Birth Experience

I experienced a live birth for the first time when I was 15 years old. It started at six o’clock in the morning with my mom waking me up saying I needed to get ready. I thought she was waking me up for church but since it didn’t start until ten, I went back to bed. As I lay in bed I hear someone crying in pain. I got up and looked in the next bedroom and saw my older sister curled up and holding her stomach. It was clear why I needed to get ready. I was about to see my niece being born.

We had only one car for the family and it was a standard. My sister was the owner and the only one who knew how to drive. She drove herself to her boyfriend’s house and then hospital while having contractions the whole ride there. When we arrived at the hospital, I was shocked that the nurses did not rush my sister to a room like they do in the movies. She had to wait to be registered and make sure there was a room ready before taking her. I wondered why it was so important to check her insurance when there was a baby coming at any second!

Once we got into the labor and delivery room, my sister was hooked up to all the machines and nurses checked all of her vitals. Things were looking good, except for my sister crying in pain, her boyfriend practically sleeping in the chair already and still no sign of a doctor. This was my sister’s first baby. She was a little scared because she had a very difficult pregnancy. She had been hospitalized four times because she couldn’t keep food or liquids down and was severely dehydrated. She had to take anti-nausea through the entire pregnancy. During her fifth month gestation I remember one day when she came home from her doctor appointment with my mom and neither of them was speaking about what had gone on in the appointment (which they always had done). When I asked what was going on, they tried to tell me everything was fine but I knew this wasn’t true. I tried listening in on their conversations and soon learned that there was a chance that there was something wrong with the baby. They thought my niece would have Down syndrome. There were tests done that showed a few abnormalities and she was set to have an amniocentesis. My sister was torn on whether she wanted the test to be done or if she just wanted to wait and find out at the baby’s birth. She knew there was nothing that would change things so why have the test if it didn’t matter. Over the next few days she worried about what would happen. Her doctors called and told her that the tests were wrong and she would no longer need the amniocentesis. It was such a relief for us all.

Back to the labor…..My sister decided she needed help with the pain and asked for pain relievers. She was given stadol to help ease her mind. The nurses continued to check on her and they asked who she wanted to stay in the room during the delivery, she would be allowed only one other person and she chose her boyfriend to stay. As the labor progressed the midwife arrived and decided she needed a little help to get things moving so she broke the water. This helped and but also got things going so that my sister began to feel the pain again. She was given all sorts of positions to lay or sit in and even tried sitting in the bathtub to ease the pain. The midwife checked the baby at one point and noticed that she was breech and not in the correct position for delivery. She tried to turn the baby around nut she wasn’t turning like they wanted her to. They started to talk about taking her for a cesarean delivery, which my sister very much did not want. They tried using everything and just before they were going to take her the baby finally gave in and turned around the right way. However, now she was stuck on the pelvic bone and was not coming out. The doctor’s again had to adjust the baby’s position and then use suction to help pull her out.

As this is happening right next to me, I suddenly realize that I am seeing this all. The nurses and doctors forgot to tell me when to leave. I am staring at the tv when I hear a “POP” and realize that baby Taylor is finally here. She is placed on my sister’s chest and everyone in the room is relieved to see that the worry and hard work during pregnancy and delivery has come to this special moment of bonding between mother and child.

I tell of this experience because I could never imagine how amazing it is to immediately feel love for a child even when I am not the mother.  I also feel it is important to speak up during labor and delivery. My sister made it clear that she did not want a cesarean delivery and she was fortunate that her doctor tried everything possible to prevent it from happening. I recognize that this is not always the case from other stories I have been told. I feel this experience represents how a mother’s intuition for what’s right for her own child can sometimes show that nature does not always match up to technology. I believe the first moments after birth where the mother is given the first chance to see her baby set a foundation for bonding that can never be taken away from a child’s development.