Birth Story #2

While we were eating dinner on Monday 6pm 8/3 my water broke, small gush and a little pink so I called my midwife to see what I should do. She suggested I come in to make sure it’s my water, etc. We got our things ready and my sister in law came to get the boys! At 730pm we arrived at the birthing center, I was 2cm dilated and we confirmed that it was my water that had broken. 9pm contractions picked up and we’re 6 min. apart. We watched a funny movie, and hung out, resting when we were able to. At 4am contractions pretty much stopped. 6am 8/4 contractions started again but weren’t consistent.

Legally there is a 24 hr time frame that the birthing center could keep me under their care after the bag of water is broken, unless I was in active labor by the 24 hr mark. The midwife suggested castor oil to get things going. We went home at 930am, ate a good breakfast at 10am then slept until 12pm when I took the castor oil… yuuuck, and I didn’t finish the whole serving. In the meantime, we relaxed and watched another movie. Around 3pm diarrhea and contractions started coming on stronger than I had felt before, but were not consistent! My midwife text me saying that the medical director needed to assess labor and we got there around 730pm – stretched cervix, dilated to 4cm and contracting.

Since I was progressing the director okayed me to stay! The contractions were consistent and stronger until I fell asleep at 130am when they STOPPED. By this time I’m feeling discouraged, sad, stressed and missing my babies that I hadn’t seen since Monday evening. 4am 8/5 I woke up drank herbs and talked to my midwife, she insured me that everything that was happening is completely normal. This is the first time my body has gone into labor on its own and things take time. With the amount of time my water had been broken, we tried another homeopathic drink to get things going. I wanted to avoid pitocin at all costs! I finished the drink at 7 and the contractions started at 730am.

While at the birthing center, being a VBAC mama, they checked the baby’s heart rate about ever 30 minutes. On the last check at the center her heart rate dropped to the 80s. I got a vaginal exam – dilated to 4 and baby’s head was REALLY low. Mikey and I left for the hospital while the midwife called in to give them a heads up. Arrived at the hospital around 830am. The baby’s heart rate was back to normal as soon as they hooked me up! Shortly after the OB came in to discuss our options. The prolonged rupture worried her but my contractions were picking up so she gave me until 10 am to see how things were moving.

The midwife student that had been with us all night stayed and helped talk me through the contractions that were becoming more and more intense. As we were waiting she noticed the positive gbs test and even though I had retested with a negative result she suggested antibiotics. I agreed, 1. My water was broken for over 18hrs 2. I was not sure of the protocol so I’d rather get the antibiotics instead of them giving them to my baby when she was born. I progressed to 6 cm by 10 am so the doctor didn’t even suggest the pitocin!

The contractions were intense, but I continued to breathe in, opening my stomach, and back out relaxing everything and releasing all of my energy out through my uterus. This is what I’ve been working so hard for. The midwife was amazing and so was Mikey. I switched positions to lean up against the back of the bed and the intensity grew fast with each contraction. When I felt the urge to push and my body forcing me to make the same noise I heard the night before from another laboring mom at the birthing center – I knew it was time.

That was 11am and I was at 10cm! I turned over and with little coaching and my body telling me exactly when to push, I pushed out a perfect baby girl at 11:09 am. She was put directly on my chest and I melted. Literally one of the best feelings in the entire world. The hospital I transferred to was amazing – she stayed on my chest from the time she was born, except to take blood for her 48 hr blood culture (precaution because my water had been broken for over 18 hrs and I had a positive gbs test during my pregnancy), she got her sponge bath at 11pm, and the nurses were amazing! She is a rock star breastfeeder and had the best blood sugar on the floor!

Although I was not able to have the birth center birth I imagined, I am so satisfied with how things turned out. Everything happened for a reason and if I had not transferred care to The Birth Haven, I know for a fact my birth would have been a disaster. The hospital has protocol and I would not have been given the time to let my body and baby do exactly what they needed to do! My baby is healthy, I am healthy, and I rocked my natural VBAC!

Side note:
This mama decided to switch care providers at 37 weeks pregnant because she felt like her first Obstetrician wasn’t willing to compromise with her towards the end. She dealt with the classic “bait & switch”, where someone tells you everything you want to hear, then when it comes down to it, they have their own agenda! Follow your intuition mamas! This woman was able to have the birth she wanted because of all of the hard work she put into becoming informed and not being afraid to stand up for what she wanted!