I got the call from Jenn at 8:27. It was actually her husband Dave. He told me that she had been having regular cramps, had taken a bath but they were still coming. I asked to speak with Jenn, and she had to stop talking during contractions. She told me she wasn't sure if she was in labor, and she didn't want me to come down if she wasn't. Hearing her on the phone convinced me to be putting on my shoes as I was talking to her! I told her that I was going to start heading her way, and if this wasn't it, then I would stay for a while and leave, but if it was, I wanted to be nearby. I grabbed my birth bag, and headed out the door. I pulled up to her front door 30 minutes later, and got out. The dogs were both very agitated and protective, but were definately okay with me being in Jenn's space. She was contracting every 3-4 minutes for around 60 seconds each (Dave had a great log going). She was having to stop and sway during contractions. I told them that if they hadn't called the midwives to do so (Dave went off to do that). Jenn was worried that if we called her Mom to come and stay with her son, Bryton, that this wouldn't be it. I told her that I thought she should call. I asked her if she wanted to stay at home, or head to the hospital, and she decided that they would stay at home until her Mom arrived. She showed up 25 minutes later and we were already packed and ready to go. Jenn's contractions had started to pick up during the wait and I got Dave involved with some good slow dancing and hip swaying. We got in the car (much to the dog's dismay, LOL!), and headed over to the hospital.
When we arrived there was some confusion on their part about where to go in, so they just parked and went into the ER, and I met them there. They got her checked in, and she was taken up with Dave and I in close tow. When we got up to the room we got comfortable and situated. They did a strip on the baby who was reacting to contractions BEAUTIFULLY. They checked her and she was a good solid 4. We got upstairs at around 10:20pm. From this point forward, Jenn's contractions grew steadily stronger. We kept her well hydrated, she used the restroom a lot, and we just kept her moving. She was in the ball for a while, but the pressure on her bottom was painful so most of the time she was upright or on hands and knees. When they became more intense she was having a hard time holding herself up, so she actually spent a decent amount of time on the bed on hands and knees. She was having intense back labor. I palpated baby a bit, and could tell that while she wasn't completely posterior she wasn't anterior either.
We got into the tub, and put one of my hotpacks on her back with lots of sacrum pressure, and she started making some really great noises to get through contractions. I encouraged those, got her making low noises and loosening her jaw up, and she started to make some great progress. Her husband, was AMAZING. Was right there with her for each one, was making the noises right along with her, taking some serious abuse from Mom, and being fantastic and encouraging. I wish every Dad was like Dave was. The would stop in occasionaly and listen to baby on doppler but for the most part left us alone unless we asked for things.
Jenn got exhausted towards the end. Her back was aching and she was getting into some coupling with her contractions because of the back labor. She asked for an epidural around 1:20. Kim, her midwife was paged and wasn't there yet, they told her she had to wait for Kim. Kim was running late, and they kept saying 10 more minutes, 5 more minutes. (It turns out, they had started off paging the wrong on call midwife, and they didn't realize it for almost 20 minutes). When Kim got there, Jenn was on hands and knees on the bed, and asked her again for the epidural. Kim (who I love, she's a great midwife) recommended that we check her, and Jenn said no she just wanted it. I told Jenn, one more step. One more, you can do this, let's find out where you are. Jenn was at 9 1/2 almost 10 cms! She had been going through transition for almost 45 minutes, and I could tell, so I wasn't surprised. Jenn broke down into hysterical tears when she found out she could start pushing.
After some gentle words, we moved forward. (I slipped out of the room at this point and called her Mom and Dave's Mom for them). She started to try pushing. She had a few practice pushes, but really she was pushing like a champ from the get go. Her Sister quietly slipped in through the door and started taking pictures (they requested this). She was lying on her side, with one leg on the bed and me holding the other leg up and wide. (I seriously need to see a chiropractor. I was kicked across the room a few times, LOL!) She was moving the baby down and making WONDERFUL primal powerful screams. VERY insense to watch, but beautiful all the same. 5 long contractions worth of pusing and the baby girl was born at 2:17am! Slipped right up to Mom's chest who of course burst into sobbing hysterics. Everything was BEAUTIFUL.
They waited for the cord to stop pulsing (a good 20 minutes actually, which was nice.) Birthed the placenta naturally with no pit about 20 minutes after baby was born. NO TEARING!! WOOT! The midwife had been applying a warm washcloth perineum pressure (which has mixed reviews study wise, but it certainly gave Jenn something to push against so who cares!) Baby stayed with Jenn for quite a while, then Dave wanted to hold her. He went and sat in the rocking chair and Jenn handed Mackenzie to me and I handed her over to Daddy. Jenn was cleaned up, covered up and her Mom and Son came in. They weighed her, more family came in, I reminded her to get her nursing, and we got baby on the breast almost immediately. She didn't like the swaddling, so we put her skin to skin and she latched on and didn't let go for at least the 20 minutes that I stayed after that! I left at around 3:30 (it was so cute the family said, 'no please stay! Wanna join the family?' Adorable people really, the grandmama's were so cute!) I talked with the nurses and the midwives (who were way to complimentary, but sweet! The one nurse laughed that it gave her a bit of a start when she walked in to me shuffling her stomach with the rebozo, but that she thought it was so cool. :eyeroll ) And then I headed home!
GREAT BIRTH!
