And Tater Will Be Born Tomorrow. Maybe.

Last March, I wrote a post called More Best News Ever.

It was about my friends Billy and Shayla and how they were going to have a baby and how happy we all were about that and what glorious news it was.

And it started out with these words:

Are you familiar with David Sedaris? Of course you are. And thus, you know of his brother, The Rooster, whom you cannot kill. Anyway, when The Rooster's wife had her baby, it was delivered by Cesarean section and when he was telling David about it, he said something like, "Some babies get here by the natural pathway and some babies have to be cut from their mama's wombs but each and every one is a motherfuckin' miracle of God." And it's the truth.

Which is so highly ironic because tomorrow, Shayla is scheduled for a C-Section. I was talking about their baby's conception when I wrote that, but the fact of the matter is, Tater, as we lovingly know their baby, has been in a frank breech position for quite some time and despite all efforts to get him to back up and turn around, he seems to want to stay that way. This is what a frank breech presentation looks like:


Now it looks in that picture as if the mother's pelvic bones are spread-angel wings and that with just the slightest bit of encouragement, the baby would drop right out. As if.
Oh. As if.

Shayla has wanted so badly to have her baby either at home or at the birth center and here she is, signed up and scheduled for a C-section. Breech births can be complicated and problematic and unlike in the olden days, doctors aren't really trained to do vaginal breech deliveries because the protocol is to just deliver them by section. And so- there you go. Circumstances dictate that the best way for Tater to get here is via Cesarean.

They have tried various techniques to hopefully induce Tater to turn and will be going to a chiropractor today who will do the Webster Technique on Shayla and who know? Maybe it will work and I certainly hope so. But right now, it surely doesn't seem like a sure thing and when I talked to Shayla on the phone the other night she was weepy. She'd been to see the one doctor in all of Tallahassee (that I know of) who will try to do an external version, which is the procedure in which someone tries to turn the baby from the outside. And it hadn't worked. And that's when they'd scheduled the Cesarean.

Now Shayla is one of the most intelligent women I have ever met and also, one of the most determined. And she knows that no matter how Tater makes his appearance into the world, it will be a miracle and a blessing and that's the truth. But she also knows she has waited her entire life to go through a pregnancy, labor, and delivery, and although she has been through the pregnancy, it makes her sad that she will not get to go through labor and delivery. And rightly so.
It's hard to know the words to say in a situation like this. You just can't be trite and say that thing about it's not how the baby gets here, it's the fact that the baby will get here and be safe, etc. I mean, that's a big, huge DUH.

When I talked to her, I told her she had every right to grieve for the birth she has planned and hoped for and anticipated for so long and yet, is not going to get. EVERY RIGHT.
And I believe that. I also believe with all my heart that if Tater doesn't turn today and she does get a C-section, she'll come to peace with it.
And so will Billy who wants more than anything for his wife and baby to be safe but who also wishes that Shayla could have the birth she wants.

Well. Birth is like that. You can plan and you can plot, you can study and you can ponder. You can do whatever you want but in the end, situation and conditions dictate action. Not unlike life.

And so most likely, tomorrow morning, Billy and Shayla's baby will be born and so if you can, please send them a little thought, a little love, a little prayer for all to go well. If you would. You don't know them, perhaps, but I swear to you- if you did- they would be your favorite people.

And I'm with the Rooster on this one. This baby's birth, like all of them, is going to be a Motherfuckin' miracle of God and nothing in this world is going to make me happier at this point then to see the holy trinity of those three beloved people together- Shayla, Billy, and their precious baby, all happy, all well, all blessed with the light which true miracles provide of which birth, as common as it is, seems to me the most profound.