Haven’t we all heard that? Every birth is different.

While it’s true that each birth provides its own unique feelings, changes, & happenings… I never really *grasped* this concept until I had my second son, Benjamin.

My daughter Addison was born pretty “standard”. My labor was short for a first time mom- 6 hours start to finish (almost to the minute). My water broke before labor began, & from there went nearly textbook. No matter how that first labor goes though, I personally believe that there is something about your FIRST baby that makes that birth more unique, special even. She was my rite of passage, my moment of becoming a mother for the first time. A title that would stand with me for the remainder of my days.

Then there was my second born, Thomas. Another fairly textbook labor, only my water did not break before & I still had him in about 6 hours time! We chose a waterbirth this time. The waterbirth made his birth seem so different from Addies. We had birthed alone & on land with Addie; it was intimate, private & amazing. We decided to have people at the birth with Thomas. It was still amazing, wonderful & empowering- yet less intimate. He changed me. His birth was the start to a season in my life that I can only call… hard. The transition to 2 children was not what I couldve prepared for. He was a fussy child & sickly child that kept me constantly teetering on the edge of insanity.  I had 4, yes FOUR bouts of Mastitis while nursing him. He became ill with Spinal Meningitis when he was only 5 weeks old. Shortly after our stay in the hospital for treatment & the 2 months that followed of constant O2, I developed full blown pneumonia. He didnt sleep through the night until after 1 year old. He began to have weekly seizures at around 10 months old & suffered kidney damage. We finally were able to diagnose him with Celiacs. But yeah- tough season in life to say the least.

This is important because leading into the birth of my 3rd child, I was scared. I put on a brave face, but on the inside after bring so rocked by the toughness of that first year with Thomas, I wasnt sure I could handle having another child. This fear put a bit of a shadow on what was supposed to be another amazing homebirth experience. Changing things up again, we decided on the more intimate land birth (I think trying to mimic what I had experienced with Addie). Im SO glad we chose the intimateness – as Benjamins birth threw me for a loop I never saw coming!  I had experienced 2 six-hour labors that were textbook. I knew there was a chance that this labor could go completely different- but really, how much of one with having a “track record” now of pretty standard births?

Weeeeeellllllllll… My water partially broke at around 5:30pm- then NOTHING, NATTA, NILTCH… until right when I was getting into bed, calling any attempt at labor a utter failure & getting some sleep. 11:30pm rolled around & BOOM, contraction. 30 seconds later BOOM another contraction & so on & so forth until 2 chaotic & crazy hours later, our son Benjamin entered this world. All 9 1/2 POUNDS of him. Now, I could go into the deatils of what happened next & all that (but thats a whole other blog;)) I instead want to stress the LABOR itself.  I had read about “short labors”, heck, I even thought I had HAD short labors (I mean really, 6 hours for a first time mom is pretty darn fast!). Nah, nothing could’ve prepared me for a 2 hour ride like that. The contractions were hard, strong & powerful FROM THE GET-GO… and I dont just mean the “normal” hard & strong- these were knock you over, make you wanna PUKE & SCREAM strong from the get-go & they didnt let up for 2 straight hours until he was in my arms.

Im a CBE- I teach this stuff & I never realized it was like *that* to have a “race-car labor” as they are often called. Sure, they’re fast, over & done with in a miniscule amount of time. But… dont be fooled, these labors are all the work in none of the time. You dont get a get-out-of-jail-free pass with a race-car labor. Nope- it CRAMS all the work that a typical 12-14 hour long labor would do- into 2 unbelievable crazy hours of near panic.

Would I want to ever have it happen again? No, thank you. I will take the nice, textbook 6-hour labor over *that* any day. All my births were unique & all were amazing moments that I proved something to myself. All were a new phase, new rite of passage into a new era of me. All were experiences & moments that I wouldn’t trade for the world. But, it is true: Every Birth is Different.

The Birth of Benjamin

(Edited to suite a more broad audience. Hope everyone enjoys! )

It was Saturday evening Jan 1st 2011 around 5pm. Tucker & I were hanging out in the living room. I began to have a normal, painless Brampton Hicks contraction. At the “peak” of this contraction I felt & heard a strange “Pop” down low in my belly. I sat there for a second wondering what appendage on our baby had just bumped hard enough against me that I felt it like that! I casually mentioned this to Tucker & he asked if my water bad broken. I thought, “No way, I would’ve felt that (in terms of wetness)!” A few minutes later I got off the couch & realized that indeed my water HAD broken (or so I thought, lol.). Tucker & I got into gear & started prepping for the fact that tonight was the night!

Around 5:30 or so I had a mildly painful contraction followed by a couple more over the next hour. These contractions were mildly painful- but I could tell that these were not strong enough to be going anywhere. Sure enough around 6pm my contractions pretty much stopped all together. I started trying various positions, getting alone into a room by myself, listening to soft music- everything. Things just stopped. I began to feel discouraged because I knew this meant I was not really in effective, active labor.

Around 10:45pm after having less than 10 mild contractions since 5:30, we decided to head to bed.  Tucker was a great encourager to me against my obvious disappointment that things hadn’t progressed into full blown labor. We texted our midwife, Laura, and told her what was going on & that we’d keep her posted throughout the night.

I crawled into bed & as I was adjusting myself to lay down an all too familiar feeling began to creep up- a REAL contraction. One that had a start, a peak, pain involved & a slow decline to a finish. I looked at Tucker in surprise & announced, “That was the real deal!” We decided not to look into it too much and still try to get some sleep. As I went to get off the bed another contraction hit, followed by another & another- all within 12 minutes!

It became clear, very quick that this wasn’t going to stop & in fact, was only going to keep picking up QUICKLY. Tucker texted the midwife a few times throughout that 15 minute period. His text conversation went something like this: 10:45pm: “we are going to bed”. 10:50pm: “we think something might be starting”. 10:55pm: “ummm things seem to be going quite quick now”. 11:00pm: “I would really feel more comfortable if you came now!!”.  :)

While we waited for Laura to arrive Tucker got the birth pool squared away & I got in, broken foot and all. It felt GREAT to get in the hot water. I LOVE hot water when I am in labor! I began to breath slowly & rhythmically through each contraction, but felt a little overwhelming and surprising that they were coming so close together & I was feeling nauseous after each one, already.

