Birth #32 Sisters by heart September 21, 2009

 

I am always anticipating being at a birth, but even more so when there is a heart connection.

I met Mel and Chad 3 years ago when they first came to our church.

They are amazing people.  Sincere, kind and incredibly funny.

They mean what that say and they say what they mean……well…usually.

Never the less, they are wonderful people who we have been so blessed to have in our lives.

Mel called me shortly after finding out she was expecting and asked if I would be her doula.

I am begining to realize that I don’t know why my good friends do this.

They should just say…”You need to put my due date on your calendar; be there”.

I am thankful for their politeness, but I can’t imagine missing it for the world!

On the day before this baby’s birth day I woke up at 5:30 a.m. to get my kids ready for school, only to find a TEXT on my phone that Mel’s water had broken at 1:30 that morning!

I promptly sent her a text back letting her know that this was a ”no no” in doula land and that if she needed me, she should call me. 

So, a few minutes later I got a call. 

MEL: “Hey. Your awake”

ME: “Yep, I am getting ready to get the kids ready, how’s it going?”

MEL: “well, not much is happening.  I talked to Sam and she said to get some rest.”

ME: “Are the contractions getting stronger, longer or closer together?”

MEL:  “not much”

ME:  “you should definitely rest another hour at least and then call if things are changing”

MEL: “o.k.”

ME: “o.k.”

MEL: “alright,  I will call later”

ME: “o.k.”

MEL: “o.k.”

ME: “talk to you later”

MEL: “o.k., bye”

ME: “bye”

So…the day wore on and ON and ONNNNN.  No calls.

So.. at the expense of being obnoxious, I called after lunch.

Things were just kind of putting along.

She said she would call later.

Finally that evening I had had more than I could take waiting on the other side of the fence.

I called and found out that everyone was there…BUT ME. 

So, I said in a pituful voice, do you think I could come over and visit for a while??

Of course!

So, off I went.

I got to the house about 6:30 p.m. and hung out and talked while everyone milled aroud passing time.

Mel was having contractions and they were making her work, but not at the pace she was hoping.

We spent a lot of time sitting and talking and watching The Office, which was a very welcome distraction.

Mel’s mom Shellie and her sister Lacey, got in the kitchen and whipped up a huge bowl of delicious chicken salad that was gone by the morning.

We all wished Chad a happy birthday at midnight on Friday.

After many herbs and pumping sessions Mel finally surrendered to the need for rest at about 2 a.m Friday.

She decided to take a shower and go to bed to get some rest.

The rest of us tried to find a spot on the couches and get some sleep.

I got about an hour and a serious crick in my neck, thank you very much mean couches!

Mel walked in and woke us up about 3:15 saying she felt like she might be getting a little “pushy” at the middle of each contraction.

Sam said she should check her progress and then we would go from there.

Yay! Mel was 8 cm and progressing!

 

She climbed into the birth pool and used the water to relax while the next two centimeters melted away.

She labored great and hardly made a sound.

Chad climbed in the pool with her and supported her during all the hard work.

At 4:40 a.m. the pushing stage rolled in.

It was undeniable that the baby was immanent.

Mel and Chad made an amazing team.

She only pushed for a brief 33 minutes before baby Sutton was born into warm waters.

They pulled him up and held him close; with the familiar sounds of happiness and tears of joy.

 

It was a beautiful birth. 

He took his time getting here, so I am wondering if this will be a sign of a slow easy going kind of nature.

Thank you for letting me be a part

 

 

 

 

 

 

A big thank you to Laura Wootan for all of the amazing photography in this blog.

Birth #27 & very close to my heart September 19, 2008

To say that I had been anticipating this birth would be an understatement.

Tabitha and I have been friends now for almost 4 years and I couldn’t have been blessed with a better best friend.

She is a wonderful friend, mother, wife and an incredible example of selflessness in all she does.

Her children are wonderful and sweet, and her husband is an honorable and kind man.

I had just become friends with the Krauss’ the year she became pregnant with their third girl.

I was blessed to be at the birth of that baby which came into the world 30 minutes after arriving at the hospital.

This pregnancy (her fourth) was very much anticipated because this was their first boy.

I worked on Tabitha from the moment she had her 3rd baby to convince her that it was crazy for her to rush to a hospital to  have her baby with no medications, when a midwife would offer better care and she wouldn’t even have to leave  the comfort of her home.

It worked!

When they found out they were expecting their fourth baby she interviewed Illysa Foster, CPM.

After their first meeting with Illysa they didn’t see any need to look further, they were sure it was a good match.

This pregnancy went by without any complications and the overwhelming joy of the news that they would be having a boy this time.

Tabitha had been having “warm up labor” for a couple of weeks before Maverick decided to make his entry into the world.

All of their other children had been early, but it seemed that he was just going to do it his own way.

I got the call early Friday morning at 3:37 a.m.

Tabitha was on the other end and said she thought her water broke but there weren’t any contractions yet.

I told her to go ahead and call Illysa in case her contractions picked up quickly.

At that point sleep was not an option for me.

I had been waiting so long for this call that I could hardly stand the silence of my phone.

