Damien's Arrival

Damien Berube was born on February 2, 1647 in Normandy, France.  In June of 1671, he sailed to North America and arrived in Quebec as the first Berube to settle on this continent.  Twelve generations later, his great-grandson Damien made his own arrival to this world.  This is baby Damien's birth story:

With my previous history of HELLP syndrome, the doctors were keeping a watchful eye on me and ordering occasional blood tests.  The glucose intolerance was well under control by diet and because of this, I was able to escape more extensive tests such as repetitive non-stress tests and ultrasounds.  The baby seemed big and healthy, and at 38 weeks there was no sign of HELLP.  However because of low platelets, my doctor wanted to test me again a week later.  At 39 weeks, my tests came back showing that my platelets had dropped even more and my liver enzymes had started to rise.  Because of this, the call was made to induce me.

Now my doctor knew I was all kinds against induction, however since I'm all kinds *more* against HELLP and an emergency C-section, I decided to go ahead with the induction.  Since I had been contracting almost every day for a couple weeks and even started contracting on the way to the hospital that day, my hope was that my body was ready for labor and my prayer was that God would make this induction quick and easy.  It took a couple hours to start the Pitocin after arriving, and by the time it was 8pm, I was mentally preparing myself (i.e. freaking out) for the hard work ahead.  

Labor started easily enough and from the very beginning, contractions were steady and increasing.  Since my naturopath's last words to me were, "Stay on your feet as much as possible," I stood up most of the time especially in the beginning.  For some reason, I did not want to lie down and did so only when I hit my wall of fatigue because it was so late at night and way past my bedtime.  Most of the time I was standing, kneeling, sitting, rocking back and forth, just about every position in the book.  I did take advantage of the bathroom jacuzzi for a bit but knowing I wasn't able to give birth in the water (against hospital's regulations), I was only in there for some of my transition period.  All this time they were steadily increasing the Pitocin to bring on stronger contractions, and by the time I got out of the water, the Pitocin drip was at 10cc's (max is 30 cc's).  After rocking in the rocking chair for a little bit, I finally started to feel that blessed pressure of baby's head and wanted my doctor to check me and see if I was fully dilated yet. 
They suggested sitting on a birthing stool (an interesting contraption I've never used before), and things went very quickly after that.  In fact, as I hear it, the baby's head descended so quickly the doctor had to catch him one-handed (she didn't have a glove on her other hand yet), flipped him over in mid-air and sat him down on the pillow underneath me.  They then handed him to me immediately, and holding one's baby while it is still attached to one's body is a strange but exhilarating feeling.  His APGAR scores were 9 and 10 - great scores that I attribute to our waiting to cut the umbilical cord until it stopped pulsing.  He was pink and beautiful!  And he was big - 9 lbs (and he was early)!

Overall, I have to say this labor was my favorite labor.  I felt more aware of everything going on.  I had Erin reading Bible verses to me and Michael playing relaxing music throughout labor.  I had the prayers of every one of my lovely friends and family members, and the support of some great doctors.  Even though I was not able to give birth at home (which would have been my ideal plan), the hospital allowed us freedoms we have never taken advantage of before in previous labors.  The Lord provided us with a wonderful birth experience and most precious of all, a beautiful, healthy baby boy.  Praise God from Whom all blessings flow!