Another issue is Post-Term pregnancy. This is when the baby is still inutero past the due date. This is the total opposite of Pre-Term pregnancy, which is the premature birth of a baby. Both births have their challenges.
Again, I have had first hand experience with this type of birth also. My sister was in her first pregnancy. She knew exactly WHEN she got pregnant because she only had sex ONCE with her boyfriend before they broke up. They had been dating for several years and she wanted to get married and have a child. Unfortunately, her boyfriend did not want the same. He already had two almost grown children, and did not want anymore. So she set the stage to get pregnant against his wishes. She believed if she just got pregnant, he would marry her. I tried to tell her this could be disasterous, but she would not listen!
Ultimately, she got pregnant and they broke up. She found an OB/GYN and started her care. She was a flight attendant, and she knew there would be challenges down the road. But she had made up her mind and headed down that path, setting herself up for all kinds of problems. She just could not fathom what could go wrong!
I was very close to her, at the time. I tried to help her in every way I could. When she was 4 months pregnant, she moved in with a flight attendant friend and her husband. She lived with them until a few months after the baby was born. During that time, she had continuous run-ins with her supervisor. She needed to work to support herself and ultimately her baby. I bought a bassinet, decorated it, bought baby clothes and most things she was going to need.
Even though she knew exactly when she got pregnant, her doctor would not listen to her. He kept insisting that she had gotten the date wrong – go figure? I would have changed doctors, but she did not. We had calculated her due date around March 6th, so we were expecting her to go into labor around that time. Nothing happened. As she went for check-ups, her doctor kept telling her that she was wrong. And because she had not gone into labor, we were confused? He calculated her due date around April 15th. My sisters birthday was April 14th, so we entertained the idea of the baby coming on or around her birthday. However, my sister continued to get absolutely enormous, and we both felt an uneasiness. She passed March 6th, she passed March 13th, she passed March 20th. By this time she was ginormous, and she begged her doctor to induce. He absolutely refused! March 27th passed, and still nothing. The baby was moving, but barely. We were both scared.
April 3rd passed, and my sister was very, very uncomfortable. She looked like she was going to have multiples. She was exhausted, could not sleep and was in a lot of pain from her huge belly.
On April 6th, I got an emergency call from the hospital that my sister had been rushed there in dire straights. I rushed to the hospital.When I got there, she was in surgery, having an emergency C-section. A little girl was born shortly after I arrived. She was HUGE! And she was in severe distress. The nurses rushed past me carrying my little niece. The nurse was holding her upside down by her ankles, and this dark green, almost black substance was pouring out of that baby’s mouth! I was horrified, as I had never seen a newborn baby, but I knew it was not normal because of the urgency. I followed the nurses to the NICU. They put that baby in an incubator and started to work on her. She was still spewing gunk, she was gasping for air, and was desperately trying to breathe. One nurse was aspirating her nose and mouth, one nurse was getting the oxygen set up, one nurse was drawing blood from her tiny foot. She was trying to scream, but only a muffled sound emerged. My heart was beyond broken, as I stood there, watching all of this and sobbing myself. I knew nothing about what was happening, but I did know this baby was in serious trouble.
Pretty soon, she had been cleaned up, her lungs cleared as much as possible, she was on oxygen and she had several monitors attached to her. She still was not crying, so she was being monitored and watched very carefully. The nurses came out and let me know that the baby was stable, for the time being. I asked what she weighed. She weighed a whopping 10lbs. 4 oz ! I never left the hospital. I had not even been to check on my sister. Once the nurses let me know the baby was stabilized, I went to check on my sister.
My sister was in excruciating pain, from the C-section and from total exhaustion. She absolutely looked like Hell, but, of course, she wanted to know the status of the baby. She did not even know she had a baby girl and she knew nothing of what the baby was going through. I explained what I could, trying not to upset her even more. She was sobbing, saying “I told that SOB I was way overdue, and he would not listen!” I told her I would be there 24/7 if needed to see that they both got the best care.
My job was tenuous, but I took time off to help my sister. A couple days later, we went on strike and I had no job to go to. So I spent all my time at the hospital. My sister was in and out of consciousness. She was still in a tremendous amount of pain and not doing well. She was very worried about the baby, and she had not even seen or held her baby girl. She could not even walk, from the C-section, and the baby was in an incubator hooked up to tubes, monitors and oxygen. Neither could go to the other. My sisters milk also came in, but she had no baby to nurse. She was having complications with that issue also. Her breasts were full, swollen and getting hard. She was absolutely miserable! The only good news was she was sleeping because of all the pain medication! But again, they had to be careful because she was going to breastfeed, if and when this ordeal was over.
The baby was still not out of the woods. Her lungs had cleared some, but she still required oxygen and monitors. She was in a heated incubator, naked, with her legs spread out and tied down, and her wrists were restrained out from her sides. Her wrists were restrained with gauze and pinned to the incubator sheet. That baby wanted her thumb, and had wanted it since she was born. The nurses would not let her have it, mostly because of the oxygen. But that baby was determined to get that thumb. She spent 4 days pulling and jerking her right wrist, with all the willpower she had. I would stand there and watch her, and my heart would hurt. She just wanted to suck her thumb, and it was not happening. On the 4th day, I was standing, looking in the window at her. She was finally wiggling and crying. She was very upset that she could not get her thumb. Then, all of a sudden, the sheet ripped and her arm flew across her body, and she was trying to get her thumb. The nurse was so shocked, at the will power of the baby, that she decided maybe our little angel could finally have her thumb! She checked her oxygen levels, and they were stable, so she removed the oxygen and let our angel have her thumb. I was absolutely amazed at the strength and determination of that baby. I could tell she was a fighter, and nothing was going to stand in her way! She had been triumphant! Her only goal was to get her thumb, and by golly, she did it!
On my sisters birthday, April 14th, the nurses made her a big banner and put it across her wall. They also had a surprise for her. I was there, and a nurse walked in with our little angel. You have never seen two grown women cry like babies! We were both overjoyed. I had not even held my niece. So it was a surprise for both of us.
My sister and niece spent several more days in the hospital. They were finally released 10 days after admittance to the hospital
My niece had been given a clean bill of health. The neo-natal team had saved her life and saved her from life long problems that could have occurred. My sister was having difficulty recovering from a C-section, but with help and care, she eventually recovered and returned to work.
That baby girl had a light complexion with big eyes and golden hair. She was absolutely adorable and too cute for words. Actually, she looked just like me instead of her mother. My sister had an olive complexion, dark brown eyes and dark brown hair. Almost everytime we were together, strangers thought my niece was my baby! That beautiful little girl, that started life under serious, complicated circumstances grew up to be beautiful, intelligent and so compassionate. She had no residual effects from her Post-Term birth.It was a very trying and scary situation that turned out positive.