10/11/09 Birth # 6 for me with this group of midwives.



This time I actually got the call in the day time. It was around 4:30pm and I was out shopping for quilting fabric with my new friend. We had been out to a few different shops and thankfully we were at the last place and just ready to check out. As I get home I notice that Robert had just fired up the grill and he had some beautiful looking steaks ready to go. Then inside he had salad ready and veggies all wrapped up in aluminum foil sprinkled with olive oil. I was devastated that I was going to miss this dinner.



The call came in saying one of the clients was in labor and could I come to the birth center. This particular client wanted to birth at the clinic versus at home. She and her husband live out of the country and they decided to come back to the states for the birth and they are staying with her mom. I think this was one reason that they wanted to birth at the clinic. We were just happy to have her and her family as clients and we don't care where they want to birth.

So I grabbed some quickie drive thru and headed up to the clinic. Sometimes it's hard to decide if you should stop on the way for something you might need or just go at godspeed. I would hate to miss a birth because the 17yr old at the drive thru window was being slow. I had been out all day shopping and was going home for dinner when I got the call so I decided I had to eat before I head to a birth that could potentially last for many many hours.

I arrived at the clinic and when I came rushing in I see the mom, her husband and one of the other midwives sitting there laughing and talking and sharing stories. I was shocked thinking this doesn't look like labor or anything that I should have rushed here for. I got there around 6:00 and decided to eat my dinner realizing that I was in for a long night.

We all settled in and continued to chat while the mom labored. She was tolerating the contractions so well; sometimes it was hard to tell that she was even having a contraction. I was quite impressed with her. I started to learn her pattern, it would seem that all of a sudden she would get quiet and press on her lower back. Then just as quickly as it would start it would be over and she was back to laughing and talking again. We continued on in this pattern for what felt like days, but was really only quite a few hours.

Finally around midnight the contractions were getting a lot stronger for her and there was no more laughing and smiling during them. She decided to get into the tub to relax and help her with the pains, she even considered birthing in the water. After 45 mins of that she wanted to get out of the water. That was fine with me as we were all having a hard time fitting in the bathroom anyway. She got out and went to the bed in the birthing suite.

We have a metal tray set up with all of our supplies on it so we are able to just move around to where ever the mom is when she starts to push. She settled into the room and into her new labor pattern; often time changing positions can change the labor. We worked with her on each contraction and then determined that she was 10 cms and could push. That was an exciting moment for everyone. I'm sure it was more exciting for the mom. She knew that she was that much closer to meeting her baby after all this time.

She started pushing and breathing deeply. It was quite a hard push and took a long time, especially because she was a second time mom. We did everything we could to try to help her push more effectively and follow her body's clues. Finally after more than an hour we could start to see the top of the baby's head. It felt like forever before we got to see a little bit more of his head. We just kept working together with her taking one contraction at a time. She was working so hard!

Finally the head was out and then one shoulder and then the other and then the chest...abdomen...pelvis...thighs....knees...ankles....feet. Oh man, I felt like I was pulling that baby out for days! Normally once the head is out the whole baby just flops out of the mom in one big gush, well not this baby. We found out later that it was because he was ten and a half pounds. Wow! She didn't tear at all and was such a trooper. She handled it very well and we were all so proud of her. After a few hours they went home and all was well.

Score another one for natural birth and midwives!!