natural childbirth
Endurance
07/05/12 01:39 PM
Some births are short and intense and others are long and slow. Some people have great endurace and others are sprinters. God will only give us what we can handle. This is a story of a mom who had incredible endurance and an amazing ability to relax through her contractions.
I met Tiffany and David a couple months before the birth. When I first talked with her, she told me how her sister had a natural birth with a doula and loved it, after hearing that, she also wanted to have a good positive experience for her birth. Tiffany was very cautious with all her decisions from the beginning. But, over all, she seemed very relaxed and comfortable with the upcoming birth of their child. David was just completely on board with what ever Tiffany wanted. Going into it, I had a feeling it was going to be a pretty good birth. They supported each other and had a lot of family support as well.
Tiffany went in for an appointment Tuesday morning, the day before her due date. Her doctor did a rather rough exam to feel around the baby’s head. After the exam, she noticed some leaking. The exam showed she was 2 cm and 80%, but that her water bulging below the baby’s head. Tiffany wasn’t sure if her water broke, but she called me around 1 pm Tuesday with some consistent cramping. I had told her that it is normal after an exam to have the cramping, especially an exam like that. If it just continues to progress it is probably the start of labor, if it stops, it is not labor. Throughout the day, the cramping kept up and turned more into tightness then just cramping. She asked if I could come over and see what was going on around 5, I arrived just before 5:30.
At home, Tiffany was pretty comfortable. It seemed pretty early in labor, but I thought we would take a walk to see what would happen with it. Her surges were much more frequent with the walking, but she was able to walk right through them. After our walk, we ate some dinner and rested for a bit where the surges started to get stronger. She would start to fight them, so I tried to keep her focused and not fighting the contractions. At first I thought I might go home and come back, but things started picking up. We ended up taking about 3 walks, Tiffany’s surges got more intense, so Tiffany and David had a shower. I was thinking after the shower that she labor would have been further along, but she got out all refreshed and said the shower felt great. At this point I was back to thinking I might be going home. But, Tiffany got down stairs, rested and it got much more intense again. Now, I am definitely not going home. Yay! It’s baby time.
About 11 pm, Tiffany starts to throw up. David and Tiffany decide it is time to go to the hospital so we left and arrived at 11:30. About midnight, the wonderful nurse, Lisa checks Tiffany and she is 3-4 cm, +2 station. I was so bummed for her, she had been working so hard and it is so difficult for a mom to bring her mind to where her cervix is, if she thought she was further along. But, Tiffany didn’t seem to mind at all. She was so patient and calm. She just went with it and started walking after the monitor. Through the night we walked, her and David showered and Tiffany was monitored. Lisa was very relaxed with the monitoring; Tiffany was put on maybe every hour, not even 40 minutes. Lisa also never gave Tiffany a saline loc. It was wonderful to have such a supportive nurse who was respectful of Tiffany and David’s wishes. Through the night the surges ranged from 2 minutes to 6 minutes apart.
Early on, Tiffany was fighting the surges, she would try to wiggle through them, finally in the night she settled into her groove and relaxed through them. Once she did that, she had an amazing ability to relax through them and in-between. When Tiffany did get on the monitor, her contractions would slow to about 6 minutes and we tried to let her just sleep as much as she could. All night and into the next morning, it just seemed like labor wasn’t progressing. Her hormonal symptoms were there with the throwing up every hour, but there was no bleeding to indicate dilation, there was no shaking, not change in demeanor, the back labor wasn’t moving down her back. We tried all the positions to get baby to turn and move down, but still not dilation, so it seemed.
The daytime nurse was just as great about respecting Tiffany and David’s wishes for a natural birth with no interventions. After all this time, it had been all night now, the nurse, Michelle wanted to check to see how things were going. She had talked to me first about it and we both agreed that it just didn’t seem like much dilation was happening. Just before noon she was checked and found to be 4 cm. Still, Tiffany didn’t seem to get discouraged. She just kept on going and doing what we said to do. The nurse mentioned to her about breaking her water. Tiffany, David and I discussed it, what it could possibly do for her (there are no guarantees) and what the down side was. They made the decision to go for it.
At 12:10, Dr. Gray broke her water and instead of it being an uncomfortable procedure, it was such a relief to Tiffany. She had so much water, no wonder the baby’s head wasn’t near the cervix. So, we went back to walking, shower and monitor. This time I only let her back in the bed once for the monitor, the other times she had to stand. It finally seemed like the cervix was changing.
I stepped out for the restroom and on my way back, Michelle stopped me in the hall. She wanted to see if there was any progress now that her water broke. I was curious and knew that we did need to know if this was working, because if not we had to figure out a new plan. So, she asked if we can approach Tiffany about this.
At 2:45, just 2 hours and 45 minutes later, Michelle checked Tiffany. She was very slow about her check, didn’t say anything till she was all done. Then Michelle put her hands together and with a slow sigh and a sad look on her face says, “Well… I have some good news for you.” Oh my goodness! I about jumped out of my skin and yelled something like, “What is it?!” or “Tell us!” Michelle says, you are 8 cm. Praise God!!! I had to keep from crying, I was so happy for her. After laboring for 19 hours and dilating 1 cm, she dilated 4 cm in 2 hrs and 45 minutes.
So we went back to our routine, walking around the room and the shower. Tiffany’s throwing up had subsided; she had some coconut water and naked juice. The coconut water really helped her feel more energy. During contractions, David would hold her up while I would do back pressure and have her just hang on him. David would remind her to breath deep almost every time. He really just stepped up and helped her so naturally. They were a perfect pair. Tiffany was amazing, her coping didn’t change at all, she just kept right on dealing with the contractions how she was all night. Every once and a while, she would fight it, but as soon as I reminded her not to and David told her to breath, she would sink down on him and relax.
At 6:28, just under 6 ½ hrs after her water broke, Dexton Johnathan was born. He was 7 lbs, 13 ozs. (Maybe) There was a little problem with weighting him. The doctor said something about the baby being a boy, so I said, “We didn’t see yet, David, can you check for us?” So, David got to tell Tiffany that they had a little boy. A cute one too.
I met Tiffany and David a couple months before the birth. When I first talked with her, she told me how her sister had a natural birth with a doula and loved it, after hearing that, she also wanted to have a good positive experience for her birth. Tiffany was very cautious with all her decisions from the beginning. But, over all, she seemed very relaxed and comfortable with the upcoming birth of their child. David was just completely on board with what ever Tiffany wanted. Going into it, I had a feeling it was going to be a pretty good birth. They supported each other and had a lot of family support as well.
Tiffany went in for an appointment Tuesday morning, the day before her due date. Her doctor did a rather rough exam to feel around the baby’s head. After the exam, she noticed some leaking. The exam showed she was 2 cm and 80%, but that her water bulging below the baby’s head. Tiffany wasn’t sure if her water broke, but she called me around 1 pm Tuesday with some consistent cramping. I had told her that it is normal after an exam to have the cramping, especially an exam like that. If it just continues to progress it is probably the start of labor, if it stops, it is not labor. Throughout the day, the cramping kept up and turned more into tightness then just cramping. She asked if I could come over and see what was going on around 5, I arrived just before 5:30.
At home, Tiffany was pretty comfortable. It seemed pretty early in labor, but I thought we would take a walk to see what would happen with it. Her surges were much more frequent with the walking, but she was able to walk right through them. After our walk, we ate some dinner and rested for a bit where the surges started to get stronger. She would start to fight them, so I tried to keep her focused and not fighting the contractions. At first I thought I might go home and come back, but things started picking up. We ended up taking about 3 walks, Tiffany’s surges got more intense, so Tiffany and David had a shower. I was thinking after the shower that she labor would have been further along, but she got out all refreshed and said the shower felt great. At this point I was back to thinking I might be going home. But, Tiffany got down stairs, rested and it got much more intense again. Now, I am definitely not going home. Yay! It’s baby time.
About 11 pm, Tiffany starts to throw up. David and Tiffany decide it is time to go to the hospital so we left and arrived at 11:30. About midnight, the wonderful nurse, Lisa checks Tiffany and she is 3-4 cm, +2 station. I was so bummed for her, she had been working so hard and it is so difficult for a mom to bring her mind to where her cervix is, if she thought she was further along. But, Tiffany didn’t seem to mind at all. She was so patient and calm. She just went with it and started walking after the monitor. Through the night we walked, her and David showered and Tiffany was monitored. Lisa was very relaxed with the monitoring; Tiffany was put on maybe every hour, not even 40 minutes. Lisa also never gave Tiffany a saline loc. It was wonderful to have such a supportive nurse who was respectful of Tiffany and David’s wishes. Through the night the surges ranged from 2 minutes to 6 minutes apart.
Early on, Tiffany was fighting the surges, she would try to wiggle through them, finally in the night she settled into her groove and relaxed through them. Once she did that, she had an amazing ability to relax through them and in-between. When Tiffany did get on the monitor, her contractions would slow to about 6 minutes and we tried to let her just sleep as much as she could. All night and into the next morning, it just seemed like labor wasn’t progressing. Her hormonal symptoms were there with the throwing up every hour, but there was no bleeding to indicate dilation, there was no shaking, not change in demeanor, the back labor wasn’t moving down her back. We tried all the positions to get baby to turn and move down, but still not dilation, so it seemed.
The daytime nurse was just as great about respecting Tiffany and David’s wishes for a natural birth with no interventions. After all this time, it had been all night now, the nurse, Michelle wanted to check to see how things were going. She had talked to me first about it and we both agreed that it just didn’t seem like much dilation was happening. Just before noon she was checked and found to be 4 cm. Still, Tiffany didn’t seem to get discouraged. She just kept on going and doing what we said to do. The nurse mentioned to her about breaking her water. Tiffany, David and I discussed it, what it could possibly do for her (there are no guarantees) and what the down side was. They made the decision to go for it.
At 12:10, Dr. Gray broke her water and instead of it being an uncomfortable procedure, it was such a relief to Tiffany. She had so much water, no wonder the baby’s head wasn’t near the cervix. So, we went back to walking, shower and monitor. This time I only let her back in the bed once for the monitor, the other times she had to stand. It finally seemed like the cervix was changing.
I stepped out for the restroom and on my way back, Michelle stopped me in the hall. She wanted to see if there was any progress now that her water broke. I was curious and knew that we did need to know if this was working, because if not we had to figure out a new plan. So, she asked if we can approach Tiffany about this.
At 2:45, just 2 hours and 45 minutes later, Michelle checked Tiffany. She was very slow about her check, didn’t say anything till she was all done. Then Michelle put her hands together and with a slow sigh and a sad look on her face says, “Well… I have some good news for you.” Oh my goodness! I about jumped out of my skin and yelled something like, “What is it?!” or “Tell us!” Michelle says, you are 8 cm. Praise God!!! I had to keep from crying, I was so happy for her. After laboring for 19 hours and dilating 1 cm, she dilated 4 cm in 2 hrs and 45 minutes.
So we went back to our routine, walking around the room and the shower. Tiffany’s throwing up had subsided; she had some coconut water and naked juice. The coconut water really helped her feel more energy. During contractions, David would hold her up while I would do back pressure and have her just hang on him. David would remind her to breath deep almost every time. He really just stepped up and helped her so naturally. They were a perfect pair. Tiffany was amazing, her coping didn’t change at all, she just kept right on dealing with the contractions how she was all night. Every once and a while, she would fight it, but as soon as I reminded her not to and David told her to breath, she would sink down on him and relax.
At 6:28, just under 6 ½ hrs after her water broke, Dexton Johnathan was born. He was 7 lbs, 13 ozs. (Maybe) There was a little problem with weighting him. The doctor said something about the baby being a boy, so I said, “We didn’t see yet, David, can you check for us?” So, David got to tell Tiffany that they had a little boy. A cute one too.
The Unexpected
13/01/12 08:35 PM
Audrey was having her fourth baby and did not have great experiences with her other labors, so she wanted the help of a doula to help this time go a little better. When I first met Audrey, we talked about her past 3 births. All 3 children were 2 weeks early, very long labors and jaundice. Her first was breach and she started contractions about 2 weeks early so they took her right to a cesarean. The other 2 labors were long and bad experiences with the epidural. So, we had a plan that we would try to have a natural as possible birth without pitocin and epidural not at all or very late in labor.
