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Tapes Story

The following birth story is why: 

One of the executive producers of the Modern Pregnancy Video Series 
shared her birth story with me. 

She was 23 when she found out she was pregnant with her first child. 
She was excited but naive, uneducated and inexperienced with childbirth. 
At that time, information about childbirth was not as abundant as it is 
today. 

Since she was unprepared when it came time for her to deliver her baby, 
she did not know all the different scenarios that might possibly 
develop.  It turned out to be a strapping baby boy weighing nearly 10 
pounds.  As the delivery started the baby was in the wrong position. 

His shoulder was wedged in where his head should have been.  Her labor 
got so intense, so quickly, she was given a sedative to help with the 
excruciating pain.  When the sedative was administered she passed out 
from the effects of it, and sheer exhaustion.  Because of this she would 
be unconscious for the entire birth process.  Today the doctor would 
have most likely performed a cesarean section in those circumstances. 
Back then he decided to use forceps instead to get the baby in the right 
position for vaginal birth.  He worked and worked for what seemed like 
hours until the baby was finally born.  What could of and should of been 
a wonderful experience turned into a nightmare.  He was too large to be 
born vaginally.  Her perineum was torn several inches.  The doctor 
told her later after delivery, when she was conscious, that she would 
require surgery to correct the injury.  All he could do now was a 
temporary fix and the final surgery would have to be performed in about 
six months.  That bothered her, but the most disturbing thing was when 
she looked at her baby boy. 

He had a massive bruise that started on his cheek down by his chin that 
ran all the way up to his forehead.  He also had a terrible black eye on 
the right side of his head and it looked as if his face had been 
beaten.  When she would watch him sleeping, she would wonder if he would 
be OK, or if he would be scarred for life, possibly physically, but what 
if mentally too.  Every time he cried she worried and thought, is he 
just hungry, or is he in pain.  All she could think was that many babies 
in those circumstances suffer from lack of oxygen and could have brain 
damage.  Some even die.  Day after day these thoughts haunted her. 
Because of the injury sustained during delivery, and the special 
garments she now had to wear because of the injury, she felt as if she 
could not give him her full attention and care during the first months 
of his life. 

The whole birth process stood out for years in her mind as an incredibly 
negative experience to such a degree that she decided she would never 
have another child.  She also wondered, "has this ever happened to 
anyone else?  Is this what mothers have to go through when they have 
children?"  She was operated on 9 months later for repair of the large 
fistula that was in her peritoneum. 

Eight years later, after much discussion, she and her husband decided 
they wanted another child.  They found a wonderful OB/GYN doctor and 
friend who guided her through this pregnancy and tried to undo all the 
mental damage that had been done with the birth of her first baby.  With 
his help, she delivered a healthy baby girl, and she remained awake 
through the whole process and was able to see her baby born and hold her 
and bond with her the first few moments following birth. 

The most important thing in prepaaring for childbirth is an educated 
mother, especially if it's her first pregnancy.  Pregnancy is a unique 
and blessed time in a mothers life.  By educating mothers, teaching them 
their options, and giving them the right information so that they can 
take the best possible care of themselves, we can help more mothers have 
healthy and happy pregnancies. 

Jon Wickre 
jwickre@TheWorksOnline.com