I gave birth to Christopher here at home in a birthing tub. Tim and my kids were there with me. I had an uneventful pregnancy as far as the baby's health goes. Every appointment was right on target and no concerns. Emotionally it was difficult though. I felt very overwhelmed and I had many worries about my ability to "keep up" with all the demands of motherhood x5. I cried a lot andI prayed a lot, especially near the end of my pregnancy. When the day finally came for me to have my baby I was excited and anxious all at once.
I went into labor and it all seemed amazingly easy for me. I had planned to offer up all my suffering and pain for my special intentions (people I am praying for) and to "hand over" these pains to the Blessed Mother to "use" as she saw fit. I walked around laboring and thinking to myself that these pains weren't strong enough to be very productive. I had no idea that I was as far along as I was. In fact, I kept telling Tim that I didn't need to get into the tub yet. He kept encouraging me "Kris get into the tub and relax - use it." I told him I didn't want to be in there forever and get all pruney thinking I had hours and hours ahead of me...
My doctor was at another birth. That mother had complications. The doctor had to accompany her to the hospital and so he felt I was a healthy/normal mom and baby and I had prior experience (this being #5) and so he sent the nurse-midwife to my home without him. Normally she would assist him at my birth. This time it was just her and infact I had never met her before. I wasn't worried though -things were going well.
Christine(the midwife) arrived and checked me. 9 centimeters and she said to get into the tub because it was "now or never" 9 centimeters???? I couldn't believe it. I remember saying to the Blessed Mother "Mother? why are you helping me so much? I wanted to give you a GREAT gift of all my pain and you're making this so easy for me. Why?" I got into the tub and about 45 minutes later Christopher was born. He was my biggest baby to date and yet he was one of the easiest to deliver. The entire time I was in the tub I was praying. I always pray during labor. That's no different. But this time two people kept coming into my mind again and again. I was NOT trying to focus on them but they kept returning to me in an unusually vivid way. Bishop Sheen and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I remember seeing both of those images clearly before me. Internally I called out to the and asked them for help. I said inside myself "Our Lady of Mount Carmel! help my baby. " "Our Lady of Mount Carmel! Protect my baby." That was unusual for me. I NEVER use our lady's titles to call her. Normally i just think of, and pray to the "blessed mother". It's more of a general image. This was weird - it was more of a thought coming to me than me conjuring up a thought - if that makes sense.
After Christopher was born, I held him and thanked Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Bishop Sheen. Tim, Christine and I all took note of his umbilical cord then. We actually exclaimed "wow!" as we looked at it!! It was by far the most amazing cord we'd ever seen. Christine even commented that she'd never seen a more "perfect" cord in all her time delivering babies!! It was thick, perfect in coloring and VERY STRONG!! Christine said it was a "text book" version of what an umbiliocal cord needs to be. What a remarkable "lifeline" my little boy had. Little did we know what we would soon find at the other end of this "lifeline" we were all admiring.
As is typical it was time to deliver the placenta and I thought nothing of it. The doctor or nurse must always check and examine the placenta carefully. (The umbilical cord, attaches from the baby to the placenta.) Christine was doing this as Tim, the kids and I were all focused on little Christopher. As we all were enjoying him, Christine broke in with "you've got to see this!" She was holding up the umbilical cord and she moved her finger down to the spot where it then attached to the placenta. There about 2 or 3 inches from the base of the placenta the beautiful, strong umbilical cord split into two thin scraggly pieces. They were weak "threads" in contrast to the rest of the cord. CHrstine explained how rare this was. I asked what this meant. She explained that the cord should NOT split like that and how VERY fragile this made the cord's attachment to the placenta. Still, not understanding the impact of this I said and so I asked what would have happened had they torn away? He would have died. Christopher would have been inside me, moving around and kicking as babies do and he could have gotten a little foot or hand between these two fragile lines and ripped them. This would have been a deadly, and as I later found out, often occuring accident, resulting in stillbirth. But my little Chris was able to avoid tearing these lines.
The technical explanation follows...The Pregnancy Institute - SILENT RISK chapter 1: "Another variation is called a furcate cord insertion in which the cord does not connect to the placenta but its branching elements do; however, no membranous insertion exists. These malformations account for another 0.5% to 1% of all births and are observed increased in premature labor, premature birth, fetal stillbirth, and neurologic harm.
The risk of cord vessel rupture is increased with an abnormal cord insertion. The difficulty of managing an incident such as cord rupture is great. What makes the mystery even more complicated is the location of the cord insertion in the uterus. If the membranous insertion is over the cervical opening, the risk of tearing and fetal blood loss is great."
So, you see Christopher's life and growth, and birth are the miracle story I've been needing to tell. Our Lady of Mount Carmel thank you!! Bishop Sheen thank you! Every time I kiss Chris's chubby cheeks I am eternally grateful.
I went into labor and it all seemed amazingly easy for me. I had planned to offer up all my suffering and pain for my special intentions (people I am praying for) and to "hand over" these pains to the Blessed Mother to "use" as she saw fit. I walked around laboring and thinking to myself that these pains weren't strong enough to be very productive. I had no idea that I was as far along as I was. In fact, I kept telling Tim that I didn't need to get into the tub yet. He kept encouraging me "Kris get into the tub and relax - use it." I told him I didn't want to be in there forever and get all pruney thinking I had hours and hours ahead of me...