Laura arrived & got right to business. She began by checking my vitals & the babys heart tones & then got busy setting up all her gear. Tucker was great, he would help Laura some & be with me a lot, helping me any way he could through contraction after quickly-coming contraction!

For about an hour I labored in the birth pool breathing (okay so maybe more like moaning & sometimes whining) through each contraction & trying to remember to stay relaxed everywhere else in my body while the contraction took over.  We told Laura that we thought we would deliver on the bed this time (we did a “land birth” with Addie and waterbirth with Thomas). She got the bed all ready to go & then came into the room & said, “Okay Julie, lets get moved to the bed.” I remember thinking it was too soon to move to the bed, because I had only been in the birth pool for about an hour & I was *sure* I would be in labor for many more hours. I breathlessly said, “Not yet, only the for the birth.” A silent moment passed & Laura said, “If you want to have this baby on the bed, you need to start thinking about moving.” Oh! I get it now, this really IS going THIS fast! So after a couple more contractions, I hobbled using both Laura & Tucker as crutches, to the bed.

The bed felt nice. I didn’t think I would like laboring there in this late stage of labor when the pool was only 10 feet away, but I actually did enjoy the change to scenery & feeling of the contractions, at first. However, once I was on the bed things really picked up. My contractions began to get closer together & more powerful. I was feeling like I couldn’t “keep it together” in these contractions & at the peak of them I would fight internally the desire to panic.

Tucker was fantastic, he would press against my forehead during the contraction, which really brought me back to my “center”. He would press against my back to help relieve some of the pressure there as well, meanwhile talking to me, breathing with me, and being a constant reminder on how to get through each contraction.  I didn’t want to talk to anyone in-between the contractions & a few times the feeling of nausea turned into vomiting between contractions. I knew this meant I was getting close. I couldn’t believe I was this far into labor though. It hadn’t been but just over an hour since I was feeling discouraged that labor wasn’t happening & heading to bed.

As I was laying on the bed, each contraction began to change from just painful to this mix of pain & pressure, overwhelming pressure. This was a pressure unlike I had felt in any of my other labors & it seemed to encompass my entire pelvis. Laura checked me to find that my water had actually NOT broken, as we had thought it had earlier (one layer of the sack had, causing a small trickle of water, but the bag in & of itself was still very much intact). It was bulging, pressing hard in my uterus during each contraction. I began to fear the contraction that was to come, not sure if I could handle another one with that kind of pressure.

Both Tucker & Laura were continuously talking to me. As I tried to fight against the feeling taking over me, they tried to encourage me to welcome it, let it encompass me. I tried to take their advice, but I had never experienced labor in this speed, with this intensity before & It was kicking my butt!

I wanted the pressure to stop so I asked Laura to break my bag of waters. I NEVER want intervention- but this time, I did. We tried for a couple contractions to break the bag, to no success- then finally- POP! It broke, yes. The relief I felt was unbelievable and for just a moment I thought I could escape the pain I was in with this labor. That was until the next contraction began & a whole new pressure began- the pressure of the baby heavy into my pelvis, ready to be born!  I instinctively hopped up in a sitting upright position & began to speak LOUDLY of the discomfort I was in. I couldn’t figure out if I wanted to bottle up or just push through the pain & get this baby out. My body didn’t really let me choose as it was pushing for me.

Benjamin’s head was out in a flash & as my body kept bearing down for me, Laura was instructing me to wait because he was coming out in a complicated presentation (hand next to his face) & his cord was around his neck. She had to try & get his cord from around his next, while working with a hand that was blocking her ability. She was able to free the cord & Benjamin came flying out- all 9.5 pounds of him!

Nothing can describe what that moment feels like. The relief, the empowerment, the accomplishment, the pure joy & gratitude. It’s such a mix, a cocktail of the most amazing & relieving feelings all put together at once.  Part of you is in awe at yourself that you just did that, most of you is feeling like you never want to do it again, yet you feel strong and powerful.  I held onto my SON & cried tears of joy and of love & I began to marvel at all his features. I gave & took kisses from my husband & helped my kids take in their new baby brother.

~Julie

The Epidemic of Induction

I’m a huge believer in birth being natural. This is not simply because I just think it’s a good idea. I used to have NO idea. My passion for natural birth was actually pioneered by hearing all the births that my friends and their friends were experiencing and picking up on too many similar bad patterns to be coincidence. For example one of my big “kicks” with birth was when OB’s would pressure their patients with this phrase, “You’ve been a (insert # dilated here) for too long & you’re showing signs of failure to progress in your labor. I think we are going to *need* to put you on Pitocin.”  I would cringe when listening to birth stories & the infamous statement was spoken again & again. It would quite literally anger me becasue it was so often unnecessary & so often led to negative outcomes in their births.

Well, I have been on a new “kick” lately. The pattern that I have been hearing more lately is this Epidemic of Induction. What is the deal? Why is it that so many OB’s seem to pressure a woman to be induced instead of letting her body spontaneously go into labor? Seriously, where is the medical evidence-based proof that this has to do with ANYTHING other than habit or convenience on the OB’s part?

A few months ago a friend of mine was casually mentioning to me that her OB wanted to go ahead & schedule her delivery date (this was at her 12 week prenatal, mind you) via induction. When my friend told her OB that she hoped to NOT be induced this time around, her OB said this, “Why? OB’s just arent letting thier clients go past 39 weeks now-a-days.”

I swear to you, my jaw hit the floor! What? Not “letting” your clients go past 39 weeks? Since when did this OB become the final word on when my friends baby should enter this world? As you can imagine, I eagerly encouraged her to seek a new provider and ASAP.

