Quite honestly, I didn’t want to get pregnant when I did. I was just beginning my 9th of 10 trimesters of chiropractic school. I forget what classes we had in the 8th trimester, but I must have been REALLY glad they were over and felt some celebration was in order…none the less, there I was nearly finished with chiropractic school, mentally preparing for part 3 and 4 of national boards, completing clinic requirements so that I could attend my preceptorship which meant moving from St Louis to Pittsburgh and planning what my future after my 19 years as a student came to close. Needless to say, I didn’t have much time to oogle over nursery ideas. Those most in the know were let in on the news and were under strict rules to not spread the news or bother me with trivial things such as baby names. I ask every expecting mom in my practice if their pregnancy was planned and how they feel about the pregnancy. I think most feel obligated to tell me they feel positive about the pregnancy, but the truth is, I did not feel positively about mine.
Fast forward to learning I passed boards on Saturday, celebrating our 1 year wedding anniversary on Sunday and learning we were expecting a boy on Monday (*HIGH FIVE* No teenage girl drama for us!) and then at 26 weeks pregnant on my way home from one of my last days at clinic I saw a driver cross the center lane, hit the car in front of me head-on so hard that their car was pushed back into mine. Fortunately, Xavier and I were unharmed, but had I known what was going to happen, I would have made a conscious effort to place my seat belt a little lower on my pelvis.
This accident happened seriously 11 days before we packed everything we owned and moved into my grandfather’s relatively unused upstairs, which he graciously opened to my husband and I (…and then my cat…and then our baby). Considering the circumstances, I thought it’d be a great idea to be sure I saw a chiropractor who knew how to take care of pregnant women, so I turned to the ICPA and found Chris and Monique Powell of Powell Chiropractic. I’ll mention here that intuition is an amazing thing. I had a preceptorship lined up with a women chiropractor who fancied herself on empowering women. One would think I would have had my spinal needs met there, however I worked at her office for at least 2 months and it was not until my last days did she ask me if I was getting adjusted, and mention how awful it was that she never thought to ask. *Note to the reader: Not all chiropractors are the same.
The Powell’s took wonderful care of me! During my time in their office I read every issue of Pathways they had and they challenged (in a positive way) my views on the decisions I’d have to make as a parent, for example, would we circumsize our son. I didn’t know that was even a question! I spent this time learning about the pros and cons of many choices I’d have to make as a mother and how these choices would ultimately impact my baby and fit into my developing chiropractic lifestyle and philosophy.
My due date was September 14. I think on September 13 Chris suggested that I ask Monique if she’d like to attend my birth. I thought “why not”, and Monique was very excited to accept my invitation. At the time I very much did not fully appreciate the value of her presence at my birth.
So finally on the morning of September 26, we showed up at the Midwife Center to birth this baby. Oh Em Gee. What a long day! We got to the Midwife Center in the morning at some point, without much really happening. There I was bouncing on a birth ball, hooked up to a breast pump trying to get this baby moving when Monique showed up. Long story short, sometime in the early afternoon we weren’t having a ton of labor success, the midwife on duty thought the baby may be having some distress, so we navigated the Strip District (on a Saturday mind you) to AGH.
I negotiated my way through all the potential interventions I could have. Fine, I’ll take the antibiotic shot, but no pitocin, no epidural…leave me alone! Sometime around 6pm *things* got real. I swear I had one serious contraction for an hour with additional contractions on top of it. But at 10:42 pm, Xavier was born…just in time to witness fireworks following the Pirate’s final home game of the season.
At a follow up appointment after Xavier’s birth, I was informed that my birth was actually quite a difficult one. Honestly, how would I have known? I had nothing to compare it to. I was never under the impression that it’d be easy or they (who ever “they” are) wouldn’t have called it labor. But, those last few hours weren’t especially enjoyable…at all. Many times I wanted to give in and let out a wailing scream. At this time, Monique’s value became obvious. She was the only person in the room that could communicate with me. She helped me get my wails back to a productive (pretty much animalistic) grunting…seriously. She told me the most important thing I had ever heard in my life and I believed her.
“Your body was made to birth this baby.”
It was damn it! I just spent the last three years of my life intensely studying the human body and how amazing it was. How all of the perfectly designed anatomy is neurologically connected to produce physiology, that knows how to grow a human being in 9 months after drinking too much following finals! And now I get to experience all that book knowledge in first person…the crowning glory of LIFE! My baby’s physiology knew how to communicate with my own physiology to initiate labor. How incredible how each of us takes full advantage of this perfect life design. His decent and exit molds his skull, waking up his neurological structures; seeds his micro biome and expels amniotic fluid more safely and completely than the most skilled of OBs, all the while causing me to release hormones that will not only help me better tolerate the pain but help me fall in completely head over heels in love with this little person who completely muddled up my anticipated post-graduation plans.
My body was made to birth that baby. And so was yours. Know that with every ounce of your being and do not forget it. Do not allow others to impose self limiting doubt on you. You are more powerful and more amazing than you will ever know.
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