It took me close to two years to write down Dannica’s birth story…A huge part of that was because I did not want to relive it. It wasn’t until I was pregnant with DJ and nearing his delivery that I was forced to face my first delivery and come to peace with it. You can read about Dannica’s birth story here.
After Dannica was born, my husband and I spoke with several different OBGYNS as well as my neonatologist about the uterine inversion. They were all confused because medically, my uterus should not have prolapsed. It was a huge relief to hear this from all the different doctors because that meant that my first delivery was a freak accident in every sense of the word, and they were all confident that I should be able to deliver safely and smoothly for future pregnancies.
One of the first things I did after I recovered from my delivery was to switch OBGYNs. I did an exit interview with my former clinic where I expressed how I felt and why I was so frustrated over my labor and delivery experience. To which my former doctor said that there isn’t a single doctor who delivers all their patients’ babies. She told me she was only on duty until 5PM and that she had left me in very capable hands. I absolutely understood where she was coming from because you also don’t want an overworked doctor to operate on you. I told her which doctor and clinic I was switching over to. She was then quiet for a moment and said, “well that is the one doctor that I know who has delivered all of his patients’ babies.” And then she admitted that the other partner at the clinic had delivered both her daughters.
It is strange…She didn’t have to tell me those things for me to know that I was making the right decision in choosing my current doctor. The clinic, the doctor, the whole experience was so different from day one. That is why it is so important to do your homework, and to interview and research the clinics and doctors before settling on one (something that I did not do the first time). My current doctor has seen me for every single appointment throughout my entire pregnancy. Every time I came for a follow-up, it was like picking up exactly where we left off. He knew my medical history inside and out. And he personally did so much research on uterine inversions, it made my husband and I so grateful that our doctor just CARED so much.
At 37 weeks my neonatologist took out my cerclage (a cerclage is where they surgically suture your cervix shut to prevent preterm delivery). As soon as it was taken out, my current OBGYN, Dr. Wester said that I was 1cm dilated, and that I should prepare myself in case I go into labor soon. So we flew our mother in law out to take care of Dannica once I’m at the hospital. Three days after she flew in, my water broke a little after midnight on Saturday 2/3. So DJ’s birth started very similarly to Dannica’s, but could not have gone more differently.
It was close to 1AM when I finally got to the hospital. When I told the staff my doctor’s name, they told me that Dr. Wester was already there delivering another patient’s baby! We got to our room, and the nurse told us that Dr. Wester was informed of our arrival and that all precautions were already taken care of and set aside. He had reserved extra bags of blood in case I needed another transfusion, and requested the nurse to put in two PICCs should he need to pump blood into me as quickly as possible.
Soon after he delivered the other patient’s baby, he came to see us…and he looked so tired… He had already been working all day, delivered a baby, and now it was 2 am. I was nervous he would put me in another doctor’s hands and have history repeat itself… Or have me induced to speed up the labor. But he checked how my cervix was progressing, said everything looked great and said that the baby will come when he is ready and then smiled at me. He left the room at which point I thought he left the hospital to go home and rest before he would be paged. But my nurse told me that he actually was in the hospital bed and waited all night just in case my labor would progress rapidly.
When it was finally time to push, he was just so patient! I was barely given 30 minutes to push Dannica before they used the forceps. But he just let me take my time, and really coached me push by push all the way through. Before I knew it, I heard my baby cry, and then he was in my arms! The first thing I want to say is that, there is not one single moment in life that will equal (or even come close to) the exhilaration and love that will course through every cell of your body like that moment when you meet and hold your baby for the first time. The second thing is that, each time is just as spectacular as the first birth… that feeling does not diminish in any way. Just like Dannica’s–I felt my whole body, from the tips of my hair to the ends of my toes just freeze and explode. It felt like the whole universe expanded all around me, and at the same time I felt like he and I were the only ones in existence. It felt like all was SILENT, but at the same time explosions were going off left and right, all around us… I wanted to have that moment live on forever and ever.
When the cloud of exhilaration dissipated, I looked up and saw all the many faces who helped deliver this little miracle to us, and I was just so overwhelmed with so much gratitude. My husband and I looked at our Doctor, and all we could say over and over again was “thank you, thank you, thank you…”
When things calmed down and my doctor came back to check up on me, I could see the relief in his eyes having safely delivered my baby. I could tell he does not see his profession as a job, nor his clients as patients. He sees us as future mothers to babies who need them, daughters to parents who raised them, and wives to husbands who love them…Not as a job to get done, but a sacred passage that he conducts with the utmost respect and diligence.
After what happened during Dannica’s birth, I am so blessed to have experienced the labor and delivery I prayed for.
There are so many people my husband and I want to thank for the birth of our beautiful baby boy. Dr. William Schoolcraft from CCRM who helped me conceive and made it all possible from the beginning. Our neonatologist, Dr. Greg Lindsay from Obstetrix for overseeing my cerclage and helping me carry DJ to 37 weeks. To all the nurses at Rose Medical who helped me recover. To my dear friend Annie Sandhu who introduced me to the wonderful Dr. Robert Wester. And of course, to Dr. Wester himself from Midtown OBGYN. Who took me on as a patient, who was always there for us, who brought our baby safely into the world, and who we now consider a great and forever friend—we owe you a lifetime of gratitude. Thank you from the bottom of all of our hearts.
