My Winding Road to Midwifery: September 2013

It is hard to believe that Joanna is 19-years-old today. Also hard to believe that my third baby is 19-years-old. How the time does fly by!

It was incredibly hot the summer Joanna was born. Many journal entries attest to this fact so I won’t bore you with them. I was seeing/being seen by Andrea Dixon who was awesome. The only problem is that we were in California and in California, midwives must have physician back-up. (What this meant in the case of Liz providing care I do not know. She was an RN who worked at the hospital in Yreka and everyone knew she did homebirths ‘on the side.’

Thursday, August 25, 1994, “Andrea called this afternoon with the wonderful news that her medical back-up decided that she can no longer back Andrea up. This means that legally Andrea cannot even take anyone’s blood pressure. Or be at a birth. This comes as we are 23 days away from our due date.”

“…Then I got mad—angry—that because a doctor ‘chooses’ not to cover Andrea, I cannot ‘choose’ to have my baby at home with any kind of competent practicing medical help. And yet, depending on what state I live in, I could ‘choose’ to have an abortion.”

Sunday, September 18, 1994, “Earlier that day (the 8^th) I’d called one of Andrea’s assistants who would be able to bring equipment and assist with the birth. Less than an hour later (but before Grandma and Papa came) Andrea called and said, ‘Want to make an appointment?’ She finally found a doctor who would back her up—how exciting! So we made an appointment for that Saturday.

“Saturday the 10^th. . . Our appointment with Andrea was at 4:30 but she’d gotten stuck in . . . traffic and was about half an hour late. The baby was fine and Alisha and Sydney got to feel it and all three got to hear the heartbeat.”

Saturday, September 24, 1994: “Then, around 7:30 (Wednesday), contractions started. Sometime around 9 there was some bloody show so I knew there was a baby on the way.”

“I had a feeling that the birth was not all that eminent—that it would probably be the next day before the baby came. I called Andrea and Carolyn and Brenda. Brenda wasn’t home. Andrea wanted me to call back when contractions were 5 minutes apart or between 1 and 1:30.

“I spent most of the morning getting things ready—making the bed, covering pillows, etc.

“After Becky got here and I called Andrea we walked up to Sew Unique and the health food store. About 2 contractions were coming every eight minutes but they were really not much to be concerned about—not very hard.”

After fun and games including supper and a ride on bumpy roads, “I’d decided to try and get some sleep—rest anyway—and was on the bed when I felt a gush. That was at 9:40. Contractions finally sped up a little at that point. . . I got up for a while and the contractions eased up so I went back to the bed.

“When I was there I felt another gush and decided it was time to call Andrea and Carolyn. . . Carolyn got here soon and Andrea was here by around 11. At that point I was 8 cm and 90% effaced so the baby was coming but not any real hurry.

“Contractions started in hard then [5am]—baby was finally tired of waiting.

“. . .everyone got up . . . and we got to work. [At] nearly six . . . it really happened. Started to happen. And then, half an hour later, a little black baby head popped out followed by a little girl baby body.

“It seems like that part took forever but now I know it didn’t. Most of the time I was on my hands and knees. I tried squatting but it still felt too fast so I went back to hands and knees. Then I tried sitting on the edge of the bed but that’s been baby was nearly here. I tried to turn back over but Andrea stopped me because the baby was only a push or two away.

“Joanna Mabel was born at 6:29 am, September 22, 1994. She was seven pounds and 19 ½ inches.

“Andrea laid her on my stomach and covered her up. All I really remember after that is Laura being pretty happy and delivering the placenta. Actually, I remember lots but it’s rather jumbled together.

“Somehow, the relief at having the baby out never measures up to the joy of the reality that this baby is actually here and what a miracle that is. At one point I felt her head before she was out and that was nice but still, nothing compared to seeing that head with black hair all over it and the little perfect body that followed. Somehow, seeing and feeling makes it real.

“They are so wonderful—so close to Heavenly Father, so special.”

I was positively verbose there; I had to edit out a lot. While I was pregnant with Joanna, I had asthma really bad. I am not going to say that I wasn’t allowed to go to a doctor, but it wasn’t encouraged and had I gone, it most likely would have had an adverse effect on a marriage that I now realize was already on the rocks. My mother-in-law gave me an extra inhaler which I used only when absolutely necessary. After receiving an acupressure treatment, I not only was alleviated of all asthma symptoms but allergy as well for the rest of the pregnancy and for quite some time after. During the birth, Andrea used warm olive oil/washcloth compresses on my perineum. That felt sooooo good.

There were a lot of people present for Joanna’s birth. I’d prepared Laura by utilizing Andrea’s library and reading books to her. I’m not sure I was prepared for so many people although, in all honesty, it wasn’t that bad because I was in the bedroom most of the time and there wasn’t really room for many of them to be in there at once. As it was, there was a husband, midwife and her assistant. Also in the house were Brenda, my sister-in-law, Becky, my sister, Sydney, my step-daughter, and Laura. My mom and grandma were still at Knitter’s Retreat. They got home either later that day or the next. Looking back at it now, I sometimes think I would want to limit the number of people but really, the way it turned out it was pretty okay.