JAMES FROST – Born 2/9/05 at Royal North Shore Hospital, St Leonards, Sydney
By Joanne Day
I was 32 when I fell pregnant with my first child. I was very healthy & active leading up to and during my pregnancy. I walked daily, did prenatal yoga and was careful with my diet. My partner and I were very excited about the pending birth and I actually couldn’t wait to go into labour!! My preference was to have a water birth with no drugs and I was confident that even if that wasn’t the outcome that the birth would go well.
I went into labour at 2am and jumped into the bath for a few hours, when my waters broke. The contractions were very strong and regular from the outset so by 6am with the contractions 3 minutes apart we went to the hospital. I was advised by the midwife on duty that I was already 4cm dilated and that it “would be over VERY soon”. I was also advised that the midwife team I should have been allocated to were all tied up with other women and so I was given a “casual” midwife. I recall feeling instinctively unsure of this woman when I met her.
By 9am I felt the urge to “push” but the midwife advised I was only 7cm. 15 hours after I went into labour, I had requested 3 internals to check on my progress and I was STILL only 7cm. I was using gas at this stage to get through the contractions and I was becoming increasingly tired. My midwife’s shift ended and the next midwife upon examining me realised immediately that my baby’s head was ‘deflexed’ (brow presentation) and called the doctor. It was then that they realised the labour had stalled hours ago and that it was impossible for me to give birth with my baby’s head in this position. They gave me oxytocin to bring on stronger contractions in the hope that my baby’s head would turn. I was exhausted by this stage and hearing that it “could still go on for hours”, requested an epidural. They gave me high doses of oxytocin for several hours to no avail and then advised that I would have to have a Caesarean. I was disappointed but quickly accepted that it had to happen and was somewhat relieved that it would soon be over! They waited for the head doctor before operating as the baby’s head was so far down the birth canal and was in an awkward position, requiring 2 doctors to assist during the birth.
19 hours after I went into labour I had a beautiful baby boy by c-section. He was blue when he first came out and then quickly turned pink and was perfect in every way.
The first night James slept well (probably exhausted from the long, difficult labour). The second night he started screaming. The third night, 3 midwives tried unsuccessfully to settle him. I’d had very little sleep for 4 nights now, could hardly get out of bed from the pain of the caesar and had a baby that wouldn’t stop crying. This wasn’t quite what I’d had in mind!! The midwives kept saying he was hungry because my milk hadn’t come through so they insisted that I feed him continuously through the night to get my milk through. Finally on day 5 my milk arrived, but James kept screaming.
James’ sleep pattern consisted of 40 minute cycles followed by several hours of back arching and screaming. He continually threw his head back into the same position he had attempted to come out of the birth canal in. It was as though his neck had been in this elongated position for the entire 9 months he was inside of me and he knew no difference.
We read everything we could and received lots of advice, ranging from he’s ‘collicky’, ‘he’s overtired’, ‘he’s normal’, to telling me ’not to eat soy.’
We tried herbal remedies first, then gripe water and then Mylanta. The Mylanta appeared to settle him but only temporarily.
We took him to a chiropractor when he was 2 weeks old, who advised he’d had some cranial and neck damage during the birth. After 10 weeks of chiropractic treatment, there was still no progress and still no sleep.
I was averaging 3 hours of broken sleep each night and was feeling very distraught. I wanted to “fix” my baby and was desperate for him and for me to get some sleep. I asked my doctor to refer me to a paediatrician. The paediatrician diagnosed him with oesophageal reflux and prescribed Zantec and Losec.
The last thing we wanted to do was medicate our baby, but we felt helpless and desperate for the poor little thing to get some sleep. Once again, the medication appeared to work at first, but it was only a temporary fix. He continued to scream, arch his back and was generally unhappy.
In the mean time I went to Tresillian to attempt to ‘train’ my baby how to sleep properly. The midwife at Tresillian advised that most medication given to young babies is unnecessary and ineffective (based on my experience I had to agree). They showed me settling techniques which were useful but not until later on.
When James was 3 months old the chiropractor advised he had done all he could and suggested that we try a spiritual healer who was also a craniosacral therapist. I had tried every product, settling technique and method there was and I was open to spiritual healing so I called Simon that day at his home in Bellingen. Simon asked for my son’s name and said he would sit with James ‘energetically’ that night and that I should look out for any behavioural changes.
The very next day a ‘miracle’ happened in our household. For the very first time, I was able to get James to sleep in his cot without having to rock him to sleep in my arms, without any back arching and without any screaming. What a breakthrough! He did appear calmer, but was still not sleeping as well as a baby should, there was still work to be done.
We booked in to see Simon several weeks later when he was next in Sydney.
When James saw Simon for the first time he locked eyes with him and there was an instant calm about him. I then watched as my 3.5 month old baby lay peacefully still for 30 minutes on a bench whilst Simon worked on him. Simon had no knowledge of the birth but he went through the “birth process” again from James’ perspective. He explained the exact position of James’ head, the difficulty the doctor’s had in getting him out, the strain on his neck and throat, the cold, bright room and his overall unease and confusion during the birth. Simon went on to explain many things about the birth that only Glenn and I were aware of. James did have reflux but he was also traumatised by the long, difficult birth. He needed reassurance that his entry into this world, although traumatic, was in the past and everything would be ok.
It is difficult for me to describe the amazing work that Simon did on my son. I can however explain the effect, which was instantaneous. We went from a crazy, stressed out, sleep deprived household to one of peace overnight.
After seeing Simon our baby stopped arching his back, throwing his neck back, the screaming dissipated and James was suddenly calm.
Simon has an incredible gift to cure all sorts of emotional, physical and meta- physical issues that are sometimes beyond our awareness or comprehension. We went searching for answers to our baby’s unhappiness in books, the medical profession, chiropractic realms, even old wives tales and we are forever grateful of Simon’s profound healing ability and the amazing impact he had on our lives and our baby boy.