Gratitude

We recently had an appointment with my Midwife, Cathy. This brought back a flood of memories for me from Daysha’s delivery. I really wanted to thank Cathy for everything she did for us on that day because I sincerely believe that if I wasn’t in her skillful hands, things would have been a lot different. Yes, even in a hospital. The delivery would not have been as quick and there would have been a lot more trauma than needed to be. I can say this, because I now have had 2 deliveries of babies with shoulder dystocia.

I did not go into this birth blind. I did all the reading I could on shoulder dystocia and made sure my caregiver knew how to handle it if it occurred again. Unfortunately it did and now because of it, my delivery options have dramatically changed.

Shoulder dystocia occurs for no particular cause. It can happen to large babies, it can happen to small babies. With whatever risk factors are associated with dystocia come recommendations none of which have had any proven decline in the amount of dystocias diagnosed or the after effects, like brachial plexus injury, contusions and lacerations, and birth asphyxia. There is no way to predict recurrent shoulder dystocia other than a good guess. And the good guess for me is that it’ll probably happen again.

So before having another pregnancy there is a lot of things to consider. I now have to plan on this actually occurring and have another plan of action if it does. Do I have another child? Do I have midwifery care again? Or do I subject myself to the scrutiny of doctors and risk interventions? Either way, the risk is shoulder dystocia and fetal injuries that accompany it.

So that’s all the technical data. The emotional data is something I will deal with every time I think of having another child. Shoulder dystocia is hard. As smooth as my labor went (twice over), the actual delivery is something that is very emotionally draining. So it was very important to me to have people surrounding me that I trust and I am beyond words with the amount of support I received that day.

To Cathy,
Thank you so much. I am so indebted for all of your encouragement, support, and energy that you gave me and my family. I don’t know if I have enough words to tell you how grateful I am for being a part of bringing Daysha into this world. I feel as if everything that occurred throughout my pregnancy was meant to put me into your safe hands. Thank you for delivering our baby girl to us and not giving up on her. Thank you for staying near me when I needed and listening to my concerns. This is only a small token of our thanks to you but you are forever rooted in our hearts.

Many of God’s blessings to you,
Love, Heather, Glen, Ethan and most of all Daysha.