Audrey followed suit and started contracting very early on. 35 weeks was the first bought of contractions. They stayed at about 3 minutes apart for a couple hours so we even went to the hospital, but they would not show up on the monitor and she had no change in dilation. It seemed about every 2 days she would have hours of contractions starting in the early evening, lasting part way through the night. By 39 weeks Audrey was completely tired and frustrated with what was going on. So, after taking everything into consideration, her due date, risks, benefits and connivence, Audrey and her husband, Devin choose to have her water broken, Thursday, Jan 12th at 1 pm. Audrey and Devin did not take this decision lightly and came to the conclusion that it was the best decision. I was very happy that she made it to 2 days before her due date because her other babies were jaundice.
We arrived at the hospital at 12 pm, Thursday. Everybody's spirits were good, Audrey had started cramping from the inside about every 10 minutes that morning. These were different then the previous contractions. The doctor came early, about 12:30 and broke her water. He was so laid back and at ease with everything. Contractions still were not reading on the monitor, but Audrey described what she was feeling as different, kind of uncomfortable and weird. Her doctor made sure with the nurse that Audurey was to be up and moving as much as possible. He also told Audrey how great it was that when he tickled the baby's head, her heart rate would go up. He left the room with us all feeling very comfortable.
As soon as monitoring was done, we went walking. We walked for almost 40 minutes. During this time she only had to stop 2 times for a contraction. We also talked about if she asks for an epidural and decided on if so, we will have her checked before making that decision.
Audrey gets back on the monitor (this is the second time on it) and she is starting to be very uncomfortable with the contractions she is feeling. Contractions that are still not picking up on the monitor, so I have her sit on the ball while she finishes the 20 minutes she is supposed to be on the monitor. That is more comfortable, but I can tell that things are changing a bit. Even though, the monitor is not picking up contractions, every time Audrey's breathing changes, the baby's heart rate also goes up a bit. I could tell, her little girl was feeling them too.
Once we get off the monitor, Audrey goes to the bathroom and we try to go for a walk, but it took about a half hour for her to get to the bathroom, out, in again, on the couch and back to the ball. She wasn't sure if she wanted to push or had to go to the bathroom. Her contractions were definitely long and strong, we just couldn't feel them externally. It was very interesting. The nurse comes in to try to get her back on the monitor and she couldn't because the contractions just weren't stopping. She leaves again and Audrey is in the bed tearing up and tells Devin she is going to need the epidural. I told her we will have the nurse give her another check first. Audrey is saying she wants to push. So, I call her in again and look at her bum to see if there is a purple line in her crack, which is an indicator of how dilated she is. As the nurse walks in, I see the line and I'm so excited and tell the nurse, "She's almost there! I see the purple line!" The nurse just kind of looks at me and checks her, then tells her ok, don't push yet, you are almost there. She calls the doctor and tries to get Audrey on her back. Audrey goes to her back and rolls right over to her other side. She is involuntarily pushing and the nurse checks her again. She is now complete at 3:22! Yep, just under 3 hours after her water is broken. I was so happy for her. No more long labor, no more horrible epidural. (She had leaking spinal fluid with the last one.)
Audrey pushed holding onto her husband's hand for 20 minutes. Their 8 lb 15 oz baby girl was born at 3:42, after a 3 hour and 10 minute labor.
This birth was so unexpected because Audrey's labors were all early, long (over 24 hours), needing augmentation and an epidural. The past epidurals were aweful. One didn't take and the other caused a spinal headache. This labor was so incredibly different. It was short, relatively easy, she didn't need the epidural, she won't have any side effects from it, her recovery will be so easy with just a tiny tear that needed only one stitch and her baby so far has not had any jaundice. It is so wonderful that she got what she wanted. I am so very happy for them.
Audrey followed suit and started contracting very early on. 35 weeks was the first bought of contractions. They stayed at about 3 minutes apart for a couple hours so we even went to the hospital, but they would not show up on the monitor and she had no change in dilation. It seemed about every 2 days she would have hours of contractions starting in the early evening, lasting part way through the night. By 39 weeks Audrey was completely tired and frustrated with what was going on. So, after taking everything into consideration, her due date, risks, benefits and connivence, Audrey and her husband, Devin choose to have her water broken, Thursday, Jan 12th at 1 pm. Audrey and Devin did not take this decision lightly and came to the conclusion that it was the best decision. I was very happy that she made it to 2 days before her due date because her other babies were jaundice.
We arrived at the hospital at 12 pm, Thursday. Everybody's spirits were good, Audrey had started cramping from the inside about every 10 minutes that morning. These were different then the previous contractions. The doctor came early, about 12:30 and broke her water. He was so laid back and at ease with everything. Contractions still were not reading on the monitor, but Audrey described what she was feeling as different, kind of uncomfortable and weird. Her doctor made sure with the nurse that Audurey was to be up and moving as much as possible. He also told Audrey how great it was that when he tickled the baby's head, her heart rate would go up. He left the room with us all feeling very comfortable.
As soon as monitoring was done, we went walking. We walked for almost 40 minutes. During this time she only had to stop 2 times for a contraction. We also talked about if she asks for an epidural and decided on if so, we will have her checked before making that decision.
Audrey gets back on the monitor (this is the second time on it) and she is starting to be very uncomfortable with the contractions she is feeling. Contractions that are still not picking up on the monitor, so I have her sit on the ball while she finishes the 20 minutes she is supposed to be on the monitor. That is more comfortable, but I can tell that things are changing a bit. Even though, the monitor is not picking up contractions, every time Audrey's breathing changes, the baby's heart rate also goes up a bit. I could tell, her little girl was feeling them too.
Once we get off the monitor, Audrey goes to the bathroom and we try to go for a walk, but it took about a half hour for her to get to the bathroom, out, in again, on the couch and back to the ball. She wasn't sure if she wanted to push or had to go to the bathroom. Her contractions were definitely long and strong, we just couldn't feel them externally. It was very interesting. The nurse comes in to try to get her back on the monitor and she couldn't because the contractions just weren't stopping. She leaves again and Audrey is in the bed tearing up and tells Devin she is going to need the epidural. I told her we will have the nurse give her another check first. Audrey is saying she wants to push. So, I call her in again and look at her bum to see if there is a purple line in her crack, which is an indicator of how dilated she is. As the nurse walks in, I see the line and I'm so excited and tell the nurse, "She's almost there! I see the purple line!" The nurse just kind of looks at me and checks her, then tells her ok, don't push yet, you are almost there. She calls the doctor and tries to get Audrey on her back. Audrey goes to her back and rolls right over to her other side. She is involuntarily pushing and the nurse checks her again. She is now complete at 3:22! Yep, just under 3 hours after her water is broken. I was so happy for her. No more long labor, no more horrible epidural. (She had leaking spinal fluid with the last one.)
Audrey pushed holding onto her husband's hand for 20 minutes. Their 8 lb 15 oz baby girl was born at 3:42, after a 3 hour and 10 minute labor.
This birth was so unexpected because Audrey's labors were all early, long (over 24 hours), needing augmentation and an epidural. The past epidurals were aweful. One didn't take and the other caused a spinal headache. This labor was so incredibly different. It was short, relatively easy, she didn't need the epidural, she won't have any side effects from it, her recovery will be so easy with just a tiny tear that needed only one stitch and her baby so far has not had any jaundice. It is so wonderful that she got what she wanted. I am so very happy for them.
Selfless Birth / Beautifully Traumatic
05/12/11 05:47 PM
When I first met Alicia, I knew I wanted to be at her birth. She is such a selfless person and she loves birth and pregnancy. She was determined to have a natural birth, one of the reasons is because she herself wants to be a doula. I thought that was awesome. I was also very excited because she was a surrogate. I think that being a surrogate is such an amazing selfless gift you can give someone.
Alicia first started contracting at 36 weeks. She had pretty strong contractions about 5 minutes apart, but they were not a whole minute. But it looked like it might be the start of labor. So, Alicia called me. I had another post due already, so I called her and told her that I might be going to another birth that night. Turns out when I hung up the phone, that client's water broke. Since, that birth was happening, I went to that hoping that Alicia would hold off a while longer. We also wanted her to hold off because it was still very early. She was very worried about the baby's lungs. I think she felt a huge sense of responsibility to the intended parents and that little baby boy.
Luckily her labor slowed in the early morning hours, but pretty much from then on she had contractions all the time every day. More so when she would rest. It was very strange, walking and activity would weaken them and resting and bath would strengthen them. We had another tease November 18th. Contractions were 5 minutes apart that evening at 7 pm. She tried the bath and a walk and they stayed the same, walking actually didn't take them away this time. I decided to head over to her house around 10 pm. By about 1:30 she was having contractions 3 minutes apart, but they were only 45 seconds. Then it seemed like the contractions were weakening at about 2 pm, so I sent her and her husband on a walk at 2:30. I already knew this was going to stop, but I thought I'd try a few things. After the walk I told her to try to sleep in-between because they really seemed to be going away. She was able to sleep in-between and I could hear her breathing change when she would have another. At this point they were back to 10 minutes and I decided to go home.
At this point, Alicia is 4 cm and about 60% effaced. Her body is SO ready to go into labor. But, it just wouldn't keep up. We were thinking it was a position problem, so she tried the inversion, standing in a deep lung with one leg up, and side lying. She would feel that little guy move but about 10 minutes later the little stinker would move right back. At Alicia's 40 week appointment, her doctor told her if that labor starts up again, just to go into the hospital and get her water broken. But, on her next appointment 5 days later, they would schedule an induction. So, that's what she did after taking castor oil Saturday night. Contractions started up again in the early morning of Sunday, Dec. 4th. At 3 pm she went into the hospital after things started slowing down.
Alicia really didn't want pitocin, but not much was happening and the nurse wouldn't break her water since the baby still was too high, it could cause a cord prolapse. So, she got a low dose of pitocin Saturday night at about 7, it gave her some contractions, but not a great pattern still. At 9 pm the intended mom shows up in the hospital room. She was very excited, but Alicia is still in active labor where anything atmosphere change can affect her labor. The intended mom also told Alicia that there won't be a need for her to pump breast milk for her baby anymore. Alicia's contractions completely stopped and then at about 9:30 pm the doctor ordered the nurse to turn the pitocin off. This particular doctor is the only one that will deliver his patients. There is no on call doctor for him, he's it. So, basically in a round about way the nurse told us the doctor didn't want to deliver in the middle of the night.
Between the intended mom coming in, the news about not pumping and the doctor wanting to slow things down it was all very overwhelming. So, I got everybody out of the room to give her husband and her time to process everything. Later we decided the intended mom needed to wait till pushing to come back, I went to the waiting room and told her it would be a while and it would be best if they got a hotel for the night. She agreed with that suggestion, so she left. Contractions started again an hour later and Alicia was happy with pit being off. She didn't want it anyway. We figured around 11 pm, things might start up again. It did a little and she was 6 cm by midnight. That's 2 cm progress after 9 hrs. Alicia had a friend that was a photographer there to take pictures, (aren't they beautiful?!) her and I decided to take a break for some sleep at almost 1 am.
At 4:45 I got a text from Jason, her husband, "She's 7 cm and throwing in the towel, she wants an epidural" Finally! Some really good labor going on. I rushed out the door to make it back to the hospital in time. An hour after I got there I realized I left so fast in the dark that my shirt was backwards.
Transition can go very fast and it is the hardest part. Up until this point, Alicia was handling contractions beautifully. She didn't need any help coping with them. It was almost as if they didn't bother her at all. But, when I got back to the hospital, I could see a complete shift. I knew this was finally it! I was very excited for her.
It came to a point that Alicia was having trouble coping. She just looked to her husband, he held her close encouraging her as she wanted it all to end. He was so supportive of her and never left her side. He new this was something she wanted to do and needed to do. Jason did everything he could to help her do what she wanted so badly to do.
