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Mom's Question Box

Over the years, Cathy Arndt has had the joy of receiving a steady stream of questions from single women, wives, mothers, and mothers-to-be. These inquiries have spanned a broad spectrum, and have included such subjects as relationships between singles, the joys and challenges of married life, pregnancy/childbirth issues, the adventures of child-rearing, and the home-schooling experience.

In this new FamTeam department (introduced, fittingly enough, on Mother's Day of 2009), Cathy's answers to these (and many other) questions will be presented on a weekly basis. The section will be updated each Thursday, at which time the previous "Question of the Week" will be placed into the FamTeam Archives, where it will be stored on a long-term basis. (Note: All features contained within the FamTeam Archives are available to Family Room members. In order to learn more about the Family Room and its many features, please click here.)

(If you would like to submit your own query to Mom, please click here.)

We hope you will visit Mom's Question Box every week!

 

July 30th, 2009

"What was your longest and shortest labor?  Have you ever given birth at home?"

    
   

    We originally planned on having our first baby at home, but our doctor happened to be attending a wedding in Switzerland when I went into labor.  His associate only delivered at his local hospital, so we went there and were able to labor and deliver in a private delivery room.  It was so nice and natural that we decided to have all of the babies at a hospital just for the added safety.

    All of my labors have had long early stages -- I tend to putter around for about a day ahead of time with contractions that could just as easily be false labor.  In fact, I've been sent home with false labor a few times because I wasn't sure.
    On our first baby it took about twenty-two hours from start to finish, and with our latest one my waters broke at 1:15 am and the baby was born around 3:30 pm -- about fourteen hours later.  It took hours before the contractions got serious, but once I got to five centimeters it was less than an hour before delivery.

    We almost had our sixth boy at home -- I was trying to help Rick finish some last-minute work that had a deadline on it.  I figured I might as well delay going to the hospital and give him a hand.  But the contractions got so hard I had to stop helping him and really focus on breathing.  When we left for the hospital, I almost couldn't walk to the car or into the hospital.  I was already seven centimeters and delivered within forty minutes.  It wasn't really a short labor; I just waited too long at home.

    Even though I wouldn't say that I have had easy labors, they have been uncomplicated and blessedly stitch-free.  I really feel great after the baby is born each time and heal up amazingly fast.  God is good.