DFO 7893/79

1. SHE WAS ALL COVERED WITH VERNIX, the protective covering of newborns, all white slippery & gooney, but looking so beautiful! They laid her on my tummy where a reassuring contact with her mother could be continued, to make the transition from inside to outside world a little less traumatic, & I promptly started to breastfeed her my colostrum & she began to suck—cord & all still attached!—A little bit messy, but who minded at a time like that?

2. WE HAD ASKED THE DOCTOR NOT TO CUT THE CORD until it had completely stopped pulsating‚ so he obligingly waited about five minutes it took for the baby's own circulation to become established.

3. BOTH OF THESE PRACTISES ARE VERY GOOD FOR THE MOTHER AS WELL AS THE BABY, because the immediate feeding at the breast comforts the child, helps the uterus to contract & the placenta to usually be aided in its expulsion. Waiting to cut the cord until it has stopped pulsating helps the baby by giving her time to make the transition from receiving oxygen via the cord to the time that the baby's lungs are fully prepared to operate independently. Then the umbilical cord automatically gradually seals off as the baby's system takes over.

4. SOME PSYCHIATRISTS BELIEVE that cutting the cord too quickly may put the baby into a state of shock which may even manifest itself in physical or emotional disturbances throughout one's entire life! It also seems that babies stop crying more quickly & are more content if the cord is not cut too soon.

5. THE DOCTOR DREW OUR ATTENTION IMMEDIATELY TO THE STILL-ATTACHED CORD which was drawn almost taut, in a definite knot! He was holding it apart with his scissors to keep it from cutting off the oxygen while it was still pulsating. "Look!" he said, "This is very rare! I saw a cord just like this years ago, & the baby was born dead!" We exclaimed, "That's a miracle of God! Thank God for a miracle!" "Well," he grudgingly admitted‚ "It's a little miracle." But, "Oh!" we said, "No! That's a big miracle! God saved her life in spite of this knot‚ & He used you to help!"

6. AS THE BABY HAD COME OUT, the doctor had held the know apart with his scissors to keep it from tightening until ready to be cut.—What a miracle of God it had not tightened in the womb when Techi was so active!—The Devil had tried to kill her‚ but God wouldn't let him!

7. SARA SAID she thought she saw the cord looped around the crown of Techi's head as she was emerging, & she had pushed through the loop when coming out, but she's not sure. Anyway, however it happened‚ God saved her from certain strangulation by an absolute miracle! TTL!

8. THE ENTIRE BIRTH WAS FULL OF MIRACLES & SURPRISES, not the least of which was Techi's posterior position when she was born—facing up, Heavenward!—since most babies emerge face down. This posterior position usually means a longer first stage of labour, possibly with severe backache for the mother, & often a forceps delivery. In a posterior birth, the face & front of the head has to take the brunt of the heavy pressure in coming through the birth canal, usually resulting in temporary slight misshapenness of the head, & pressure marks (little pink bruises often appearing on baby's eyelids & between the eyes). Techi has these little red splotches on her eyelids & her upper lip‚ & for about two weeks her right ear was very noticeably pointed until it gradually rounded out to normal. The pressure marks usually disappear after several months.

9. FORCEPS BABIES USUALLY REQUIRE SPECIAL OBSERVATION afterwards, with the mother not being permitted to touch the baby for 24 to 48 hours. If done carefully & correctly, forceps deliveries are not supposed to be physically permanently damaging to the child‚ although they usually result in temporary bruising or swelling. But who knows what kind of emotional effects on the baby this kind of delivery may have?

10. ONE PSYCHIATRIST BELIEVES THAT MANY PROBLEMS in later life may be related to a difficult birth or the method by which a child is born.

11. AND WITH THE USE OF THE FORCEPS the mother is usually given anaesthesia putting her to sleep temporarily, so the doctor can reach in with the instrument & can take the baby out.

12. SOME WOMEN HAVE TO HAVE FORCEPS DELIVERIES because they are already so drowsy from a heavy dosage of pain killing drugs that they cannot push the baby out themselves & need the help of forceps. Statistics are that almost 30% of women in the U.S. need forceps deliveries, the highest of anywhere in the world. But the drug's drowsy sleepy effect has the same effect on the baby, & sometimes there is a problem of delayed breathing of the infant.

13. THE MAIN REASONS FOR THE USE OF THE FORCEPS are:

A.) If the uterine contractions are too weak, and

B.) if the baby is not making sufficient progress down the birth canal due to a variety of causes, including heavy drugs given to the mother.

14. BY EVERY INDICATION, I should have had a forceps delivery because of the posterior position & the weak contractions. But the Lord likes to show that He can do things contrary to natural expectation & that His ways are not our ways. And God can do whatever He wants to & surprise us with it all!

15. IN MY OPINION, FORCEPS DELIVERIES ARE HAZARDOUS, & thank the Lord He kept Techi miraculously from having to go through that ordeal. The Lord had promised that what He had begun He would complete (Phil.1:6)—& He certainly did!—And the doctor didn't have to do it artificially.

16. ON THE OTHER HAND, if you do have difficulties, the Lord lets it happen as a test or a testimony, & He can overrule all damaging effects‚ because you are His child & it is His precious baby—& by His miracle working power, things that seem do not have to be—just like the three Hebrew children in the fiery furnace who came out without even smelling of smoke! (Dan.3:27.)

17. YOU & BABY MAY HAVE TO GO TROUGH THE FIRE, but the Lord is easily able to bring you out without any permanent damage whatsoever. Is anything too hard for Him? I think the Lord, however, is more than willing to give most of us relatively easy & quick deliveries compared with the world if we put our faith & trust in Him. The Word says, "She shall be spared in childbearing." (1Tim.2:15.) "The Lord is able to do exceeding abundantly above", (Eph.3:20) "According to your faith be it done unto you." (Mt.9:29.)

18. SOMETIMES WE HAVE NOT BECAUSE WE ASK NOT. (Jam.4:2.) Did you pray specifically for an easy birth? Wouldn't you pray that way if you knew it would be much better in all ways for your infant?—Not only physically but also emotionally, if it were born calmly, quietly, after a short easy labour, instead of after a prolonged time of turbulence & violence during a long painful labour. It depends on our faith in Him.

19. KNOWING THE LORD WANTS THE BEST FOR HIS CHILDREN, can we not suppose that He wants us all to have as easy a time as possible? That's why the why the world marvels at the way the majority of our Family babies are born! The Lord does this for us because we belong to Him. Even hundreds of years ago the Egyptians were marvelling that God's people, the Hebrew women, had their babies so quickly & easily! (Ex.1:15-21.)

20. MANY OF US HAVE THE OLD HANGUPS that we need to suffer in giving birth. I always had a bit of a feeling that it would be shirking my womanly duties if I asked the Lord to make things easy; that instead‚ I somehow needed to suffer through labour in order to be a good soldier of Jesus Christ & endure hardness & suffering for Him, as though suffering were a virtue.

21. SO I'M AFRAID I REALLY DIDN'T PRAY SPECIFICALLY for an easy birth—but David certainly did, & many of you were praying for Techi & me, & we had the most beautiful calm easy time!—And as a result, a beautiful calm peaceful baby! PTL! The power of prayer! (Phil.4:6 & 7; Jam.5:16.)

Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family