I suggested the bath and she didn't want the nurse to get mad at her for getting off the monitors. So, I explained that she is allowed to go to the bathroom, basically when the nurse sees on the monitor that she has been "on the toilet" for too long she will come in and find out that she is actually using the bath. Sure enough, within 10 minutes the nurse came right in and would not let her off the monitor. About 6:45 am she stopped coping well again. There was no talk from her of pressure, so I suggested to call the nurse, I said, "Tell her you are going in the bath and if the baby needs to be monitored then bring the Doppler along." This entire time, the baby's heart rate was beautiful, he was handling everything perfectly, the only reason they wanted her on the monitor was because she was 7 cm. The nurse came in and decided to check, Alicia was complete! The nurse said, "Oh! He's right here, don't push." Side note, we were told earlier that nurses try not to deliver because if they deliver too many, they will loose their job. But, I know how impossible it is to hold that baby back without an epidural. (We called the mom and had her come back to the room.) As the nurse is telling Alicia to take short breaths and not push, I whisper to her that she can just go with her body. Try to blow out, but if you have to let your body do what it wants to. "Push if you want to." She nodded slightly and she pushed.
This whole time I could hear the mom crying in the back ground. The nurse actually tried to push her knees together! I don't really think they understand labor without an epidural. I kept telling Alicia to go with her body and the baby boy was born at 7 am, 8 lbs, 9 oz, the doctor didn't make it. The baby was pink and healthy, tears were just streaming down his mom's face. It was so amazing. I told her to go and follow the baby, touch him, be with him. She walks over and in broken words says, "Oh, look! He has my chin." It was so beautiful.
The doctor shows up and then things take a turn. The doctor is ready to deliver the placenta, he actually tugs a bit, the placenta isn't coming out. He tugs some more and it's not coming out. I can actually see the placenta right there. Alicia is saying that it hurts, the doctor says, "Oh, it shouldn't hurt to deliver a placenta." Then he mumbles almost to himself, "Boy, this placenta is harder to deliver then the baby." I said, "Not quite!" The doctor is pulling and telling her to push. She yells, "It hurts!" I'm concerned about all this pulling so, I ask, "Is it detached yet?" The doctor sticks his fingers in and says, "I think I got it." He's tugging, telling Alicia to push. She tries to push and says it hurts again. He lets her wait for a contraction, then pulls and tells her to push, she literally screams, "It hurts on the inside" That right there is key, something is wrong. ALWAYS listen to a mom without an epidural. You will know if something is wrong, usually it is a relief to deliver the placenta. I am watching, not knowing how I can stop this and seeing what looks like a HUGE placenta come out then the doctor goes, while looking at it fascinatingly, "Oh... Well... That's something you don't see." He mumbles a few other things and tells us she pushed her uterus out. I also hear him say something along the lines of "What are we going to do about this?" My insides just dropped as Alicia is panicking. She's asking what can she do while the doc is looking at her uterus, trying to detach the placenta. Yes, the placenta is still completely attached. I'm just telling her to try to relax everything in her body, "Don't do anything, the doctor is taking care of it." While I say that, inside I am thinking, panicked thoughts knowing how serious this situation can be.
** Side note: I have a problem writing negative things surrounding birth because I don't like to scare moms. I fully believe that birth is a natural non medical process. Yes, sometimes things can go wrong, but it is a rarity if things are done with little to no intervention and if things are done properly. However, I feel that it is also important for everybody's story to be shared. On top of that, this particular story was a beautiful birth where this complication could have been avoided. The doctor rushed and pulled something that should NEVER be done. This is not something that a mom should ever just be scared of, if she is, talk to your doctor before hand and ask how much time they give the placenta to come out.
** Back to the story... The doctor finally detaches the placenta Alicia is in pain and I am asking the nurses and doctor to give her something. I asked about 3 times and her nurse says she is. Then Alicia asks what is that, the nurse says saline. We were thinking a med after the saline that would take the pain away, but she only gave her pitocin. Then, the doctor shoves it back in with his arm up in her to his elbow. Still no meds. He stitched her up with extremely shaky hands. He even missed a part, I asked him to add another stitch and he did. Then he left so quick, he didn't even sign the cord blood paperwork. The placenta was sent to the lab and Alicia is left worried about "what now." I called the next day and nobody has come to talk to her about what happened, to explain it or to talk to her about possible future risks and recovery. The staff all knows what happened, but it is such a rarity that nobody has come to talk to her about it. I am angry over this and what happened. The doctor hasn't even been back to see her. Before the delivering the placenta, she had a beautiful birth almost completely in her control.
In the end, there was a good and a bad to this story. But, by telling it I want it just to teach people about what can happen. Not at all could this mom have changed anything. It was the doctor that choose to do what he did. But we can learn from what happened to her and just have more questions to ask other care providers. Educate yourself, choose a caregiver that you trust and be firm with what you want. Of course, understand if there is an unforeseen circumstance out of anyone's control were we do need to make changes and have interventions. Thankfully, Alicia didn't end up in the OR and thankfully she is ok now. No signs of hemorrhage or retained placenta. No shock when it happened. Go back to that picture in the beginning, that was after everything. Alicia is ok and recovering wonderfully with a smile on her face.
Alicia first started contracting at 36 weeks. She had pretty strong contractions about 5 minutes apart, but they were not a whole minute. But it looked like it might be the start of labor. So, Alicia called me. I had another post due already, so I called her and told her that I might be going to another birth that night. Turns out when I hung up the phone, that client's water broke. Since, that birth was happening, I went to that hoping that Alicia would hold off a while longer. We also wanted her to hold off because it was still very early. She was very worried about the baby's lungs. I think she felt a huge sense of responsibility to the intended parents and that little baby boy.
Luckily her labor slowed in the early morning hours, but pretty much from then on she had contractions all the time every day. More so when she would rest. It was very strange, walking and activity would weaken them and resting and bath would strengthen them. We had another tease November 18th. Contractions were 5 minutes apart that evening at 7 pm. She tried the bath and a walk and they stayed the same, walking actually didn't take them away this time. I decided to head over to her house around 10 pm. By about 1:30 she was having contractions 3 minutes apart, but they were only 45 seconds. Then it seemed like the contractions were weakening at about 2 pm, so I sent her and her husband on a walk at 2:30. I already knew this was going to stop, but I thought I'd try a few things. After the walk I told her to try to sleep in-between because they really seemed to be going away. She was able to sleep in-between and I could hear her breathing change when she would have another. At this point they were back to 10 minutes and I decided to go home.
At this point, Alicia is 4 cm and about 60% effaced. Her body is SO ready to go into labor. But, it just wouldn't keep up. We were thinking it was a position problem, so she tried the inversion, standing in a deep lung with one leg up, and side lying. She would feel that little guy move but about 10 minutes later the little stinker would move right back. At Alicia's 40 week appointment, her doctor told her if that labor starts up again, just to go into the hospital and get her water broken. But, on her next appointment 5 days later, they would schedule an induction. So, that's what she did after taking castor oil Saturday night. Contractions started up again in the early morning of Sunday, Dec. 4th. At 3 pm she went into the hospital after things started slowing down.
Alicia really didn't want pitocin, but not much was happening and the nurse wouldn't break her water since the baby still was too high, it could cause a cord prolapse. So, she got a low dose of pitocin Saturday night at about 7, it gave her some contractions, but not a great pattern still. At 9 pm the intended mom shows up in the hospital room. She was very excited, but Alicia is still in active labor where anything atmosphere change can affect her labor. The intended mom also told Alicia that there won't be a need for her to pump breast milk for her baby anymore. Alicia's contractions completely stopped and then at about 9:30 pm the doctor ordered the nurse to turn the pitocin off. This particular doctor is the only one that will deliver his patients. There is no on call doctor for him, he's it. So, basically in a round about way the nurse told us the doctor didn't want to deliver in the middle of the night.
Between the intended mom coming in, the news about not pumping and the doctor wanting to slow things down it was all very overwhelming. So, I got everybody out of the room to give her husband and her time to process everything. Later we decided the intended mom needed to wait till pushing to come back, I went to the waiting room and told her it would be a while and it would be best if they got a hotel for the night. She agreed with that suggestion, so she left. Contractions started again an hour later and Alicia was happy with pit being off. She didn't want it anyway. We figured around 11 pm, things might start up again. It did a little and she was 6 cm by midnight. That's 2 cm progress after 9 hrs. Alicia had a friend that was a photographer there to take pictures, (aren't they beautiful?!) her and I decided to take a break for some sleep at almost 1 am.
At 4:45 I got a text from Jason, her husband, "She's 7 cm and throwing in the towel, she wants an epidural" Finally! Some really good labor going on. I rushed out the door to make it back to the hospital in time. An hour after I got there I realized I left so fast in the dark that my shirt was backwards.
Transition can go very fast and it is the hardest part. Up until this point, Alicia was handling contractions beautifully. She didn't need any help coping with them. It was almost as if they didn't bother her at all. But, when I got back to the hospital, I could see a complete shift. I knew this was finally it! I was very excited for her.
It came to a point that Alicia was having trouble coping. She just looked to her husband, he held her close encouraging her as she wanted it all to end. He was so supportive of her and never left her side. He new this was something she wanted to do and needed to do. Jason did everything he could to help her do what she wanted so badly to do.
I suggested the bath and she didn't want the nurse to get mad at her for getting off the monitors. So, I explained that she is allowed to go to the bathroom, basically when the nurse sees on the monitor that she has been "on the toilet" for too long she will come in and find out that she is actually using the bath. Sure enough, within 10 minutes the nurse came right in and would not let her off the monitor. About 6:45 am she stopped coping well again. There was no talk from her of pressure, so I suggested to call the nurse, I said, "Tell her you are going in the bath and if the baby needs to be monitored then bring the Doppler along." This entire time, the baby's heart rate was beautiful, he was handling everything perfectly, the only reason they wanted her on the monitor was because she was 7 cm. The nurse came in and decided to check, Alicia was complete! The nurse said, "Oh! He's right here, don't push." Side note, we were told earlier that nurses try not to deliver because if they deliver too many, they will loose their job. But, I know how impossible it is to hold that baby back without an epidural. (We called the mom and had her come back to the room.) As the nurse is telling Alicia to take short breaths and not push, I whisper to her that she can just go with her body. Try to blow out, but if you have to let your body do what it wants to. "Push if you want to." She nodded slightly and she pushed.
This whole time I could hear the mom crying in the back ground. The nurse actually tried to push her knees together! I don't really think they understand labor without an epidural. I kept telling Alicia to go with her body and the baby boy was born at 7 am, 8 lbs, 9 oz, the doctor didn't make it. The baby was pink and healthy, tears were just streaming down his mom's face. It was so amazing. I told her to go and follow the baby, touch him, be with him. She walks over and in broken words says, "Oh, look! He has my chin." It was so beautiful.
The doctor shows up and then things take a turn. The doctor is ready to deliver the placenta, he actually tugs a bit, the placenta isn't coming out. He tugs some more and it's not coming out. I can actually see the placenta right there. Alicia is saying that it hurts, the doctor says, "Oh, it shouldn't hurt to deliver a placenta." Then he mumbles almost to himself, "Boy, this placenta is harder to deliver then the baby." I said, "Not quite!" The doctor is pulling and telling her to push. She yells, "It hurts!" I'm concerned about all this pulling so, I ask, "Is it detached yet?" The doctor sticks his fingers in and says, "I think I got it." He's tugging, telling Alicia to push. She tries to push and says it hurts again. He lets her wait for a contraction, then pulls and tells her to push, she literally screams, "It hurts on the inside" That right there is key, something is wrong. ALWAYS listen to a mom without an epidural. You will know if something is wrong, usually it is a relief to deliver the placenta. I am watching, not knowing how I can stop this and seeing what looks like a HUGE placenta come out then the doctor goes, while looking at it fascinatingly, "Oh... Well... That's something you don't see." He mumbles a few other things and tells us she pushed her uterus out. I also hear him say something along the lines of "What are we going to do about this?" My insides just dropped as Alicia is panicking. She's asking what can she do while the doc is looking at her uterus, trying to detach the placenta. Yes, the placenta is still completely attached. I'm just telling her to try to relax everything in her body, "Don't do anything, the doctor is taking care of it." While I say that, inside I am thinking, panicked thoughts knowing how serious this situation can be.
