With any
pregnant mom, I always feel a little added pressure/stress because there are 2
lives that I am responsible for. Most of
the time, everything turns out great and there is a screaming baby and two
smiling parents at the end of it all, but there are times when things don't go
as planned. So the pressure/stress comes
from within, wanting to make sure I do everything possible that I can to end up
with a healthy mom and baby. A recent
pregnancy, had all the normal pressure/stress, but then an added pressure on
top of it. This wasn't just any mom,
this was my neighbor and fellow missionary, Danielle. This was the daughter and soon to be grandchild
of the Schmelzenbachs (my boss here) and the baby was to be the namesake of
Lula Schmelzenbach herself (Danielle's greatgreatgrandmother and the first missionaries (with her husband) of the Church of the Nazarene in Africa). So a
healthy mom and baby, was definitely the outcome I was going for.
Things
were going well, up until about 34 weeks.
The ultrasound at that time, started to show some signs indicating that
maybe the placenta wasn't going to keep nourishing the baby for 7 more weeks,
that it was getting old. I started to do
weekly ultrasounds and measurements of mom and baby to see if/when the baby
quit growing, knowing we might have to have the baby sooner rather than
later.
Finally,
at 37 wks the baby seemed to have grown as much as it was going to inside mom,
so the decision was made to induce Danielle, to have the baby early, so the
baby could continue growing on the outside.
Missionary
deliveries at Kudjip have taken various forms over the years. Often there is a period of home labor,
followed by a short trip to a private room at the hospital for continued labor
with a nurse and delivery by the doctor.
It sounds simple enough. When you
only live 4 minutes from the hospital on foot, getting to the hospital to
deliver the baby seems like a pretty definite thing, but that wasn't the case
with Danielle.
I planned
to get an early morning start on things.
The general rule is that you dilate 1cm an hour, and she was starting at
2, it should take 8-9 hours to have a baby. By starting at 0400, maybe we would have a
baby around lunch time, if all went well. Just as I was giving her the medicine at 0345, I was telling
her more specifically what to expect. I told her, "It can often
take a few hours before you feel any pain or contractions. Sometimes we even have to give a 2nd dose if
nothing happens with the first dose. "
I almost stopped there, but then thought I should tell her the other
side. So I continued, "Now, there
are times when it goes quickly, quicker than normal, and since we are starting
things at home, we don't want to have to rush to the hospital, instead let Gail
(our nurse) know as things progress, so we can monitor you and baby closely and
get to the hospital with lots of time for the delivery. " She understood and quickly took the little pill.
Thankfully,
my house is literally a stone's throw away, a 5 second sprint, just across the street from
her. I knew I couldn't go back to bed,
so I was up doing things around the house, and decided to shower early, in case things go quick. So just before I got a shower, at 0500, I get a text - mild contractions coming
every 10 minutes. Okay, I think, lots of
time yet. I get my shower, check email and then another text comes at 0533 - my water broke, contractions every 2
minutes. I take off running to their
house. 
She is on
their bed, looking very comfortable, some blood and water on the ground. Now she is 3-4 centimeters, but I didn't
witness a contraction when I was there, the baby's heartbeat was doing well, so
I went home again. If we are 4 cm - we
are still looking at 6 hours or so before delivery. I emailed my sister to see if we could Skype
at 0600, instead of 0630 like normal. I
get a text from Gail at 0603 - saying she is on her way up, she was having more
pain and was ready for Gail to be there. Okay, I thought, now she is having more
pain. Great labor is definitely kicking
in, maybe we are looking at before noon.
Maybe 10 minutes later, I was still checking email, waiting for my
sister to pickup on Skype, when I heard a loud scream. I thought to myself - that is either someone
in the village who is being beaten (of which there is nothing I can do), or
that is Danielle and I better go. So, I
took off running to their house, and as I did, I hear Morgan (Danielle's
husband) yelling - ERIN. I rush in and
find that she is complete and could have this baby at home, but I wasn't ready
for that. 
Danielle
is saying she has to push, but I look at her and Morgan and their perplexed
son, who was wondering what is wrong with his mom and why she is screaming, and
say with the most commanding voice I could muster looking directly into Danielle's eyes (as if
speaking something strongly means it will happen), "You NEED to breathe,
you CANNOT push, and we need to go to the hospital NOW."
I turned
around to see Rachel (who also heard the scream) take Theron, and amazingly
Morgan and Danielle were up and out the door within seconds. As I am racing to open the car, another
contraction comes and Danielle stops in the driveway and tells me she is going to have the baby now. I just continue in my stern voice, "NO, you are NOT going to have this baby now. DO NOT push, keep breathing, you need to get
in the car. " I open up the back of
the landcruiser, Morgan lifts her up - I confirm that the head isn't coming
right now and get in. Morgan doesn't
even close the doors, he is holding onto the back of the cruiser, positioning
himself in front of his wife, preventing her from falling out and yells
GO. I floor it and go as fast as
possible on our little station road to the hospital.
We pass
Harmon and Cindy on the road as we go, they were coming up to see how things
were going, planning to spend some time with their laboring daughter for a
while before the birth. They realize it
was us seeing, Morgan barely hanging on in the back and they
take off running/driving to meet us at the hospital. We passed Gail on the road, as she was coming up to help Danielle with the labor, and she turns around and meets us at the hospital. When we pull into the ER - I confirm the head
isn't coming out right now, so I take off running to grab a trolley to wheel
her into the delivery room. Gail has
arrived, so I leave her and Morgan to wheel her into the delivery room as I run
to the private room, unlock it, and get gloves on to catch this baby. We get her into the room, onto the bed and
two pushes later Lula Anne was born at 0619.
Thankfully
the end result was a screaming crying baby, two smiling parents, two smiling
grandparents and a relieved nurse and doctor, who have vowed to not do home
inductions again.
You can follow the happenings of the Stephenson Family on their blog here.
