Back to those babies... One of my teammates had baby number four. A boy to add to their three girls. Then I got an added bonus and got to catch a baby at home for a mom whose really quick labor made it difficult to get to the hospital.
So first baby born was David. Remember this birth story? Well that is David's big sister and after her birth we were glad to be very close to the hospital this time instead more than an hour away. Once again though this baby made us wait past its official due date. I arrived the day before her due date figuring that would put me early enough but hopefully not too early that I was in the way for too long. We had some fun days getting out and about to see things in the city of Jogya where they live now.
Her parents arrived almost a week after the baby was due and we were still waiting. Her mom went to a doctor's appointment with us and baby was looking good on ultrasound (albeit big compared to an Indonesian baby) which had the doctor a bit freaked out. So after reviewing the good results he was ready to schedule her for a c-section. We put that plan on hold until for another week, figuring waiting until 42 weeks was ok, since mom and baby were both healthy. That afternoon we tried a couple of induction tricks at home but went to bed expecting a full night sleep as she had never gone into labor in the middle of the night. But shortly after 4 am there was a knock on the door with the word that she was contracting. So we got ready to head to the hospital.
It was a small hospital where she planned to deliver and the doctor lived and worked across the city, so we wanted to give them plenty of time to get things ready and call him in. Unfortunately, because it was a small hospital they only had a one nicer delivery room. The other was smaller, the bed was more uncomfortable and there was no place to sit except the bed or the toilet. We tried to be moved to her postpartum room for labor as she was not dilated much yet but that was on a different floor and they didn't like that idea. So in the end she spent most of the time on the toilet propped up with pillows. We did a couple of dancing contractions and she did try to rest on the bed for awhile but all in all it wasn't the most comfortable place to labor. And she has rip roaring labors so not much time to rest between contractions. The other room opened up so then we moved there with a more comfortable bed and a place to sit but we didn't really get to enjoy it, as her water broke shortly after we moved while she was hanging on me during a contraction. The urge to push came not too much later but no doctor yet so they wanted her to wait, which as many know is next to impossible. Thankfully as she got to work of pushing, the doctor showed up. It was at this point I quickly realized I hadn't talked through some of the things Americans do and don't do that are sometimes still done in Indonesia. So as I stopped the nurse from pushing down on her fundus (top of her uterus), the doctor pulled out the episiotomy scissors (definitely not normal for a 4th baby anywhere I know including our hospital here in Indonesia). Thankfully little David came quickly, was much smaller than they expected and did well.
A few hours later they were moved to a postpartum room and we all got to catch a nap. Then it was time for the big sisters to meet their little brother...
That evening the parents stayed in the hospital, so grandparents and I did dinner and bedtime. I think the kids were glad when parents came home the next day :)
So our newest teammate is David Allen, born just after 9:30 am (five hours of labor) and he is a cutie...
After a few days of hanging out with them I headed north by a car to the town where I did language study to enjoy some time with friends there. I figured it was also a good place to celebrate Thanksgiving and I also knew of two fairly new arrivals to Indonesia with New Tribes Mission who were pregnant and either already late or were due soon were there so I figured it would be good to check in with them. So that first day there I met with both of them. They had a good support team and plans for people to go with them to the hospital etc. This was however back to the situation where the hospital was an hour away and one mom in particular had a history of really fast labors. So all week I kept the phone close but as the week drew to a close I planned to go to a Thanksgiving potluck on Friday around and then catch an evening flight back to my island.
Friday morning though one of the ladies called me to tell she was having stomach problems. Many moms know labor frequently starts with some diarrhea but this seemed like more than that and having just moved to Indonesia a few months ago there were other possibilities. So we talked about hydrating etc. We also talked about how this could start labor so her team including childcare and driver should keep their phone close.
She called me back around 11:30 to tell me contractions had started but were 5-10 minutes apart. She was huffing and puffing though so I told her it was time to go to the hospital. Then half an hour later I got a call from the person in charge of driving them to the hospital (part of the org's leadership) to say she was contracting hard and fast and they didn't think they could make it to the hospital. So instead I went over to their house. I had minimal equipment with me (doppler, gloves, a stethoscope) but it was obvious she was in hard, fast labor and already in transition. So we had a choice to try and get her to a nearby birth center type hospital but they have a pretty bad reputation and chances are she would deliver in the car. In the end we decided to stay home and do our best there. In the end I got to catch a beautiful little boy name Lias. He was a stargazer (OP) though so that complicated things a bit. Thankfully he cried right away and did great skin-to-skin, mastering breastfeeding quickly. The placenta came without problem shortly after. Then we had to figure out how to get out of the fact that we had done a home birth and they would need a letter from a doctor to get a birth certificate. Plus we needed to separate baby from the placenta and I didn't have the equipment for that and it was debatable if mom needed a few stitches. So then we did get the midwives from the local birth center to help us out. They had a great time with the fact we had a home birth and fun with taking care of an expat mom and baby. We didn't have a baby scale so we used a piece of cloth and a luggage scale to figure out how much little Lias weighed. In the end mom and baby did great and I still got to catch my evening flight but I did miss the Thanksgiving potluck. There is nothing like catching a baby at home, although a few more supplies would have been helpful!
