"For this to happen, everything must go perfect Jennifer" said Dr. 'Z. Dr. 'Z., was at least entertaining the idea of a VBAC after 5 sections. What a blessing! Jen and I knew the odds to even find a doctor who would be willing to allow for a natural delivery after so many C-sections to be very rare indeed. We also new that to even get at a chance at this we would have to become very knowledgeable about the subject to show the doctors we where not jumping willy-nilly at a desire of ours. Dr. 'Z, who has been Jennifer's doctor since 1996 and has delivered 4 out of 5 of our children. We trusted him and he trusted us in making wise decisions.
"For this to happen, everything must go perfect."
Wow! perfect, what are the odds at having a perfect birth?.... I mean even Jesus was born in a stable, where Joseph's and Mary's midwives and doula's were sheep and cows, hardly a perfect circumstance. After some discussion and some definitions from 'Z, we new that perfect really meant "conditional". So far we were inside the conditions set. We were both excited and nervous. We prayed for this to happen, but also prayed that if this was God's will, he would keep open the doors or if not, he would shut them.
A day less than 3 weeks to go and we had a nervous moment. Jen went to Labor and Delivery for observation just to relieve the questions at hand. Everything was great, however she had some stronger "contractions" so they kept her till noon. It was a rough go, we had run into a bull of a female doctor who caused a lot of excitement to say the least until Dr. 'Z put a muzzle on her from his vacation no less!
At our next appointment doors were starting to shut. Jen and my desire to have a natural birth was beginning to dissolve in front of our eyes. Jen's blood pressure was up but up to that point he had wanted to give us a 48 hour window to go into labor, and/or we could schedule a C-section date due to him leaving to go out of town after that. He was the only doctor in the practice willing to allow us a trial of labor barring no complications.
"Dr. 'Z, it's just because I am nervous, after the events of the past few days". Dr. Z was pretty sure that was the case, but as we stood up to leave he said, "lets just take your blood pressure one more time". It was still up, Jen had to stay until 11PM for observation, then had to come back the next morning for more... That morning her blood pressure was still up and her PC levels had climbed, the trend was toward preeclampsia. That was the last door shut and we knew it, part of us wanted to renegotiate our terms with God, be stubborn and ride it out. The other part said, it is better to listen to God, even if the answer goes against what we desired. Jen shed some tears, but after she and I had some discussion knew what God's answer to us was, and we must be content. The C-Section would prove that listening to God's answer was very wise and the blessing was not just that Jesse was here, but also assurance that God's hand was over us the whole time. Looking back, I think sometimes our desires are misplaced, when what our true desire was to trust God and to have Jen and Jesse with us safe and sound.
Jesse, who's Hebrew name means "Jehovah Exists" was born at 3:07, Wednesday, June 3rd 2009. He was 9lbs. 5oz and 21" long. He and mommy are at home and doing great.
Our Newest Key Sprout: Jesse Douglas Key