She called me back at 4:30 a.m. and said that Illysa was on her way, she was having some contractions and that I could come whenever I was ready.

“Whenever I was ready!!??” HELLO…I was flying out the door as soon as “you can come whenever” was out of her mouth.

I got to their house at 5 a.m. right at the same time the second midwife was arriving.

Illysa was already there and Will was setting up the birth pool.

Tabitha was doing well with the contractions

it appeared that from the smile on her face that this was early labor.

Illysa examined her about 5:30 a.m. and she was about 4 cm.

I felt so bad for Tabitha.  I could just see it on her face…”SERIOUSLY! all this and I am only 4 cm…come on!”

We listened to Mavericks heart tones regularly and tried to leave Tabitha and Will alone to labor together in their bedroom.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, the family was gathering.   Both Will’s and Tabitha’s mother had arrived along with Will’s sister Maya (their third daughters namesake).

Family had come to pick up their youngest daughter and the older two were up making signs to welcome their new baby brother and helping to make breakfast for everyone.

making breakfast for the birth crew

7 a.m. rolled around quickly and it was very obvious that Tabitha had entered active labor and that things were moving quickly.

More hot water was added to the birth pool and there was a buzz of anticipation around the house.

Tabitha got into the pool about 7:30 a.m.

Shortly after 8 a.m. Will said a prayer for her and Maverick.

During that prayer Maverick decided it would be a great time to make his entrance.

Tabitha began pushing and his head was born.

However, due to his shoulders being “sticky” as they say in midwifery, Tabitha had to stand up out of the pool.

As soon as she did that, Maverick slipped into Illysa and Will’s hands at 8:16 a.m. Friday, September 12th.

Tabitha immediately sat back down into the pool to bond with her newest gift from God.

The midwives gave Maverick a couple of puffs of oxygen to pink him up quickly.

It was a beautiful birth.

He was so sweet and perfect.

Maverick was “singing” from the moment he was born.

There was some concern that he was having trouble breathing, but they found out he just has a small larynx.

They are happy and doing well adjusting to life as a family of 6.

Me & Maverick

Brith #26 September 18, 2008

I got the call at 6 a.m. as I was getting kennady ready for the bus.

Illysa called me and said that she had been at a birth since yesterday evening and her other assistant couldn’t return.

So I gladly accepted and packed up my bags.

I got to the parent’s home around 7 a.m.

Mom was in early labor still and had been laboring since 5 p.m. the evening before.

I got the job of timing contractions to check for any increase in strength or length.

The contractions stayed about the same for several hours.

Midday Illysa checked the mama and found her to be at about 4 cm and the baby was poorly positioned.

The mother and father decided to try the Rebozo technique.

After the Rebozo technique we monitored the baby for 2 full minutes with the doppler to make sure there were not any changes in the heart tones.

About lunch time mom had still not had any significant change in her labor pattern.

Illysa felt strongly that mama needed to labor alone for a while to be able to get past this point.

We packed up a few essentials and went to do a 3 day postpartum visit.

We returned about 2 hours late to find mama had progressed.  Her contractions seemed to be getting a little closer together.

The husband turned on some music and we all danced.  I have to say that it was my first dance at a birth and it was great for lifting everyone’s spirit.

By 6 p.m. the mama had progressed to 6 cm.  YAY!

There was a renewed sense of hope and expectation of a baby being born this day.

After 5 more hours and lots and lots of hard work by mama and father and a very short amount of pushing

the new baby girl was born into the water and into her parents arms at 11:24 p.m.

The new baby girl had done a lot of work to get here along with her mama and needed a few rescue breaths to get her going, but did perfect after that.

It was a birth that was the perfect example of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

This labor would have ended up in a c-section in a hospital, but given time and encouragement and careful monitoring of mama and baby, she was born at home in the arms of her parents with no interventions.

I left their home at 12:24 a.m. and gratefully crawled into bed at 1:30 a.m.  with a lot of joy in my heart.

Birth #25 July 2, 2008

I had been anticipating this birth for a while.

This was a friend and family member.

This was also her 5th baby.

I had been there for two other births and was looking forward to this one.

The mom is always a great birther and seems to take it all in very easily.

I got the call at 5:30 a.m. June 18th.

Robin was literally about to walk out the door.

I went and told him that it was time for me to go.

He said “couldn’t she have called 30 minutes earlier”. Then he wouldn’t have gotten up and gotten dressed.

I kissed my husband goodbye and he crawled back in bed.

On the way to the birth I was hungry and I was sure that the birth wouldn’t go that fast..so I decided to make a stop at Starbucks on the way.

I pulled in and picked up a soy chai latte and a bran muffin….yumm.

The drive takes about an hour so I had plenty of time to finish my snack before arriving.

I got about 20 minutes from their house when I got a call from their husband asking where I was.

Immediately I got anxious.

My mind began racing….”oh great…I pulled over for 6 minutes and now I am going to miss my second birth”.

Dad said that she was getting pretty “transitional”, but he thought my timing would be perfect.

I put the pedal to the metal and got there in about 15 minutes.

I walked upstairs and found mom in the shower gently swaying with each contraction.