Her parents arrived almost a week after the baby was due and we were still waiting. Her mom went to a doctor's appointment with us and baby was looking good on ultrasound (albeit big compared to an Indonesian baby) which had the doctor a bit freaked out. So after reviewing the good results he was ready to schedule her for a c-section. We put that plan on hold until for another week, figuring waiting until 42 weeks was ok, since mom and baby were both healthy. That afternoon we tried a couple of induction tricks at home but went to bed expecting a full night sleep as she had never gone into labor in the middle of the night. But shortly after 4 am there was a knock on the door with the word that she was contracting. So we got ready to head to the hospital.
It was a small hospital where she planned to deliver and the doctor lived and worked across the city, so we wanted to give them plenty of time to get things ready and call him in. Unfortunately, because it was a small hospital they only had a one nicer delivery room. The other was smaller, the bed was more uncomfortable and there was no place to sit except the bed or the toilet. We tried to be moved to her postpartum room for labor as she was not dilated much yet but that was on a different floor and they didn't like that idea. So in the end she spent most of the time on the toilet propped up with pillows. We did a couple of dancing contractions and she did try to rest on the bed for awhile but all in all it wasn't the most comfortable place to labor. And she has rip roaring labors so not much time to rest between contractions. The other room opened up so then we moved there with a more comfortable bed and a place to sit but we didn't really get to enjoy it, as her water broke shortly after we moved while she was hanging on me during a contraction. The urge to push came not too much later but no doctor yet so they wanted her to wait, which as many know is next to impossible. Thankfully as she got to work of pushing, the doctor showed up. It was at this point I quickly realized I hadn't talked through some of the things Americans do and don't do that are sometimes still done in Indonesia. So as I stopped the nurse from pushing down on her fundus (top of her uterus), the doctor pulled out the episiotomy scissors (definitely not normal for a 4th baby anywhere I know including our hospital here in Indonesia). Thankfully little David came quickly, was much smaller than they expected and did well.
A few hours later they were moved to a postpartum room and we all got to catch a nap. Then it was time for the big sisters to meet their little brother...
That evening the parents stayed in the hospital, so grandparents and I did dinner and bedtime. I think the kids were glad when parents came home the next day :)
So our newest teammate is David Allen, born just after 9:30 am (five hours of labor) and he is a cutie...
After a few days of hanging out with them I headed north by a car to the town where I did language study to enjoy some time with friends there. I figured it was also a good place to celebrate Thanksgiving and I also knew of two fairly new arrivals to Indonesia with New Tribes Mission who were pregnant and either already late or were due soon were there so I figured it would be good to check in with them. So that first day there I met with both of them. They had a good support team and plans for people to go with them to the hospital etc. This was however back to the situation where the hospital was an hour away and one mom in particular had a history of really fast labors. So all week I kept the phone close but as the week drew to a close I planned to go to a Thanksgiving potluck on Friday around and then catch an evening flight back to my island.
Friday morning though one of the ladies called me to tell she was having stomach problems. Many moms know labor frequently starts with some diarrhea but this seemed like more than that and having just moved to Indonesia a few months ago there were other possibilities. So we talked about hydrating etc. We also talked about how this could start labor so her team including childcare and driver should keep their phone close.
She called me back around 11:30 to tell me contractions had started but were 5-10 minutes apart. She was huffing and puffing though so I told her it was time to go to the hospital. Then half an hour later I got a call from the person in charge of driving them to the hospital (part of the org's leadership) to say she was contracting hard and fast and they didn't think they could make it to the hospital. So instead I went over to their house. I had minimal equipment with me (doppler, gloves, a stethoscope) but it was obvious she was in hard, fast labor and already in transition. So we had a choice to try and get her to a nearby birth center type hospital but they have a pretty bad reputation and chances are she would deliver in the car. In the end we decided to stay home and do our best there. In the end I got to catch a beautiful little boy name Lias. He was a stargazer (OP) though so that complicated things a bit. Thankfully he cried right away and did great skin-to-skin, mastering breastfeeding quickly. The placenta came without problem shortly after. Then we had to figure out how to get out of the fact that we had done a home birth and they would need a letter from a doctor to get a birth certificate. Plus we needed to separate baby from the placenta and I didn't have the equipment for that and it was debatable if mom needed a few stitches. So then we did get the midwives from the local birth center to help us out. They had a great time with the fact we had a home birth and fun with taking care of an expat mom and baby. We didn't have a baby scale so we used a piece of cloth and a luggage scale to figure out how much little Lias weighed. In the end mom and baby did great and I still got to catch my evening flight but I did miss the Thanksgiving potluck. There is nothing like catching a baby at home, although a few more supplies would have been helpful!
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