I simply do not understand the need for any induction of labor unless ABSOLUTELY medically necessary. I’ll give you another example and this is one I have been hearing A LOT lately: Induction of labor because a woman is not dilating in the weeks or days BEFORE her due date. The same friend I mentioned above, towards the end of her pregnancy went in for a prenatal & was told that she wasnt showing any “signs” of labor & that discussing an induction was a good idea. Her OB even told her that in order to leave that prenatal they needed to preform an ultrasound & a non-stress test to make sure the baby was still okay. She wasn’t even to her due date yet!

Another friend of mine was sharing her birth story with me & how in her final prenatal before she went into labor, her OB told her that she wasn’t dilated at all & since she wasn’t showing sings of labor, they were going to schedule the induction for the following week (3 days past her 40-week due date). Luckily, she went into labor spontaneously a couple days later.

When did medicine decide that a woman not showing any signs of labor BEFORE actually going into LABOR was a concern? Doesn’t that just seem like poor common sense? I mean, think about it. You’re basically telling a woman that her body isnt doing it “right” because she isn’t naturally pre-dilating to a 1, 2, or 3 before labor has begun. Last time I checked LABOR is what happens when a baby is ready to be born. Since when did we decide that there was now a set “rule” to abide by in the days or weeks before labor? This really doesn’t make sense to me.

Our bodies know how to have babies!! Granted complications do arise & things do fail us- but the majority of the time if we leave it alone, birth seems to work remarkably well without us getting in the way of it. I don’t see where Doctors can stress that it is somehow better for the baby or the mother to induce labor; to pump your body full of Pitocin, Cervadil, Cytotec or any other labor inducing drug simply because her cervix hasn’t dilated BEFORE labor. These drugs come with some serious risks; risks that are far greater than the “risk” of going a few days past her due date.

Some risks of Pitocin include:

• Uterine Rupture. Especially if you are trying for a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean).
• Fetal distress. Babies do not like the stronger contractions synthetic oxytocin offers & this can cause babies to go into fetal distress. If this happens, the medicine will be turned off and your care provider will evaluate the situation. Because of the risk of fetal distress, you will be on a fetal monitor if synthetic oxytocin is used during labor.
• Long term consequences for your baby. Pitocin is a relatively new medication and long-term risks have not been evaluated. Some experts link the use of synthetic oxytocin with autism and Asperger’s syndrome.

I know we all trust our providers. We wouldn’t be with them (ideally) if we didn’t, but seriously ladies: know what is “normal” about pregnancy and birth. Know your options & know the risks. Stand up for your birth… & trust.your.body. Let’s try & reduce the amount of non-medically necessary inductions that are being performed in this country on a regular basis.

Want to learn more about Pitocin? Check out these great sources!

~http://www.drugs.com/cons/pitocin.html

~http://www.birthwithlove.com/resources/articles/article.asp?ID=3

~http://naturalchildbirthedu.com/2009/11/27/pitocin/

~http://www.helium.com/items/505977-risks-of-using-pitocin-in-birthing

Meet the DelGrosso Family

Callie DelGrosso emailed me after the birth of her firstborn, Clara, at a birthing center in Portland OR. She follows NaturalChildbirthEdu on FB. She emailed me her beautiful birth story plus many personal pictures of this life changing event in their lives! Her birth was exactly the beautiful experience that I hope for all my friends & family! Please enjoy this birth story as much as I did & THANK YOU Callie for sharing this with us.

*At 34 weeks–a few weeks after our Bradley class had ended–we decided to change our care from the hospital midwife to a birthing center. After soaking in all the knowledge from the class and doing a little more research, we decided it was the best decision for us and our baby and we couldn’t have been more excited. It was and continues to be a great experience.*

…..I loved being pregnant—all 39 ½ weeks of it! And up until the morning that I went into labor, I was convinced that our sweet Clara would be a June baby. With my due date being May 28^th, it being my first pregnancy, and a history of late babies in my family, I was sure that I would go at least 1 week past my due date. And I was completely happy with it. I was still very comfortable, and although I was super excited to meet her, I was prepared to wait a little bit longer enjoying every kick and roll.

…..On May 25th (3 days before my actual due date), I woke up at 6:30am to my water breaking. After calling my midwife, Kori, and confirming that no real contractions had started yet, we decided I should eat something, try and sleep/rest, and just wait for my body to go into labor. She would call soon to check up.  In hindsight, I’m so thankful for the opportunity to give birth at a birthing center. The hospitals here in Portland require that you give birth no later than 24 hours after your water breaking in most cases.  I really believe that not having any pressure to make my body hurry up and start labor really helped me relax and allowed me to go into labor sooner.

…..At 7:30am I started having some mild contractions so we decided to pack our bags and get things ready around the house. Brandon was really tired, from not sleeping well that night, and went back to sleep for a couple of hours. At about 9:30am the contractions started getting closer together so I decided to start timing them. They were maybe 5-7 min apart and still not super intense so I continued to rest on the couch and watch tv. At about that same time Kori called and I told her my contractions had started and where they were at. She said she would send one of my other midwives, Tarra, to our house between 11 and 12 to check in on me and Clara.

…..At 10:30am I woke Brandon up to let him know that Tarra would be here soon and that my contractions were getting closer together. By 11 my contractions had gotten to 45 seconds-60 seconds long and under 4 minutes apart. Tarra arrived at 12 and stayed for the next two hours with us, checking mine and Clara’s vitals during and in between contractions. ( No cervical checks were done since my water had broken and were able to let me labor as long as possible because of that.)  She basically just hung out with us and helped pass the time to see how fast I was progressing. During those two hours, my contractions went from barely painful to really having to concentrate when they came. She had mentioned to Brandon as she was leaving that if my contractions continued in this pattern that we should consider making our way to the birthing center around 3 or 4. Kori’s and our desire was that we labor at home as long as possible, but we also didn’t want to wait too long since labor seemed to be happening pretty fast.

…..As soon as Tarra left at 2pm I was in intense pain (looking back now probably going into transition) and told Brandon that we needed to go now. He called Kori and told her that I was in a lot of pain and wanted to know if we should come in yet. She asked to listen in on a contraction. After hearing how I was dealing with the pain (aka moaning! ) she told Brandon that I sounded like I was ready and to make our way in. Brandon was awesome in this whole process so far, using all the coaching techniques that he had learned. He was super calm and that really helped a lot. He helped me to the car and in our short 10 minute drive to the birthing center I had 4 or 5 contractions and those might have been the hardest since I was on my back in the car.

