Childbirth: Beautiful even when not planned

The birth of my grandson is a bittersweet story. My family is very blessed to have such a beautiful sweet child. In the beginning we didn't necessarily think that was the case. See, my daughter (Kelci) was fifteen when she got pregnant. This is a picture of her at her first sonogram.

After coming to terms of having a pregnant teen daughter which, by the way seems to be the accepted thing these days , I began accepting the idea that I would be a grandma at 40!

Throughout her pregnancy Kelci had to overcome many adversities. During her 4th month she was in a car accident and while at the emergency room a spot was found on her uterus. This led to many tests to determine the cause. During her 6th month she contracted a severe kidney infection which caused preterm contractions. She spent a week in the hospital fighting that infection. One month later she was back in the hospital with preterm labor again. When she was sent home she was put on bed rest! She was able to hold on one more month and was back in the hospital. When she was sent home her doctor determined that the repeated bouts of preterm labor was putting too much stress on the baby. So, a week later when she went into labor again he decided to perform a c-section. On September 21 Shawn Patrick was born and forever changed all of our lives.

This is a picture of baby Shawn, his father and me just minutes afer he was born.

Pregnancy and childbirth in Mexico has some interesting traditions and rituals.

During pregnancy it is expected that women avoid death related events and stay away from extreme heat and cold. During childbirth it is seen as important to keep doors and windows closed to keep out evil forces. It is also seen as a weakness if the woman cries out so she tries to keep quiet in order to avoid being made fun of.  During childbirth, it is thought that the woman’s womb loses heat and her ovaries and genitals soften, never returning to their original position. To prevent this, some traditional midwives place themselves between the woman’s legs at the moment she is giving birth, to help keep the heat in and curses out. Immediately after childbirth it is tradition to place the umbilical cord around the baby's neck and a 40-day period of caring for the mother and child is considered essential for the prevention of diseases and complications.