Once upon a time, I am sure that women would have heard many more "normal" birth stories in talking with mothers, aunts, cousins and neighbors. But in this age of the nuclear family, many first time mothers are heading into their own births with few, if any, ideas of what birth is REALLY like. Not Hollywood's movie version.
And so; I hope to print a "normal" birth story for you every month. Here's your first sampling:
Around 6:30 am mom called to let me know that her waters had release earlier that morning. Since she wasn't aware of having any contractions, yet, she decided that she wanted to wait at home to see if labour would begin on its own.
After talking with the nurses in labour and delivery the parents decided to go into the hospital around 4:00 pm so the nurses could monitor for contractions and baby's heart rate. I joined the parents at their house, where I shared a meal with dad as mom calmly continued her regular activities. Soon we headed off in the cold dark of a winter evening to the hospital.
In the assessment room I played games with an older sibling as the parents and I discussed the risks and benefits of the options that lay ahead of them. I did a little bit of acupressure on mom to see if we could encourage contractions to pick-up. The monitors recorded that she was having mild contractions, but she found no discomfort in them at all. The doctor did an internal exam and found the mom was 2 cm dilated and baby's heart rate was a healthy 135 bpm. It was clear that labour was not active yet and together we decided that the best option was to head home to eat and sleep in the comfort of our own homes. At 8:30 pm Dr. X agreed to the family's wishes to head home for the night to await labour. If nothing happened by 8 am the next day they would likely be called back to start an induction of labour. At home, I gave dad a quick lesson in applying acupressure to encourage contractions. I wished them a good nights rest, as I suspected they'd be calling me before the sun rose the next day.
At 5:42 am dad phoned me to report that mom's contractions had begun and were coming every 5 minutes. We agreed to meet at the hospital. I arrived around 6:30 am to find the parents being settle into their labour and delivery room. Mom was already 7 cm dilated and well on her way to bringing a new baby into this world.
This final stage of dilation is powerful and often overwhelming. Mom was trying to lie in the narrow hospital bed. With every contraction, however, I could see her body tense and start writhing in resistance to the power of the contractions which gripped her every couple of minutes. Dad and I gave mom our gentle and calm energy. We touched her thighs and stroked her hair and face. As dad held her, we verbally reminded her to relax into each contraction, not to fight or resist the work of her own body. I modeled to this mom how I wanted her to breath; slowly and deeply in through her nose and out through her mouth. Together we were able to help mom ride the stormy waves of the powerful contractions. For a short period mom used laughing gas to help calm and slow her breathing, but very quickly she was ready to push.
In no time at all, at 7:36 am a sweet little 6lbs. 12 oz. baby girl emerged slippery wet, yet so calm! She was placed next to the warmth of her mother's chest and we all soaked in the magic of this moment as a new live enters our presence.
Having experience a highly medicalized and managed first birth, it was so nice to hear the parents comment afterwards that this was the way to have a baby, "nice and normal".
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