…..At 2:45pm we arrived at Alma and were taken to our birthing room. The whole atmosphere was so serene and peaceful. They had the birthing tub filled and ready and the lights dimmed. I immediately got in the tub. It was the only thing that sounded good at that moment and after laboring in there for a while, I had no desire to get out. At about 3pm my mom arrived from flying in from Denver, Colorado and about that same time I started feeling the urge to push. I told Kori how I was feeling and she said that my body knew what it was doing and that I should try and push. I pushed for an hour in the tub, changing positions and completely relaxing in the water in between. Brandon, the midwives, and my mom were awesome during the entire thing. Everyone was so encouraging and just let me do what my body was telling me to do. Brandon suggested different positions and kept a cold washcloth on my head. He was literally my strength when I was feeling too weak to push anymore. And when I was at the point where I didn’t feel I could push through another contraction, they were there telling me that I was doing great and that I could.

…..At that point, Kori decided to check my cervix for a lip. I did have a little bit of a lip left so I tried squatting during the next few contractions. That did the trick and after 30 more minutes of pushing Clara was born at 4:36pm (9 hours of labor total).  This was such a special moment! I had so many emotions running through me: accomplishment, joy, gratefulness, and excitement just to name a few. I was finally looking into my baby’s eyes for the first time. After wondering what she would look like for 9 months, I could finally see for myself and she was even more beautiful than I had imagined.

…..She was immediately place on my chest in the tub and we waited for the placenta to be born. After birthing the placenta and cutting the cord, Clara, Brandon, and I walked over to the bed and spent the next hour getting to know each other. I was feeling awesome and Clara was so alert so our time was spent sitting on the bed talking about the whole experience and staring at her. It was so great to have my mom there as a support and encouragement and to share in the whole process with me.  After an hour the midwives came back in and checked her and me over. She was perfect and healthy weighing in at 6lbs 6oz and measuring 19 inches long. I had a tiny tear in my labia that required one stitch so that was taken care of while Clara had her newborn testing done next to me one the bed. We spent that night and the next at the birthing center just resting and enjoying our new baby girl.

…..At her 3 day check up, she was down to 5lbs 14 oz but was back up to her birth weight by the next week! She has been a great eater and sleeper from the start and today at her 2 week check up weighed 7lbs even She is a complete joy and we have had so much fun sharing our birth story with everyone.  We are so grateful for the knowledge gained in our Bradley Class and are now firm advocates of birthing naturally. It was such a joyous experience and I cannot wait to do it again. 

My husband and I just after the natural birth of our son.

I saw this post on Twitter today:

“I simply do not understand the fascination with 100% natural childbirth or to have as little medical assistance as possible.”

…

Part of me really wanted to reply back to this complete stranger (I found her through a search option of Twitter) & explain why some of us really are fascinated with natural childbirth! But… I have to put restrictions on myself or I could really go lecturing anyone and everyone about my opinions! That could get pretty annoying!

…

I find it difficult to see posts like this, not because her thoughts on it aren’t valid, they really are, but because I wish that more women who questioned this would seek honest research and truth on the topic. Instead, what I usually find is that women who feel this way have already decided that they will not even try to learn more about natural childbirth.

…

The latter part of her Tweet makes me cringe: “…or to have as little medical assistance as possible.” It’s unfortunate that people assume that those of us seeking to have a natural childbirth don’t want medical ASSISTANCE. I am all for assistance, IF I need it. What I do not want is medical INTERVENTION. The use of things that are routine, or for the convenience of someone else, & NOT for the betterment of my child, or myself during birth.

…

If I could walk into a hospital and have an epidural (for example) while my body labored & nothing be affected by it. SURE, I would do it too! I am not simply “all for the pain”- I am all for the purpose!

…

Epidurals affect you, they affect your baby, they affect how your birth will go. Women who have an epidural tend to have longer labors and more vaginal deliveries in which the doctor uses instruments (forceps or vacuum) to get the baby out.  Use of other drugs and IV fluids and frequent electronic fetal monitoring are also common with an epidural. There have been studies regarding the use of epidurals and their relation to Cesarean deliveries. The data from these studies indicate that an epidural can increase the chance of a C-Section by more than 10%.

On top of all that here are some common side effects of the Epidural:

- a drop in blood pressure that can slow the baby’s heart rate.
- itching, shivering/shaking or a fever.
- severe headache that can last for days or weeks.
- breathing problems.
- dizziness.
- seizures (rare).
- Difficulty pushing during the second stage of labor.

…

I don’t know about you, but that bothers me. The side effects added on top of hearing countless stories from my friends or family members who’ve experienced such side effects or outcomes only add to why I am so fascinated with natural childbirth! And I haven’t even started talking about all the other interventions that can derail the beautiful birth you were hoping for!!

…

I wish I could write this girl on Twitter a long winded letter that goes into detail about the cons of Pitocin, Cytotec, Cervidil, Electronic Fetal Monitoring, Internal Fetal Monitoring, IV drugs (i.e. Demerol), Lying on your back, Not being allowed to eat, restricted movement/positions, and constant vaginal exams. Etc… Can you believe that is the SHORT list?

…

I also wish that her post wouldn’t be retweeted on Twitter because it just perpetuates this misunderstanding that some of us choose natural childbirth simply because we are only fascinated with the idea of “not having drugs” but without any purpose behind it… as if it’s a competition for who can be the “strongest” woman! If that’s what this was ever about, then I give in!! You win!! You’re probably stronger than I am. I didn’t choose my 2 natural births because Im strong, or because I handle any other kind pain with any level of dignity (just as my husband); I chose it because it really is the safer & better option for everyone involved.

…

I wish that our doctors were being more honest with everyone about the risks of these interventions & how they often ARE what causes the need for true medical assistance in the first place. Natural childbirth has the lowest statistics for maternal death, fetal death, assisted delivery, complications & c-sections… doesn’t that say something?!?  I think it says a lot!