** Side note: I have a problem writing negative things surrounding birth because I don't like to scare moms. I fully believe that birth is a natural non medical process. Yes, sometimes things can go wrong, but it is a rarity if things are done with little to no intervention and if things are done properly. However, I feel that it is also important for everybody's story to be shared. On top of that, this particular story was a beautiful birth where this complication could have been avoided. The doctor rushed and pulled something that should NEVER be done. This is not something that a mom should ever just be scared of, if she is, talk to your doctor before hand and ask how much time they give the placenta to come out.
** Back to the story... The doctor finally detaches the placenta Alicia is in pain and I am asking the nurses and doctor to give her something. I asked about 3 times and her nurse says she is. Then Alicia asks what is that, the nurse says saline. We were thinking a med after the saline that would take the pain away, but she only gave her pitocin. Then, the doctor shoves it back in with his arm up in her to his elbow. Still no meds. He stitched her up with extremely shaky hands. He even missed a part, I asked him to add another stitch and he did. Then he left so quick, he didn't even sign the cord blood paperwork. The placenta was sent to the lab and Alicia is left worried about "what now." I called the next day and nobody has come to talk to her about what happened, to explain it or to talk to her about possible future risks and recovery. The staff all knows what happened, but it is such a rarity that nobody has come to talk to her about it. I am angry over this and what happened. The doctor hasn't even been back to see her. Before the delivering the placenta, she had a beautiful birth almost completely in her control.
In the end, there was a good and a bad to this story. But, by telling it I want it just to teach people about what can happen. Not at all could this mom have changed anything. It was the doctor that choose to do what he did. But we can learn from what happened to her and just have more questions to ask other care providers. Educate yourself, choose a caregiver that you trust and be firm with what you want. Of course, understand if there is an unforeseen circumstance out of anyone's control were we do need to make changes and have interventions. Thankfully, Alicia didn't end up in the OR and thankfully she is ok now. No signs of hemorrhage or retained placenta. No shock when it happened. Go back to that picture in the beginning, that was after everything. Alicia is ok and recovering wonderfully with a smile on her face.
Hands Off Birth
03/11/11 07:53 PM
Alan and Amanda wanted a natural birth, but were a bit worried it might be too hard. Amanda had a previous back surgery with fused bones as a result, so an epidural was not exactly an option. It might have been possible, but it was a huge fear. Aside from that Amanda went in with some fears about labor and concerns about a narcotic. Needless to say our goal was to help her to have a natural birth. We had talked a lot about how we were going to achieve that and all kinds of different comfort measures. We had lots of preparation of what to expect as well.
Amanda's due date was October 27, however from our very 1st conversation, we both were thinking her pregnancy was going to go into November. At her prenatal appointment at 38 weeks, Amanda had her doctor, Dr. Gonzales strip her membranes. Being that the baby just wasn't ready to be born, it did nothing. So her due date rolls around and then Halloween arrives and she tells me, "It's official, I'm going to be pregnant forever!"
The evening of November 2nd, Amanda decides to take a castor oil mixed with some pineapple juice and coconut milk. At 10:15 she went to the bathroom and felt her water break. I got a call at 10:31 telling me that her water broke. I asked the normal questions, "Is it clear? Is there an odor? Is she experiencing any contractions?" I also told her to lay on her side for 20 minutes and let me know when contractions start and how it is going, I wanted to get a little rest before I needed to go over to their house. I also told Alan to try to get some rest if he can since Amanda wasn't having contractions yet.
11:06, Amanda had her first contraction. They started at about 4 minutes apart and quickly went to 3-2 minutes apart. I got another call at 11:45 asking me to come over. I arrived at 12:01 and Alan was loading the car for the hospital while Amanda was on her bed in her relaxation position timing contractions. She wasn't fully relaxing with them, so I got her to breath and relax right when the contraction started. They were coming 3-2 minutes apart. I had her drink and go to the bathroom. It was at this time that I found out about the castor oil. After that, Amanda felt that she really wanted to know where she was at in labor and we should go to the hospital. So we left for the hospital at 12:49, just 48 minutes after I got there. The hospital was a bit of a drive and we arrived at 1:30, the nurse checked her at 2:00 very quickly between contractions and she was at 6 cm. Perfect! That's right when we like to get to the hospital. The hospital was pretty busy, so we were not assigned a nurse yet and we had the charge nurse trying to get all Amanda's info in between contractions while another nurse was trying to get the hep-loc in place. They managed all that in about another 45 minutes and Amanda's contractions were getting really intense. Amanda had started asking for something to take the edge off and Alan and I reminded her that we were going to try to get through 3 contractions. She kept telling us no and was by this time screaming with contractions.
We don't know whether it was the screaming or not, but the baby's heart rate would drop dramatically with the contractions. When she first got hooked up to the monitors, his heart rate was dropping a little, but nothing of too much concern. But because the dips were in the 80 bpm range, Amanda was not able to have a narcotic. It just wouldn't be safe for the baby. We told her that and actively worked very hard to keep her focused and breathing through contractions. It was at 2:45 when the nurse checked Amanda again and she was at 7 cm, just 45 minutes later. After that she left the room. At this time, I had an Alan hold a hot pack on Amanda's back while I had her looking at me for the contractions and breathing. I was able to get her to breath for the first breath of the contraction, then she would have about 4 long loud screams, then I could get her to breath again by having her looking in my eyes and telling her how her little boy was doing. Here contractions were not completely going away and she didn't want Alan's hands anywhere on her until he made his way to her feet. It was perfect, he so calmly tried different things until he found something that worked. So he got some lotion and rubbed her feet the rest of the time.
At one point, Alan points out to me that she is having a lot of bleeding, I looked and it was definitely enough to know she was either complete or almost. I had him get the nurse and Amanda wasn't involuntarily pushing so she left again. Then, Amanda yells, "My vagina is burning!" So I told Alan once again to get the nurse. Remember I said it was 2:45 when she checked her at 7 cm? Well, it was just after 3 am at this point. So the nurse comes in and she can see the baby's head. She has another nurse call the doctor and asks Alan to clean a little of their stuff to make more room in there and the baby's head starts to crown. About a minute later, I tell Alan, he better get over here and see this. He does, snaps one picture with my phone because we all forgot our cameras, his was in the car and mine at home. Next contraction, the nurse puts her hands there and gently guides the baby out. Carter was born! It is now 3:20 am. Yep, just 35 minutes after she was 7 cm. Crazy. No doctor.
When Carter was born, Amanda asks if they are going to clamp the cord, the nurse says, "No, you didn't want us too." They move Carter to Amanda's tummy and tell her not to pull to hard because he was still attached. Amanda held her baby till the doctor arrived, and started her stitches. At that point she passed him onto Alan who talked to Carter for the next 40 minutes until Amanda was ready to hold him again.
Carter's temp was a little low, so the nurse said to uses skin to skin on mommy now. Amanda got him on her breast immediately and Carter pooped twice on her while nursing. We cleaned up the poop most of the way, he switched sides and pee'd on her while nursing some more.
About 2 hours later, I left and nobody had held that little baby except for his parents. The nurse barley touched him except for guiding him out at birth. It was the most hands off birth I have ever seen. I don't know what time the nurse finally did come in to weight him. I'm still waiting on that information from Amanda, but I was so impressed with that staff and how they completely saw the importance of initial bonding. I'm guessing he was in the 7 lb range.
After the shock of how fast everything went, Amanda was so happy she didn't have any pain meds. Carter was born so alert and content. It was amazing, he let out a little sound and then the rest of the time just looked around. He never really cried.
Just got an update as I was going to save this, Carter was 7 lbs, 5 oz and 20.5 inches long.
Amanda's due date was October 27, however from our very 1st conversation, we both were thinking her pregnancy was going to go into November. At her prenatal appointment at 38 weeks, Amanda had her doctor, Dr. Gonzales strip her membranes. Being that the baby just wasn't ready to be born, it did nothing. So her due date rolls around and then Halloween arrives and she tells me, "It's official, I'm going to be pregnant forever!"
The evening of November 2nd, Amanda decides to take a castor oil mixed with some pineapple juice and coconut milk. At 10:15 she went to the bathroom and felt her water break. I got a call at 10:31 telling me that her water broke. I asked the normal questions, "Is it clear? Is there an odor? Is she experiencing any contractions?" I also told her to lay on her side for 20 minutes and let me know when contractions start and how it is going, I wanted to get a little rest before I needed to go over to their house. I also told Alan to try to get some rest if he can since Amanda wasn't having contractions yet.
11:06, Amanda had her first contraction. They started at about 4 minutes apart and quickly went to 3-2 minutes apart. I got another call at 11:45 asking me to come over. I arrived at 12:01 and Alan was loading the car for the hospital while Amanda was on her bed in her relaxation position timing contractions. She wasn't fully relaxing with them, so I got her to breath and relax right when the contraction started. They were coming 3-2 minutes apart. I had her drink and go to the bathroom. It was at this time that I found out about the castor oil. After that, Amanda felt that she really wanted to know where she was at in labor and we should go to the hospital. So we left for the hospital at 12:49, just 48 minutes after I got there. The hospital was a bit of a drive and we arrived at 1:30, the nurse checked her at 2:00 very quickly between contractions and she was at 6 cm. Perfect! That's right when we like to get to the hospital. The hospital was pretty busy, so we were not assigned a nurse yet and we had the charge nurse trying to get all Amanda's info in between contractions while another nurse was trying to get the hep-loc in place. They managed all that in about another 45 minutes and Amanda's contractions were getting really intense. Amanda had started asking for something to take the edge off and Alan and I reminded her that we were going to try to get through 3 contractions. She kept telling us no and was by this time screaming with contractions.
We don't know whether it was the screaming or not, but the baby's heart rate would drop dramatically with the contractions. When she first got hooked up to the monitors, his heart rate was dropping a little, but nothing of too much concern. But because the dips were in the 80 bpm range, Amanda was not able to have a narcotic. It just wouldn't be safe for the baby. We told her that and actively worked very hard to keep her focused and breathing through contractions. It was at 2:45 when the nurse checked Amanda again and she was at 7 cm, just 45 minutes later. After that she left the room. At this time, I had an Alan hold a hot pack on Amanda's back while I had her looking at me for the contractions and breathing. I was able to get her to breath for the first breath of the contraction, then she would have about 4 long loud screams, then I could get her to breath again by having her looking in my eyes and telling her how her little boy was doing. Here contractions were not completely going away and she didn't want Alan's hands anywhere on her until he made his way to her feet. It was perfect, he so calmly tried different things until he found something that worked. So he got some lotion and rubbed her feet the rest of the time.
At one point, Alan points out to me that she is having a lot of bleeding, I looked and it was definitely enough to know she was either complete or almost. I had him get the nurse and Amanda wasn't involuntarily pushing so she left again. Then, Amanda yells, "My vagina is burning!" So I told Alan once again to get the nurse. Remember I said it was 2:45 when she checked her at 7 cm? Well, it was just after 3 am at this point. So the nurse comes in and she can see the baby's head. She has another nurse call the doctor and asks Alan to clean a little of their stuff to make more room in there and the baby's head starts to crown. About a minute later, I tell Alan, he better get over here and see this. He does, snaps one picture with my phone because we all forgot our cameras, his was in the car and mine at home. Next contraction, the nurse puts her hands there and gently guides the baby out. Carter was born! It is now 3:20 am. Yep, just 35 minutes after she was 7 cm. Crazy. No doctor.
When Carter was born, Amanda asks if they are going to clamp the cord, the nurse says, "No, you didn't want us too." They move Carter to Amanda's tummy and tell her not to pull to hard because he was still attached. Amanda held her baby till the doctor arrived, and started her stitches. At that point she passed him onto Alan who talked to Carter for the next 40 minutes until Amanda was ready to hold him again.
Carter's temp was a little low, so the nurse said to uses skin to skin on mommy now. Amanda got him on her breast immediately and Carter pooped twice on her while nursing. We cleaned up the poop most of the way, he switched sides and pee'd on her while nursing some more.
