It's a boy (again)
I got to go to a birth last night!
This is the client that was to be my first "repeat". I was to have my first prenatal visit with her on the day that I broke my leg. Doulicia went in my place and agreed to take her on and cover me since I wouldn't be able to attend her with a broken leg.
However, the invitation had been extended, that if the timing was right and I was able, I could still attend the birth. Last night the stars aligned and I was proud to witness the birth of their second son.
Around 4:30 Doulica called to say that she had just gotten the call that N's water had broken she thought she would be going to the hospital soon and wanted to know if I felt like coming along. Honestly at the time I had been taking a nap as I had't really felt well all day. I told her to call me back and "keep me in the loop."
She phoned back a couple hours later saying she was going to go home and grab her knitting and wanted to know if I wanted to come along then. I told her to swing by and get me after she got her knitting. I grabbed my knitting too as well as my sudoko book. I figured this might be a long one with all the knitting going on.
We arrived around 8:30 to find her in the bathtub. Her partner came out and announced that she was "thinking about the epidural." We went in and found her to be very chatty. Uh oh, I thought, better grab that knitting. But after about 20 minutes in the tub she stopped talking during a contraction and had to concentrate through it. Ok I thought, a little progress. I hobbled out of the bathroom and tried to find a comfortable chair (!) in which to park myself. N came out not long after and I noticed a marked change about her. She was no longer chatty and couldn't quite figure out how to get comfortable. She walked around the room for a while until she got cold. We got her into a gown and I suggested she try to sit on the ball and lean on the bed. She did that for maybe 4 minutes. She said the contractions were coming closer and stronger and she thought she might want to be checked. (Her water broke around 3pm and they didn't check her in triage. This was to be her first cervical check.) The Dr. was called in and found her to be 5-6 and 100% effaced. A few minutes later (really it was only a few) she started saying "I can't do it" and was getting really overwhelmed by the intensity of the contractions. The Dr. was still in the room and there was talk about getting an epidural. The Dr. countered with "how 'bout this, I will come back in 10 minutes and we will check you again, and then you can decide what you want to do about pain control." N (sort of) agreed but countered back with "how about 5 minutes". She checked her again and found her to be at 9cm!
This was about 5-6 minutes after the first check! A couple of HUGE contractions later and she was fully dilated.
She pushed for about 10 minutes and her baby boy was born!
I was so excited to be a part of this birth. I have this philosophy that things always work out. And this time they totally did. From the time that we arrived until the time the baby was born was about an hour! I was home before 11pm! I am truly grateful to this couple who invited me back and to doulicia for providing me a ride!
This is the client that was to be my first "repeat". I was to have my first prenatal visit with her on the day that I broke my leg. Doulicia went in my place and agreed to take her on and cover me since I wouldn't be able to attend her with a broken leg.
However, the invitation had been extended, that if the timing was right and I was able, I could still attend the birth. Last night the stars aligned and I was proud to witness the birth of their second son.
Around 4:30 Doulica called to say that she had just gotten the call that N's water had broken she thought she would be going to the hospital soon and wanted to know if I felt like coming along. Honestly at the time I had been taking a nap as I had't really felt well all day. I told her to call me back and "keep me in the loop."
She phoned back a couple hours later saying she was going to go home and grab her knitting and wanted to know if I wanted to come along then. I told her to swing by and get me after she got her knitting. I grabbed my knitting too as well as my sudoko book. I figured this might be a long one with all the knitting going on.
We arrived around 8:30 to find her in the bathtub. Her partner came out and announced that she was "thinking about the epidural." We went in and found her to be very chatty. Uh oh, I thought, better grab that knitting. But after about 20 minutes in the tub she stopped talking during a contraction and had to concentrate through it. Ok I thought, a little progress. I hobbled out of the bathroom and tried to find a comfortable chair (!) in which to park myself. N came out not long after and I noticed a marked change about her. She was no longer chatty and couldn't quite figure out how to get comfortable. She walked around the room for a while until she got cold. We got her into a gown and I suggested she try to sit on the ball and lean on the bed. She did that for maybe 4 minutes. She said the contractions were coming closer and stronger and she thought she might want to be checked. (Her water broke around 3pm and they didn't check her in triage. This was to be her first cervical check.) The Dr. was called in and found her to be 5-6 and 100% effaced. A few minutes later (really it was only a few) she started saying "I can't do it" and was getting really overwhelmed by the intensity of the contractions. The Dr. was still in the room and there was talk about getting an epidural. The Dr. countered with "how 'bout this, I will come back in 10 minutes and we will check you again, and then you can decide what you want to do about pain control." N (sort of) agreed but countered back with "how about 5 minutes". She checked her again and found her to be at 9cm!
This was about 5-6 minutes after the first check! A couple of HUGE contractions later and she was fully dilated.
She pushed for about 10 minutes and her baby boy was born!
I was so excited to be a part of this birth. I have this philosophy that things always work out. And this time they totally did. From the time that we arrived until the time the baby was born was about an hour! I was home before 11pm! I am truly grateful to this couple who invited me back and to doulicia for providing me a ride!
posted by T$ at
3:23 PM
2 Comments:
That is so great! Guess that the stars were aligned in the doula world all over the place... I got the call on my cell phone at 7pm. Friday... Was home again on Saturday afternoon. No worries about child care too! Baby boy, seems to be the trend too. Didn't see any pink cards at all those two "days"!
So pleased you got to go! I know you were feeling a little sad!
K
Oh and some of us tend to progress like that as a habit. Six one minute baby almost out the next! Drove my midwives insane =)... who said vbac mamas aren't good at labour?! hee hee hee!
K
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