]]> http://naturalchildbirthedu.com/2010/07/16/what-is-the-fascination-with-natural-childbirth/feed/ 8 http://naturalchildbirthedu.com/2010/05/16/a-beautiful-birth-birth-6/ http://naturalchildbirthedu.com/2010/05/16/a-beautiful-birth-birth-6/#comments Mon, 17 May 2010 02:46:35 +0000 Julie Wannamaker http://naturalchildbirthedu.com/?p=486 ~Meet Leah~

Leah sent me her birth story and it’s beautiful! I sure hope you all enjoy reading this & celebrating with her in her birth, as much as I did.

Thank you Leah for submitting your birth story.

A Beautiful Birth by Leah Feltner

On Sunday morning, a week past my due date, I woke up to some bloody show. I was so thrilled to finally see a “sign” that labor was just around the corner. I called my midwife to let her know that perhaps today would be the day. However, I wasn’t having any contractions so my midwife told me to get some sleep and to call her if anything changed.

The whole day went by with no more signs of labor beginning. It wasn’t until around midnight that I started to get consistent contractions. My husband, Matthew, and I started timing the contractions and we set up the birth pool that my midwife had left for us a few weeks ago. Since this was our first child, we weren’t sure how fast or slow everything might happen so we wanted to be ready.  Once the contractions seemed to be 3 to 6 minutes apart, we called my midwife and asked if she would come over.

She arrived around 1 or 1:30 (I wasn’t really aware of the time) and her assistant arrived a little while later. For the next hour, or so, my husband and the two midwives were busy setting things up and filling the pool up as well. Once the pool was filled up, I immediately got in it. I felt like the contractions were intense but they were still around 3 to 5 minutes apart. At about 2:15am I asked if she would check to see how far dilated I was. I was positive that I had to be very far along. After checking me, she told me that I was only 3cm dilated. Even though this was my first birth, I knew that 3cm was not what I wanted to hear. Once my midwife realized that I wasn’t far along, she and her assistant told me that the baby was coming but probably not for a while so they were going to go home. I felt like crying at that point. They both left at about 2:30am. My husband was upset that they left because he was afraid that the baby would arrive while they were gone and I was upset because I wanted to have my baby now. I called my mom and asked her to pray for me because I was very disheartened. Once getting off the phone with my mom, I started speaking to my body and speaking to my cervix to dilate and prayed that my baby would arrive quickly. Even though I was still having contractions, they seemed to have subdued so Matthew and I decided to go crawl in bed since we didn’t know what else to do.

After being in bed for a short time, at 3:00am, my water broke. I jumped out of bed and ran to the restroom. While in the restroom I had a very long and intense contraction and started throwing up several times. My contractions seemed like they were very close together and they were extremely intense so Matthew called my midwife. She told us to time them for another hour and that if they were still consistent to call her again and she would come on over. I decided to get back in the pool and tried calling my mom but I could barely talk to her because the contractions were about a minute or two apart. She felt strongly that we should have the midwife come over right away. Matthew called my midwife and asked her to come over as soon as possible. Since my midwife didn’t live far away, she and her assistant arrived a short while later.

From then on out the contractions seemed to be on top of each other. There was no pause or break in between them. I have never been much of a screamer, so I never once screamed or yelled. I just seemed to exhale a whole lot. Any time that I wanted to say “I can’t do this!” I forced myself to say instead “I CAN do this!” Then, I felt the urge to push. I grabbed a hold of my husband’s hand, he was kneeling behind me outside the pool, and started to push. I don’t think I waited for a contraction to push, I just pushed. My midwife put a mirror so I could see the little head come out which gave me more ammunition to keep on pushing. After 4 minutes of pushing, out came my beautiful daughter, Milan Sophia. She was born at 4:53am, January 4^th, 2010, and was 8lbs.15oz and 23 inches long. My midwife immediately put Milan on my chest and I held her close as my husband and I laughed with joy. It was the most amazing and wonderful experience of my life! I had such an overwhelming sense of relief, joy, amazement, and most of all of LOVE.

]]> http://naturalchildbirthedu.com/2010/05/16/a-beautiful-birth-birth-6/feed/ 3 http://naturalchildbirthedu.com/2010/05/10/chiropractic-care-pregnancy/ http://naturalchildbirthedu.com/2010/05/10/chiropractic-care-pregnancy/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 17:02:18 +0000 Julie Wannamaker http://naturalchildbirthedu.com/?p=468

Most women do not know that seeing a Chiropractor during pregnancy should be as important as the prenatal visits throughout the pregnancy. When I was pregnant with my daughter my midwife told me that it was top of the list & a must.  In fact, there are some midwives that will not see a woman for her prenatal care unless she is also seeing a Chiropractor in conjunction because its just that important!

So what exactly IS chiropractic:  a branch of medicine which is based upon the understanding that good health depends, in part, upon a normally functioning nervous system (especially the spine, and the nerves extending from the spine to all parts of the body). “Chiropractic” comes from the Greek word Chiropraktikos, meaning “effective treatment by hand.” Chiropractic stresses the idea that the cause of many disease processes begins with the body’s inability to adapt to its environment.

Chiropractic is important in every day life for good health, but is extremely important for the pregnant mom.  So why is it more imporant for the prenant mom? Becasue there are so many changes going on with a woman’s body during pregnancy.

These changes include:

• release of the hormone relaxin causes muscle and ligament relaxation
  • allows joints to more easily misalign
• increased weight gain
  • increased demand and fatigue on spinal and pelvic muscles
  • increased stress on spinal and pelvic ligaments
  • increase in lumbar and thoracic spinal curves which further increase the above
  • increased joint stress and thus occurrence of vertebral and sacroiliac joint misalignments
• change in weight distribution
  • increased demand and fatigue on spinal and pelvic muscles
  • increased stress on spinal and pelvic ligaments
  • increase in lumbar and thoracic spinal curves which further increase the above
  • increased joint stress and thus occurrence of vertebral and sacroiliac joint misalignments

The above changes primarily affect the pelvic and spinal ligaments, muscles, joints and other supportive soft tissues. These changes cause sprain/strains of pelvic and spinal structures, as well as alteration of the normal spinal curvatures and spinal biomechanics. The result is an increased stress on the body leading to pain and discomfort.