They had just checked her and she was 8 cm.

Yay.

She stayed in the shower for about half an hour longer.

Then she began feeling some beginning urges to push.

She went to the birth ball and sat on it while myself and other ladies took turns massaging her back.

After another half hour she was feeling a strong urge to push.

She got into her bed and began pushing with each contraction.

Her daughter, 8 years old, watched in amazement.

There was a brief moment when she was nervous about the sounds her mother was making, but after some reassurance that all was well, she was back to observing in amazement.

The baby came quickly.

It was a girl!

The oldest in the family was a girl followed by three boys and now, the end to the sandwich, a girl.

Everyone was elated.

Mom had had some concerns about this baby being very big since her last baby was 12 lb 2 oz; but thankfully she modified her diet and this beautiful baby girl weighed in at 9 lb 14 oz.

After the birth the ladies that had attended the birth began preparing a wonderful breakfast for the entire family and friends.

It was a beautiful birth that I was blessed to be a part of.

Birth #24 July 2, 2008

It has taken me way to long to post this, but here it goes.

The birth I missed.

I have been a doula now for 8 years and I have only missed one birth and this is the one.

I got the call from my friend about 8:30 a.m. that things were really progressing.

She had already been admitted to the hospital because she had a high risk pregnancy due to high blood pressure.

They had started using cervadil the night before to get things ready for the next day.

They started the pitocin that morning and “bam” just like that things were going way faster than anyone anticipated.

I called Robin and told him to come home asap.

I had a gut feeling that I needed to leave then, but I just told myself that I was just anxious to get there.

As soon as Robin got home I jumped in the car and raced to the hospital (which was 45 minutes away).

I rushed up to the 3rd floor and as soon as I got to the door, I heard the sweet cry of a new baby.

I walked in to see the new family admiring their beautiful baby girl.

I was so happy for them.

I have to be honest that I was disappointed to have not been there to support them and witness them bringing life into this world, but I could not have been more proud of them.

Mom was a champ and refused all other unnecessary medication and Dad was a wonderful support.

It was a great feeling to know that all had gone so well.

More Birth Art April 6, 2008

These two pictures are from a couple that was having their first baby.

You can tell from the drawings who felt what about birth! 

The first picture is of Dad running into the room nervous (drawn by Dad).

The second picture is mom thanking God for a great birth and husband cheering her on and Dr. being very impressed (drawn by Mom).

The beautiful thing is, they had the birth that the mom drew about!

 

Around the farm March 30, 2008

I thought I would fill you in on life here at placid farm. 

It isn’t the most exciting, but it sure is relaxing and beautiful.

The kids just love to spend time with the grandparents. 

 

 

We are trying to keep our garden small this year.  We have only planted a few things.  Last year we over did it and ended up having our garden demolished by squash bugs. 

We also have so much going on at the church that it is very hard to keep up with the daily work in the garden and our hectic schedule.

 

 

 

We do have a new batch of chicks in.  We lost our last hens to some local wildlife while they were out free ranging it. 

The boys are so excited to see them growing.

We are really looking forward to fresh eggs in the fall.  We will definitely be sharing the love with people come September.

We had a visitor on Saturday.  He sure looked harmless, but not harmless enough.

I took this picture from a distance.

Robin found another one in our barn last week.  Hopefully they will make their homes somewhere beside our back porch.

That’s it for now.  We are just enjoying this lovely weather and spending lots of time outside!

Tax Deductions March 27, 2008

Here is an idea.  

 ABC News reports a list of Tax Deductions You Should Know About, including the fact that:

You can deduct a number of medical expenses as they pertain to the expansion, or even delay, of your family. Deductions include fees paid for childbirth preparation classes, certain fertility enhancement procedures, birth control pills and/or legal operations to prevent having children.

Wonder if Doula services would be permitted, too?

Birth Art March 26, 2008

The first class of each series, I give my class their first project. 

One is that they have to track their food intake for the next week and the other is that they have to come back the following week with some type of artwork.

This art can be in any form, from paper to clay. 

I ask them to simply put into art what they feel about birth and this pregnancy.

It is SOO exciting for me to see what these ladies and their partners come up with. 

It is really probably a selfish project on my part simply because I enjoy it so much and I don’t have to do anything for it.

I really love how the art reveals so much about their attitudes and deep feelings about birth.

The following art work was from a lady who has a child already (which is obvious from the use of crayons) and will be giving birth in a birth center this time.

I LOVE MY CLASS! March 14, 2008

This is a picture of the latest group from the Complete Childbirth classes.

I just love them!

They are full of questions and have such a great attitude about birth.

We had our labor rehearsal class on this night and it was sooo much fun.

I always love this class because it is so hands on.  I am a very hands on kind of person, so it makes it so much easier for me to understand and communicate when there is stuff to actually do instead of say.

We made rice socks which is always a hit with everyone. 

We fill up a long crew sock with rice and add some essential oils and tie a knot in the end.

They can then take it home and stick it in the microwave for 2 minutes and have a great smelling, good feeling heat pack.

 We also practiced lots of different relaxation positions and techniques while using aromatherapy and listening to some lovely relaxation music.

It was great fun.