About 2 hours later, I left and nobody had held that little baby except for his parents. The nurse barley touched him except for guiding him out at birth. It was the most hands off birth I have ever seen. I don't know what time the nurse finally did come in to weight him. I'm still waiting on that information from Amanda, but I was so impressed with that staff and how they completely saw the importance of initial bonding. I'm guessing he was in the 7 lb range.
After the shock of how fast everything went, Amanda was so happy she didn't have any pain meds. Carter was born so alert and content. It was amazing, he let out a little sound and then the rest of the time just looked around. He never really cried.
Just got an update as I was going to save this, Carter was 7 lbs, 5 oz and 20.5 inches long.
Completely Natural Hospital Birth
24/09/11 02:58 PM
As Doulas, we never want to miss a birth of a client that we have spent time getting to know. The doula-client relationship goes both ways, in the interview the parents are deciding if they connect with the doula and the doula must feel the same. So, for us to miss a birth it can be very dissapointing. With that being said, I got to be at a birth where I was a back up for a very wonderful couple.
Holly and Wes planned to have a natural birth at Hoag Hospital with Dr. Diaz. I talked to their doula Melissa over the phone and told her I've been to Hoag and I have actually worked with Dr. Diaz. Also, in talking it became clear that we were both Christians and that the couple would love to have a will be very happy to have their back up be Christian as well. Anyway, Melissa's whole family was getting sick with the flu, she was so dissapointed to be missing the birth of Holly and Wes. They actually first met when Holly was just 7 weeks along. On my end, I was very exciting to go to a birth after taking the summer off for vacations and birthdays.
I woke early Thursday, September 22 to a text from Melissa telling me that I am needed. This was at 6:33 am. Holly woke up at 4:30 with contractions at 5 minutes apart. I called Holly to introduce myself and get a feel for what was going on. I needed to take a shower and she sounded like she might be getting close to going to the hospital and talked a bit about the pain, so I suggested the bath for pain and to hold her off a bit. I needed a shower and breakfast before I left.
I arrived at Holly's about 8 am to her and Wes outside working through contractions. Wes had just packed their car for the hospital because their doctor told them they should come in. I suggested wait till I get there. We went in their home to work on a few contractions to see how Holly was doing. I told them that she definately wasn't in transition and it would be a good idea to stay home a little longer. So, we stayed till Holly was ready to go. Her contractions were 3 minutes apart, she labored with the rebozo inbetween and on the ball. Holly was eating and drinking well. Wes was a wonderful support for her, he was there for everything and did constant massage during the contractions.
At 9 am we left for the hospital. Melissa was concerned that she wasn't bleeding yet, but Holly was ready to go. I had texted Melissa that I thought she was at about 5 cm. We arrived about 9:30 and Holly was 4-5 cm. The nurse that was in triage with us was not very friendly or receptive of a birth plan at all. So, we limited interaction with her and started walking the halls. Holly was great at walking fast and Wes was right there at her side to hold her up for her contractions. We would walk, Wes would hold her and massage while I did pressure with the tennis balls, after each contraction Holly was great about drinking coconut water or vitamin B water after every contraction.
Holly was reassigned nurses and after our walk we met her. She was awesome! She read the birth plan and instead of asking Holly if she wanted pain meds, because they do have to make it known that they are available, she said, "I won't ask you if you want any pain medication, I will just assume you will ask me if you want it." Heidi was our nurse and right off the bat she was very positive. She loved natural births and described herself as being very holistic. Heidi seemed like she just wanted to hang around and be part of the labor, but she didn't want to intrude too much. She was great! Wes and Holly were very relieved that we got this new nurse.
Heidi checked Holly after our walk and she was 6-7 cm and 100% effaced. That was very encouraging, we thought she was going to finish very quickly. At 12:30 Holly got monitored for the 3rd time since we got there. It was nice, they weren't very rigid on how often she was being monitored. Lying in the bed made it more difficult for Holly to relax through the contractions, so she sat in the bed for the monitoring.
Holly spent the rest of her laboring in the room, walking, squating, sitting on the ball, drinking eating and going to the bathroom. It was very difficult for Holly to empty her bladder, so she slowed way down on drinking. Finally, I got her to go with Wes and she emptied a ton, so the drinking picked up again. Holly was just so peaceful during her labor, she knew what had to be done and did it. When the contractions got really intense with more pressure, she prayed for strenght and support. Wes was right there by her side praying with her. It seemed like they had no worries all throughout the labor, they knew God had a plan and everything would work out. It was really beautiful.
A little before 2 pm, Holly was at 8 cm. Her membranes were still intact and there was a buldge under the baby's head. This was keeping the head up a little higher. By 3 she was 9 cm. She labored with a lot of pressure and intense contractions since 2. At 3:30 she was still at 9 cm with the bag intact. Holly was really tiring out now. She was resting well between contractions, but she had such short breaks. At 4:12 the doctor came back and broke her water. Finally at 5:28 she was complete. She pushed through a lip of cervix and got to continue pushing. Holly was exhausted but pushed with such strenght. She was at 9 cm for 2.5 hours! That was very exhausting. We could tell, Wes would have taken these contractions for her if he could. After pushing for 2 hours and 10 minutes, Dezmond Matthias Kasper was born 8 lbs 5 oz at 7:38 pm, September 22, 2011 with no interventions to him or his mommy. Dezmond was born with his cubby little hand up by his chin and a big head. That makes it very hard to push! It was so perfect. Dezmond hadn't even left his mommy by the time I left the hospital.
Holly and Wes planned to have a natural birth at Hoag Hospital with Dr. Diaz. I talked to their doula Melissa over the phone and told her I've been to Hoag and I have actually worked with Dr. Diaz. Also, in talking it became clear that we were both Christians and that the couple would love to have a will be very happy to have their back up be Christian as well. Anyway, Melissa's whole family was getting sick with the flu, she was so dissapointed to be missing the birth of Holly and Wes. They actually first met when Holly was just 7 weeks along. On my end, I was very exciting to go to a birth after taking the summer off for vacations and birthdays.
I woke early Thursday, September 22 to a text from Melissa telling me that I am needed. This was at 6:33 am. Holly woke up at 4:30 with contractions at 5 minutes apart. I called Holly to introduce myself and get a feel for what was going on. I needed to take a shower and she sounded like she might be getting close to going to the hospital and talked a bit about the pain, so I suggested the bath for pain and to hold her off a bit. I needed a shower and breakfast before I left.
I arrived at Holly's about 8 am to her and Wes outside working through contractions. Wes had just packed their car for the hospital because their doctor told them they should come in. I suggested wait till I get there. We went in their home to work on a few contractions to see how Holly was doing. I told them that she definately wasn't in transition and it would be a good idea to stay home a little longer. So, we stayed till Holly was ready to go. Her contractions were 3 minutes apart, she labored with the rebozo inbetween and on the ball. Holly was eating and drinking well. Wes was a wonderful support for her, he was there for everything and did constant massage during the contractions.
At 9 am we left for the hospital. Melissa was concerned that she wasn't bleeding yet, but Holly was ready to go. I had texted Melissa that I thought she was at about 5 cm. We arrived about 9:30 and Holly was 4-5 cm. The nurse that was in triage with us was not very friendly or receptive of a birth plan at all. So, we limited interaction with her and started walking the halls. Holly was great at walking fast and Wes was right there at her side to hold her up for her contractions. We would walk, Wes would hold her and massage while I did pressure with the tennis balls, after each contraction Holly was great about drinking coconut water or vitamin B water after every contraction.
Holly was reassigned nurses and after our walk we met her. She was awesome! She read the birth plan and instead of asking Holly if she wanted pain meds, because they do have to make it known that they are available, she said, "I won't ask you if you want any pain medication, I will just assume you will ask me if you want it." Heidi was our nurse and right off the bat she was very positive. She loved natural births and described herself as being very holistic. Heidi seemed like she just wanted to hang around and be part of the labor, but she didn't want to intrude too much. She was great! Wes and Holly were very relieved that we got this new nurse.
Heidi checked Holly after our walk and she was 6-7 cm and 100% effaced. That was very encouraging, we thought she was going to finish very quickly. At 12:30 Holly got monitored for the 3rd time since we got there. It was nice, they weren't very rigid on how often she was being monitored. Lying in the bed made it more difficult for Holly to relax through the contractions, so she sat in the bed for the monitoring.
Holly spent the rest of her laboring in the room, walking, squating, sitting on the ball, drinking eating and going to the bathroom. It was very difficult for Holly to empty her bladder, so she slowed way down on drinking. Finally, I got her to go with Wes and she emptied a ton, so the drinking picked up again. Holly was just so peaceful during her labor, she knew what had to be done and did it. When the contractions got really intense with more pressure, she prayed for strenght and support. Wes was right there by her side praying with her. It seemed like they had no worries all throughout the labor, they knew God had a plan and everything would work out. It was really beautiful.
A little before 2 pm, Holly was at 8 cm. Her membranes were still intact and there was a buldge under the baby's head. This was keeping the head up a little higher. By 3 she was 9 cm. She labored with a lot of pressure and intense contractions since 2. At 3:30 she was still at 9 cm with the bag intact. Holly was really tiring out now. She was resting well between contractions, but she had such short breaks. At 4:12 the doctor came back and broke her water. Finally at 5:28 she was complete. She pushed through a lip of cervix and got to continue pushing. Holly was exhausted but pushed with such strenght. She was at 9 cm for 2.5 hours! That was very exhausting. We could tell, Wes would have taken these contractions for her if he could. After pushing for 2 hours and 10 minutes, Dezmond Matthias Kasper was born 8 lbs 5 oz at 7:38 pm, September 22, 2011 with no interventions to him or his mommy. Dezmond was born with his cubby little hand up by his chin and a big head. That makes it very hard to push! It was so perfect. Dezmond hadn't even left his mommy by the time I left the hospital.
Healing Birth
16/12/10 01:08 PM
Cheryl was expecting her third child that was due January 1st to be early. In-fact, she was hoping for one more week when I went to see her Saturday, December 11th. Her estimate was December 15th. On Wednesday the 15th she had an appointment with her OB who was very supportive about Cheryl having a natural birth, so supportive that she told Cheryl to stay home until her contractions were 3 minutes apart lasting a minute for 2 hours. Doctor Baick wanted Cheryl to go into labor early also, because she was a VBAC, she wasn’t going to be allowed to go past her due date. After 40 weeks it would be another C. Anyway, at the appointment Cheryl was 2-3 cm and 70% effaced and Dr. Baic stripped her membranes.
I received a call at 4:30 am from Jaime, Cheryl’s husband saying that she had been having contractions 7 minutes apart for about 2 hours. He also said she couldn’t sleep through them but wanted to relax. I told him to have her get in the bath. About an hour later, Jaime texted asking if she could get in the shower. Cheryl really didn’t like the bath, but loved the shower. Her contractions at this point were about 5 minutes apart and her thoughts about them were they were uncomfortable and stronger then she expected. I thought she was progressing pretty quickly so I ate breakfast and got ready. I went outside to get stuff out of my husband’s car so I could take it and I was planning on driving over to Cheryl’s. I figured they were going to ask soon, so I’d start heading over there. I called when I went outside and Jaime said she was ready for me to come, the contractions were getting a lot harder.
When I arrived it was about 6:30, Jaime was blow drying Cheryl’s hair after the shower. She was in a pretty good rhythm with her contractions and very upbeat about everything. She was very talkative and had a lot of energy between contractions. After Jaime was done with her hair, I straightened it and then she did her make up. Cheryl’s daughter woke up about 7:30 and wanted to stay right there with her mommy. She watched while Cheryl put on her make-up and at all the grapes I got for Cheryl to eat. She was very quiet and didn’t seem to be a distraction for Cheryl at all. Jaime called his sister, Christina who was going to be at the birth also. He told her to go ahead and go to work until they called. A bit later we went down stairs, her little boy woke and the twins got ready for school with their grandma.
