Nehemiah's Birth Story

Nehemiah Job was born in April 2013 at 10:10pm. He weighed 9 lbs 7 oz and was 21 inches long. I labored with him for about 6 hours, most of which was done at home, in retrospect, my husband and I say that we should have just had him at home. Nehemiah's birth was the most traumatic of all of my boys. We had a terrible experience at Harrisburg Hospital; it was a nightmare. All of the people involved (doctor, nurses, mil) freaked out and made the experience that much worse to where we decided to get out of the OBGYN system and find something better. Thankfully, we found Dr. Abbott and we have had two pleasant experiences with him of which I have already shared in both Valiant and Levi's birth stories.

I began having contractions every 5 minutes on a Wednesday in April around 4:30pm. I called Isaiah at 5:30pm to let him know about my contractions. He came home from work around 6:15pm. He called his Mom shortly after and then the doctor. The doctor was supposed to call us back soon, but did not. He called the doctor again at 7:45pm after I saw some blood on my pad. The doctor finally called back and said to come to the hospital. So I ventured my very much in labor self down our 23 stairs and out to the car. I had to stop halfway down due to a contraction and then stop again at the bottom to deal with yet another. I got into the car and it was THE WORSE CAR RIDE EVER. I could feel every bump and what was worse, when we got to the hospital we had to follow a detour and ended up parking in the Visitor Parking rather than the Emergency Parking. So I had to do some more walking and stopping. No one offered me a wheel chair as I walked in; no one seemed to noticed how much I was in labor.

We got to the hospital around 8:30pm. There was no room for us in the Inn. All of the private labor rooms were taken, so they put me in a bed in a shared labor area. I told them I was ready to push, but they still wanted to check to see if I was fully dilated. As they checked, my water broke and they told me, that I couldn't have the baby there and they'd have to move me to another room. They took me to an operating room and I delivered Nehemiah on a flat C-section table. I delivered him up-hill, flat on my back, the way that I had read was THE WORSE way to have a baby. No comfy pillows, no adjustable bed, no quiet, peaceful environment, not one of the things that they had promised me I would have when we had walked through the hospital tour.

So yeah, I was in the crowning or transitional stage (pushing) for about an hour. I used no pain medications or drugs. I had wanted to give birth in the squatting position, but that clearly didn't happen, they didn't even give me the option, but God gave me the grace and strength to deliver on my back. As I said, everything about this labor was a nightmare. I was not happy with the doctor at all, but there wasn't anything that I could do about it. When we had her in the regular visit, I begged God not to have her on the day of my birth, but God had His reasons for saying “No” and I had to accept His will and way. I labored in the way I had not wanted to. I wanted to be solely in control of my pushing efforts, but the doctor was in a hurry and kept pressing me to push when I really wasn't ready to. She was very pushy; I really don't handle pushy, bossy, rude people well. Being yelled at to push was not my idea of a calm, relaxing, peaceful birth. I felt very pressured and like I was holding everyone up so I tried to make people happy and pushed when I knew I wasn't even having a contraction. It was so hard to even focus on when my contractions were coming because of all of the noise and freaking out going on in the room. Needless to say, labor was hard, but I coped through thinking of God and asking Him for strength to do what I felt was impossible.

So when Nehemiah's head finally came out, the doctor freaked out saying that his shoulders were stuck and one of the nurses jumped on top of me and push down very hard on my stomach to get Nehemiah to pop out, while the doctor pulled on Nehemiah at the other end. Thankfully, Nehemiah, sucking on his right hand, came out just fine; he was healthy and wasn't hurt in the process. They laid him on my chest and he was a consoling distraction from all of the pain that I had suffered. I suffered 4th degree tears, which took an excruciating hour to sew up. I'd take another hour of labor over that horrible hour of being stitched up any day. My whole body ached and I couldn't get up or move much without severe pain. I couldn't sit down for a few weeks afterwards; I cried about how I looked down there and thought I'd never look normal again or stop being in so much pain, but eventually I did heal.

After being stitched they took me to the Recovery Room to check up on me and Nehemiah; they weighed him and Isaiah watched over them to be sure they didn't do anything that he didn't want then to; he had to sign a lot of exemption papers and read through each one. I'm so thankful he did all of that, because I was in no position to read or think about much. For me, they insisted that I pee and asked me if I could get up. I tried to and nearly fainted, so they used a catheter, which the nurse didn't put in the right spot the first time and had to try again. It was annoying, but I still put on a smile and tried to be as kind and happy as I could considering the night. I did a lot of praying, especially for my husband, because he had to watch it all and was doing all he could to protect us from all of their nonsense.