Chiropractic care during pregnancy can provide many benefits for women who are pregnant. A few of the benefits of chiropractic care during pregnancy include:

• Maintaining a healthier pregnancy
• Controlling symptoms of nausea
• Reducing the time of labor and delivery
• Relieving back, neck or joint pain
• Prevent a potential cesarean section

Another benefit of Chiropractic care in pregnancy is for women who find that their baby is breech near term. The late Larry Webster, D.C., Founder of the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association, developed a specific chiropractic analysis and adjustment which enables chiropractors to establish balance in the pregnant woman’s pelvis and reduce undue stress to her uterus and supporting ligaments. This balanced state in the pelvis makes it easier for a breech baby to turn naturally. The technique is known as the Webster Technique.

Even if you aren’t having discomfort in pregnancy and you don’t have any complications with your pregnancy thus far (breech etc) it is still vital for a woman to receive chiropractic care in pregnancy. Check out these studies below:

Low Back Pain During Pregnancy

In this study, researchers identified the sacroiliac joints of the pelvis (frequently “adjusted” by chiropractors) as being responsible for the majority of low back pain cases in pregnancy. This is due to the significant number of hormonal and biomechanical changes occurring in the pelvis during pregnancy. Researchers found7/10 women were helped by spinal manipulation in this study.

Bery G, Hammar M, Moller-Nielsen J et al. Obstet and Gynecol, 72:71-75, 1988.

TextBook on Chiropractic & Pregnancy

According to Dr. Fallon, author and internationally recognized “chiropractic pediatrician”, statistics from her office “have demonstrated that chiropractic adjustments effectively reduce the average amount of time spent in labor.” Her data shows a nearly 25% reduction in the average labor times in those receiving chiropractic care versus the generally accepted average labor time – in women who had given birth in the past, there was a 33% reduction in average labor time.

Fallon J. International Chiropractic Association. 1994 – Arlington, Virginia.

All in all Chiropractic care in pregnancy is a great tool & should be part of the regular prenatal regimen throughout the 9 months!

Below are a few more links & videos for you to enjoy that share more about this.

Links:

~http://www.chiroweb.com/find/whatischiro.html

~http://www.dcdoctor.com/pages/rightpages_wellnesscenter/pregnancy/chirocare.html

~http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancyhealth/chiropracticcare.html

~http://www.planetc1.com/chiropractic-articles/pregnancy-chiropractic.html

~http://www.atlaschiropracticonline.com/ (Your local one stop shop for chiropractic care in Colorado Springs)

…

Videos:

Fox News: Dr. Berlin shares about his practice & the results for the care he provides.

Another excellent video on why Chiropractic is great in pregnancy.

One final education video about the spine, & chiropractic in pregnancy.

I was getting questions about who all *could* send in their births.  This series was meant to focus on unmediated births, but I knew that if the story was right I could make an exception or two. Thea wrote this in her email, which is why I chose to add her birth story into the mix:

“I was going for a planned hospital VBAC with a CNM. This time DID NOT plan for natural delivery due to never having had it before. I expected I wouldn’t go into labor on my own [bc of a previous c-section]…dumb. I arrived at hospital at 7cm, the hospital had me signing forms! Lame! I freaked out around 8 cm and got the epidural at 9 – pushed twice and Levi was born…are you kidding me???  I should have skipped the epidural…my only regret.”

Please enjoy Thea’s birth story. Although not an unmedicated birth- I think it does help show how she was so close to having that natural birth & had she not been distracted by signing forms and annoying nurses & had better support and mentally prepared for a natural birth, that epidural wouldn’t have been necessary.

Since 36 weeks I was about 1 to 2 cm dilated and that’s all that was happening. I was worried the my baby wasn’t going to move down or that something was wrong (cord wrapped around him, etc). When I went for my 39 week appointment he was still high and I was 1-2 cm still. Then I went for a follow up the following Tuesday just 2 days prior to my EDD. I had been contracting more but didn’t believe much was happening. She said I was almost 3 cm and she stripped the membranes. I left feeling good and encouraged.

The contractions had been coming at night and had woken me up but always fizzled out for about 2 nights in a row. That night I went to bed hoping for the best but not expecting much. We had waked all around Jamestown that day and spent the day out with kiddos and my mom. That night I woke with a few painful contractions but they seemed really spaced apart so I figured they were nothing real and went back to sleep. Around 6AM they seemed to be in a sort of pattern or more regular so I was going to take a shower but as soon as I got up they seemed to calm down so I went back to bed.

Around 7 I couldn’t sleep anymore so I just got up and showered and they kept coming. By 7:30 I told Eric to get ready and tell mom to get ready…they were closer and more uncomfortable. By 8 I got nervous about how much I could actually get done (ie: hair, etc.) feeling the way I felt. I got ready nontheless and we left by 8:30 at which point I was unable to do anything but breathe through the contractions which were about a minute long or so. Olivia came into the bathroom while I was getting ready and asked me what was wrong. I told her my belly hurt because baby brother was getting ready to come out. She said “Mommy, can I pray for it?” I teared up and she put her hands on me and said “Dear Jesus thank you for mommy and mommy’s belly, help for it, in Jesus name amen” and went along playing…she asked me if I felt better talk about precious.

We got in the van and I sat in back so I could lean over the back of the seat. This was the only position I could funciton in. The drive was a good 45 minutes or so and I was really feeling the contractions now about 4-5 minutes apart and lasting a good minute or longer. When we got to the hospital I was near tears and things were really intense – I stopped for 2 contractions as we walked to the L&D area and I knew they were closer than before.

They took me to a room and tried to get me hooked up to monitors but the ctx were too intense for me to lay down or sit. I was greeted by a woman who wasn’t a nurse (her name badge was hidden in her pocket and I didn’t know who she was…kind of annoying) she got nervous when I had a contraction because they were intense so she left and got a nurse. The nurse asked “who’s gatorade is that?” I said “It’s mine” and she informed me I could have ice chips only…I think she had bad timing because I made it quite clear that I would have it if I wanted and she could call my midwife if there was a problem. That was the end of that.

