Father Knows Best
More of Ariyah's birth story! Originally published October 24, 2012.
Six weeks ago, at 7:52am, the most amazing miracle in the world happened. My beautiful little girl was brought into the world by way of cesarean section. A little over a week prior to this, when I found out that this was the road I was going to have to take I was devastated, angry, and worried. All my plans for a beautiful, drug-free, natural birth went flying out the window. My little girl simply would not descend into my pelvis and start my labor. And no one could figure out why. We'd had countless ultrasounds over the past 10 weeks and no one could see anything wrong. We were befuddled to say the least. But I prayed for guidance and felt peace at the decision to have the c-section. All I really wanted was my baby to be healthy, and for a birth story that would give God glory.
Thankfully I have a wonderful midwife and worked with a wonderful doctor who both agreed that inducing my labor, in my situation, would have most likely cause me to go through 2-3 DAYS of labor and then still ended in an emergency c-section. They did not want to put me through all of that, and thank God! So we decided how long we were going to wait, to give Ariyah one more chance to drop and start things naturally and we picked a date for surgery. I decided to schedule for the very day I would turn 42 weeks. I did not want to take any chances of going past that marker.
Almost a week went by and Ariyah still did not drop. So Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 5am I headed into the hospital to register for my daughter's birth. The staff was wonderful and pleasant. They allowed my family to stay in the room for most of my preparation which was a huge comfort to me. When it was finally time they walked me down to the OR. My husband couldn't be with me while I got my spinal but my wonderful midwife was there and it was her that I leaned on while the anesthesiologist worked his magic. The spinal went in with no problems and soon I was feeling tingling in my toes. They got me down onto the table, finished some prep, and let my husband in. He sat by my head and never once let go of my hand. Even though he was shaking like a leaf! LOL
Dr. Wright came in, said hello to my husband, and greeted me with a kiss on my forehead! I was immediately at ease. They began the surgery, with my midwife assisting, and I never felt a thing. We talked and I even remember laughing at Dr. Wright's jokes. The nurses kept telling me what an excellent job I was doing, like they were truly proud of me. And then they pulled my baby out. Dr. Wright exclaimed that she looked like my dad and then as she handed my little girl off to be weighed and measured, she said to me "Well, now we know why she wouldn't come down. Her cord was under her head." I knew what this meant, we had learned about the situation in Lamaze class... But I was so caught up in hearing my baby's first cry that it never really registered.
I had a rough time coming off of the spinal and was very sick for the entire day after surgery. After that I just never really thought about what had been said because I was so caught up in my little girl and how perfect she was. It wasn't until I got home and was talking to my sister-in-law, Danielle, that I truly realized what had happened. Danielle said to me that Dr. Wright had come out of the OR and told my family, "We kept calling her (the baby) slowpoke and everything, but it turns out she is just brilliant." She explained to them what she had discovered and that had I gone into labor and my water broken like I'd wanted, that the situation with Ariyah's cord could have killed us both. In her words "We would have lost mom and baby." She told them that Ariyah's head was actually up so high in my abdomen that they had to "fish" for her a little to deliver her.
I have absolutely no doubt about God's hand in all of this. I believe that it was His hand holding Ariyah up high in my uterus so that she wouldn't descend. And I believe that my biggest lesson in all of this, is that I am not in control. I can have the most wonderfully laid out plans, but if I don't make sure that He is the center of them, they mean nothing. By allowing Him to bend my plans and giving Him complete control, I allowed Him to save both of our lives. Often I think about what could have happened, had I been stubborn and had to have my way... I could have pushed for induction, I could have made them let me try to have her naturally... And in doing so I would have cost us both of our lives. My family would have lost not only the baby that we'd waited so long for, but me as well. I thank God every day for giving me the wisdom to heed Him. And I thank Him for saving my precious baby. She is my whole world. Ariyah means "song of joy" and that is truly what she is to me.
Six weeks ago, at 7:52am, the most amazing miracle in the world happened. My beautiful little girl was brought into the world by way of cesarean section. A little over a week prior to this, when I found out that this was the road I was going to have to take I was devastated, angry, and worried. All my plans for a beautiful, drug-free, natural birth went flying out the window. My little girl simply would not descend into my pelvis and start my labor. And no one could figure out why. We'd had countless ultrasounds over the past 10 weeks and no one could see anything wrong. We were befuddled to say the least. But I prayed for guidance and felt peace at the decision to have the c-section. All I really wanted was my baby to be healthy, and for a birth story that would give God glory.
Thankfully I have a wonderful midwife and worked with a wonderful doctor who both agreed that inducing my labor, in my situation, would have most likely cause me to go through 2-3 DAYS of labor and then still ended in an emergency c-section. They did not want to put me through all of that, and thank God! So we decided how long we were going to wait, to give Ariyah one more chance to drop and start things naturally and we picked a date for surgery. I decided to schedule for the very day I would turn 42 weeks. I did not want to take any chances of going past that marker.
Almost a week went by and Ariyah still did not drop. So Wednesday, September 12, 2012 at 5am I headed into the hospital to register for my daughter's birth. The staff was wonderful and pleasant. They allowed my family to stay in the room for most of my preparation which was a huge comfort to me. When it was finally time they walked me down to the OR. My husband couldn't be with me while I got my spinal but my wonderful midwife was there and it was her that I leaned on while the anesthesiologist worked his magic. The spinal went in with no problems and soon I was feeling tingling in my toes. They got me down onto the table, finished some prep, and let my husband in. He sat by my head and never once let go of my hand. Even though he was shaking like a leaf! LOL
Dr. Wright came in, said hello to my husband, and greeted me with a kiss on my forehead! I was immediately at ease. They began the surgery, with my midwife assisting, and I never felt a thing. We talked and I even remember laughing at Dr. Wright's jokes. The nurses kept telling me what an excellent job I was doing, like they were truly proud of me. And then they pulled my baby out. Dr. Wright exclaimed that she looked like my dad and then as she handed my little girl off to be weighed and measured, she said to me "Well, now we know why she wouldn't come down. Her cord was under her head." I knew what this meant, we had learned about the situation in Lamaze class... But I was so caught up in hearing my baby's first cry that it never really registered.
I had a rough time coming off of the spinal and was very sick for the entire day after surgery. After that I just never really thought about what had been said because I was so caught up in my little girl and how perfect she was. It wasn't until I got home and was talking to my sister-in-law, Danielle, that I truly realized what had happened. Danielle said to me that Dr. Wright had come out of the OR and told my family, "We kept calling her (the baby) slowpoke and everything, but it turns out she is just brilliant." She explained to them what she had discovered and that had I gone into labor and my water broken like I'd wanted, that the situation with Ariyah's cord could have killed us both. In her words "We would have lost mom and baby." She told them that Ariyah's head was actually up so high in my abdomen that they had to "fish" for her a little to deliver her.
I have absolutely no doubt about God's hand in all of this. I believe that it was His hand holding Ariyah up high in my uterus so that she wouldn't descend. And I believe that my biggest lesson in all of this, is that I am not in control. I can have the most wonderfully laid out plans, but if I don't make sure that He is the center of them, they mean nothing. By allowing Him to bend my plans and giving Him complete control, I allowed Him to save both of our lives. Often I think about what could have happened, had I been stubborn and had to have my way... I could have pushed for induction, I could have made them let me try to have her naturally... And in doing so I would have cost us both of our lives. My family would have lost not only the baby that we'd waited so long for, but me as well. I thank God every day for giving me the wisdom to heed Him. And I thank Him for saving my precious baby. She is my whole world. Ariyah means "song of joy" and that is truly what she is to me.
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