Complete Childbirth

childbirth, home birth, babies, mamas, doula, midwifery

Birth #25 July 2, 2008

Filed under: A New Life — ericasteele @ 8:10 am

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

Filed under: A New Life — ericasteele @ 7:47 am

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.