by Sharron Moore

Created on: July 09, 2008

I had my first child when I was 21 years old. I had married the man of my dreams with a fairy tale wedding and we had converted our dining room into a nursery of the small one bedroom house we were buying. Everything couldn't have been more perfect. When I turned 21 I had received the first installment of my trust fund so I was able to spend the nine months of pregnancy remodeling our home for our son.

My doctor was the same doctor that my mother had used to deliver my baby brother in 1966. I had confidence in him because he had delivered hundreds if not thousands of babies. He was going to retire the following year in 1980 after I had my son. He was partners with his brother and they were both Dr. Hands. The name itself put you at ease if not all the pictures of the beautiful babies on the bulletin board that was hung above the scale.

My pregnancy was perfect, I had only gained 18 pounds, we both had taken Lamaze classes and I went into it feeling like I was prepared to excel at a natural delivery. On December 15, 1979, after my husband had partied and watched SNL with friends while I decided I should rest I had my first contraction. At midnight we left for the hospital and I still was laughing telling our next door neighbor who was arriving home after a late night that we were going to the hospital and would return with a baby. I had read everything I could get my hands on and was prepared to breast feed while my after birth was delivered. Dr. Hands met us at the hospital and said I was only dilated to a three as well as being 3 weeks early so not to worry the baby would be fine, and due to my small frame I could deliver him with no problem although my hips were very slim. He said the baby most likely weighed around five pounds. That was the first I had heard anything about his concern in regards to my hip width. I was nine months pregnant and weighed 135 pounds.

The contractions intensified and came every two and a half minutes from 3 AM until about 3 PM on Sunday. The doctor then told me that the baby hadn't turned yet and proceeded to put his hand in me and physically turn the baby around in the birth canal so he was laying on his stomach instead of his back. That pain almost made me pass out and I lost my resolve for a natural birth demanding drugs. By 8PM when it was time to push I had decided that I really didn't want him to come out through my vagina, and he could grow up inside me that the thought of delivering him was simply too painful. The doctor

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>