How many times have we heard this story before?
Awesome homebirth midwife? Check.
I met the woman who was to become my midwife a week before I knew I was pregnant…
She brought so much joy to the pregnancy process and cheered us on in so many more areas of life. I had a great pregnancy and loved *almost* every minute…
Ignoring risk factors? Check.
But 42 weeks came and went, and though I was determined to let my LO come naturally … My midwife wasn’t concerned because I was a very low risk pregnancy, my water level was still great, and stress test results were just fine. Finally, on the eve of 42w+1 (or 42w+4 – I had 2 potential due dates), my waters broke …
Midwife with no idea until the moment of birth that the baby was in distress? Check.
My little boy wasn’t breathing. I held him as my midwife suctioned him, then laid him on the bed as she gave him breathes and started CPR. There was a heartbeat, but no breath…
High tech, extraordinarily expensive treatment to prevent further brain damage? Check.
The doc said 1 in 1,000 births result in birth asphyxia for unknown reasons (and the lack of immediate availability of resuscitation devices is why she doesn’t recommend home birth – something to consider) and that earned him the diagnosis of HIE (hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy). He underwent an incredible treatment that put him brain into a hypothermic state for 72 hours in effort to stop brain cell death (from the lack of oxygen). He had had some seizures, so he was placed on two meds, one of which made him essentially comatose to the extent that they had to intubate him to keep him breathing…
Permanent brain injury? Check.
… The EEG came back clear and the MRI showed slight brain damage in the motor sensory areas of the brain. The neurologist explained that she has [no] of way of predicting how/if the damage will affect him longterm…
The result:
With the EEG clear, they took him off the sedating seizure med and were able to extubate him. Since he took well to my milk (given through a tube), we began to breastfeed on day 5 in the NICU. It took some work, but he started feeding well, and by day 8 we were headed home!
Just another gentle, no intervention, inexpensive homebirth.