Once they left, Cheryl’s contractions were about 4 minutes apart. I thought we could pass some time by baking and it seemed to be good for her labor when Cheryl would be on her feet, so we started baking pumpkin muffins.
Around this time, everything starts to get a little blurry. Things were progressing so well. Cheryl was getting tired and talking about pain with the contractions. She wanted a break and didn’t know how long she could go on. She would go to the bathroom every couple contractions, for a few of the in-betweens, she rested on the couch and at about 9:30 her contractions hit the 2-3 minute apart mark. She was on the toilet at this time and pretty much stayed there. Until we left the house. I was able to get her on her hands and knees for 2 contractions to see if that would take the pushing pressure off, but it didn’t. So I was pretty certain the baby was getting pretty close because it wasn’t a position problem causing the pressure. Every contraction on the toilet Cheryl said she need to push, but she did so amazing controlling that. She breathed out with her lips in a circle every time I reminded her. Jaime timed every contraction and stayed right there massaging her through the contractions. He had the bowl ready for when she felt like she might need it, although she never did and he finished the muffins for the nurses at the hospital. About a 1/2 hour into this toilet laboring, Cheryl said she though we should go to the hospital. I was torn at that point, but I said if you are ready, that’s what we will do. Jaime started packing the car and Cheryl told me she felt burning, it was burning bad. I asked her to point to where it was burning and she said down low like inside her vagina. At this point, I was right on board with her going to the hospital right then. But I was making plans for when we got there to avoid any IV, I told her to sneak into the shower when she was getting admitted in the room. Jaime packed the car and called his sister then we left.
It was 10:24 am Thursday, December 16th when we got in the car to go to the hospital. Jaime’s sister decided not to go to work and head straight for the hospital just incase. Boy, what a great decision that was. We arrived at the hospital at about 10:45, got to the room at 10:50 and Cheryl thought she had to go to the bathroom, the nurse handed me the gown for her while Jaime took her to the bathroom. I went in the bathroom and Cheryl said the baby is coming, I watched her feel for the baby and saw the bag of waters and the baby’s head protruding out of her. I said to the nurse, “She’s not kidding, I see him!” (At this point I am completely not aware of where Jaime and Christina are.) The nurse rushes in the room, hits the call button and someone (probably Christina) handed me gloves for the nurse then I opened them for her. The nurses station calls back and the nurse yells to the speaker, “I need some help in here, I’m delivering a baby on the toilet!” I think she and Jaime got Cheryl up and to the bed. Cheryl was lying on her side just as I was walking out of the bathroom, her water broke like a water balloon splashing across the room just as the baby’s head came out. Rylan Scott was born at 10:53 am December 16th weighing 7 lbs, 6 oz. Yes, I did say we arrived in the room at 10:50! He was born 21 minutes after we got in the car to leave to go to the hospital and only 3 minutes after we were in the room! She wasn’t even admitted yet.
I remember looking at Christina and she was standing there frozen in shock. I have no idea where Jaime was, it was all so, so quick! Rylan was a little stunned by the quick delivery, so the nurses had to breath for him. They thought he was going to have to go to the nursery, he did pink up and slowly got his energy up. He had his eyes open before he even got to Cheryl and never needed to go to the nursery.
Cheryl got the natural birth she wanted. No interventions, no IV or hep-loc and she did amazing. She did everything I suggested to her and went with her labor. She worked so hard before we even left the house. When I had my very first conversation with Cheryl, she said she wanted to experience the birth this time, she wanted to feel some control and wanted to feel everything pain or not. She didn’t want to go through what she did with the twins again, having everything out of their hands while being so scared about what could happen to them any minute. She also didn’t want to be monitored the whole time. So in the end, “That’s the way to have a hospital birth!” She experienced a completely natural hospital birth. She also had great instincts about when to go to the hospital.
I received a call at 4:30 am from Jaime, Cheryl’s husband saying that she had been having contractions 7 minutes apart for about 2 hours. He also said she couldn’t sleep through them but wanted to relax. I told him to have her get in the bath. About an hour later, Jaime texted asking if she could get in the shower. Cheryl really didn’t like the bath, but loved the shower. Her contractions at this point were about 5 minutes apart and her thoughts about them were they were uncomfortable and stronger then she expected. I thought she was progressing pretty quickly so I ate breakfast and got ready. I went outside to get stuff out of my husband’s car so I could take it and I was planning on driving over to Cheryl’s. I figured they were going to ask soon, so I’d start heading over there. I called when I went outside and Jaime said she was ready for me to come, the contractions were getting a lot harder.
When I arrived it was about 6:30, Jaime was blow drying Cheryl’s hair after the shower. She was in a pretty good rhythm with her contractions and very upbeat about everything. She was very talkative and had a lot of energy between contractions. After Jaime was done with her hair, I straightened it and then she did her make up. Cheryl’s daughter woke up about 7:30 and wanted to stay right there with her mommy. She watched while Cheryl put on her make-up and at all the grapes I got for Cheryl to eat. She was very quiet and didn’t seem to be a distraction for Cheryl at all. Jaime called his sister, Christina who was going to be at the birth also. He told her to go ahead and go to work until they called. A bit later we went down stairs, her little boy woke and the twins got ready for school with their grandma.
Once they left, Cheryl’s contractions were about 4 minutes apart. I thought we could pass some time by baking and it seemed to be good for her labor when Cheryl would be on her feet, so we started baking pumpkin muffins.
Around this time, everything starts to get a little blurry. Things were progressing so well. Cheryl was getting tired and talking about pain with the contractions. She wanted a break and didn’t know how long she could go on. She would go to the bathroom every couple contractions, for a few of the in-betweens, she rested on the couch and at about 9:30 her contractions hit the 2-3 minute apart mark. She was on the toilet at this time and pretty much stayed there. Until we left the house. I was able to get her on her hands and knees for 2 contractions to see if that would take the pushing pressure off, but it didn’t. So I was pretty certain the baby was getting pretty close because it wasn’t a position problem causing the pressure. Every contraction on the toilet Cheryl said she need to push, but she did so amazing controlling that. She breathed out with her lips in a circle every time I reminded her. Jaime timed every contraction and stayed right there massaging her through the contractions. He had the bowl ready for when she felt like she might need it, although she never did and he finished the muffins for the nurses at the hospital. About a 1/2 hour into this toilet laboring, Cheryl said she though we should go to the hospital. I was torn at that point, but I said if you are ready, that’s what we will do. Jaime started packing the car and Cheryl told me she felt burning, it was burning bad. I asked her to point to where it was burning and she said down low like inside her vagina. At this point, I was right on board with her going to the hospital right then. But I was making plans for when we got there to avoid any IV, I told her to sneak into the shower when she was getting admitted in the room. Jaime packed the car and called his sister then we left.
It was 10:24 am Thursday, December 16th when we got in the car to go to the hospital. Jaime’s sister decided not to go to work and head straight for the hospital just incase. Boy, what a great decision that was. We arrived at the hospital at about 10:45, got to the room at 10:50 and Cheryl thought she had to go to the bathroom, the nurse handed me the gown for her while Jaime took her to the bathroom. I went in the bathroom and Cheryl said the baby is coming, I watched her feel for the baby and saw the bag of waters and the baby’s head protruding out of her. I said to the nurse, “She’s not kidding, I see him!” (At this point I am completely not aware of where Jaime and Christina are.) The nurse rushes in the room, hits the call button and someone (probably Christina) handed me gloves for the nurse then I opened them for her. The nurses station calls back and the nurse yells to the speaker, “I need some help in here, I’m delivering a baby on the toilet!” I think she and Jaime got Cheryl up and to the bed. Cheryl was lying on her side just as I was walking out of the bathroom, her water broke like a water balloon splashing across the room just as the baby’s head came out. Rylan Scott was born at 10:53 am December 16th weighing 7 lbs, 6 oz. Yes, I did say we arrived in the room at 10:50! He was born 21 minutes after we got in the car to leave to go to the hospital and only 3 minutes after we were in the room! She wasn’t even admitted yet.
I remember looking at Christina and she was standing there frozen in shock. I have no idea where Jaime was, it was all so, so quick! Rylan was a little stunned by the quick delivery, so the nurses had to breath for him. They thought he was going to have to go to the nursery, he did pink up and slowly got his energy up. He had his eyes open before he even got to Cheryl and never needed to go to the nursery.
Cheryl got the natural birth she wanted. No interventions, no IV or hep-loc and she did amazing. She did everything I suggested to her and went with her labor. She worked so hard before we even left the house. When I had my very first conversation with Cheryl, she said she wanted to experience the birth this time, she wanted to feel some control and wanted to feel everything pain or not. She didn’t want to go through what she did with the twins again, having everything out of their hands while being so scared about what could happen to them any minute. She also didn’t want to be monitored the whole time. So in the end, “That’s the way to have a hospital birth!” She experienced a completely natural hospital birth. She also had great instincts about when to go to the hospital.
Wende's Birth
04/11/10 07:04 PM
I met Wende a few weeks before she was due. She had just moved to CA from Massachutes where her, her husband and their daughter had been living for a few years. Before that they lived in the Netherlands. I received an e-mail from her saying that she needed some help during labor because they are new to the area and don’t have any friends or family to watch their daughter so her husband will not be able to attend the birth of their second daughter. We talked and decided to meet at a restaurant to see if I could help her. Right away I loved her honesty and openness. She was very real. Wende told me she was induced with her first daughter, but didn’t have any other interventions. She didn’t want to have an epidural this time around either, she just didn’t see the point. I told her to talk with her husband and that I should meet him to, so we did that and they decided to have me as their doula.
It was November 2nd, Wende went in for her usual non-stress test (NST) that she did every Tuesday for the last couple weeks. She had been “uncomfortable” all night and couldn’t sleep. She though it possibly could have been contractions, but wasn’t sure. In the morning Wende told me she was having more discharge and at about 11 it was pink. I was pretty sure she was in early labor and was finally dilating, but I didn’t want to get her too excited, so I told her to go about her normal activities and to eat well. This was 4 days past her due date and during our first conversation she told me she was going to be early. Friday on her due date, she still was dilated to 0 cm. She wasn’t too excited about that.
The NST showed dips in the baby’s heart rate every time she had a contraction which were about 6 or 7 minutes apart. The doctor wanted to put her on pitocin to see how the baby would react to it. So Wende e-mailed me telling me they were going to induce her. I told her I’d just have to drop off my kids and I’d be at the hospital. I arrived at 3 pm and her husband was already there. Their daughter was in day care, so her husband was able to be there for part of the birth. The baby seemed to be doing good, no more dips in her heart rate and Wende was handling the contractions fine. She told us not to stop talking during a contraction at this point. Rudie, Wende’s husband had to leave to pick up their daughter, but a coworker of his said she could spend the night there, so he took her over there after they had dinner together.
While Wende’s husband was gone the contractions started to increase in intensity. Wende was still handling them beautifully, the only change was she wanted some quiet during them. A couple hours later, the monitor wasn’t getting a correct read on the baby. Her heart rate was showing 80, but when the nurse would listen by ear, it was sounding much higher. The nurse then decided to ask the doctor to rupture Wende’s membranes so they could put an internal fetal monitor in. Wende was told it would be a male doctor and she wasn’t too comfortable with this. I asked if they had a female and there wasn’t one available to do that. So the doctor comes in and breaks her water. This was probably the most difficult part of labor. Wende had a lot of trouble relaxing and it was painful to her. I think it was just a lot with the male doctor, a couple of nurses, she had to be on her back and the lights were very bright. All those sensations just lead up to a rough time for this part. After that Wende was able to get back into her rhythm with the contractions and she was doing wonderful again. But the baby’s heart rate was reading in the 250’s about 100 beats too high. There was no maternal fever and Wende’s heart rate wasn’t increased so there was really no explanation for this. They turned off the pitocin, re-did the internal monitor, used a hand held doppler to measure the heart rate and changed out the machine, but still 210 - 260. So they started talking to Wende about a possible cesarean.
