Posted on: Saturday, May 12, 2007
In Hawai'i everyone delivers their way
By Mary Kaye Ritz
Advertiser Staff Writer
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Tina Marie King, here with her son Zach Makana King, 2 months, grooved on Jack Johnson tunes during her 24 hours of labor.
Courtesy of Tina Marie King
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We asked moms to share their stories of giving birth. It's apparent that there are as many ways to approach having a baby in the Islands as there are ways to be a mom. Here are some of the anecdotes:
Artist Linda Hess not only had her baby at home; she enlisted husband Masami Teraoka to capture the moment, and it sounds as if he was playing Twister as he tried to help the midwife get Hess into a good birthing position: "Knee in one hand, camera in the other, he films the birth, all the way to cutting the cord, which he also did, holding the camera and looking through the screen. ... It was worth getting that all on tape and having that memory forever," she wrote.
Kim Arakawa also had a home birth. Arakawa worked with a doula, using a birthing tub and a birthing ball. "Everything was progressing just as it was meant to, and I was very supported by the peacefulness of my home and the loving words of my husband and doula."
If she has another child? "All I have to say is, 'There's no place like home, there's no place like home,' " she writes.
"Boy, was I lucky I 'chose' to have a natural childbirth," writes Susan Boring, "because, irregardless of what I chose, that was exactly what Mother Nature had in store for me. After three hours of labor, and only 1 1/2 hours of being in the hospital, I was holding my newborn, Emily Rose."
Because Andreas Arvman and wife Zenaida Serrano, both with The Advertiser, rushed to the hospital for Madeleine's delivery six weeks early, they didn't even have time to pack a bag. Luckily, Dad had his cell phone, which also has an MP3 player, camera and video. "We were able to take pictures and record video of Madeleine's first precious hours despite being completely unprepared," Serrano writes.
New mom Michele Meletia Morgado e-mailed: "After giving birth to my daughter in the hospital, I saw a video of a woman giving birth in a birthing pool. I told myself that if I had another child, I would want to give birth in water." For her home birth, she used midwives, watched worship DVDs and had a birthing pool, though the moment of truth ended on a recliner for her son's birth earlier this year. "It was such a warm and peaceful environment," she wrote.
Tina Marie King made sure she had Jack Johnson ("Curious George" and "In Between Dreams") as well as "Voyage" by Brad White and Pierre Grill playing during her 24-hour labor.
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