Tikvah’s
Birth Story
I became pregnant with our 8th baby in
December of 2014. What I joy it was to know that the Lord had blessed us once
again with another little life to train up in the way of the Lord. We aren’t
perfect parents and all of my children can tell you how we fall short and have
to apologize to them, yet as sinners saved by grace, we rejoice in the
forgiveness of our Lord. This little one was very much wanted, and we looked
forward to having her.
My pregnancy went well and I had very few issues
during it. My back did go out at one point and that was painful for a couple of
weeks. Everything else went well.
My due date was Thursday, September 3rd,
2015. For two weeks before this date I would have some contractions but they
would always stop and weren’t low on my abdomen, but high. However, I knew that
my body was preparing for the birth. Our little one was high and the hair on my
legs didn’t grow very fast so I was pretty sure the baby was a girl. All of my
girls have been high and all of my boys low except for Uriah who had the cord
around his neck three times.
I heard that curry and spicy foods can put one into
labor, so on Friday September 4th when I went to lunch with my Mom and
Dad, I ate some of my Dad’s spicy curry soup from the Chinese restaurant we ate
at. This was in hopes that it might put me in labor. When nothing happened I
figured it didn’t work or wasn’t enough. That evening around 7 pm we put the movie
“Home” into the computer to watch with the children. At 8 pm I was having contractions
that were consistent and hard enough to be real contractions, however after the
movie was over they stopped. So once we got the children in bed I suggested a
walk around the fields. Usually a walk will get labor going if it is on the
verge. Well we walked the whole way around the field and I did not have a signal
contraction. I put thoughts of having my baby that night out of my mind so I
could sleep. We went to bed around 10:30 pm. I had a hard time falling asleep
and was just dozing off and on when at 11:45 pm I had a contraction that made
my eyes pop open. I waited for two more contracts, each happened 5 minutes
apart and were low and strong.
I knew this was it. I got up and told Gil we needed
to get the birth tub filled. We put our table on its side and put the birth tub
in the middle of the room. We then started filling it. I knew from previous
times that the hot water heater would run out of hot water long before the tub
was filled, so I had my two 4 gallon stock pots on the stove to boil. We then
used pots to fill at the sind and dump in the pool until the hot water heater
ran out of hot water. I had failed to buy a new clean hose to use to fill the
birth tub. I had thought about it, but always forgot when I went to the store.
All the other hoses around the place have had dirty water run through them so I
didn’t want to use them. By the time we used all the hot water out of the water
heater, the two stock pots of water were boiling. We dumped those in the pool
and then started adding cold water to bring the temperature down from 120
degrees. Meanwhile, as we filled the pool this is what else happened…
At 12:15 am I called my midwife who lives 1.5 hours
away from my house. He then called Brook who assists him and lives in Ouray. He
said he would wait for her, but to call him if things changed and he would
leave without her. Well, for all my other seven births I have had contractions
for 4-6 hours before I delivered so I figured we would be good this time. I
didn’t wait a long time after the contractions started to call him, and so I
wasn’t concerned. I also texted my friend who really wanted to see the birth
and let her know I was in labor.
Gil and I continued to fill the pool. At 12:45 am I
called my midwife back to see if he had left yet. My contractions were getting
stronger but not bad. He was in his car in his driveway ready to leave the
minute Brook arrived. At our house we were having a major rain storm and it was
moving south towards where the midwife was coming from.
At 1:15 am I called the midwife back and found out
they were on the Montrose side of Delta. That meant they were still a ways
away. I also received a text from my friend that said she was having issues
with her contacts. The contacts had not been in a neutralizing solution long
enough and they were burning her eyes. So she wasn’t able to leave her house
yet.
Gil and I continued to fill the birth pool. The hot
water from the stock pots allowed us to get it filled up faster since we had
plenty of cold water to bring the temperature down.
At 1:30 am I called my midwife again and found that
they were about 1 hour away in normal conditions but it was pouring rain on
them and so they could not go any faster.
At 1:40 I finally got in the birth pool. The whole
room was very warm because I had shut off the A/C not wanting the room to be
too cool for the baby once the baby was born. Plus we had been making it humid
by boiling water. The birth pool was 105 degrees when I got in and we added
some more cold water after I got in. My friend arrived just as I was getting in
the pool. I called the Midwife and told him I was getting close to delivery. He
said to call him if I was going to deliver.
At this time, I had Gil get the birthing stuff out
and told him to get the bulb syringe out. Then I told my friend to get the “What
to do if the midwife hasn’t arrived yet” sheet from the fridge. I told her, you
can read it if you want, but you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I could
tell that I was getting close and with a few more contractions, I would be
pushing. I asked my friend to call the midwife and tell him I was getting ready
to push. It was probably around 2:00 am. Gil was right there by my side ready
to help in whatever way he could. Bill, my midwife, said that if I felt a cord
to make sure I got out of the water.
At this point I lost track of time. On my first
push, I noticed that I didn’t have the typical feeling of my water breaking. I
pushed again and the bag of waters was coming out with the baby, meaning the
baby was being born in caul. This means that the amniotic sac has not broken. I
reached down and pinched the sac trying to break it. It was hard to break. I
have never had this happen before so it was a new experience. I finally ripped
the sack and pulled a large piece off. I then felt for a cord and thought I felt
it so I stood up. At this point the head had crowned. Gil walked over to flip
on the overhead light as we just had a side light turned on up to this point.
While he walked over and turn on the light, I delivered our little girl. She
came out just fine with no issues. Her cord went from her belly button up around
the back of her neck and then to the placenta. It wasn’t even wrapped once
around her neck, so no problems with the cord. Gil later told me that I was
suppose to read his mind, because he really wanted to catch the baby this time
since he has never done it before. Well, he failed to tell me this until after
she was out. Kind of a bummer for him that I didn’t know what he was thinking. I could have waited a few seconds so he could
have caught her. But we were both glad everything went well and she was fine.
I delivered the placenta and got out of the pool.
This birth was much easier then Uriah’s birth. I was actually standing when I
delivered her, which worked well. I sat on a chair for a little bit and then
handed her over to Gil to hold while I took a shower. The midwife and assistant
arrived at about 2:40 am, about twenty minutes after I delivered her at 2:18
am.
I was amazed at how good I felt after 24 hours. My
previous birth was very hard because Uriah had the cord wrapped around his neck
three times and I had to push so hard. With this birth, I was reminded how good
I could feel after a birth. It was a beautiful birth and another unique
delivery. The midwife wasn’t present, but the Lord was present and in complete
control. He took care of this mama and my baby. My contractions only last 2 ½ hours.
The fastest labor and delivery I have ever had.
The next morning, Gil and I were in our room
sleeping when the children woke up. With Uriah and Zuri’s births there was no
tub so they didn’t know we had the baby until we told them. This time, the
birth tub was still set up and so they knew I had the baby. Uriah, who is 18
months old, was way more excited about the tub of water in the middle of the
room than his new little sister.
After three days we finally settled on the name
Tikvah Faith Lawton. Tikvah means hope in Hebrew. She weighed 8# and was 20
inches long, born at 2:18 am on Satruday September 5, 2015. A beautiful little girl, this makes the count even at four girls
and four boys.
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