Just a sidenote…since when do you walk into a room, notice a woman in transition and ask who gave her permission for gatorade…seriously!

At this point I was really hurting and wanted an epidural – I wasn’t prepared and felt rushed and overwhelmed…too many people, too many questions, all very fast. They then presented me with a c-section consent form “just in case” which I thought was rediculous – who has time or attention to read that in labor?? I asked them if they really expected me to read it and told them they’d have to wait through contractions so I could…that seemed to be a surprise. My guess is nobody reads. Nobody offered it at pre-reg. I signed it and moved along…as much as I wanted to I couldn’t read it and focus on it. They tried to start an IV but not much luck – probably because I was struggling with contractions while sitting down. They put it in my inside of my wrist then which was uncomfy but hey – success! I’ll take it. I wanted the epidural at this point and they checked my cervix to find I was 7 cm…how’s that for monitors?? At least they now believed me that I was indeed in labor. .

Finally they walked me over to a regular room and I leaned over the bed while Eric rubbed my back and the contractions became more intense. I found myself very fearful…that I wasn’t prepared, wouldn’t get an epidural and would have a difficult pushing experience. I kept thinking “I NEED a doula…I NEED a doula…go figure, first time I didn’t plan a natural delivery and I’m so close to having one” I had unruptured membranes and was afraid my water would break meaning quick delivery…I had to pee but wouldn’t because the extra space could mean baby would move down more quickly. It was NOT a fun place to feel stuck. My midwife arrived and rubbed my back and brought me a birth ball – this was like a soothing relief to me and increased my confidence.

I remember watching that bag of IV fluid go down and crying between contractions because they hurt so badly; no doubt much of my pain was due to the stress and mental strain going on internally. I was getting angry even, imagining that the unavailable anesthesiologist was really having a late breakfast lol.

I started to say things like “I can’t do this anymore” “Jesus please help..”I need a break” “This hurts too much…” “I don’t want to do this” and recognized all the hallmarks of transition but I was afraid to finish it for the pain of delivery. Hmm…hadn’t considered this possibility before and this was the firsttime I planned on an epidural. Go figure.

FINALLY the anesthesiologist arrived and my midwife held me through contractions while I received a spinal/epidural. 1 more contraction then one at half strength and done…feeling pressure and contractions but no pain. My BP did drop, they game me a little ephedrine and we were on our way. I sat up in a Taylor sitting position and still no ruptured membranes…I could feel him very low and knew I was likely fully dilated but wanted to labor down as long as possible and since nobody was bothering me, I just relaxed. Eric plugged in the aromatherapy with lavender and peppermint.

No throwing up, no adverse reaction (itching) to the epi…this was nice. I had a few moments of quiet with my family and then they broke my water and inserted a pressure catheter (not necessary but hey- I’ll take it over pitocin). Shortly thereafter the m/w checked and I was fully dilated. I pushed through 1 contraction and everyone got wide eyed. Then they got ready really fast and the room flooded with nurses – holy cow, was I the only one delivering today??

The same nurse who tried to refuse me gatorade walked in the delivery room & told me I’d be pushing in the supine position. I told her I’d be pushing on my side and didn’t need assistance holding my leg! Annoying but hey – minor price to pay in a hospital in the south. I pushed through one last contraction and felt his head come out…then one more push and out came his body. Wow! FAST! Mom snapped photos, Eric watched & loved on me, I cut the cord, the midwife cleaned up baby and suctioned his mouth and nose then put him on me. He sounded very wet still in the lungs and when they took him he ended up needing catheter suction which was terrible to watch but there was A LOT of fluid – in fact, I’ve not seen a baby suctioned in the past where there was this much fluid so while it was hard to watch I was glad he’s ok. Once he was wiped down, suctioned, etc. they weighed him and measured him – 8lbs .09oz and 21″ long! They wrapped his little self up and brought him to me. I unwrapped him and put him belly to belly on me covered with lots of blankies and he nursed immediately. Go Levi!!

We hadn’t named him yet but knew he’d be either Levi or Shepard. I was disappointed to discover he had a scratch on his head from the pressure catheter but it went away by the next day. The nurse came back after an hour or two and brought items to bathe him in our room as we had requested, which we were grateful for. Mom and baby were healthy so baby snuggled with Daddy and I hopped in the shower and then we moved to another room. I was surprised how good I felt at this point. Moved into another room and spent the day resting – Levi was born at 12:49PM!! So, from active labor to fully dilated was probably right around 4 hrs.

~This mother chose to remain anonymous due to some poor guidance which led to an unexpected delivery~

We were having our first baby and had planned a homebirth with a great midwife. Everything had been perfect with the pregnancy, I felt great. I did yoga several times a week. I ate right. And the time was getting close! I was so excited.

It all started Easter Sunday morning when I woke up to a little trickle of fluid. I got up to go to the bathroom and saw that it was clear. There wasn’t much, but I began to get excited. I was only 35 weeks, but it seemed like labor was coming soon. I began to have contractions on and off, sometimes as close as 7 minutes apart, and then they would space out again. My midwife came to check me that afternoon. The baby’s heart sounded great, but she put me on bedrest in the hope that labor would wait a few more days.

The next morning I had some bloody show and the on-and-off contractions and fluid continued. By Wednesday, we began to wonder if the baby had enough fluid left. I had decreased in size and weight, so we did an ultrasound and there was still plenty of fluid. Although I soaked at least a pad an hour, my water didn’t seem to be broken. We had a couple nights of close contractions, but as the sun would come up the contractions would stop.

Friday we did another ultrasound and the midwife checked the fluid’s PH to see if it truly was amniotic fluid, since I still was not in labor. It tested negative, so she went ahead and checked for dilation (nothing!), and said, “Sex might get things started.”