We finally got out of that room and were taken to the Postpartum Room where we thought we might get some rest, but that didn't happen, because someone came in to check on us every 2 hours. They wanted to give Nehemiah a bath and we let them since, he pooped all over me as soon as he came out. We had wanted to wait on that so that his vernix could do it's thing, but that also didn't work out for us. In the postpartum room, I wish that I could have held Nehemiah more and been able to get him for myself, even to bathe him for the first time myself, but I wasn't able to. I was a beached whale. I was too weak and had to stay in one position or else I caused myself horrible pain. He did breastfeed well, though and even though that also caused me pain, I dealt with it for his sake and it was a precious time regardless. We read in the Bible that child birth is painful, and my first most definitely was that indeed, but it was nothing in comparison to the joy of seeing Nehemiah for the very first time and holding him close to my chest, even if he did poop all over me.

I think we spent about 2 and a half days at the hospital and left late in the afternoon on Friday. Thursday was spent reading and signing informational pages, watching required videos, learning how to breastfeed, learning how to get to the bathroom on my own, showering and entertaining a few visitors: Isaiah's Mom and Rachel. On Friday, it took them forever to discharge us, but we eventually made our escape. We may have done a hearing screening on that day and Jaundice test. We definitely met with a pediatrician who told us all about the monkey reflex and how Nehemiah was showing his relationship to monkeys when he waved his arms while he was laying on his back. We did well not to laugh in her face and tell her that God created us and we ain't no kin to a monkey. Nehemiah hated laying on his back and we took care of that once we were home. I'm sure he was just as ready to get out of that jungle as we were.

After being discharged, we packed everything up and left the Postpartum Room. In the elevator, on our way down, we met another new mom who had the tiniest baby. We both commented about the difference in the size of our babies and had some laughs. We were so very happy when we finally made it home and could actually rest, be alone as a family and enjoy our sweet new addition, Nehemiah Job, our little consolation in the midst of sorrow.

Levi's Birth Story

Levi Azariah was born in October of 2015 at 1:45pm. He weighed 9 lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches long. He was (so far) my longest and hardest labor of about 14 hours.

Labor began Wednesday at 11pm. I had at least 3 crazy contractions within that hour, but I was so tired that I just went to the bathroom each time and then laid back down. 

Then at midnight I had another contraction and I was just going to stay in bed, but Isaiah insisted that I get up and walk because he believed that Levi was coming. I was doubtful, but I did get up and contractions became strong and steady. While I was working through them in a rocking chair in our Nursery, Isaiah called Dr. Abbott to get him on the way and then he called our friend Angie Stout. Things were still progressing pretty well. Meanwhile, Isaiah called his Mom to have her pick up Nehemiah and Valiant. Mom and Stephen came, woke the boys, who got up really well, and left with no problem. Shortly after they left, Dr. Abbott arrived and then Angie. Dr. Abbott checked me and I was at 5cm. After Dr. Abbot and Angie arrived, my contractions slowed down pretty dramatically. Dr. Abbott checked me two more times and both times I had not progressed. I remained at 5cm from 12 midnight until 5 am, so Dr. Abbott suggested that we go to the hospital because I was having Dysfunctional Labor and it was better to be safe than sorry. Isaiah was very disappointed, but in the moment, I really didn't mind. I think I was just happy that Levi would be born soon. (Looking back, I believe I just got stage fright when everyone started showing up and didn't feel safe enough to have Levi. I also believe that he was rushed out and just wasn't ready to come yet.) 

We traveled about an hour to the hospital and got there around 6 am. They induced me with 2 doses of Pitocin around 8 am. When I got this amount with Valiant, things moved right along, but not this time. This labor was very long and slow; my cm's took forever. I was taken up to a total of 12 doses of Pitocin in all. It was brutal. 

When I was at 7cm, Dr. Abbott broke my water. When I was told that I was at only 7cm, I was so very tired and sooo disappointed that I wasn't at 10cm yet. I looked up at the clock and it read 1pm. I then began begging the Lord for the labor to be over before 2pm. Dr. Abbott came to check me again and said I was 8cm. I told myself that I only had 2 more to go and begged God for the strength to keep going because I was so exhausted. 

Well, God answered my prayer rather quickly, because I never made it to 10cm. Shortly after being told I was 8cms, I felt a very strong urge to push. So I did and it took 3 pushes and Levi was out. I was so relieved!!! Those 3 pushes were so encouraging because my body was so done. I tore a very little bit and had to get stitched up, but it wasn't as bad as my two previous births. I was OVER-JOYED to have Levi in my arms! We stayed at the hospital until a bit after 7pm and got home around 9pm. Isaiah's Mom kept the boys another night; Nehemiah and Valiant met their new brother the next morning. They were both so thrilled to meet him. It was such a special moment when they held him for the very first time.