Janai Birth Story

When I found out that I was pregnant I decided to follow my mother’s footsteps. I wanted to go natural. So Colby (Hubby) and I heard about this place called Austin Area Birthing Center. We decided to make an appointment for a tour of the building. So that Monday we headed over there. We toured the building and talked about the price of the prenatal care and birth. The place was beautiful and very calming. I was so excited. So we decided to birth there because it was nothing like a hospital. So with the month’s going by we were planning an all natural birth. So with all the research I did about a natural birth and the Bradley Classes that we attended. At 36 weeks pregnant early labor begins. I was having small contraction starting on a Sunday morning around 9 am. Colby(Hubby) went to the Sunday meeting at the Kingdom Hall not knowing about my contractions. I didn’t want to say anything because I wasn’t sure this was the beginning. So needless to say I didn’t go to the meeting because I wasn’t feeling well. Once Colby came home around 3 pm I told him about the contractions. He got excited but understood that we shouldn’t get too excited. We put gas into the car that night, just in case we had to go to the Birthing Center.

There were many occasions when I thought my water was leaking. The birthing Center would check to see if it was so. Always came up negative though. I new I wasn’t crazy though...I’ve never been that wet before. From 37 weeks and on I was taking every herb possible to help induce labor since I was already in early labor. I had already been to the Birthing Center once in the middle of the night. I thought that I might be in labor so we went. Rosewita the midwife said that I had a long way to go. I was only 1 cm dial and 60 % effaced. I was so tired of all of the herbs…they seem to stop working for me. I took Castro Oil a total of 5 times. It made me go to the bathroom many times and throwing up was another Sid effect. After the 2^nd time of taking it…it never worked again. My body seemed to be so stubborn. I went to my 41 week check up at the Birthing Center. Jenny was the midwife on duty. I didn’t want her to see me or be there when I went into labor. I never seemed to connect with her at all…but she so happened to be the midwife on duty. She said I was still 1.5 cm dial and 80% effaced. She wanted me to make an appointment for another ultrasound to see what was going on with the baby. She left the room for just a few minutes. Colby was with me and my mother was in the waiting room. I started to cry to Colby. I told him that I didn’t want to go to the hospital and that I was scared and frustrated. All of the sudden Jean Stokes the owner of the Birthing Center walked in. She said, “Are you tired of being pregnant?” DUH! I told her that I was almost 42 weeks pregnant and Jenny wouldn’t finish stripping my membranes or anything to help me along. She said “well that’s stupid. I’m going to do a “deluxe” on you. So she shut the door and put gloves on as Jenny was walking back in. She did a rough vaginal exam to me for about 10 mins. She said this would give me some contractions but they might not last. They told me to go rent a better breast pump since mine was no longer strong enough for me. The breast pump was supposed to help induce me. So this is what we did.

That night I was pumping for 20 mins and then a 10 min break and then 20 mins again. This went on for about 3-4 hours. When I stopped and tried to go lay down on our bed with Colby…all the contractions began. They weren’t 10 mins apart then 5 mins then 3. They were 2 mins apart but not strong enough to make me scream. When it got to about 7 pm I decided to take a shower and see if they would go away. Colby put the birthing ball in there with me. The water helped but the contractions were still there. When I got out they were about 3 mins apart for about 20 mins and then they were about 1 mins apart. So we called the midwives. Rosewita was on duty that night. She said to come on in. So we packed everything and put it into the car. We got there and she checked me and I was the same but the baby had moved down more. She said I had a long road ahead of me…like I haven’t been on the long road already. So we went home. I was frustrated. She told me to call when I felt like pulling my hair out. I tried to sleep but it got to about 2 am and I couldn’t take it anymore. So we went again to stay this time. When she did the exam again she said nothing has really changed except the baby was lower than he was at 8 pm and I was effaced a little more. So we went to the Windsor room and went to bed. I was all over that bed. I was rocking on the birthing ball while Colby rubbed my back. He said he was pushing as hard as he could…but I beg to differ. I had such bad back labor! 8 am rolled around and there was no progress. Rosewita shift was over and now we get...Jenny. I wasn’t too happy about that. I kept taking small showers…this helped the pain. The time was slowly rolling by. Jenny checked me again at 10 am and she said there was no changed. She decided to do another deluxe to me with the help of her assistant. It hurt so badly. I was crying and starting to scream. She said she wanted to give me an IV since I was getting a little dehydrated. She also gave me some pain meds to help me sleep. It felt like I had 3 margaritas in me. She said by the time I wake up and if there is no change then I would need to go to the hospital. I slept a little bit, but I could still feel the pain. She checked me at 2:30 pm and there was NO CHANGE!

