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17/9/2002 11:49
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Ilana Shemesh, natural midwife
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מאת:
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another homebirth story--a test of faith
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כותרת:
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Usually I write very glowing stories about easy and spiritual and flowing births. Not all homebirths are easy and here is a true story about a more difficult one that was really a test of faith for all involved. I met this lovely couple about 7 weeks before the birth. They had been travelling the world, she is Israeli and he is not, and they met in India. They seemed to have the perfect mindset for homebirth, full of confidence and trust in nature and not afraid. About 2 in the morning her water broke , clear, with lots flowing. Contractions soon began, every few minutes. Since they live still at her mothers, they decided to birth in my clinic. At five they came and she was three centimeters, in good labor and managing well. I expected the birth to go quickly, but told everyone that it would probably be in the late afternoon so they would not be stressed if it took longer. I really thought she would birth by 2 in the afternoon. Three hours later she asked to be checked and I was surprized to find her only 4 centimeters dilated. Such was her progress throughout the day, despite good contractions. She vomited a lot, and couldn't keep anything down. I gave her sips of sports drinks and water but I'm sure she was dehydrated. She refused an infusion. She had a phobia of needles. Her contractions got weaker. The baby seemed to be in a posterior position so this would explain the long birth. We tried all kinds of positions to turn the baby, she also went in and out of the jacuzzi. She was exhausted and getting very negative and i was waiting for her to ask to go to hospital. Her man was wonderful. The best professional doula couldn't have been better than him. She got massage, and i tried all the Shiatsu points I knew, tried homeopathy, herbs she vomited. Her mother and sister were there, but I sent them home in the afternoon to rest and maybe their energy was blocking something. They came back at night and began to worry. We tried nipple stimulation, and walking, and finally sucking on her nipples. At midnight she was so discouraged, but she was 9 centimeters.Then she began to push,with her man sucking all the time on her nipples to keep up the contractions. I don't see much progress. We try all different positions. VEry slow progress. I am getting worried. Why is this baby not coming down and out? Probably still posterior. The heartbeat of the baby is wonderful throughout this long labor. Her mother is outside and crying softly, and she begins to beg me to take her to the hospital. I explain to her that the baby is fine, and she is making progress, just very slow and to please have patience. But I myself have some fears and doubts and I feel I must prepare them for a possible transfer to hospital. I tell them that if the baby is not born in another hour then we must go to hospital. She cries and says "I have suffered so long and to have to end in hospital--no way--I will do it!" Her man gets new energy and says that she has power to birth and can do it. He sucks hard on her nipples and she pushes like a lioness, and the head starts to move down, more and more, and then I know that this baby will come and there will be no move to hospital. I am grateful and thankful and I too have new energy and feel the rush of birth. I finally open my birth pack and pour my oil and water compresses and I tell her to gently push and breathe the head out and I guide it slowly out with no tearing. We don't know the sex of the baby, and we are excited to find out. The head is comi;ng out, and we call in her mother and sister to watch. They are in awe and the emotions of all of us are running high. It is the day before Yom Kippur, and we feel so blessed to have this beautiful and healthy baby girl born. The joy pervades the room as we receive the little one. She continues to birth the placenta, nurse the baby very well, and is exhausted but ecstatic and very hungary and after two hours, she showers and they all go to sleep for 6 hours. Next day she is fine, except for bad hemorrhoids. Next morning we weigh the baby, and she is 3150 gram, and by the way, she was not posterior, but anterior. So I ask myself and anyone else, why was this birth so difficult and long??? Small baby, good position, best atmosphere, why??? We will never know, and the lesson is that birth is still a mystery, and we will never have all the answers, and that we cannot control everything. I hope you were all inscribed in the book of life for a year of health, peace, and prosperity.
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