Three out of four of my babies were born during hurricane season and each one came with the real fear of a hurricane baby.
Despite my hurricane fears with my first, her arrival was sandwiched between storms and hurricane baby reality wasn’t an issue. My second, however, was born just 6 days after Tropical Storm Bonnie made landfall in South Florida in 2010. Luckily Bonnie dissipated quickly and the storm just brought us heavy rains, but it didn’t quell my hurricane baby fears leading up to the storm as my Facebook post from July 22 that year shows:
I have no interest in having a hurricane baby. Hopefully Bonnie will stay well south of us AND the baby will stay put!
Then last year came and as I stared down my due date and no baby (even though I was more than ready!), I also watched Tropical Storm Erika beat down on Dominica and the weather reports said we were next and hurricane baby fear went to a whole new level! Luckily Tropical Storm Erika also dissipated before she became a problem for baby and me but not before I wrote this post.
I never published it because the moment passed and it seemed a bit dramatic and unnecessary but as we sit here on the edge of another possible storm, I know there are pregnant women out there, many of whom are within the range of soon welcoming their babies and so I know these feelings are all around, even if they’re no longer my own.
I feel like I’ve heard it a thousand times over the past few days. From strangers and from well-meaning family and friends. “Maybe you’ll have a hurricane baby!” “You could name her Erika!”
I get it, I do. It sounds kind of exciting. And Oh! the birth story I would have! I could twist quite a tale of over-exaggerated details and a plot line that would make mouths drop.
But let’s be real for a minute: we’re talking about having a baby. And while I am mother nature’s #1 fan when it come to birthing and I believe wholeheartedly in the miraculous strength, power and ability of each mother’s body to bring her child into the world, that doesn’t make birth fool-proof. There could always be things that are out of one’s control, that could complicate things. Throw on top of the uncertainty of birth the wildly unpredictability of a major tropical storm…no thank you, not me!
I just want a peaceful birth, at home, with my husband and kids present. Oh, and my midwife, too. And that’s where storms get complicated.
If my baby does decide to come during the storm, the bad weather could keep my midwife from being able to safely get to my side. Plus emergency medical services aren’t allowed out during certain bad conditions. So I could be left to fend for myself and our new baby with no medical aid available. If s/he did decide to come during the storm.
So what’s a mommy to do? Well, the medical establishment says that because I am due on Tuesday and the storm (though weakening and shifting away from us) is due to effect us on Monday, I should probably go “sit it out” at the closest hospital with a NICU. That all sounds very safe and dandy, but who wants to sit at a hospital just waiting when they could be at home in their comfy bed? Who would choose to sit at the hospital for possibly days on end when they are perfectly healthy?
And what about my three other children, they certainly wouldn’t be invited to come wait with us so I would miss out on all the moments of them experiencing the storm (which already has Honeybun completely freaked out) and if the baby did happen to come while we were there, my children would miss it. It would be hours or even days before they could meet their new baby brother or sister and that is the exact opposite of why we choose homebirth. We want our kids to be a part of the experience and to be there in this sweet baby’s first moments.
So before you think you’re being cheeky and wish me a hurricane baby, really think about what you’re saying and what that really means. Because as far as I’m concerned, unless it gets moving, this baby is waiting out the storm inside so maybe instead you can give me the age-old advice “you better keep your legs crossed!” because that’s exactly what I’ll be doing until this storm passes!