The whole next week this continued, contractions and leaking. Sometimes I would feel pressure on my cervix with the contractions, sometimes I wouldn’t. By Friday of the second week we were exhausted. We went for acupuncture to try to start labor. I was 37 weeks at this point, and we were ready to try anything. I literally couldn’t keep my pants dry, but my water didn’t seem to be broken and I wasn’t dilating. Almost 30 hours after the acupuncture I began having contractions that felt different. They were harder and much closer together. Sunday night April 10th we went to bed early, thinking this might be it. At 3 AM I woke up with contractions 4 minutes apart that I couldn’t talk through. I was shivering like crazy and felt feverish, but I wasn’t sure if it was fever or just excitement. I got in the bath to see if that would calm the contractions down. It didn’t, and 45 minutes later we were on the phone with the midwife again. My temp had skyrocketed to 102.9 and we were scared now. We had just had a huge snowstorm, and had no reason to think we could even get to the hospital. There really was no choice, so we got ready.

My husband went outside to clear the 3 feet of snow away from the car and I gathered together a few things and got dressed. Somehow we got out of our apartment parking lot and onto the main road that was a solid block of ice. In his hurry, my husband didn’t grab any gloves before clearing off the car, and his hands were so frozen that he almost couldn’t keep from yelling for the first half of the 20 minute drive. My contractions were 3 minutes apart by now, but somehow I ignored most of them. On the way there, I vividly remember seeing what was almost a vision of me having a c-section. I didn’t even know what that would look like, and don’t remember having seen it anywhere, but it was a very accurate picture. I shook that off, but the possibility was in the back of my mind.

When we arrived at the hospital they were somewhat shocked that I had walked calmly in after seeing how hard my contractions were. I was much more afraid of the hospital and them than the contractions! After an hour on the monitor, the doctor on call came in and said, “I’m really concerned about the pattern I’m seeing here. Both of your heart rates are very high because of the fever (baby’s was 180-200), and the baby’s heart is decelerating after each contraction. That is a bad sign, and probably means the baby is in distress. We may need to do a c-section.” She then checked me and found that I was only 3 cm and 80% effaced. “If you were 8 cm, we might have time to wait for a normal delivery, but things the way they are, we need to do the c-section to make sure the baby’s okay.”

The next 30 minutes are a blur. The midwife couldn’t get out of her driveway, but confirmed over the phone that we better do the c-section. I remember being very calm and feeling very at peace with the need to do the surgery. I could tell something was really wrong. I don’t think I even cried at the time. I remember them shaving me roughly and putting in the catheter before the epidural (really, was that necessary?), and that the epidural really hurt going in. As soon as I went numb my water broke with a gush, and it was clear. Then my husband was there and there was pressure and a tiny cry that brought tears to our eyes. “It’s a girl!” My husband went to see her then was told “go check on your wife” because they were trying, unsuccessfully at first, to put an IV into the baby’s hand. She was 6 pounds, 2 1/2 ounces, but I don’t remember hearing her apgars. Soon they carried her over to me for a moment and then took her to the NICU.

They wheeled me to NICU, where baby was under a warmer, and had an oxygen tube, an IV, and other wires to monitor everything. They opened the sides of both of our beds so I could “hold” her for about 30 seconds. Then I was wheeled to “recovery” where I proceeded to fall apart. I couldn’t stop shaking, my legs wouldn’t move, my husband was gone, my baby was gone, I still had a high fever. I was going into shock so they gave me meds in my IV and I don’t remember much after that.

When I woke up I started asking about my baby, but it took forever for them to tell me I could go see the baby as soon as I could get out of bed and into a wheelchair. I did that very quickly, I guess, but it was still 6 hours before I got to see my baby.

My baby had a hard time nursing. They set up screens around us in the NICU so I could try and try to get her to latch on. She just didn’t get it for three days. She maybe got a few drops each time. Then I would go back to my room without her, and hook up to a horrible, painful hospital pump to hopefully force my milk to come in anyway. (Still not convinced that was necessary, but it sure did hurt. I was a little whiney about this whole process.) When my milk came in the third day, it clicked for her and she’s done great ever since.

They tested the placenta and the baby for infection. Here’s the miracle: the placenta had it, baby did not. We were both on antibiotics for 3 days…first time I’ve been on one in like 10 years.

All that aside, our experience in the hospital really wasn’t horrible. Nobody gave us the third degree for being a “failed” homebirth. One of our nurses was British, and had been a midwife in Great Britain. She was a God-send. The food was decent. The nurses were all kind and gentle. They brought in a bed for my husband to stay in the room with me. My family and several of our friends came to see us every day. Baby was released from NICU the last day of our stay and was able to spend the last night in my room finally. Our doctors were professional and cheerful when we talked with them.

Before we left the hospital they had to pull out the staples from my incision. They brought in a student nurse to do this and asked if it was ok if she did it. Figuring they had to learn somehow, I agreed. She pinched me several times with the pliers, and I yelled because of the pain. Her supervisor took over after that. Coming home was tough. The pain meds made the baby sleep too much so I tried to do without as much as I could, sometimes having complete breakdowns because of the pain. I got a bladder and a yeast infection from the catheter and antibiotics. (Thank goodness for my naturopathic doctor who helped me treat it without more antibiotics!) I was rather depressed-I was stranded at home because I couldn’t drive for two weeks, and kind of felt like I went to sleep pregnant, and then suddenly had this baby I was supposed to take care of. It took several days for me to stop thinking, “oh, that would be nice to have when I go into labor…oh wait.”

I was left with a deep desire to try again, hoping for the birth experience I had planned for. I think that led to us getting pregnant again only 8 months later. And I did get my homebirth that time, a perfect VBAC. Now we have three beautiful children, and the last two were homebirths. My scar almost feels like a badge of honor at this point, 5 years later. My c-section was necessary for my health and the health of my baby. There are no formulas. You can do everything right and sometimes it just doesn’t work anyway. I learned humility through this experience, and I don’t really regret having been through it even though it was incredibly hard. If something happens and you have to have a c-section, it’s okay to be disappointed and sad about it, even for a very long time. Eventually it will feel better, though you may always cry when you think about it.  I still do sometimes.

Thank you everyone for enjoying this birth with me! Please feel free to comment & please email me if you would like to share yours as well.