A Male Midwife's Story of
Birth.
Hello Jackie
Below is a story of a recent HVBAC (Homebirth VBAC). You
will find no mention of the VBAC in this story, as we did
not consider it to be something to worry about. This story
has a bit of a different slant to it, as the "male" who is
telling the story, is Me, her Midwife.
Blanca's husband, apparently did not want any part of the
birth, as 7 AM neared, he looked at his watch, and said "I
got to go to work." and promptly left. Below is a photo, of,
from left, The neighbor- helper, Blanca's first born,
Blanca, and Me, taken about 30 minutes after the birth. This
birth took place in Tijuana, Mexico, where I do free
prenatal care, and births, for very poor mom's without
medical insurance. Hope that you can use the story.
Jerry
"At 9:39 AM, 2/16/01, Blanca Perez gave birth to a nice
baby boy, weighing 4.0 Kg. She called at 10:15, 2/15/01. I
left shortly thereafter, and after driving for 1 hour, the
Alternator locked up, and burned the belt in half. I pulled
over on the 15 Freeway, and called my wife, Coco. She
arrived 1 hour later, and then I had to drive her home,
before
I could restart my journey, to Blanca's house. I arrived
at Blanca's at about 3:30 AM. Blanca opened the door to her
house, as soon as she heard my car. I was more then 3 hours
late, but Blanca never wavered with her faith, in me, to
arrive at her house.
She was finally having some decent Cx., after 3 days of
piddling around. Blanca had called Tuesday, and had leg
cramps, and passing clear mucus. Blanca called again
Wednesday saying that she was still having the same
symptoms, now with some cx.
She was getting a lot of pressure from a neighbor, who
was insisting that she should go to the Hospital, and be
checked. I "heard" what Blanca is saying, like "please come,
and check me, and give me some peace of mind, and something
to tell my neighbor." I went, and calmed everyone's nerves,
loosing a days work, in the process.
Anyway, last night, after checking Blanca, she was 2 Cm.
She walked for about 1½ hours, and then she was not gaining
much, so we all bedded down until 6:30 AM. My fears, about
low blood pressure, and the baby's head high in her pelvis,
causing problems, proved to be unfounded, thank goodness.
She began to walk again, and soon, Blanca was having good
Cx. Blanca SROM'ed about 9 AM, and was complete, by 9:25 AM.
The last hour was difficult for Blanca, as she was having
very hard pains, I saw a tear in her eye. She also vomited
about 15 times in that last hour. Blanca is a rather
nervous, high strung, fast talking person, and we had to
help her in that last hour, to not loose control, But, she
never lost her resolve to birth this baby, normally, and at
home. After the baby was born, I placed a towel on Blanca's
tummy, and placed the baby on the towel, so that Blanca
could see her new little one.
After he was breathing well, and he had time to drain the
mucus from his mouth and throat, I cut the cord, and wrapped
him up in the towel, and handed the baby to a neighbor of
Blanca's, who had come to help. I cleaned up Blanca, and
then got her up. We then took some photo's.
Soon after the birth, Blanca's face changed, she then
began to look beautiful, and radiant."
Jerry
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