Birth #23 January 8, 2008
Well…the day started perfectly. I got up and got Kennady off to school and got the boys fed. That right there is an accomplishment in itself.
About 8 a.m. I got a call from my client.
She felt confident that this was labor, but the contractions were about 7 minutes apart and she was handling things well.
Fortunately for me the birth fell on a day that I already had childcare arranged.
So. I packed my bags and headed in to town to run some errands. I really was anticipating the birth not happening until 5 - 8 p.m. that night.
I got another call about 11 a.m. and she said that they were getting closer together, but that she had a few errands to run before they went to the hospital.
I decided at that point to go meet my husband for lunch and then run errands after that.
We ate a great lunch at Chipotle and had some good conversation.
As soon as I got on the highway, I got a call from her and she was concerned.
She seemed to be in active labor and wanted me to stop by and take a look at her to see what I thought. She seemed very serious and concerned and really seemed to be going a lot faster than any of us anticipated.
I told her that I was already on the highway heading toward her house and that I would run the one errand I had and be right over. Well, before we got off the phone she had an intense contraction and that told me all I needed to know.
I pulled over and changed clothes and went straight to her house.
When I walked in the door her husband said “you have perfect timing”.
I walked in and she was throwing up in her kitchen sink.
I went over and helped clean her up and then went to her husband and let him know it was time to go.
I think he was pretty shocked. He said “oh, o.k., so just like that it is time to go. Great.”
They got everything together and we headed out to the car.
Dad was a nervous wreck. He really wanted me to drive her, but I encouraged him and assured him that he could do it and that he needed to be with her.
We made the 20 minute drive to the hospital.
We checked in and the admission process at this particular hospital is for the birds in my humble opinion.
Anyway, she did such a great job walking and breathing through each contraction.
She refused a wheelchair on multiple occasions because she just couldn’t bear the thought of sitting through the contractions.
Which of course was all beneficial.
We got to the room and she got changed at which point we had to make another pit stop to the potty for throwing up.
When the nurse came in and checked her, she was already 9 centimeters! YYYAAAAAAYYYYY.
I can’t tell you how proud I was of her. She had handled everything like a champ so far and was almost there to see her new beautiful baby girl.
She labored for another 30 minutes. She had had some previous therapy using Hypnosis and we used it during the time we were at the hospital. It really proved to be very effective for her. I learned a lot about Hypnosis through this birth.
After about 30 minutes of intense labor, she was ready to push.
She pushed for about 25 minutes.
The doctor arrived and observed her for about 2 - 3 contractions.
After the observation he recommended a local anesthetic for pain and then after about one more contraction offered an episiotomy for delivery. He felt that the baby was only being held back by the perineum and that if he gave her the episiotomy the baby would be born right away.
It was 3 contractions later that the beautiful little girl was born.
Dad did a great job supporting his wife and mom did and exceptional job laboring and birthing her little girl.
It was a beautiful birth.
_____My Personal Thoughts_______
I was sad to hear the doctor recommend the episiotomy. It was supposed to speed the delivery of the baby, but in reality she still had to push through 3 more contractions before the baby was born. There was also no risk to the baby at that time and no medical reason to do the procedure.
There was another patient of the doctors in the other labor room that was nearing completion. I really hope that this did not influence the decision for offering the episiotomy, but I feel like it did.
It has been proven statistically that episiotomies only speed up the delivery of the baby by 10 - 15 minutes. So, why not push the extra 10 - 15 minutes and come out with an intact perineum.
Of course there is a legitimate use of episiotomies in emergencies. However in this particular situation there was not a medical emergency.
