The baby did great (steady heart tones) and the mom remained determined. So we didn’t just give up. By early Sunday morning, though, it was obvious that the baby was not going to come out without some help. So we made the decision to transport.

She ended up with a c-section. It turned out that the baby was posterior and tangled in her cord. This explained why we had so much trouble. I really think the baby was trying to turn but just couldn’t because of her cord. The transport went well and both mother and baby are doing fine.

After leaving the hospital, I had time to go home and bathe. But less than half an hour after I got in bed, my next client called me. That client lives almost two hours away! My apprentice, Mercy was sleeping in my office because she was too tired to drive from Corpus back to Rockport. So I woke her up and we went to get my daughter, Jessica (the other midwife). The three of us then drove to Victoria.

Mercy slept some on the way while Jessica helped keep me awake. I had called another midwife in Victoria (Darlene) who had agreed to labor sit for me. So I wasn’t too worried about my client while we were driving up there; I knew she was in good hands. We got to Victoria in plenty of time and my client labored about 6 hours more before having her baby. I even managed a 3 hour nap during her labor while Jessica kept watch over her.

It turned out to be a wonderful birth. She had her 8th baby, 2nd girl (4th homebirth with us). The family offered for us to stay and sleep but we all preferred going home to our own beds. But that also meant that we had to drive home after having little to no sleep in more than 48 hours!

We were wired because of the birth, but we were also giddy because we hadn’t slept. I think three sleep deprived midwives has got to be a lot funnier than three drunks! We stopped for breakfast and then we got ourselves turned around. Without realizing it, we took 59 towards Houston instead of 77 back to Corpus. Unfortunately, it took us more than half an hour to realize our mistake! Jessica was the first to notice that we were headed to Houston. What should have been an hour and a half trip took us more than 3 hours.

I’m not as young as I used to be. The last time I had this long a birthing session, I think I bounced back a lot quicker. But this one really took it out of me. But it did make for a good story to tell, especially the part about heading to Houston by mistake. I think we will be laughing about that for a long time.