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Birth of Braden
I got the call at 3:38. I looked at my phone as Chad handed it to me. It was Brad the husband, and he told me that she was down at the hospital and they were 5cm, and could I come down. OF COURSE. It's funny, she had called me last night and told me she lost her plug. The LOGICAL part of me said eh, weeks to go. Baby born on January 5th. But, there was this tiny nagging part of me that knew, and instinctively, at around 10pm, I put my bag right next to the door. Which I don't generally do. So, it's a good thing I did that!
I woke up, got dressed, got my stuff together, kissed A and C goodnight and headed down. It was on a military base, so Brad had to come and meet me at the gate, and then we drove to the hospital. When he picked me up he said she was 7cm last time they checked, but when he left, she was 'getting the urge to poop'. I told him to get there quick. Laughingly and calmly, but I really didn't want him to miss the birth of his baby because he had to pick me up.
She was in the tub when I got there. She breathed through a few contractions, and then her water broke in the water. They got her out of the tub and back into her room. The positions that felt best to her were the ones that didn't put any pressure on her bottom, so she ended up with the top of the bed elevated resting on that, on her hands and knees. Lots of sacrum pressure and about 45 minutes later, and she was ready to push. She started spontaneously pushing but was encountering some pressure. I told her to push very slowly against that, and the nurses 'overheard us' and checked her. The Dr. checked and she still had a bit of a lip on her cervix. I told her to push slowly against that and the Dr. helped slide her lip back. Then we got down to business.
They actually called in some extra people. Not only are natural births rare, but hands and knees births in this hospital are really rare, so they had another Dr. and another nurse come in to observe and 'help out'. Miranda did a lot of really wonderful pushing for about 45 minutes, and hit a bit of wall. I was up at the foot of the bed with her, and Brad was applying some sacrum pressure with her contractions (she REALLY liked that and the Dr.'s commented WOW, that's a cool trick ). I ended up giving her a really big pep talk, whispered in her ear, and she had the baby out two pushes later. The cord was wrapped TIGHT around the baby's neck. They had to cut the cord and take him to the table to start his breathing. But, he came out PERFECT. He was 7lbs 8ozs. And a chunky little thing in the face! So cute! Dad cried, Mom cried, the nurses cried. It was wonderful.
She had some minor tearing (well not entirely minor) but outside of that, she was in great shape. The afterbirth was born (they did cord traction ) and she had a bit of a bleed, but within about half and hour, her uterus was WELL down. Baby was great, and they had to sew her up. I got baby over to Mom quick and that helped her get through the stitches better. After that, a nurse tried to help her latch baby on. (This was the only really negative experience of her birth. The nurse stuck her gloved finger inside of baby's mouth and tried to get him to suck on her finger. and he was WAILING!! 'See I am showing the baby how to suck' : and then she was showing her how to latch all wrong. 'don't support your breast' : ) Anyways.
WONDERFUL experience. They were great. It was quick and beautiful. Just like birth should be!
I woke up, got dressed, got my stuff together, kissed A and C goodnight and headed down. It was on a military base, so Brad had to come and meet me at the gate, and then we drove to the hospital. When he picked me up he said she was 7cm last time they checked, but when he left, she was 'getting the urge to poop'. I told him to get there quick. Laughingly and calmly, but I really didn't want him to miss the birth of his baby because he had to pick me up.
She was in the tub when I got there. She breathed through a few contractions, and then her water broke in the water. They got her out of the tub and back into her room. The positions that felt best to her were the ones that didn't put any pressure on her bottom, so she ended up with the top of the bed elevated resting on that, on her hands and knees. Lots of sacrum pressure and about 45 minutes later, and she was ready to push. She started spontaneously pushing but was encountering some pressure. I told her to push very slowly against that, and the nurses 'overheard us' and checked her. The Dr. checked and she still had a bit of a lip on her cervix. I told her to push slowly against that and the Dr. helped slide her lip back. Then we got down to business.
They actually called in some extra people. Not only are natural births rare, but hands and knees births in this hospital are really rare, so they had another Dr. and another nurse come in to observe and 'help out'. Miranda did a lot of really wonderful pushing for about 45 minutes, and hit a bit of wall. I was up at the foot of the bed with her, and Brad was applying some sacrum pressure with her contractions (she REALLY liked that and the Dr.'s commented WOW, that's a cool trick ). I ended up giving her a really big pep talk, whispered in her ear, and she had the baby out two pushes later. The cord was wrapped TIGHT around the baby's neck. They had to cut the cord and take him to the table to start his breathing. But, he came out PERFECT. He was 7lbs 8ozs. And a chunky little thing in the face! So cute! Dad cried, Mom cried, the nurses cried. It was wonderful.
She had some minor tearing (well not entirely minor) but outside of that, she was in great shape. The afterbirth was born (they did cord traction ) and she had a bit of a bleed, but within about half and hour, her uterus was WELL down. Baby was great, and they had to sew her up. I got baby over to Mom quick and that helped her get through the stitches better. After that, a nurse tried to help her latch baby on. (This was the only really negative experience of her birth. The nurse stuck her gloved finger inside of baby's mouth and tried to get him to suck on her finger. and he was WAILING!! 'See I am showing the baby how to suck' : and then she was showing her how to latch all wrong. 'don't support your breast' : ) Anyways.
WONDERFUL experience. They were great. It was quick and beautiful. Just like birth should be!
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