At this point I asked the nurse if they knew this happened a couple of weeks ago and they didn’t. They also couldn’t find it in her records. So now they were thinking it is just an arrhythmia in the baby’s heart. I called Rudie to tell him what was going on and there may be a c-section. At about 7:30 the doctor filling in for Wende’s OB came in to tell her the plan. This doctor was a female, that was good. Anyway, she said they need to do a c-section because they can’t monitor how the baby is doing with the contractions with her heart so high and if the baby needs medication for her heart, they can’t do it inutero. So I asked if they can wait for her husband to arrive and I also asked if the baby’s heart went back to normal if she can continue with labor. The doctor did not want to do that just incase. Rudie was about a half hour away so they said they would wait. Around 7:45 Rudie arrived and the baby’s heart was finally back to normal. So they went to have the c-section and Jill their new little girl was born at 8:42 pm, November 2, 2010. She was 8 lbs, 6 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. Her apgar scores were 9 at 1 minute and 9 at 5 minutes. Even through Jill had wonderful apgar scores and her heart was normal, the neonatal doctor wanted her monitored in the NICU for 24 hours. So Jill had to be separated from her mom for 24 hours.
Now, 2 days later, Jill is doing wonderful, she was back with her mom just under 24 hours and she has started nursing and doing so well that Wende’s milk is in. Wende is feeling much better after her surgery, each hour she says, she feels better. It was wonderful that Rudie made it to be there for the birth of their daughter. They were both worried that he might have to miss it. Especially since it was a surgery she was able to have her husband there with her. Everything in God’s perfect timing. In the end, Wende prefers the vaginal birth because the recovery is better, but she liked that the c-section was very quick and easy. So what matters most is a healthy mom and baby.
It was November 2nd, Wende went in for her usual non-stress test (NST) that she did every Tuesday for the last couple weeks. She had been “uncomfortable” all night and couldn’t sleep. She though it possibly could have been contractions, but wasn’t sure. In the morning Wende told me she was having more discharge and at about 11 it was pink. I was pretty sure she was in early labor and was finally dilating, but I didn’t want to get her too excited, so I told her to go about her normal activities and to eat well. This was 4 days past her due date and during our first conversation she told me she was going to be early. Friday on her due date, she still was dilated to 0 cm. She wasn’t too excited about that.
The NST showed dips in the baby’s heart rate every time she had a contraction which were about 6 or 7 minutes apart. The doctor wanted to put her on pitocin to see how the baby would react to it. So Wende e-mailed me telling me they were going to induce her. I told her I’d just have to drop off my kids and I’d be at the hospital. I arrived at 3 pm and her husband was already there. Their daughter was in day care, so her husband was able to be there for part of the birth. The baby seemed to be doing good, no more dips in her heart rate and Wende was handling the contractions fine. She told us not to stop talking during a contraction at this point. Rudie, Wende’s husband had to leave to pick up their daughter, but a coworker of his said she could spend the night there, so he took her over there after they had dinner together.
While Wende’s husband was gone the contractions started to increase in intensity. Wende was still handling them beautifully, the only change was she wanted some quiet during them. A couple hours later, the monitor wasn’t getting a correct read on the baby. Her heart rate was showing 80, but when the nurse would listen by ear, it was sounding much higher. The nurse then decided to ask the doctor to rupture Wende’s membranes so they could put an internal fetal monitor in. Wende was told it would be a male doctor and she wasn’t too comfortable with this. I asked if they had a female and there wasn’t one available to do that. So the doctor comes in and breaks her water. This was probably the most difficult part of labor. Wende had a lot of trouble relaxing and it was painful to her. I think it was just a lot with the male doctor, a couple of nurses, she had to be on her back and the lights were very bright. All those sensations just lead up to a rough time for this part. After that Wende was able to get back into her rhythm with the contractions and she was doing wonderful again. But the baby’s heart rate was reading in the 250’s about 100 beats too high. There was no maternal fever and Wende’s heart rate wasn’t increased so there was really no explanation for this. They turned off the pitocin, re-did the internal monitor, used a hand held doppler to measure the heart rate and changed out the machine, but still 210 - 260. So they started talking to Wende about a possible cesarean.
At this point I asked the nurse if they knew this happened a couple of weeks ago and they didn’t. They also couldn’t find it in her records. So now they were thinking it is just an arrhythmia in the baby’s heart. I called Rudie to tell him what was going on and there may be a c-section. At about 7:30 the doctor filling in for Wende’s OB came in to tell her the plan. This doctor was a female, that was good. Anyway, she said they need to do a c-section because they can’t monitor how the baby is doing with the contractions with her heart so high and if the baby needs medication for her heart, they can’t do it inutero. So I asked if they can wait for her husband to arrive and I also asked if the baby’s heart went back to normal if she can continue with labor. The doctor did not want to do that just incase. Rudie was about a half hour away so they said they would wait. Around 7:45 Rudie arrived and the baby’s heart was finally back to normal. So they went to have the c-section and Jill their new little girl was born at 8:42 pm, November 2, 2010. She was 8 lbs, 6 oz and 19 3/4 inches long. Her apgar scores were 9 at 1 minute and 9 at 5 minutes. Even through Jill had wonderful apgar scores and her heart was normal, the neonatal doctor wanted her monitored in the NICU for 24 hours. So Jill had to be separated from her mom for 24 hours.
Now, 2 days later, Jill is doing wonderful, she was back with her mom just under 24 hours and she has started nursing and doing so well that Wende’s milk is in. Wende is feeling much better after her surgery, each hour she says, she feels better. It was wonderful that Rudie made it to be there for the birth of their daughter. They were both worried that he might have to miss it. Especially since it was a surgery she was able to have her husband there with her. Everything in God’s perfect timing. In the end, Wende prefers the vaginal birth because the recovery is better, but she liked that the c-section was very quick and easy. So what matters most is a healthy mom and baby.
Marathon Birth / 60 Hours of Determination; Sometimes Medical Intervention is Necessary
26/09/10 08:42 PM
Sarah’s birth was unique in so many ways. There is so much to say about it, I don’t even know where to begin. You can probably see a bit of that from the title. My husband thought I should call it “Marathon Birth” I thought, 60 Hours of Determination; but I wanted something in there about the medical intervention. So I had to put them all.
Part 1: The events of labor
Sarah was planning a natural child birth using the Bradley Method. One big reason she wanted to do this was because her mom birthed her this way. There were, of course other reasons as well, but this was a big reason. Sarah’s mom had told her that her labors were fairly short and baby size was around 7 lbs. So, naturally Sarah thought she could expect a fairly short birth and a bigger baby because her husband was about 9 lbs at birth. She did however know that might not be the case, her birth could be very different then her mom’s. Little did she know it was going to be the exact opposite.
Wednesday, September 22, Sarah had her appointment with the midwife who told her it would be ok to take castor oil because her due date was Sept. 19th, 4 days prior. Being uncomfortable and ready to have her baby, she did. But there really was no effect except a slight upset stomach. Thursday morning about 1:45 am September 23rd, I received a text message from Sarah. I didn’t get it till my daughter woke a little after 2 am and I checked my phone. Normally I don’t hear a text message in the middle of the night, just a call. Anyway, she said she thought her water broke and her contractions were about 10 minutes apart. So, I messaged her back asking her some questions and telling her to do a few important things like drink water, rest, pee every hour and eat. That night she took baths, showers, and did everything else in the instructions. The contractions got a little closer together, but around 5 am, she fell asleep and the contractions slowed way down. All day on Thursday she had contractions mostly 10 minutes apart, but some 20 minutes. I suggested she and Ricky, her husband do something to take their mind off the labor like go to the movies. They watched a few at home, but didn’t go out.
Thursday night, her contractions picked up again but were inconsistent. She labored all night and tried to get the contractions stronger and more regular. It was about 12:30 when I got a call from her that she wanted me to come over for an hour or so, to help her relax while Rick was resting. I got there and gave her some suggestions. She was very uncomfortable laying down so I had her on her hands and knees doing pelvic rocks. Her back was extremely uncomfortable so we tried to get the baby off of it by doing the pelvic rocks. I ended up staying until the next day because it looked like her labor was progressing. But it would have periods of slowing down and we could not keep it consistent. Sarah kept getting so discouraged that she wasn’t progressing. I kept reminding her that things were happening in her body. Just not the expected way.
About noon on Friday, September 24th, Sarah decided to go to the hospital to have them check her progress. She went to triage and she was 5 cm dilated. The baby was doing good. She did not tell the midwife her membranes were ruptured, she didn’t want a time limit on her labor. The midwife recommended she check into the hospital, but Ricky and Sarah decided to go home. The midwife was not too happy about this. In-fact she was a little bit threatening about what would happen if they go home and don’t get back in time or can’t monitor the baby. The midwife was even more upset to hear they took Bradley classes.
Sarah and Ricky still decided to go home. She wanted to work on flipping Harper around and I went home to rest. About 3 pm I picked up Sarah to get an adjustment, which can help with the baby flipping but most importantly it helps with being aligned to minimize some pain and helps to open up the hips. After that Sarah went back home. They decided to go back to the hospital around 8 pm and I would meet them there.
When Sarah and Ricky got to the hospital, she was now 6 cm. Her contractions were still inconsistent. So we had a plan of constant nipple stimulation. Usually constant isn’t recommended, however she was able to start while on the monitor and we could see that the baby could handle it. Harper was doing great every time she was checked on. So Sarah kept that up along with walking and the shower. Her contractions were still so inconsistent, they would fluctuate from 2 or 3 minutes apart to 10 minutes apart. At 2 am, September 25th, Sarah was having a lot of pressure, so she was checked and was dilated to 7 cm. She got back to her routine of nipple stimulation (more aggressive this time), shower and walking. The midwife came in and checked her again and she was dilated to 9 cm. Wow, that was exciting! Finally, some encouraging news. This is the most progress she made in the last 2 and a half days! 2 cm in 4.5 hours. We were very excited. Sarah’s spirits were up. She was very motivated and encouraged to keep going.
Sarah kept up with her routine. However, all this time, the past 3 days, she wasn’t eating much. It was very difficult for her to eat. She was drinking tons of water, just no juice or food. She also wasn’t able to sleep. The midwife came in maybe around 7:30 to check her again before shift change and she was dilated except for a anterior lip of cervix. That was very exciting news. So now my plan was to keep her on hands and knees, walking or doing pelvic rocks. We needed to get the pressure on that lip to help it dilate.
At 8, there was a shift change and the midwife that Sarah originally saw Friday afternoon was back on. She checked Sarah and discovered she was 9 cm with an anterior swollen lip of cervix. The difference in 9 or 10 cm may be just how 2 different people checked her, however the swollen lip was defiantly going backwards. We were disappointed, but we still had a plan. Sarah was so determined to do this naturally. Now, we had to keep Sarah on her back or sides to stay off that lip. Definitely no hands and knees and no pelvic rocks. However, at the next check, Sarah was more swollen.
Now it was time for a decision. The way things are going are not good at this point. It was time for some intervention. The contractions would keep up with constant nipple stimulation. Even then, they were not regular or incredibly strong. Sarah had also been awake for 3 days now with little to no food. She needed fuel and so did the baby. After a lot of thought, Sarah decided to get pitocin so her contractions would get stronger on their own and keep up, she decided on the epidural because she definitely needed sleep and she needed to get that swollen lip to go down. They also gave her sugar water which helped both her and the baby. They needed that fuel. Sarah was administered all of this about 1:10 pm Saturday, September 25th, 59.5 hours after labor began.
After a few hours of rest and some awake relaxing time she was finally 10 centimeters. The midwife allowed her to labor down and she was finally able to push. After 1.5 hours of pushing, Harper was born just after 7 pm Saturday night, she was 9 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long. Did I mention, Sarah is a small girl, about 5 feet 2 inches tall.
Part 2: Thoughts on the labor
This birth was so unique and amazing all in one. The main thing that was so different about it is the contractions were the same throughout, some close together some far apart, she’d sometimes get a group of good intense contractions all at once, then a half hour with maybe 3 smaller ones. The entire time, I kept thinking there has got to be a reason this is happening. Why does God want the contractions to be like this, why does he want the labor to be so long? I knew there had to be a reason. When Harper was born, I thought maybe this was the reason, Sarah’s hips needed that time to open up enough for her little body to fit Harper through. Harper even had her hand up by her shoulder. That makes it even harder to push her out.
