It’s Thursday again!  Time to share more about birth.  Jump right in if you have something to share.  And if you’ve blogged about pregnancy or birth before send a link to your old post(s).  Oh, and a big congrats to this mommy who recently started another journey to birth.

Sister’s Story

The birth of our first child was easily the most empowering experience in my life up to that point. I knew from almost the beginning that I did not want to have an epidural. I would love to say that it was “for my baby’s health” or that I wanted to give birth “the way God intended” but in fact it was much more mundane than either of those. I was simply afraid of having an epidural. Knowing unmedicated birth is not the norm these days my husband, Will, and I attended independent childbirth classes and I consumed any book on pregnancy and birth I could find. After stumbling across Natural Childbirth the Bradley Way by Susan McCutcheon the idea of “natural childbirth” started to appeal to me in its own rite. I began to desire a birth free of not just an epidural but all unnecessary interventions. At one point we considered the option of a homebirth but we still didn’t trust ourselves or the natural process enough for that. Partly because we didn’t trust ourselves, we decided to engage the help of a doula. This decision proved to be one of the best we made. As our due date of September 21^st came and went knowing she supported our choice to avoid an induction helped us remain firm with our doctor.

Labor finally began around 8 am on October 1^st, 2001. The contractions though regular were very light. I was still working at the time but chose not to tell anyone but Will. The contractions continued throughout the day but they were still light and around 6 or 7 o’clock they stopped altogether. (I was very disappointed, thinking “Will this baby ever arrive?”) Later that night – about 11:00pm – I had a contraction strong enough to wake me up. These continued until morning when Will convinced me to stay home. He then called my manager to tell her I wouldn’t be coming in. By this time the contractions were very regular (10-15 minutes apart) and more intense than the day before. We went to see our doctor at his office around 9 am and he said that today was definitely the day but that it still might be a while so we could go home if we wanted. My mother and sister came to the house around lunchtime. Now the contractions were really intense and Will called our doula. (She couldn’t come!!!) But she suggested I get in the shower and she sent her backup, Amy, who arrived about 4:00pm. When the contractions were about 2 minutes apart we left for the hospital. Will called our doctor during the 15 minute drive. At the hospital it seemed that the elevator took an especially long time arriving but it finally did and we (myself, Will, my mother, sister & Amy) took it up to Labor & Delivery. The nurses insisted I ride in a wheelchair to my room when I would have much rather walked. I remember worrying that the interventions were only beginning. But my fears were not to be realized. After checking me (5-6cm), the nurse assigned to us read our birth plan and told us she would support our choices. True to her word, I was only kept on the monitor for about 20 min and during my whole stay never had an IV. The room was kept dim and quiet and no one ever told me to “stay in bed”. In fact, a little after 6 we went to the hospital whirlpool - - - that helped a lot! Our doctor arrived at 6:25 and stopped by to say hello. At 6:40 we returned to the room. At 7:15 the nurse shift changed and we met our new nurse, Robin. (Now at 2-3 min apart – 7cm!) The next hour was a blur of position changes. The back labor became especially intense so Will provided counterpressure and Amy talked me through each contraction. We tried a hands and knees position, we walked, I sat on the birth ball and we took a shower. Around 8:30 I returned to the bed for an exam (9+cm). My doctor agreed that I could push gently to remove the last lip of cervix. It worked and I was complete but still our baby did not seem to be coming. Our doctor ordered an ultrasound to determine her position. She was at 0 station in a “persistent occiput transverse position.” Basically her head was facing to my side rather than the more common face to my back (occiput anterior) or even the less common face to my front (occiput posterior). I now know that the occiput transverse position is an indicator for many sorts of interventions (vacuum extraction, forceps, pitocin, and in some cases cesarean section) and I am extremely thankful that my doctor trusted the natural process. He and Amy felt that a standing squat would be the most helpful given the situation so with each contraction I hooked one arm around my husband’s shoulders and one arm around my doula’s and pushed. At one point, we heard a loud “pop” but disregarded it in the intensity of the moment. We later found out that “pop” was actually my tailbone breaking as Sister made her sideways path down the birth canal. When it became clear that she was in fact descending, I changed to pushing in a sitting squat and at 9:33 Sister began crowning and I touched her for the very first time. Only 4 minutes later she was born. Her eyes were the deepest blue and so alert. My mother cut the cord and she was placed on my chest. Of course the placenta needed to be delivered and I had some tearing which needed stitched but all of that was secondary to the angel in my arms.

Born 9:37pm, October 2^nd, 2001

8lbs 7oz — 20.5 inches