The Mary Charis Story

A lot of you guys have asked me to tell you the birth story. I wish it was as exciting as my friend's 74 hour home labor story, or something like that, but I'm afraid it is just a normal birth story with maybe a few small exceptions.

Mary Charis was set to arrive August 17, but I was so sure she wouldn't come until around the 22nd. We still had 3 weeks to a month to go. I was as big as I could possibly get and life was uncomfortable as I felt like I had a bowling ball rolling around inside me all the time. We knew she was breech, and not only that, but had her feet first and that a normal delivery was probably out of the question.

I had been blessed about a month ago to unexpectedly meet an american OBGYN working with a HELPS INTL mission team that had come to Guatemala to spend a week working in the hospitals here. I had taken a very sick lady from our community to get treatment when I was offered a chance to see this OBGYN. Of course, I said yes. She told me that in the States doctors rarely will deliver a breech baby, and almost never would agree to deliver a footling breech being that it is the most dangerous type. Contrary to what the doctors here told me, she said not to schedule a c-section, but wait until you go into labor, have your first contraction and immediately go in and have a c-section, unless of course the baby has turned.

This put my mind and heart at ease and the next week we told our doctor we refused to schedule a c-section. He said he understood, but it would be very likely he would be unavailable, as well as a pediatrician, etc. when the baby decides to arrive. Well we decided to take our chances. There was another woman doctor here with her own private clinic and when we went to visit her, she insisted the baby would turn and to not schedule a c-section. I liked her a lot and her husband is a pediatrician. So we decided that when we went into labor, we'd call her first to see if she is available and if not, we'd call the other.

Well then came last Saturday. We relaxed at the house, spent time outside with the dogs, walked around, had a fellow missionary friend come over for the afternoon, ate a small dinner, watched some Dateline, and went to bed. Geoffrey just happened to ask me during our show where was the bag that I had packed to go to the hospital should the day ever come. I told him. When we got in bed, we did our Bible study together, prayed and fell asleep. Needless to say I had no pains, no cramps, no contractions, nothing. As a matter of fact, I had been chatting with my mom on Facebook before bed and even told her I had never once even felt a Braxton Hicks contraction the whole pregnancy. She said "Oh you probably have, it's when your stomach tightens and then relaxes." I said, "Well my stomach is always tight, maybe I have had one long contraction that has lasted the last two months?"

So I am asleep and about 2:30am I sit straight up because I thought I was going to throw up. Normal, my acid reflux gets bad at night and that definitely wasn't the first time that had happened. I didn't throw up, but I did decide to take advantage of the fact I was already awake to go ahead and go to the bathroom, knowing I'd probably have to anyway in the next hour. So I go to the bathroom and everything is normal and fine. I felt a teeny tiny little cramp, barely even noticeable, and thought nothing of it. I went back to the bed and laid down and felt a little water. I wasn't even concerned about that, until I felt it again. Afraid the bed was going to get wet, I stood up real quick...and then a lot more than a little water came out. I still wasn't "worried" yet, but I did decide I better quietly go to my computer and research to see if this is normal. So I am sitting in front of my computer on the couch and read that a way to tell if it is amniotic fluid is to go from sitting to standing and see if there is a gush. I stood up and GUSH. Uh oh. I waddle back over to the bed with papertowels and wake Geoffrey up and tell him I think something is wrong. I explain to him what was happening and he said to call the doctor. I was like, "But it is 3 in the morning!" He asked me what I wanted to do and I didn't see any choice as now the water was a steady flow. I called her and thankfully she answered. I told her what was going on and she said to go to the clinic and to call her when I arrive.

Well the clinic is 30 minutes from our house and a rough little drive. I feared we'd get there and all the water would stop and she would have woken up to meet us there for nothing. But better safe than sorry. Geoffrey grabbed the labor bag and I threw in some last minute things, just in case, and waddled downstairs. By the time I got to the car, the water was coming fast. I didn't realize how much water was inside of me! We drove to the clinic and I was panicking. I started feeling some slight cramps on the way and I could tell I was soaking through everything. We arrived and called her and 10 minutes later her and her husband arrive. I waddle up the stairs, soaking wet and freaking out. She turns the light on and I notice a cockroach go scurrying out from under the bed she is telling me to get on. "This is Guatemala", I told myself. By now I was used to such things. I climb on the table and she tells me she will check my dialation. Well I wasn't expecting to feel so much pain, but goodness, that was painful. I got even more scared as I saw blood all over her hand when she pulled it out. She did a quick ultrasound to make sure the baby was still breech, told me I was already 5cm dialated (halfway there), and that we'd be delivering the baby now. I was in shock. I had been in labor for who knows how long on Saturday and all through the night and never even knew it.

