March 16, 1977

Father makes special delivery

       When Ernie and Nikki Arney made plans to use natural childbirth for the birth of their second child, they had no idea just how natural it would be. The Wheel Estates couple’s first daughter, Kenda, was born March 14 at the couple’s mobile home when the impatient infant made her debut three days early just 55 minutes after the 23-year-old Mrs. Arney felt her first labor pain. Her daddy, who is 27, was the attending “physician” and her big brother Jason, age 3, watched wide-eyed as his new baby sister was born with no complications. Though she said she would not recommend having babies at home, Mrs. Arney feels the event will be one the family will always remember and she enjoyed having the baby’s birth as a family event. “I’m kind’ve glad it happened that way,” she notes. “Its something we can tell Kenda when she gets older.”

         Mrs. Arney credits the six weeks of birth classes she and her husband took at St. Francis Hospital in Beech Grove for the adeptness with which her husband took over the delivery. If it hadn’t been for those classes, neither one of us would have made it,” Mrs. Arney commented. Because of the subject matter of the course, her husband knew proper procedures for an emergency birth, including clearing the child’s throat, washing her face and making sure she was breathing. The Arneys had taken the classes so that he could be in the delivery room when their second child was born. Thinking she had plenty of time to get to the hospital, since her son’s birth had taken 18 hours, Mrs. Arney had intended to brush her teeth before leaving for the hospital after she was awakened by the labor pains about 2 a.m. But before the Arneys could leave the house, it was obvious that Kenda would not wait. Noting that her husband “kept pretty cool,” Mrs. Arney said, “I panicked at first, but he was in complete control.” After Kenda was born, she said, “He panicked and then I was in complete control.”

        “He did an exceptional job,” said Mrs. Arney of her husbands emergency performance. “He took care of all of us, even answering Jason’s questions.” Now, she says, “He’s glowing.” The doctors at the hospital gave him a lot of kidding about joining the staff, she noted, “but he told them once was enough.” Shortly after Kenda’s birth, members of the White River Township Volunteer Fire Department rescue squad arrived to help mother and baby, and the two were taken to St. Francis Hospital, where they stayed only three days. Though the procedure is a bit less expensive, Mrs. Arney said she wouldn’t necessarily recommend it to anyone and feels fortunate that here were no complications. She says the family might plan another baby in about three years-and her husband has already begun making plans for being more prepared. “He said around the eighth month, we’ll just pitch a pup tent at St. Francis, just to be sure,” Mrs. Arney reports.  (Reprinted with permission of the Daily Journal)

 

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