One of our patients recounts her distressing labour and delivery and how her young son experienced some improvements through chiropractic care.
As we stood in the Chiropractor’s office and he was explaining the results of my X-rays and showing me the degree of what “15mm” meant in terms of my pelvis being askew, the horrendous memory of the 10 days I spent in hospital having my son came rolling back into my mind.
It Started With a ‘Perfect’ Pregnancy
My pregnancy was “perfect” in every way—no high blood pressure and my blood and iron count were amazing. I swam a few times a week and was still working full time in a busy physically active job that required a lot of hours and a lot of stairs! Plus, I had the additional advantage of no morning sickness … you’d wonder why then I nearly lost my life, and my son had to spend as many days in NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit).
My son was “overdue” by exactly two weeks, and the morning of the day that I was to be induced, I awoke at 4am with the start of my labour; weirdly, my labour pains did not come in a rolling timed sequence but rather a pain like a band that became more intense … 8am and we were on our way to the hospital.
Then Events Quickly Turned
Unfortunately, as my son was overdue when the waters broke, there was meconium.
Not long they said, at about 10am, this baby will be out by 12pm latest! Wow, cool, home straight I am thinking—little did I know it was the start, not the end coming towards me.
By 11am, the baby is in situ but not moving. They could not figure out what was going on. They said, “We need to put you on hold.” Flummoxed and exhausted I lie there wondering whether later in the day they would have me go through all that labour all over again. Hours went by, and then “Caesar.” I immediately went into a panic—my worst nightmare.
At 9pm my beautiful red-headed son arrives into the world and as he had an irregular heartbeat he was swooped off to intensive care, and I’m left full of morphine being stitched up.
Within hours I had developed a high temperature, and it just got higher—43 degrees, febrile hot, sweating hot, and then cold, shaking cold. Woken on the hour every hour for temperature checks, intravenous penicillin, also having to express milk and check on my son—exhausted. I was reminded why they used sleep deprivation as torture in WW2, as this level of exhaustion was beyond compare to anything I had ever or since experienced.
A Pivotal Plunket Visit
Finally, after 10 days we headed home and then began the Plunket visits. I can’t remember exactly when, but it must have been about the four-week mark, and I pointed out to the nurse that my baby’s head was quite flat on one side. It was her kind and wise advice that pointed us towards chiropractic care.
The Chiropractor’s voice came back into focus, and I looked at him as he said. “Yes, this 15 mm pivot on your pelvis would be enough to compromise your birth canal—at least sufficiently that the baby would have had much difficulty negotiating such a narrow opening.”
I recalled the words of the midwife and surgeons at the maternity ward the day of my baby’s birth, “He’s in situ but we don’t know why he won’t come out.” Really? Could maternity chiropractic care have avoided the cascade of events involving the Caesar, the blood infection, the 40-plus degree temperature, the baby in intensive care … my mind whirled at what had unfolded for us as a family the last couple of months.
Slumbering Soundly
Thankfully that night after our first visit to the Chiropractor my cute redheaded baby was sleeping soundly, turning his head both ways.