THE BEST LAID PLANS: Part Two

If you need to start at the beginning, feel free to read part one, here.

Okay, one to part two!

You read right, God knew that I needed to heal from my previous two birth experiences that took place in hospital settings.  The first “bad” experience was the birth of Cole.  Having “large” baby’s, Robert and I have to endure the constant poking, prodding, and blood drawing that is performed on our children so that hospital protocol can be followed.  In the middle of the night, after being in the hospital since 7:00 am and enduring an induction with no pain relief, Cole’s sugar levels were not where the hospital wanted them to be.  They pricked his little heels every hour on the hour for six solid hours.

 At 2:00 AM, his “last reading”, the nurse misread his test.  I have always breastfed my babies, it’s what I do.  Instead of supporting me, this nurse told me that she was going to take my newborn son from me, give him formula, and put an IV into his head to make sure he was getting what he needed.  Needless to say I was beyond furious!  I was then labeled as a problem patient because my basic response was over my dead body!  From that moment on the treatment by the staff was not stellar, it was not a good time at all.  Nope, this was not a good hospital experience.

Fast forward one year when our son Samuel was born into Heaven.  This was painful enough in and of itself.  Robert and I had to endure the death of our 4^th son, our precious child.  We asked if we could bring him home so that we could bury him and mourn him in our own way.  We were told no, they had to send his small body to pathology since he wasn’t 20 weeks along yet.  I was crushed, but in my grief I tried to understand hospital protocol and procedures.  Fast forward a year later when my midwife was going over the paperwork of the miscarriage with me during a consultation.  It was then that I read that my son was never sent to pathology.  The paperwork came back that there was no fetal material in what was sent to the lab.  My baby was thrown away in the operating room of the hospital.  I was crushed all over again.  Horrible hospital experience number two.  All of these experiences combined were all the more reason for Robert and me to pursue a home birth.

In spite of our desire for a home birth experience, God knew that we needed to heal totally from all the “bad” that we had in our lives. 

Yet here we sat. In a hospital room being told that our son was breech and we would need surgery.  This brought about a whole new set of questions, most specifically with regards to the constant recurring cyst on the bottom of my spine and the how’s and what’s of the C-Section that I was now being told I had to endure.  This is when the healing began to take place.

The doctor was amazing.  She literally sat in our room for 30 minutes (if not more), and explained everything.  She walked us through both the spinal and the general anesthesia scenario.  She took the time to explain everything, right down to how the big kiddo’s visits would be.  She let me sit there in shock and responded with complete compassion.  She then left the room and told me she had to go to make the call to set up the operation. 

Robert and I sat there in silence for a minute.  We were still in shock, and to be honest I was scared.  What if they had to do the surgery with the general anesthesia?  What if I died?  What would Robert do with five kiddos and no wife?   What if the earliest that they could get us in was Tuesday?  How would we handle Robert’s job?  Who would come and help us with the kids?  What if I needed more time to recuperate than we were being told? 

What if……What if…..What if….. 

The doctor came back into the room and smiled.  Her exact words were:
“I don’t know who you’ve got praying for you, but instead of having to wait until Tuesday, we have got you scheduled for tomorrow.”  She grinned and I felt instantly better.  Then the doctor went on to explain that she would not be there tomorrow to perform the surgery but she would be in first thing Sunday morning to check on me.  Now Robert and I were given the task of signing paperwork and heading home to get everything ready for our first ever experience with a C-Section.  It was time to plan and prepare for the birth of our son!