I ended up attending three births with women named Jennifer last week - two girls and then a boy. While the first birth was a whirlwind with the mom pushing the baby out only about 4 hours after noticing contractions, the other two were much longer births.
The second Jennifer began labor 80 hours before her daughter was born. Through more than 3 days of laboring she and her partner and family stayed strong about homebirthing and continued to find ways to cope at home. I was really impressed with how everyone around her seemed to rally behind the birth she wanted, even in the face of a very long labor. She was switching positions, getting in and out of the bath, and working her way through the contractions one at a time. I had not met her prior to her labor (although it turned out I had suggested her homebirth midwife to her over email earlier in the pregnancy) but when things got long and difficult, her midwife had called me for help. Over two days into the labor I came to their house with another doula and together we worked to sooth her, provide information about prodromal labor and what was happening with her body, and offer pain coping techniques. We left them after about 5 hours and they continued to labor throughout the night. At 8 am her midwife called again and I returned to the house to help her through the last hours of labor, transition, pushing, and the birth of their daughter. It was beautiful to watch her trust her body and move around her space. When her daughter was born there was such a sense of triumph and her friends who were watching burst into tears. It was a blessing to have been trusted with such a special time, having never met before that day.
I went home that afternoon and got a call from another client, Jennifer, who had been walking around with leaking water for two days. Labor had continued to not come and she was upset to report that the most recent testing had shown that the baby no longer had enough fluid and it was time for the birth to happen. Her midwife was conservative in her interventions, starting with an enima and then a foley in the cervix to promote dialation. While both seemed to help, the next morning I joined them at the hospital for pitocin to be administered. This worked well and quickly the midwife dialed the pit back and got her off the IV to move about freely. She showered, sat on the birth ball, walked the hospital floor and labored amazingly through strong contractions. 9 hours after the pit was first started she was beginning to feel the urge to push. The baby moved down nicely, it seemed, after an hour or two of gentle pushing. Eventually she moved to the birth stool and the babies head was continuing to move downward. The head eventually became visible and it seemed that within a few pushed we would see the baby. Later, after he was born via c-section (after 6+ hours of pushing) we would see clearly that the part of his head that had been visible was the front, left side and his presentation was off. He could not find a way to move his head around to come through the birth canal and became stuck in a coked-head position. Although not the birth this mother had hoped for, it was a birth she should feel proud of because she labored amazingly against a lot of odds and she refused medications, as planned, despite a sleepless night in the hospital and a the pain of induced contractions. She was strong and graceful, moving with power and intention through her labor and she laughed and made jokes as she was on the operating table, at peace with the way things had to be.
It was a long week and I was tired after three births, but it was fabulous to see three women transformed into mothers, to watch their partners become fathers, and to see three new babies come into such loving families.
I woke up Saturday morning with a phone call from a client who thought she might be in labor. She suggested she had been feeling off all night but could not really say she was having regular contractions of clear signs of labor. Within an hour things started to become more clear and by 10:30 I was headed to their house. This mother was laboring so sweetly and making really funny jokes between and even during contractions. After less than an hour of being with her through contractions we left for the hospital. It turned out to be a slightly longer than expected drive with traffic and this was miserable for the mother. She was laboring amazingly and handling her contractions so solidly. But being stuck on the West Side Highway is an awful fate for any laboring woman and I offer silent prayers to the traffic gods to clear the roads for us quickly.
After getting by some construction 15 blocks north of us we sailed the rest of the way to SLR. They called her 7cm at arrival but she was clearly in transition and within 30 minutes she was feeling the urge to push. With no OB there yet the staff was a bit overwhelmed and asked if she could just hold off on pushing (yeah right). By 1:15 a new little girl was in the breathing world, born to two incredibly sweet parents who clearly adore each other and their new baby. I went and saw them yesterday and felt really lucky to have known them and helped them in this special time of their lives.
Today I hosted a workshop in my living room on homeopathy for labor doulas. It was a terrific learning experience and it was fun to sit in room full of doulas. The workshop was run by Rebakah of http://brooklynhomeopathy.com and she is fabulous! I am hoping to do another workshop just on breastfeeding in the future!
I am shocked at how long it has been since I have posted to my blog. Apologies if anyone out there noticed! October is such a busy month (I guess because of it's 9-months post the holidays status) and my October was very busy this year. I believe I have failed to post a word about the last three births I attended - all of which were terrific in their own ways. There is sadness when a VBAC client does not end up delivering vaginally but I remind myself that c-sections are an amazing, life-saving intervention and when they are used only when necessary, they are a god-send. There was one particularly long birth this week (26 hours of labor) but the mom was amazing and she pushed out her baby so beautifully. I feel very blessed and honored to be asked to be there for people during this time in their lives.
This month was also very busy for me with postpartum clients who I did not labor with. Each time I meet with new parents during their first days of life as a family, I was always reminded by how important it is for professionals working with new families to encourage as sense of authority, intuition, and ownership over the process. I am often asked for answers and while I can happily provide information, so many of these questions are more about parenting styles and can not simply be answered. Helping parents to become the parents that they want to be is so critical in this stage and I am always looking for strategies.
This month is also busy because of the upcoming election and my investment in that process. I am really looking forward to election day this year! Before I get to the polls, however, I have to enjoy Halloween tomorrow with my kids, then the Homeopathy for Labor Doulas workshop I am hosting in my living room on Saturday with Rebekah, and finally, the Marathon!! I am really looking forward to all of them!
Many parents are not aware that all car seats come with an expiration date printed into the plastic of the seat itself (check the back of your seat). Be very aware of this when borrowing seats from other parents or buying used car seats for your child. Also confirm the history of the car seat - even a seat that appears to be perfect should never be used again after being in an accident. They are a single-use product when it comes to accidents, even ones in which no one was hurt.
