2 Timothy 1:7 "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."
Praise the Lord our little baby Moses is here safe and sound! He is 7 lbs even and 20.5 inches long born at 40 weeks and 5 days =) Our birth adventure started on Monday morning around 8 am when I noticed my water had broken. Thinking back to my last homebirth our midwife Judith came right away after I notified her of my water breaking and coached us through labor for about 5 hours with the help of breast pump, herbal tinctures and fast walking on a schedule she had me in hard labor the same day; despite my past history of having a broken bag of waters for up to 3 days before baby is born! I naively
expected the same treatment from the Williamsburg/ EVa Homebirth team....however when I called them one of the midwives (Chrissy) had let me know to hold off on trying to induce with a pump until the 12 hour mark. There was no mention of me being on a hospital like time table of how long I would be "allowed" to labor with my bag of waters broken. She called back around 4pm and asked if I would hold off until the next morning to try and get labor started as they had another mom in active labor....still no mention I was on a time table...so we listened to her advice and didn't try to get any labor started to be considerate of another mom in labor. The next morning my husband called Chrissy back and she then informed him that we had until 8pm that night to be in "active" labor or else consult with a physician! That set me into a panic! My husband asked if they would be coming over to help with labor like our last midwife and I heard her say that they wouldn't do any good here except to stare at me........I immediately went downstairs and started trying to pump with a manual breast pump which was doing nothing for me =(. I then went online to see how much an electric breast pump would cost ....way too much $ so then I looked on craigslist ....still too much $. Thankfully my friend from church Alyssa had a pump she let us borrow =) Also since the midwives were not coming anytime soon to try and help things along with herbs like our last midwife we went on a wild goose hunt for some black and blue cohosh and cotton root bark but could not find any liquid form....by the time we got back home it was after 1pm time was ticking and I was feeling the pressure! The midwives let me know they would be stopping by at 4pm to come up with a plan....They didn't get here until 5 pm...just 3 hours before the cut off time! They checked babies heartbeat and such and said I was not in active labor the baby was still high up and my cervix was still in the early stages not ready for active labor.....they left a little bottle of cotton root extract and were on their way again. My husband started to get the kids ready to go to my sisters....I went on a walk took the the cotton root every 30 minutes and pumped like a mad woman with the impending doom of the midwife team coming back to tell me that I "need"to get some "help" ie...pitocin from the doctors at a hospital or they will no longer care for me....even though there was no sign of infection, no sign of fetal distress, and plus we already paid them $2,800!!! After much prayer and consultation with some godly midwives who do not have the spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind from the Savior we were confident that this was a normal labor for my body and we would have the baby unassisted. The fear the midwives had put into my mind was all too familiar of my terrible hospital birth experiences....we signed termination papers for the midwives so they would be happy they are not liable and go on about their business with helping moms who fit into their hospital like mode of "normal" labors. My husband did call twice to see if they would refund a portion of the payment but the other midwife (Bridgette) refused claiming they performed their full service. Well around 10 am I started having contractions and about 11:35 baby Moses peacefully made his way into the world with just my husband and I and the Lord of course guiding and protecting us!
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7lkdVEUHHVxMykUv0Bu2xuF2zTiC0qk9bhNHDcE563dakTvuV19B6fgrCB3dKYljh5egAgEIomADI3hfPHxTMR0VwURiCsFRbjdmw-mYUDLvPH32qbI4Bzvwqaz-0T2HuiYrAADALUVI/s1600/SAM_3961.JPG)
Chris did a great job not passing out at the birth...lol =). About 15 minutes later we had a very knowledgeable friend (13 kids, unassisted birth champion) stop by with some equipment to weigh, measure, check baby and me out, help clean up and pray with us!
about 5 hours later Chris clamped and cut the cord and we had all our little ones come back home with my sister and nieces.
Praise the Lord for His wonderful gift of Life truly He is the one who calls our children from the womb when they are ready in His timing not mans!
But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace,
10 comments:
Way to go mommy and daddy! I would have to say, under the conditions, we would have done the same! :) Moses is a blessed little guy!!!
Praise God for His protection over you and baby Moses during this stressful time! I am SO excited for you all! I've been stalking your page waiting for baby news....lol. Never did I expect to hear you had to suffer all that drama. That is so awful. With my last baby I thoroughly researched unassisted childbirth due to the way my hospital midwife micromanages birth. However, God led me to stay with her and I'm so thankful I did. You all are SO brave to do what you did! So glad for you that baby Moses is ok, that you are ok and that your husband didn't pass out...lol!
So sorry things didn't work out with the midwifes the way you had planned. That's awful. I would like to know where this mom of 13 who previously birthed unassisted came from?! Had you known her all along? That right there was/is God looking out for you all.
Once again, praise God you are all ok. Please make sure to keep an eye on your bleeding and make sure all of the placenta passed with no tears or pieces left in. I feel like your midwifes should still be around to help but I'm sure they won't and I'm sure you don't want them to. Anyway, congratulations to you and your family!!!
Thank you Shannon and Lindsey for your kind words of encouragement. I have known the lady with 13 kids for about 8 years! I do believe she is way more qualified than both of the other midwives put together she just doesn't have the official legal title of midwife. More importantly she knows the Lord and is a godly woman...I have no idea what the other midwives believe or if they have any faith at all...Without knowing she was going to come help guide us we most likely would have gone into the hospital...but praise the Lord God provides! I am keeping an eye on the bleeding and the sweet birth assistant gave me her fancy thermometer before she left with the other midwives =)
Oh Kelly, I am so happy for you and Chris. This whole story shows again that God is in control, with midwife or without. You guys have done a phanomenal job, and have proved your faith in our great savor again. Your baby is beautiful.
But I must say, I am a little bit envious that I can't hold him. Grrrr.... I know envy is a sin. LOL, still, I wished I could hold him. Take care of you and those little guys of yours. Love you!!!!
God is definitely building our faith more and more when things don't go as planned...I am thankful for opportunities to grow in faith. I wish you were closer by to hold him too =)
Oops, I meant to write Savior not savor. Take care, Kelly and family. Love ya.
loved reading your story. Congrats on a beautiful new son!
Did I read correctly that you had 1.5 hrs active labor?!?!?!??!
Hey Katie =) It was good to meet you at trader joes and exchange homebirth stories gone wrong.....lol. Yes I have very quick active labors! Praise the Lord!
love the blog post ,good read and very inspiring God bless you and your beautiful family!
Post a Comment