Birth #0026

This story has been shared with the written consent of the birthing momma:


This family was expecting their second baby, and after needing pitocin to augment their labor the first time around, it was a major goal to completely avoid pitocin this time, if at all possible. This momma wanted to be able to experience the natural ebb and flow of labor without medically induced intense contractions to get in the way of her coping.



One morning, I recieved a call from this mom, saying her water had broken around 4am, and she had been having contractions every 8-10 minutes, but they had slowed a little now. Shortly, they decided to head to the hospital to possibly start antibiotics (being GBS positive, and hoping to do a waterbirth) and also to do more walking to get things going. Later that afternoon, I was updated by this mom who said they had conducted a few tests on the amniotic fluid, which came back negative. This allowed them to go home and gave them more time to get the contractions to start on their own. They were quite relieved about this.


Later that night, the father texted me to say that contractions were coming steadily every 8-10 minutes. I had completely expected to get a call in the middle of the night, but did not hear anything. It was one of those light sleep kind of nights that doulas have when they are excitedly awaiting going to a birth. : ) In the morning, I was updated that the contractions had stayed steady throughout the night. They were planning to take their daughter to school, and then go walking the skyways (a fabulous idea for the wintertime in MN), do some stairs, and try to get things closer together. During walking, contractions became  5-6 minutes apart, but spaced out a little after. This momma spoke with her midwife-- considering whether or not she should go into the hospital. The midwife offered that she could go into the clinic to have her dilation checked there. Then she could know how much she had progressed so far. I really encouraged this mom to remember to tune into her body and that she would know the right time to go to the hospital.


This mother and father decided to stay home longer, try the bath tub, and also try getting a little rest. After trying the water, she got frustrated with her bath tub as it was not big enough to really get comfortable in. At this point, they asked that I come to join them. When I arrived, this momma was laboring beautifully on the toilet, with her husband pressing into her back as she slowly moaned through each contraction. She seemed to be doing great; overall in good spirits. I was able to observe for a while some of the things they were doing together to cope that were working really well for them: listening to relaxing music, him brushing her hair, stroking and cuddling, and listening to a relaxation cd. This mom was a strong tower through each one. 


In the early evening, her husband left to pick up their daughter from school to bring her to a friend's house. I was glad to be there to support this mom when her husband was needing to tend to their daughter momentarily. While he was gone, this mom mainly rested on the couch in the darkness, talking with me between contractions about the relief that their daughter could go be at a friends, family that is far away, and not dwelling on any negative thoughts during labor. During a contraction, I pressed into her lower back and would "shake the apple tree" to allow her to relax and let her bottom open up more.

Now contractions were coming every couple minutes. Her husband just arrived back from taking care of their daughter. He decided to call and check in with the midwife. I quickly put some dinner in the microwave for this dad who was saying he was "pretty hungry." When I went to check in with this momma, she was squatting down in the bathroom saying things were pretty intense. She said she was ready to go in to the hospital now. Her husband quickly rounded up all of the bags, while I helped this mom get ready to head out the door. Before her husband could finish his dinner, we were off.


The birthing mom rode in the front passenger seat on her side with one leg up on the dash so that she could be in a side lying squat. The father and I later talked about how we both had thought the contractions may slow down once in the car, but they just kept on coming! Both parents also later told me about how they were both thinking on the drive there, "Why didn't we pick a closer hospital!?" And this momma reminded herself--"...Because we love the nurses and we love the midwives!" 

We arrived at the emergency room entrance just shy of two hours after her husband had come home from taking their daughter to school. The birthing couple was escorted up to Labor and Delivery via wheelchair and hospital personnel. I parked their car and got up to labor and delivery with some of their bags several minutes later. They started getting this momma checked in, and informed her another water birth had just taken place and it didn't seem likely that they would be able to finish cleaning it out and fill it before the baby would arrive. The nurse had just started to monitor the baby's heart rate, when the birthing mom began saying she was feeling an urge to push. The nurse checked her and she was COMPLETE! and told her she could begin pushing whenever she was ready.

Within just a couple of pushes, the baby was crowning. The midwife asked the father if he would still like to help catch the baby (as they had said they would like to do in their birth preferences). He said that he would. Soon, only about 20 minutes after we had pulled up to the hospital, the baby was emerging! Later this mom shared with me that it felt so good to her to push her baby out. The proud father was able to take his new daughter and help to place her up onto her momma's tummy. The nurse suctioned out the baby's mouth a little, and she let out a little cry. She was pink, and healthy. Everyone was so happy to meet this little girl!


In talking with this mom later about not being able to have a waterbirth as she had hoped, she said that she was okay with it, because she was very happy that she was able to birth apart from interventions. I was so proud of her for doing so! 


Like I always say, momma's are so strong. They really, truly are. Don't let anyone ever tell you anything different.