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.

Birth #22 December 19, 2007

Well…this being my first post about a recent birth I have attended, I thought I should clarify that I am only numbering the births for my reference and to keep my clients names private.

This birth was with a couple that I had taught Childbirth Classes to a couple of years ago.  I was also with them for the birth of their first child. 

I got the first call from her at about 6 a.m.,  she thought this might be it, but would call me back as soon as things picked up.  Well…as things seem to go the more children you have, you can’t hardly tell. 

So, I didn’t receive another phone call until 2 days later at 5 a.m.. 

This time it was the real deal.  It was still very early on, but the sensation of the contractions had definitely changed.

Jumping the ”birth gun” I rushed my daughter off to school and got everything in place for the babysitter to come take over.

I waited for about 3 hours before calling her back.  I called just to check and make sure this was really it and she confirmed that it indeed was, they were just waiting on things to get a little stronger.

Hearing her voice it really seemed like either she was handling thins incredibly well (which she had with her last baby) or she was still very early on.

So, the babysitter got to my house about 10:30.  I headed out and went into town.

I waited for quite a while and decided to do some shopping.  While I was out, I got a call from another client of mine that I had been trying to get together with to meet her husband.  Well..it just so happened that they were around the corner at a restaurant.

So I made my way over the the restaurant and met with my other client and her husband.  We had a great meeting and then I got another call from my client that was in labor.

They had decided to come into town and walk a while before going into the hospital.

Her husband felt like it might be about time for me to come over and give them a hand.

I got to the hospital and rushed in thinking they were already checked in. 

I was more concerned this time being her second baby that she would progress more quickly, especially since she had done such a great job last time.

This labor however seemed to be just putting along at the average rate.

When I realized they were not checked in, I went back outside and found them walking the local streets during the contractions.

 She was doing a great job, but from the look on her face it appeared that she was still in early labor.

We continued to walk for another hour around the hospital until she decided she would be more comfortable in a room.

Once we checked in, the nurse examined her and said she had progressed to 5 cm.

I have to say that she was a little disappointed.  But thing were going very well and she handled each contraction beautifully.

She relaxed so well, that you would literally think she was sleeping.  I was so proud of her.

The nurse came back in about 2 hours later and examined her again, to find that she was still at about 5cm.

I asked the mother if she wanted to take a shower and she thought that that would feel nice.

So, she got in the shower and between her husband, mother in law and myself, we held the shower head over her lower back for about 45 minutes or so. 

The shower seemed to really be helping thing progress.  She began to feel nauseated and wanted to be checked again.

The nurse examined her as soon as she got back in bed and she had progressed to 7.5 cm.

Yay!

We were all very encouraged.

She continued to labor in bed and tried squatting for a couple of contractions.

She labored about an hour longer and then began feeling the urge to push.

She had had some problems with tearing with the birth of her first child, so there was some concern this time as well.

During the pushing the father told the Dr. (this was not their primary dr.) that she had some problems with tearing last time. 

It was humorous because he kind of looked at him and said, well do you want me to give her an episiotomy?

The husband said no.

The doctor said “o.k., well, I will do the best I can”.

I guess I thought it was funny because the doctor was confused.

The doctor did a wonderful job at helping to stretch her perineum and help the baby be born.

The couple had a healthy baby boy.  He was born at 5:35 p.m.

The mom gave birth and didn’t even need a stitch.  She had some minor tears, but nothing that needed any attention.

I was so impressed.  The father did a great job and really knew his wife well.

The mother could not have done better.

It was so emotional. 

I was overwhelmed with joy for them.