Avram's Birth

It was December 29th when I woke up feeling pretty crampy, achey, etc. I had been thinking I would have had the baby by now.. I was almost in shock that I had not, and I was convinced that I was going to be pregnant forever, he had been due the 9th. I had lost my plug already, dilated to 3 centimeters, effacement was about 70%, had gone into false labour countless times and figured that today was just another one of those days. Then the back aches began......

My midwives did not think I would have any back labour since they thought the baby was in a good position. So I assumed the back aches were just preliminary like everything else. But they started getting rhythmic. I let them go on until about 3:00PM, when I called my husband Dallas to come home. The aches were getting stronger and harder and more obvious. I also noticed the baby was not very active.

Dal came home immediately. He got into bed with me and timed some of the aches. Definately contractions, 3-5 minutes apart lasting anywhere from 30-90 seconds. I laboured with them until about 11 PM, when I had to call one of my midwives, Melody and ask her what we should do next. The midwives decided to go ahead and come down (I had planned a homebirth), since the weather was supposed to get bad. They would be at my home by 2AM, since they were well over an hour away.

So, I got into a nice hot tub, and looked at this huge new hump that had appeared on my belly. The baby had changed position apparently, explaining the back labour.

By 2AM, when they arrived, the contractions were alittle stronger but not by much. They checked me and I was 3-4 centimeters, and almost completely effaced. The head was enagaged to almost +3. I remember not really feeling like I was really going to have a baby, it was very unreal to me.

As I continued to labour for many hours, the contractions got really strong, and I was screaming and crying through some of them. Breathing techniques were not working very well, and I felt like I was having a knife stabbed through my spine with every peak of a contraction. The bath seemed to be my only source of minor pain relief. Dallas held my hand, laid with me, and breathed with me. I looked into his eyes as a focal point and that seemed to help some, but not much. I moved from the couch to the bed to pacing the floors for a whole night without sleep. Now I look back and remembered that none of the things I had read on what to do when in labour to help, occurred to me, I forgot every little thing I ever read.

I had been in labour for almost 32 hours, and my doctor Mary decided we should check to see how I was doing again. I had only progressed to 5 centimeters and I was completely effaced. So they looked at me and said, "Shall we attempt to break the waters?". I was very scared to do so, since I had feared there might be meconium in the waters ( I had this feeling about it ever since my first false labour, or maybe even the deer accident at 8 months ).

But after some consoling I said go ahead and do it. So they did it, I did not feel a thing, just alittle gush... but they were all real quiet. I had a feeling something was wrong, but noone said anything. After they went and talked for a minute or two they came back and told me there was very thick meconium in my waters, and they were worried since my contractions did not get heavier after they broke my bag. So they looked at me and told me we had to go to the hospital. I started to cry but calmed down after a nice long shower. I just started to trust in the whole process, since I was completely exhausted and could not worry anymore.

So we rushed and got together a bag of things and went to the hospital. Melody rode with Dal and I, and timed my contractions, they were about 3-5 minutes apart, and they hurt badly.

We got to Washington Hospital and I met Dr. Isles who would be my doctor for the birthing. She decided after monitering the fetal heartrate and my contractions that I needed some pitosin to get things going alittle stronger. I was so exhausted, I could not even fathom contractions getting worse then these, I could not even lie on my side, or back, or anywhere for that matter. And in a very weak moment we discussed pain relief options, but I declined later. Finally we discovered the hospital bed could sit me up completely upright with my legs spread, it was as comfortable as it was going to get. Dharmaja my doula laboured with me through the pitosin. After 2 1/2 hours on the pitosin and no change in my cervix or in my contractions, they opted for a C-Section. They brought in all these forms for me to sign, and I wanted to kill the very sweet nurses, after they had me on this blood pressure cuff that was squeezing the energy out of me every 15 minutes.

They wheeled me to the operating room, and gave me a spinal. I started to throw up, so they gave me something in my IV, and some oxygen. Dal came in as soon as they had me positioned, and Mary ( on of my midqives) came in and stood by the door to observe and offer support.

My legs were completely numb, I could not move them at all. They felt very very heavy. It was quite scary. I felt a lot of pulling and tugging but no pain, some of the movements felt like the baby. They were playing christmas music, and Dal and I remember it being quite soothing. After a little bit at 3:27AM on the 30th of December, Dr.Isles, yelled out "Its a boy!" And he started to cry...

Dal and I looked at eachother, our mouthes dropped, we both started crying, it was beautiful. So much for the little 'Ananda Maya" we thought we had been having for the whole 10 months. Notice I say 10 months, since it was indeed over 9!

Unfortunately they had to aspirate our baby since he was in very thick meconium below the cord and he needed to have his lungs cleared out as much as possible. I asked Dal if he looked ok, and he said "He's huge!", and proceeded to show me how big his thigh was in circumference.

As they wheeled our beautiful son out, I got a glimpse of him and I got this sense of a deep spiritual essence within him. And his name Avram (Ay-vrum) came to me.... And I knew that was his name. I could not believe he was finally here. It was completely unreal to me that this little being came out of me!

They finished sewing me up, which towards the end felt alittle painful, as the spinal wore off in that one area. And wheeled me to recovery. Dallas stayed with me the whole time.

After they had watched me in recovery they wheeled me to my room, and told me they would bring our baby in shortly. Well that shortly turned out to be more than half and hour. But they brought him, in an incubator of some kind made for helicopter travel, since they were going to have to transfer him to U of I. I remember being so thirsty and all I could have were 2 or 3 ice chips.

Amazingly, even though he was going through a lot, and most parents would be so scared, fearing for their chids life, Dal and I were not worried at all, we were completely calm.

After they left with Avram in the chopper, they put me on some morphine, and gave me some polaroids they had taken of Avram.

Dal and I stared at them for hours as my eyelids got heavier and heavier. But I forced them open just to look at his beautiful presence some more. I was in shock.

Later in the morning around 10 AM, after I had rested some, and they had monitered me after the surgery, they transferred me to the U of I hospital to be with Avram, by ambulance. Dal followed us with our car.

Our baby was finally here....

Avram is now almost 10 weeks old. He weighed 9 pounds and 9 ounces at birth with a full head of hair!!!! He now weighs over 12 pounds and is 23 and 1/4th inches long!!!!

Mom, Daddy, and baby are all doing great!