Journey with Jesse: A Breech Baby

 

When the news of my son's diagnoses became public after he was born, I had many people (mostly people I did not know personally) ask me if I had "known." 

"Did you know that he would be born this way?"

"Did you expect this for him?"

No. No one, including our doctors, had any anticipation that Jesse would suffer a brain injury during his birth that would late result in the loss of his life. 

Why?

Because I had a wonderful pregnancy with Jesse! I was careful and consistent in my prenatal care. My husband and I value life as precious from the point of conception. We took the health of myself and all of our babies very seriously. At all of my OBGYN appointments, Jesse's heartbeat was strong, his movements were great, my bloodwork was good, and his growth was just as expected with each and every visit. Honestly, Jesse was truly my easiest pregnancy, too. 

The other questions I often received were "How?"

"How could this have happened in the hospital?"

"How could the doctors not have known?"

THIS question is much harder to answer. It is an answer no one could really give me, especially the doctors at the hospital.

However, as I continue to tell the story of Jesse's birth, injury, diagnosis, and death, I will explain what happened as best that I can. The story of what happened actually begins a little earlier than his actual birth.....

 

About a month before Jesse's due date, my OBGYN discovered that Jesse had not turned into the desired "head down" position yet. This was not something to be too concerned with yet, for he still had time. Because my other pregnancies went well with no complications, she believed that the baby would be in the correct position for birth when the time came. The words she said to me at the end of my visit still ring in my mind: "I have faith that this baby will also turn." 

Unfortunately, Jesse did not. 

One week before his due date, he remained in the breech position. His heart rate was fine. As far as my doctor could see, Jesse was in good health. I still felt him move multiple times per day....in fact I felt him move even up until his birth. BUT she did explain to me that it would be very dangerous for me to go into labor if he was still breach. 

My doctor listed many reasons for why I had to go to the hospital as quickly as possible if I felt that I was going into labor. I won't bother you with the long list here...you are welcome to look that up on your own. Basically, she explained that many life altering things...or terminal things.... can and are likely to happen if a baby is in breeched position during delivery. 

I had an appointment for the following week. She warned me of signs to watch for in case of labor. She knew my I had gone into labor a a few days earlier than my due date with my last pregnancy. She also remembered that my second born came so quickly that she didn't even make it to the delivery room before he was born. I was already four centimeters dilated at 38 weeks along. Again, she insisted that I drive to the hospital (which was an hour away from my home) to avoid a possibly dangerous birth.

The next day I began to feel strong contractions. I was very familiar with "Braxton Hicks contractions" in all of my pregnancies, including this one. I paid attention to them, but I did not worry over them. It was a Wednesday night, and my husband was serving as a pastor of a small church at this time. I loaded my two children into the car, along with food for our Wednesday night pot luck dinner. Again, I was feeling contractions, but I fully expected them to go away as they usually did.

On the forty minute drive to church, my contractions began to intensify and become more consistent. I concentrated on breathing well to try to calm myself. I also began timing them. About ten minutes away from church, my contractions were about 7 minutes apart and becoming more and more painful. 

My sister-in-law, who had just had her third child a few weeks ago, contacted me to ask how I was feeling. I told her about my contractions and their length of time in between. She quickly answered, "Can we please go to the hospital now?" 

I really did not want to go to the hospital if I was not in labor. For my other births, I always made sure that my contractions were consistent with signs of true labor before heading to the hospital. For some reason I can't explain, I was always scared that they would turn me away because it was a false alarm. 

I did not want to inconvenience anyone at the hospital. I certainly did not want to cause my husband to have to leave church since he was the pastor leading the Bible study. Yet the words of my doctor rang in my mind over and over again:

"If you even feel even four strong contractions within an hour, head to the hospital right away." If I was in labor, they had to do an emergency C-section. 

I had felt multiple strong contractions within the last hour.

When I finally pulled into the church, I was in tears. I was scared. I was uncertain of what to do. I was also in pain. My contractions were now five minutes apart. 

Sobbing, I called my husband and told him that I was so sorry, but this felt like labor and we had to go to the hospital. I cried as I told one of the deacons how sorry I was for the inconvenience. I made sure that my husband still brought the food I had prepared into the church building for the potluck. I hated to cause any worry or problems, but what I feared worse was that we wouldn't reach the hospital in time. 

I called my mom (again....sobbing almost uncontrollably) in the car to tell her the situation. As a mother of five children, she was confident that the hospital staff would take me in quickly and not turn me away. I felt a little more reassured, but also scared for my baby.

With our other kids still in the backseat, Matt contacted his mother and asked that she meet us at the hospital to take our children. As a long time nurse practitioner, she was also confident that we were having a baby tonight. 

By the time we reached the hospital, my contractions were two minutes apart.