To me this birth was so amazing. Sarah had such determination through the entire labor. She never wanted to give up after discouraging news every time she was checked. Sarah was discouraged and disappointed at times, but she kept right on working at her labor. She wanted so badly to have a natural child birth, that she said no to the doctors when they would recommend something over and over until her and her husband felt it was necessary. They really took a stand for what they wanted. It was amazing. That is such a difficult thing to do. I am so proud of them. If Sarah had gotten the pitocin earlier, maybe (I don’t know for sure) but maybe her hips wouldn’t have had enough time to open like they did. If she had gotten an epidural without pitocin, her labor probably would have completely stopped. But in the end, both were needed to finish the birth of her little girl. She waited until it was needed, so even through the entire birth wasn’t natural, the first 59.5 hours were and she was extremely happy with the outcome. To be able to deliver her baby vaginally was such a blessing.
I loved how this birth turned out and once again I learned so much from it.
Part 1: The events of labor
Sarah was planning a natural child birth using the Bradley Method. One big reason she wanted to do this was because her mom birthed her this way. There were, of course other reasons as well, but this was a big reason. Sarah’s mom had told her that her labors were fairly short and baby size was around 7 lbs. So, naturally Sarah thought she could expect a fairly short birth and a bigger baby because her husband was about 9 lbs at birth. She did however know that might not be the case, her birth could be very different then her mom’s. Little did she know it was going to be the exact opposite.
Wednesday, September 22, Sarah had her appointment with the midwife who told her it would be ok to take castor oil because her due date was Sept. 19th, 4 days prior. Being uncomfortable and ready to have her baby, she did. But there really was no effect except a slight upset stomach. Thursday morning about 1:45 am September 23rd, I received a text message from Sarah. I didn’t get it till my daughter woke a little after 2 am and I checked my phone. Normally I don’t hear a text message in the middle of the night, just a call. Anyway, she said she thought her water broke and her contractions were about 10 minutes apart. So, I messaged her back asking her some questions and telling her to do a few important things like drink water, rest, pee every hour and eat. That night she took baths, showers, and did everything else in the instructions. The contractions got a little closer together, but around 5 am, she fell asleep and the contractions slowed way down. All day on Thursday she had contractions mostly 10 minutes apart, but some 20 minutes. I suggested she and Ricky, her husband do something to take their mind off the labor like go to the movies. They watched a few at home, but didn’t go out.
Thursday night, her contractions picked up again but were inconsistent. She labored all night and tried to get the contractions stronger and more regular. It was about 12:30 when I got a call from her that she wanted me to come over for an hour or so, to help her relax while Rick was resting. I got there and gave her some suggestions. She was very uncomfortable laying down so I had her on her hands and knees doing pelvic rocks. Her back was extremely uncomfortable so we tried to get the baby off of it by doing the pelvic rocks. I ended up staying until the next day because it looked like her labor was progressing. But it would have periods of slowing down and we could not keep it consistent. Sarah kept getting so discouraged that she wasn’t progressing. I kept reminding her that things were happening in her body. Just not the expected way.
About noon on Friday, September 24th, Sarah decided to go to the hospital to have them check her progress. She went to triage and she was 5 cm dilated. The baby was doing good. She did not tell the midwife her membranes were ruptured, she didn’t want a time limit on her labor. The midwife recommended she check into the hospital, but Ricky and Sarah decided to go home. The midwife was not too happy about this. In-fact she was a little bit threatening about what would happen if they go home and don’t get back in time or can’t monitor the baby. The midwife was even more upset to hear they took Bradley classes.
Sarah and Ricky still decided to go home. She wanted to work on flipping Harper around and I went home to rest. About 3 pm I picked up Sarah to get an adjustment, which can help with the baby flipping but most importantly it helps with being aligned to minimize some pain and helps to open up the hips. After that Sarah went back home. They decided to go back to the hospital around 8 pm and I would meet them there.
When Sarah and Ricky got to the hospital, she was now 6 cm. Her contractions were still inconsistent. So we had a plan of constant nipple stimulation. Usually constant isn’t recommended, however she was able to start while on the monitor and we could see that the baby could handle it. Harper was doing great every time she was checked on. So Sarah kept that up along with walking and the shower. Her contractions were still so inconsistent, they would fluctuate from 2 or 3 minutes apart to 10 minutes apart. At 2 am, September 25th, Sarah was having a lot of pressure, so she was checked and was dilated to 7 cm. She got back to her routine of nipple stimulation (more aggressive this time), shower and walking. The midwife came in and checked her again and she was dilated to 9 cm. Wow, that was exciting! Finally, some encouraging news. This is the most progress she made in the last 2 and a half days! 2 cm in 4.5 hours. We were very excited. Sarah’s spirits were up. She was very motivated and encouraged to keep going.
Sarah kept up with her routine. However, all this time, the past 3 days, she wasn’t eating much. It was very difficult for her to eat. She was drinking tons of water, just no juice or food. She also wasn’t able to sleep. The midwife came in maybe around 7:30 to check her again before shift change and she was dilated except for a anterior lip of cervix. That was very exciting news. So now my plan was to keep her on hands and knees, walking or doing pelvic rocks. We needed to get the pressure on that lip to help it dilate.
At 8, there was a shift change and the midwife that Sarah originally saw Friday afternoon was back on. She checked Sarah and discovered she was 9 cm with an anterior swollen lip of cervix. The difference in 9 or 10 cm may be just how 2 different people checked her, however the swollen lip was defiantly going backwards. We were disappointed, but we still had a plan. Sarah was so determined to do this naturally. Now, we had to keep Sarah on her back or sides to stay off that lip. Definitely no hands and knees and no pelvic rocks. However, at the next check, Sarah was more swollen.
Now it was time for a decision. The way things are going are not good at this point. It was time for some intervention. The contractions would keep up with constant nipple stimulation. Even then, they were not regular or incredibly strong. Sarah had also been awake for 3 days now with little to no food. She needed fuel and so did the baby. After a lot of thought, Sarah decided to get pitocin so her contractions would get stronger on their own and keep up, she decided on the epidural because she definitely needed sleep and she needed to get that swollen lip to go down. They also gave her sugar water which helped both her and the baby. They needed that fuel. Sarah was administered all of this about 1:10 pm Saturday, September 25th, 59.5 hours after labor began.
After a few hours of rest and some awake relaxing time she was finally 10 centimeters. The midwife allowed her to labor down and she was finally able to push. After 1.5 hours of pushing, Harper was born just after 7 pm Saturday night, she was 9 lbs 14 oz and 21 inches long. Did I mention, Sarah is a small girl, about 5 feet 2 inches tall.
Part 2: Thoughts on the labor
This birth was so unique and amazing all in one. The main thing that was so different about it is the contractions were the same throughout, some close together some far apart, she’d sometimes get a group of good intense contractions all at once, then a half hour with maybe 3 smaller ones. The entire time, I kept thinking there has got to be a reason this is happening. Why does God want the contractions to be like this, why does he want the labor to be so long? I knew there had to be a reason. When Harper was born, I thought maybe this was the reason, Sarah’s hips needed that time to open up enough for her little body to fit Harper through. Harper even had her hand up by her shoulder. That makes it even harder to push her out.
To me this birth was so amazing. Sarah had such determination through the entire labor. She never wanted to give up after discouraging news every time she was checked. Sarah was discouraged and disappointed at times, but she kept right on working at her labor. She wanted so badly to have a natural child birth, that she said no to the doctors when they would recommend something over and over until her and her husband felt it was necessary. They really took a stand for what they wanted. It was amazing. That is such a difficult thing to do. I am so proud of them. If Sarah had gotten the pitocin earlier, maybe (I don’t know for sure) but maybe her hips wouldn’t have had enough time to open like they did. If she had gotten an epidural without pitocin, her labor probably would have completely stopped. But in the end, both were needed to finish the birth of her little girl. She waited until it was needed, so even through the entire birth wasn’t natural, the first 59.5 hours were and she was extremely happy with the outcome. To be able to deliver her baby vaginally was such a blessing.
I loved how this birth turned out and once again I learned so much from it.
Sarah's birth
03/03/10 02:19 PM
I had my first birth as the primary doula! It was very exciting. Sarah was the mom and first I have to say she was amazing. She was having consistent labor at 5 pm Monday night with her contractions 5 minutes apart, by 1 am they got to 3 minutes apart, so her and her husband (Keith) decided to go to the hospital. They then called me and asked me to meet them there.
When I got to the hospital, Sarah was in very good spirits, she had to stop for her contractions, but other then that everything was normal. Well, she was tired. Sarah was worried about not getting any sleep and having enough energy for the labor. When she checked in the nursed checked her progress and she was 2 1/2 centimeters! Wow, I couldn’t believe she wasn’t more dilated. Aren’t many women dilated to 3 before even feeling the labor rushes? However, Sarah didn’t seem to get discouraged. The nurse did discover that she was leaking fluid and had been for most of the day, so we were staying till the baby was born. Keith and I went right to work keeping Sarah busy, moving, drinking and going to the bathroom.
In the early morning, Sarah’s doctor came to visit and she did a vaginal check. During this check, she discovered Sarah was now 4 centimeters and firm. “What, oh no!!?” was my initial thought, but I continued with the encouragement and we kept her moving once again. We tried the birthing ball, laying down, hands and knees, squats and walking the halls. So the doctor came back in about 11:15 later that morning (Tuesday). At this time, there was no change in dilation, so Sarah was put on a pitocin drip. From then on, her contractions stayed in the same rhythm, but worked better for her body.
A few hours later Sarah was in transition and before we knew it, she was 9 3/4 centimeters. She stayed that way for about 2 hours! But still, she seemed like she was slightly uncomfortable and kept up the changing positions, drinking her water, eating her popsicles. Keith and I were amazed with how hard she worked without 1 complaint the entire time. Baby Gavin was finally born at 6:32 Tuesday night, he was 8 lbs, 6 oz.
Kristen at Conscious Birth is serving Placentia, Yorba Linda, Fullerton, Brea, Anaheim and other Orange County, CA cities. I am also very near, some Riverside and San Bernardino County cities. If you are interested in meeting with me, please e-mail kristen@bestocdoula.com or call 714/269-0172.
When I got to the hospital, Sarah was in very good spirits, she had to stop for her contractions, but other then that everything was normal. Well, she was tired. Sarah was worried about not getting any sleep and having enough energy for the labor. When she checked in the nursed checked her progress and she was 2 1/2 centimeters! Wow, I couldn’t believe she wasn’t more dilated. Aren’t many women dilated to 3 before even feeling the labor rushes? However, Sarah didn’t seem to get discouraged. The nurse did discover that she was leaking fluid and had been for most of the day, so we were staying till the baby was born. Keith and I went right to work keeping Sarah busy, moving, drinking and going to the bathroom.
In the early morning, Sarah’s doctor came to visit and she did a vaginal check. During this check, she discovered Sarah was now 4 centimeters and firm. “What, oh no!!?” was my initial thought, but I continued with the encouragement and we kept her moving once again. We tried the birthing ball, laying down, hands and knees, squats and walking the halls. So the doctor came back in about 11:15 later that morning (Tuesday). At this time, there was no change in dilation, so Sarah was put on a pitocin drip. From then on, her contractions stayed in the same rhythm, but worked better for her body.
A few hours later Sarah was in transition and before we knew it, she was 9 3/4 centimeters. She stayed that way for about 2 hours! But still, she seemed like she was slightly uncomfortable and kept up the changing positions, drinking her water, eating her popsicles. Keith and I were amazed with how hard she worked without 1 complaint the entire time. Baby Gavin was finally born at 6:32 Tuesday night, he was 8 lbs, 6 oz.
Kristen at Conscious Birth is serving Placentia, Yorba Linda, Fullerton, Brea, Anaheim and other Orange County, CA cities. I am also very near, some Riverside and San Bernardino County cities. If you are interested in meeting with me, please e-mail kristen@bestocdoula.com or call 714/269-0172.
