(Theas Three Boys...contd) On September 4, 1981, Thea’s son, Peter, is born alive but with severe hydrocephaly and also an associated condition, spina bifida or an open neural tube defect. Thea loves and protects her son fiercely. The professionals attending Thea at Mary Hitchcock are wonderful. They are skillful, supportive and compassionate. They show Thea how to care for her son by covering his exposed spinal cord with sterile saline packs. Peter’s head is shunted and the cerebral spinal fluid is diverted from his brain. Even so, he is not expected to live for more than a short while. Thea brings her boy home. Against all odds, he lives for six months. I believe it is her sheer love and determination that keeps him alive. By the time Peter finally succumbs, Thea is very pregnant again. She wants to have her baby at home but her husband is understandably traumatized by their previous experience. He feels more comfortable birthing in the hospital with Ken. On September 4, 1982, a year to the day that Peter was born, Thea gives birth to Paul, a perfectly healthy boy in a birthing room at the hospital. It is a lovely birth with all of the family present, but Thea still wants a home birth. Exactly one year later, on the same date, she gets her wish. On September 4, 1983, Thea gives birth to her third son, John, in her laundry room. She has walked with difficulty, in labor, to get some clean diapers to fold for the impending birth. I have trailed after her to the laundry room, and that’s where we end up. It never is very predictable. Because she is so short, she is bracing herself up in the space between the washer and dryer, straight armed. This leaves her feet dangling about six inches off the floor. This I how she wants to do it…suspended in midair. I, on the other hand, am lying on my side wedged in between both appliances. I am trying my best in these cramped quarters to guide the baby out. The amniotic fluid is dripping on my head. The dryer lint is sticking in my wet hair. I am covered head to toe with fuzz-balls. When I finally stand up, I look like a gray Yeti. It truly amazes me that Thea’s devotion caused her to birth three sons on the birthday of her deceased child. The power women have over their bodies. And she got her wish and had a home birth. At last count, Thea had six boys, four born at home. * * * * ~from LADYS HANDS, LIONS HEART, A MIDWIFES SAGA, Bad Beaver Publishing, 2010
Posted on: Tue, 02 Dec 2014 12:33:57 +0000
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