Birth Stories

Interviewing my mother about her three births was really interesting. She spoke about my birth first. I was the first child therefore she didn’t know what to expect. In her mind she had a set plan and she wanted everything to follow that plan. She didn’t want any drugs, little to no medical intervention and she wanted to be in control of the birth of the baby. She took classes in order to be ready, but when the time came, nothing really went according to plan. She had been having contractions all-day and arrived at the hospital extremely tired physically. The doctors found out that my mother was not dilating and would not dilate until her water broke. My mother kept asking the doctor to break her water because she had a really strong feeling that the baby was to be born that night, but the doctors refused. Finally, she forced a nurse to convince a doctor to break her water. Afterward she begged for drugs to calm her down, but not enough to numb her. She wanted the drugs to help her sleep for a little so that she would have the physical strength she needed to give birth. The pain came back at 5:00 and by 5:45, she was ready to start pushing and by 6:00 I was born. The worst part of the pregnancy for my mother, she said, was when she had to stop pushing so that the doctors could clean the baby’s face a little bit. Before the birth, she had a little bit of a hard time because the doctors had told her that her baby might be born with genetic mutations. She had the amniocentesis and the doctors told her that her baby was going to be mentally challenged and then when they did the test again, they found that they had misinformed her and the baby was fine. She said the one thing she will always remember is that while in the birthing room during her delivery she turned to my father and said “ I don’t want to do this anymore take me home. If you loved me you’d take me home.”

The second birth was a little easier she said. Again she knew before hand that the baby was coming, but no one believed her. Everyone kept on telling her that she was not due for another month. She had a normal day and then 2 days later, she went to the hospital only to find that she was going into labor. During this delivery, she had no drugs what so ever and she said that it was much easier. She felt that there was less stress and that was probably because she knew what to expect. During this pregnancy she also had amniocentesis done and found that there were defects yet when the test was redone, it was found that the doctors were wrong again.

Her third birth was probably the most emotionally strenuous. After amniocentesis, it was found that the baby would possibly have defects such as spina bifida, severe mutations, she was possibly going to be disabled and might only live to the age of 5. The emotional stress that she had to go through (to me) seemed much worse than the actual birth of the child. The doctors and some family members told her that they would strongly suggest an abortion. Many people supported her choice to keep the baby as well. My grandmother finally said that God probably gave my mother my sister (Madison) because she was meant to prove everyone wrong. Religion played a major role in the pregnancy and birth of my sister. Thankfully the doctors did another test and found that my sister was actually fine and they were wrong (yet again). During the actual birth, my mother said that she was having really bad contractions and went to the hospital only to be sent home because the doctors said she was not ready to give birth. She went home and the contractions were worse so she went back to the hospital and they realized she was going into labor. During this delivery, she was in control, didn’t take any drugs at all and actually fell in and out of sleep during it. The thing that hurt the most, she said, was the episiotomy and after the birth when she was nursing hurt worse than actually giving birth. When the baby was born, the only thing that was wrong with her was her heart problems. She had a hole in her heart that the doctors were afraid wouldn’t close up. But after a year or so, the hole closed up and she’s perfect.