"Call my mom!" I told Geoffrey. He did and she wouldn't answer her phone. We did get in touch with Geoffrey's parents and he told them what was happening and to please try to call my mom. Meanwhile they sent me to lay in a bed while they prepped the delivery room. The pediatrician husband actually speaks English and he came in there to talk with us while he hooked me up to an IV. I must be a really big baby, but that plastic, huge needle he stuck in my hand made me cry out. Laying there in shock, scared to death, I started having contractions. The doctor asked me if I wanted to try a natural delivery. I looked at her like she was crazy and the words of that american OB kept running through my head, "Footling breech is the most dangerous and there are hardly any doctors who would perform one...." I said, "No! Just give me a c-section and get this over with!" The contractions hurt really bad and I kept telling the doctor I wanted to go to the bathroom. She wouldn't let me and told me I dare not push.
They made me walk to the operating room and climb on the bed. They shut Geoffrey out while they prepped my back for the spinal block. This was the WORST part of the whole process. They had me with no clothes on, in the fetal postion on my side, while the pediatrician held me down from the front and the anesthesiologist started messing with my back. I was freaking out as I knew what was about to happen. *I should mention I have a phobia of even small needles.* He stuck that huge thing in and I screamed and apparently moved and he told me I couldn't move like that and had to do it all over again. Are you kidding me??? I just kept thinking well it was either feel the pain from this needle or feel the pain from the knife that is about to cut me open. He got the spinal block in and immediately my lower half went numb and felt like it weighed a million pounds. They rolled me back over and tied my arms and wrists down to the bed. I probably looked like Jesus lying there. I would tell my foot to move and it wouldn't move. I'd tell my leg to lift up, and I couldn't do it, not with all my might. That was a bit freaky too especially since the only thing I could move on my own was my head. My clausterphobia kicked in a little but I kept telling myself to breath and relax. They put some airtube thing in my nose, but unfortunately I had a cold and couldn't breathe a bit through my nose, so that didn't do any good. I had my mouth wide open to make sure I would get as much air as possible. By now, all the way to my neck was completely numb. Geoffrey came in and they put a curtain in front of my face. They told Geoffrey he had to stay at the bottom because the anesthesiologist was sitting at my head. They began doing something, I guess cutting.

There was a clock above my head. It was 5:10 or so. There were white tiles on the wall and I could see a bit of a reflection of what the doctors were doing, but the better voice in my head told me I dare not look at what they are doing or I would freak out and literally go into shock. I had a beeper in my ear monitoring my pulse I suppose and I just kept wondering when I would hear that flat line. So at 5:29ish I heard Geoffrey say, "She's out, Jenna." Well I didn't hear any crying and none of the doctors were speaking and I was tempted to start worrying, but I was so focused on staying alive and breathing and when that beeping thing would start making one long beep meaning I was dying, that I decided it was best not to ask any questions like, "Is she okay?" I knew if they didn't answer me or told me "No." I would die right there on the table. So I told myself that they'd tell me if something was wrong and all the sudden I hear a short "Waaaahhh." Even though that was it and there was nothing to be heard after, I told myself that meant she was just fine.
All the sudden I started feeling very dizzy like I would pass out and it was hard to breathe. Geoffrey asks me, "Are you okay, Jenna?" I told him, "No", and that I was dizzy and couldn't breathe good. The doctors start doing something to me, but I don't remember what. I just remember the pediatrician walking around the side of the table and showed me a grey naked baby with a lot of dark hair and saying, "Here is your little girl." He put her to my face and I kissed her cheek, unable to speak. Then he took her away and I lay there while they sewed me up. Then they moved me from one bed to another and back into the first room where I had first felt the contractions. No baby.

I don't remember much of anything after that until they brought the baby in and laid her in the crib. Then they told us to try and get some sleep. Were they joking? They turned the lights out and left us alone for a long time.

I was in that bed on my back numb for at least two more hours. Then it started hurting. Oooh it hurt so bad. The nurse would inject some pain medicine which hurt something like fire as it went in. They brought a cot for Geoffrey and we just laid there thinking, "Wow, what a surprise."

Well recovery from a c-section is no picnic. I am 5 days postpartum now and still have pain even as I write this. It gets a little better with each day, but it sure hurts and is really hard. We do, however, have this little, tiny 6lb 4oz girl to cuddle with all the time and she is quite the reward. She is worth the 5 months of constant vomiting and nausea, worth the parasites and the really bad acid reflux, worth the pain of the c-section and the spinal block, worth the fear we went through.....but to all those who said I'd forget it ever happened as soon as she arrived, well I'm afraid you were wrong...at least I have not forgotten yet and can't say I'd ever look forward to putting myself through that again. I think we will opt to adopt from now on, unless the Lord tells us otherwise.

But thanks to Him and only Him, she is healthy and growing and eating so well. She hardly ever cries and she sleeps ALL the time (I know, I know, just let me think it MIGHT stay that way), making recovery and returning to a form of normal easy. It's so much fun to pick out what cute outfit to put on her and what night gown she will sleep in. She is as pretty as they come and as sweet as an angel. The only thing better than having her is having a supportive and loving husband who is already proving himself to be a great father. I look forward to raising her up and thinking about the plans the Lord has already set for her. I wonder if she will be a missionary and what country might He call her to. What will she look like and how many languages will she speak? Geoffrey wonders if she will be the President one day...

Either way she is our gift and we absolutely love her!


Mary Charis Haynes
July 28, 2013 5:30am
6lbs 4oz 50cm
Coban, Alta Verapaz, Guatemala