Naomi’s Birth Story

April 2008: Naomi's Birth Day

After a week or so of some false labor, at about 1am on the morning of April 13th I started having contractions once again. For about 1 ½ hours they were 3-5 minutes apart, but it didn’t seem like it was going to progress to the real thing, so I went back to sleep. Although the contractions slowed down, they never completely stopped and continued all that morning. Finally by around 1pm, I figured I would start timing them more and see what happened. They were becoming more uncomfortable, so I told Joe that if they continued as they were for another 30-45 minutes, we would head to the hospital. Rebecca had called the doctor for me and he said the private hospital was still not open, so we were to head to the public hospital downtown. Since we weren’t sure how long the whole process would take we didn’t want to wait too long.

So at about 2:45pm I called Rebecca and said that I thought we should head in. We decided that she and I would go to begin with and Joe would stay back while the kids were napping to see if they would keep me and how much time I might have. Her husband Scott was with their son, Landon, who was napping as well. After Landon woke up, Scott and Landon would come over to stay with Abby and Elijah and Joe would come to the hospital.

Rebecca and I got to the hospital and figured out where we were going. We met the two midwives there who would deliver the baby and they showed me to the room where they would check my progress, which also happened to be the room where I would deliver as well. When they checked me they found I was 5-6 cm and I was starting to get more uncomfortable. At that point, we started to learn some more things about the birthing situation there. The facilities were definitely not what I had when I had Abby in the U.S., but were similar to Italy where I had Elijah, although still a step down I would say. The biggest surprise was when we learned that men were not allowed to be in the birthing room. They in fact said that Joe would not even be able to come in the room I would be staying in afterwards to see Naomi. The room was equipped for 8 people and if other women had to be in there, he was not permitted.

A few phone calls were made in the midst of me laboring and Joe headed in along with his team trainer, Jim. There was going to be no budging on the rule about men not being in the birthing room, but Jim did get me a private room where Joe could stay. Up until this point, Joe had been with me anyway though because it was a Sunday and almost no one was on the maternity floor. In Turkey, almost all the women have c-sections, and none are usually scheduled for Sundays, so we were pretty alone. A few women were there recovering from their c-sections, but it wasn’t full like we were told it typically was. Since they don’t deal with natural births as much they were also trying to move my labor along more quickly. I had progressed 2 cm in about 30 minutes, but they tried to give me some meds to make me get to a 10 quicker saying that it could cut down the time from an hour to 5 minutes. I refused though and said I would rather just let my body go naturally.

Once I got the private room, they told Joe he had to go down there because couldn’t be with me any longer. Although this wasn’t ideal, I told him to go ahead and that I would be ok. At that point I was at 7-8 cm and was starting to really move into the transition phase. We then went to the birthing room, which was just a small room with an exam chair that served to be where I would give birth. Rebecca thankfully was allowed to stay with me through everything, although they were concerned it would be too much stress on her because she is 7 months pregnant. She talked them right out of that though!

I knew I had to be getting close with how close together and intense the contractions were. I was also sweating like I had just played a full soccer match, so I kept asking them to check to see if I was close. The doctor I had been seeing finally came in and checked me and said I was at 10 cm. I asked if I could push, but he said not yet. When he left the room though, the midwife said if I was ready I could go ahead. Rebecca had told the midwives very forcefully that I really did not want an episiotomy, but I was still a bit hesitant I would get one. But during the pushing the midwife really worked with me and in a few pushes Naomi emerged. I did give Joe a scare as he was waiting out in the hall with a few fierce screams. But when he heard Naomi crying, he knew all was alright. Naomi was born at 5:30pm, which was only two hours after arriving at the hospital.

Rebecca sat with me as they cleaned Naomi up and then got some video of her and brought her to me. I was so thankful for so many things at that moment. God had granted amazing grace in giving us another healthy baby, a natural birth with no episiotomy and friends who blessed and helped us in so many ways. Rebecca then took Naomi out to Joe to hold while they finished up with me. Once I was done, I got wheeled back to my room and then Joe, Rebecca, Jim and I all enjoyed those sweet, special moments after a baby is born.

After the high had worn off a bit, we decided that Rebecca would stay with me at the hospital that night. First Joe headed home to get Naomi’s hammock and a few other things we needed that the hospital didn’t provide. Then Rebecca headed home to get her things and get Landon to bed. Once she got back, Joe went home to get Abby and Elijah and put them to bed. So Rebecca and I turned in for the night.

As I mentioned, the hospital did not provide everything, and one of the things was a nursery. The baby slept in the room with you and you had to provide a place for the baby to sleep, along with all the clothes, diapers, wipes, etc. After I had Abby in Kansas City, I thought I wanted her in the room with me, but after a few hours, I called the nurses to come pick her up! With Elijah in Italy, there was no option of having the baby in the room with you. I actually didn’t even see him for the first 7 hours after he was born except for just the time after he was delivered. While I was in the hospital with him, the nurses just brought him to me every 3 hours for 30 minutes to feed and then he was taken away again. So with Naomi, this was my first time spending a full night with a complete newborn! She did a good amount of crying out, but then would go back to sleep on her own or we would bounce her in her hammock or pick her up. She did give us a nice 4 hour stretch at one point, which was great, although I can’t say I slept too much in that time.

The next morning after making sure I was settled, Rebecca headed home to get Landon and the car to Scott who had to go to Bursa for the day. I got a little time with Naomi by myself then before Joe and Jim headed in to get Naomi and I checked out of the hospital. Most women tend to stay a little longer for the help after the birth, which I appreciated after both Abby and Elijah, but this hospital was a lot different. As I said, Naomi was with me anyway, and the hospital was very bare bones. You had to provide pretty much everything but the sheets for your bed (and I am not sure I would have gotten a second set if I needed them!) and some small meals (my breakfast was some bread with jelly and olives!). They didn’t even provide toilet paper! I had thankfully (because Rebecca checked into it), brought all my own clothes, Naomi’s clothes and diapers, food and water, and even silverware!

Joe and Jim arrived so that Jim could help us get through with the doctor checking Naomi out. Everything looked good with her, praise God! He then talked to the doctor about all the meds we would both need and went to the pharmacy and got all of those for us. I needed a rhogam shot because I am O negative and Joe is O positive (which they needed to confirm with a blood test when he got there), so that had to be purchased at the pharmacy by Jim as well and brought back for the nurse to administer. After that, Jim sent us home and he finished up all the paperwork and payments for us. Jim then brought the bill to us to pay him back and although everything was bare bones, it was dirt cheap! It only cost us 560 lira, which comes out to about $470 for everything. That is the hospital stay, midwife fee, and all the medicines. Compare that to a stay in the U.S. and it blows your mind!

So exactly 20 hours after arriving to the hospital I was getting in the car to go home. God was amazing in it all, and I think the verse I read in Isaiah 12:5 the next morning summed it up:

Sing praises to the Lord, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth.

God is so good and we are so thankful for His abundant mercy that is wholly undeserved!