VBAC
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.
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.
