Mrs Sticky

What were you doing on September 11, 2001? I was at a birth in Elbing Kansas. I remember arriving at the home and everyone was gathered around the TV, glued to the set, staring, quiet, somber, watching the Town Towers go up in smoke. I didn't have a TV back then so I had no idea what was happening in our country. We were all scared, and shocked at what was happening. 'I'm not sure why but after looking back at my previous 9 years of calendars since 9/11/2001, I've had the privilege of delivering a baby on 8 of the past 9 years. Maybe this is God's way of giving 'Beauty for Ashes'.
Mrs S: Gravid 13 Para 9, came to her prenatal on Thursday September 9th 2010. When she walked in I thought ,Oh Boy,we've had a growth spurt. She could hardly walk down the stairs and I could tell with a quick glance that she was miserable and ready to have her 10th baby. I've been blessed to assist Mrs. S in several of her births, she has a history of no dilation until she is in active labor and has always gone a week or two late. When I saw her in the office I immediately thought she isn't going to make it 2 more weeks. She also has a history of having large babies, 10 lbs. or greater, thankfully without much difficulty. When I checked her she was 45-46 cms. WOW! and she isn't even late. That is the most she has ever measured. We both agreed that we needed to be proactive and get the baby out SOON to prevent difficulties with her delivery. We decided to have her come to the Birth Inn and have her baby the next day. A Plan right? By the way Dad had thought all along that his baby would be born on 9/11 but we decided to get things going on the 10th. A man makes plans but the Lord has His.
This is how her last several births have gone: strip the membranes, labor candy, walk a lot, dink around, then after several hours of that she is 4-5 cms dilated, contractions slow down and mom needs a rest, so the midwives leave to let the dogs out and rest, mom goes to bed to rest for a while and wait for the contraction to pick up. About 30 to 45 minutes later her water breaks and we're off, scurrying back to the BI. A good plan right?

That day Mrs S., her precious husband and I, spent the day sharing our testimonies while mom was dinking around with her usual slow to start labor pattern, we reviewed her previous births and mom said several times well I usually... So when I got the call water just broke, return to the BI I just laughed and thought to myself, she has a plan and she is STICKING with it, thus the name Mrs. Sticky. I checked her, no change in the cervix, still 4-5 cms.
Mom was very tired and wanted to get things going.
She walked around, changed position, but her cervix was posterior and not opening. She has a very pendulous uterus, which means her her large baby was falling forward which made her uterus tip forward, making her cervix posterior. When the cervix is posterior is just doesn't open, and to make things even worse the baby was posterior ( baby is looking towards moms abdomen rather than the preferred face pointing towards mom's back position.) We call this the humble baby position, that is what to pray for when you are expecting, a humble baby. The only way we could get labor to progress was to have mom on her back. UGH not preferred but productive for this mom and we wanted progress. We tried in the past to bind up her abdomen to help pull her uterus into an upright position but it never seemed to work for her. Lying on her back seemed to be the ticket. It is now September 11 and 1:24 am mom is complete and pushing. She was crowning at 1:26, Deidre and I looked at each other thinking this is a very big baby. Deidre looped the nucal cord over the babies head had the mom push again and the cutiest , chubby cheeked, baby girl slipped right out. She was slightly blue and her muscle tone was not the greatest but with suction, stimulation and mom talking to her, she started crying, music to my ears. Praise the Lord, He again was faithful to bring forth a health baby. Dad's premonition was right the baby was born on September 11, 2010, 'Beauty for Ashes'.

Mrs. Pokey

Mrs. P was gravid 4 pare 3. I helped her with her first and second deliveries, then she moved to another state and had number 3. She has a history of going late and followed that pattern with number 4. Mrs P was 42 weeks and started having irregular contraction on the evening of September 5th. When she arrived at the Birth Inn she was 3 cms. and 90% effaced. Her contractions were 12 to 15 min. apart. but strong enough to convince her she was in active labor however, after arriving she decided she wanted to rest, so to bed we all went thinking she would wake us during the night in active labor.
At 7:00 am on Labor Day we woke and mom said she had contractions most of the night and was 4-5 cms. She was tired and wanted to sleep because her contractions had slowed down. I recommended a walk to see if we could get things moving and she agreed. It really didn't help so we decided to let her rest and I went home to shower and let my dogs out. They were very happy to see me.
At 3:00 pm mom called and said her contrx. had picked up and were getting stronger. I went over around 4:00 pm and mom was gone. Hmmmmm. They had gone out for a while and arrived back around 4:30 I checked her again and she was 6-7 cms. Yea!
Contractions really would not get close unless she walked so we did enchourage her to be active. As long as she walked they were consistant but not really close together. We discussed options and she decided to go out for a walk again. When they returned it seemed the contrx. were picking up in strength. At 7:30 we put her in hands and knees, she was ac ( almost complete) but her contractions were anywhere from 5-10 mins. apart. Cynthia suggested she move to the toliet and mom agreed. She walked over and sat down and had a few contraactions that were 3-4 mins apart. Good toliet move. I've always said things come out on the toliet. The next contrax. she seemed to bear down and she lookd up at me as if to say what now. I moved over quickly and helped her stand and lean on her strong hubby to prevent the baby from getting a swirley. I was going to get her back to the bed but was prompted to but my hand back behind her and check, as I suspected the baby was crowning. I just sat my own behind down on the toliet and caught the baby. My first delivery with me on the toliet. It was funny.
Mom and baby (a girl) are both great and happy to be delivered . Baby weighed 8lbs.2oz.
They are going on the mission field soon, to Mongolia. Now that has to be a callling from God.
I just love birth it can be most challenging but also very rewarding. I thank God for calling me into this ministry and for his faithfulness.