
Finally, my husband came in and ran to my side. He held my hand and I squeezed it tight. The anesthesiologist told him that my heart rate was getting too high and that he needed to calm me down somehow. My husband told me to recite Psalm 91 slowly. As I did, my husband later told me that he saw my heart rate get closer to where it was supposed to be.
At 2:20 pm on February 28th, after 31 hours of labour and an emergency c-section, I heard my baby cry. I cried uncontrollably. He was finally here. The midwife brought him to me so that I could see him but my eyes were so blurry with tears that I could barely see him. The midwife then told my husband to go with her and the baby so that he could do skin-to-skin while they stitched me back up and cleaned me up.
I didn’t understand why at the time… but God knew.
I remember through all of this I was quoting scriptures and praying to God… I told God I don’t understand why things aren’t going the way I had planned, but I know that He is good and I know that me and my baby will be okay because God keeps His promises.
This was one of the scariest experiences I’ve ever had. I held on to God’s promises with all that was within me. I was so thankful that I had filled myself with so much of God’s Word and scripture to know His promises in those moments when fear was trying to take over. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t afraid… I was. But I wouldn’t let that stop me from speaking God’s Word over me and my baby.
As they wheeled me into the recovery room, my first sight was my husband standing, holding my son, doing skin-to-skin, and all of a sudden black stuff started coming out of my son’s diaper and going down my husband’s pants. In case you don’t know what that was, it’s meconium, baby’s first poop. My son had poop explode out of his first diaper because it turns out that my son (who was born at 38 and a half weeks) was born weighing 10 lb 5 oz. He was born weighing in the 99.9th percentile! They had a newborn diaper on him, but it was too small; he needed to go into size one right away. No newborn diapers or clothes for my baby.
They cleaned him up and then gave him to me for skin-to-skin. This is where I got my first picture with my baby. I was so overwhelmed with emotion. So thankful that me and baby were okay. I thanked God that He got me through and that He is faithful to His word. He was watching over me and my son to make sure that we would be okay.
I realize now that God knew what was going to happen. It wasn’t a surprise to Him. He knew how much my son weighed, I didn’t. He knew my son would get stuck and that I would need an emergency c-section, but I didn’t. He knew that I needed to be in the hospital for this to happen, so He made sure I was there. I thank God that even though “my plan” wasn’t what happened, He never left me, and He got me through. I praise the Lord for the delivery of my healthy baby boy and for never leaving me. I am so thankful for the Word of God, that it is real and true and it works!
To God be all the glory.
PS. The blog photo is my first photo with my son.
Part 2: My postpartum experience. Coming soon…
