Preston's birth
by Kim Miller
Our family moved to Mexico during the summer of 2005, from our home in Utah. About one week after arriving, I went to a clinic for a pregnancy test. The test read “positivo”. I was happy and excited. However, I was a little nervous due to the fact that my previous pregnancy (only a few months earlier) ended in a miscarriage. We had already been blessed with two beautiful sons who were six and nine years old. I was most certainly concerned about finding a good doctor and giving birth in Mexico. After all, I was still learning to adjust to life in this new place. I had changed doctors twice before meeting Joni and Dr. Jose Luis. Having had two previous Pitocin induced births in Utah Hospitals, I had my fair share of concerns about a natural birth, but I felt with this birthing team I would have the support I needed to succeed. Most of all, I felt that I would actually have a say in the birth of my baby. I was a little nervous about the distance from San Juan Cosala (where we were living) to Guadalajara, but I didn’t spend much time or energy worrying about it. I wanted to have this baby naturally, and I believed everything would work out. Joni was always helpful in answering my questions; she lent me some books to read, which helped me greatly in learning to trust that I would be able to do this. Dr. Jose Luis was kind and accommodating, and for the first time in my life I didn’t dread going to the doctor.
Preston was due on February 28th, 2006. That date uneventfully came and went. Our last visit to our Dr. Jose Luis showed that baby was in an excellent position for birth. We were excited with this news since he was presenting transverse (sideways) at 37 weeks. I had been having nightly irregular contractions for a few weeks and was beginning to believe I may be the first woman to carry a baby for the rest of her life. After much research, thought, and prayer, I decided to get a bottle of castor oil to see if that would help produce labor. On March 7th I took about ¼ of the bottle at 7:40 a.m. and by noon I hadn’t seen any results. So I decided to just take the whole bottle. I mixed it with an orange drink and some baking soda, but it was difficult to gag down. My mother-in-law, Sharon, recommended I try taking it with hot chocolate.