My doctor was at another birth. That mother had complications. The doctor had to accompany her to the hospital and so he felt I was a healthy/normal mom and baby and I had prior experience (this being #5) and so he sent the nurse-midwife to my home without him. Normally she would assist him at my birth. This time it was just her and infact I had never met her before. I wasn't worried though -things were going well.
Christine(the midwife) arrived and checked me. 9 centimeters and she said to get into the tub because it was "now or never" 9 centimeters???? I couldn't believe it. I remember saying to the Blessed Mother "Mother? why are you helping me so much? I wanted to give you a GREAT gift of all my pain and you're making this so easy for me. Why?" I got into the tub and about 45 minutes later Christopher was born. He was my biggest baby to date and yet he was one of the easiest to deliver. The entire time I was in the tub I was praying. I always pray during labor. That's no different. But this time two people kept coming into my mind again and again. I was NOT trying to focus on them but they kept returning to me in an unusually vivid way. Bishop Sheen and Our Lady of Mount Carmel. I remember seeing both of those images clearly before me. Internally I called out to the and asked them for help. I said inside myself "Our Lady of Mount Carmel! help my baby. " "Our Lady of Mount Carmel! Protect my baby." That was unusual for me. I NEVER use our lady's titles to call her. Normally i just think of, and pray to the "blessed mother". It's more of a general image. This was weird - it was more of a thought coming to me than me conjuring up a thought - if that makes sense.
After Christopher was born, I held him and thanked Our Lady of Mt. Carmel and Bishop Sheen. Tim, Christine and I all took note of his umbilical cord then. We actually exclaimed "wow!" as we looked at it!! It was by far the most amazing cord we'd ever seen. Christine even commented that she'd never seen a more "perfect" cord in all her time delivering babies!! It was thick, perfect in coloring and VERY STRONG!! Christine said it was a "text book" version of what an umbiliocal cord needs to be. What a remarkable "lifeline" my little boy had. Little did we know what we would soon find at the other end of this "lifeline" we were all admiring.
As is typical it was time to deliver the placenta and I thought nothing of it. The doctor or nurse must always check and examine the placenta carefully. (The umbilical cord, attaches from the baby to the placenta.) Christine was doing this as Tim, the kids and I were all focused on little Christopher. As we all were enjoying him, Christine broke in with "you've got to see this!" She was holding up the umbilical cord and she moved her finger down to the spot where it then attached to the placenta. There about 2 or 3 inches from the base of the placenta the beautiful, strong umbilical cord split into two thin scraggly pieces. They were weak "threads" in contrast to the rest of the cord. CHrstine explained how rare this was. I asked what this meant. She explained that the cord should NOT split like that and how VERY fragile this made the cord's attachment to the placenta. Still, not understanding the impact of this I said and so I asked what would have happened had they torn away? He would have died. Christopher would have been inside me, moving around and kicking as babies do and he could have gotten a little foot or hand between these two fragile lines and ripped them. This would have been a deadly, and as I later found out, often occuring accident, resulting in stillbirth. But my little Chris was able to avoid tearing these lines.
The technical explanation follows...The Pregnancy Institute - SILENT RISK chapter 1: "Another variation is called a furcate cord insertion in which the cord does not connect to the placenta but its branching elements do; however, no membranous insertion exists. These malformations account for another 0.5% to 1% of all births and are observed increased in premature labor, premature birth, fetal stillbirth, and neurologic harm.
The risk of cord vessel rupture is increased with an abnormal cord insertion. The difficulty of managing an incident such as cord rupture is great. What makes the mystery even more complicated is the location of the cord insertion in the uterus. If the membranous insertion is over the cervical opening, the risk of tearing and fetal blood loss is great."
So, you see Christopher's life and growth, and birth are the miracle story I've been needing to tell. Our Lady of Mount Carmel thank you!! Bishop Sheen thank you! Every time I kiss Chris's chubby cheeks I am eternally grateful.
3 comments:
Kris,
Thank you for the beautiful miracle testimony. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel came to your aid then and I suspect she has been keeping you in her sight for some time. Try to find and post the picture of you at Mt. Carmel Elem. School where you are dressed in costume as Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. Maybe that explains some of the miracle of Christopher's cord not failing during his birth. Love you. MOM
Thank you for this amazing story. I love birth stories. Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is wonderful. It is the name of our parish, and everyone in our family who has received first communion is also enrolled in the brown scapular. We all wear them! Our Lady of Mt. Carmel is the one who gave the scapular to St. Simon Stock.
This story also hits close to the heart because we lost a son, Benjamin, at 34 weeks due to a cord accident. I often thought how that didn't happen with all that movement that happens. Turns out it happens about 1 out of 200. Your son is a miracle, as are all of your kids. And, he is cute too!
Thank you for sharing this. My mom, who died in January, had a great devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel and a deep fondness for Bishop Sheen. She also LOVED babies ... Finding your post tonight was like finding a special note from my mom. Wow. Blessings to you and your family.
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