So we decided the best thing to do after 19 hours of labor to go to St David hospital. I was throwing up while my family got all of our stuff together. We drove to the hospital and went to labor and delivery. They found me a room and took down my history. The nurse gave me a new IV since the Birthing Center had too small of an IV. My contractions were about 3-5 mins apart when I got to the hospital. The doctor came in once I was hooked up to all of the monitors. He said he needed to do another exam. I was kind of scared that a man was going to be examing me. He was the best one at the exam. Women are rough. Lauren from the Birthing Center also showed up for support. She was my favorite midwife…it was such a comfort to see her face. Doctor Fitzwater discussed the vaginal birth with us and how he was going to put me on pitocin and then an hour or so later give me the epidural. He left the room and the nurse did some blood work. He came back really fast and said that my labs came back and my white blood count was 23,000 and temp was 100.4 and my pulse was 134. I had 4 out 5 reasons to have a C-SECTION! The only thing that was fine was the baby. So I asked him what he wanted to do. He said a C-section. I said “when?” “NOW!”

I asked the doctor and the nurse to leave the room so that I could talk to my husband about it. The shock on my family face was scary. Everyone looked scared for me. Colby was crying so hard. All of our dreams of how we wanted our birth to go…was crushed. As my family and I all said a prayer together…Colby and I held hands and cried. The doctor came in and I told him..Let’s do it. They told me that I could hold off on the c-section for awhile…but I would become sicker and the baby would too. He said no matter what the baby will be put into the NICU for at least 48 hours. So here I am in shock of all the changes and now I won’t be able to see my baby for two days!

So knowing that I was going to surgery I decided that I needed to go to the bathroom. So I started to get up and then I felt really wet. I told Colby and Lauren that I might have peed on myself. We all laughed and then I tried to get up again and more came out. Lauren said “that’s not pee that’s your water. I had such a mess on the floor…but I still went to the bathroom. Once I got into bed the contraction were really strong and no time in between. I asked for pain relief. So they gave me something. I went to sleep and then 3 hours later the doctor who was giving the epidural came in to talk to me. I asked when I was going to surgery and he said now. So I gave Colby a kiss and there I went. I told Colby I would see him soon since I was suppose to be in there with me. Once I was in there and they gave me the epidural…I laid back and he poked me with some stick to see how numb I was. I told him I felt like my left leg was asleep but I could still fell everything else on my body. He was so confused as why it didn’t take. So he gave me another one. Same thing, just a little bit tinglier. The doctor came in and he told him what was going on and then they decided to put me completely under.

So Colby got to hold the baby first and take him to the NICU. I didn’t get to see him until two hours later after I came out of recovery. He was healthy and the infection didn’t hurt him at all. He stayed in the NICU for about 30 hours due to his temp not staying up. We only stayed in the hospital for 3 days. We all got to go home!

Now 2 weeks later…we have a healthy boy. Josiah Malachi. Both of us are doing well. What a crazy birthing story! Dreams were crushed but one of them. We have a healthy son.

Thank you to everyone who was there by my side. Thank you Colby for being such a wonderful husband, father, and coach! I love you.