Pampered Pregnancy – Blissful Birth

Yesterday Stacy and Anthony welcomed their fifth baby into the world! I was there to help. Stacy did wonderfully, achieving her goal of avoiding an epidural even though she had pitocin.

Stacy and Anthony touched the hearts of all of us at Get Babied. After
four negative birth experiences, all inductions with very stressful
epidurals, we were all rooting for Stacy and Anthony to have the
natural birth they’d always hoped for. Because it was an induction,
this birth didn’t exactly follow the birth plan. Still, Stacy’s
determination, along with Anthony’s excellent doula skills and the
compassionate support of Stacy’s doctor and her team, enabled Stacy to
have a better birth than she’d ever thought possible.

Stacy and Anthony with Kids Jaxson, Lexie, Ryland, & Allie

When I met Stacy at 6:00 am at St. David’s Medical Center, she was
clutching a Dora The Explorer pillowcase and looking kind of worried.
She had experienced painful, discouraging inductions four times in the
past and expected today would be the same. One of her main worries was
that her trusted doctor, Dr. Mingea, would miss the birth if the
induction took too long. Fortunately for Stacy and Dr. Mingea, they
were able to share the experience together – for the fifth time.

When Stacy was first assigned to a room, she was disappointed that it
was pretty small. She knew she would have Anthony, her mom, and myself
attending, so a larger room with more than two chairs would be very
helpful. Because of her experience with this hospital, Stacy knew that
bigger and better rooms were available. Stacy didn’t want to cause
any trouble, but I encouraged her to suggest the room she wanted. When
she made the request to her nurse, Dr. Mingea happened to be walking
by, and the good doctor assured Stacy that they could accommodate her.

Five minutes later, we found ourselves in a rock star room three
times larger with seating for 7 and a huge wall of windows overlooking
a giant pecan tree that was home to a family of white-winged doves.
This was the first sign that Stacy would have an empowered birth
experience – for the first time at a birth, she asked for what she
wanted and got it. Anthony found some surgical tape and used it to
fasten photos of all their kids as babies, for Stacy to use as focal
points. I set out some lavender soap and lavender hand sanitizer, and
Stacy changed into the cute, comfy purple dress she’d brought to labor
in.

Stacy & Steph in Early Labor

Dr. Mingea had given orders for pitocin as soon as Stacy arrived, but
when the nurse, Sinead, checked Stacy’s cervix, she was already five
centimeters dilated and 80% effaced. She’d been using the breast pump
and walking throughout the previous day, trying to get labor started –
apparently it worked! She was further along than she’d been at any of
her previous inductions. Stacy knew that if she was on pitocin, she’d
be attached to the monitor as well as the IV. Since her goal was a
natural birth, she asked that Dr. Mingea try breaking her bag of
waters (called AROM, for Artificial Rupture of Membranes). If AROM
started her labor, then Stacy wouldn’t need to be continuously
monitored or attached to the IV. She also wouldn’t have to endure the
very intense contractions that pitocin can cause.

Dr. Mingea honored Stacy’s request, although she warned that if they
used AROM as a natural method of induction rather than the more
controllable drug pitocin, Stacy’s labor could take longer and Dr.
Mingea might not be able to deliver the baby. Stacy’s main priority
with this birth was that Dr. Mingea catch the baby, but she wanted to
try birthing naturally to have the ability to move about the room
without the monitor and IV. At 8:30, Dr. Mingea did a cervical check
and said that Stacy was dilated to 5 cm but would stretch to 7 cm. Her
bag of waters broke during the cervical check, so she didn’t even need
the AROM procedure.

Now, the plan was to remove Stacy’s IV and place a heplock instead, so
she wouldn’t be attached to the IV pole. She had to be on the monitor
for five minutes while standing, to ensure there was no risk of cord
prolapse. Stacy was thrilled because she hated the uncomfortable
monitor belts. Everything looked good after 5 minutes, so Stacy was
on intermittent monitoring – 20 minutes on the monitor, and 30 minutes
off.

Stacy, Anthony, and I took the opportunity off the monitor to walk up
and down the halls. We explored the entire third floor of St. David’s,
and Anthony took some video of our adventures. Stacy even walked up
five flights of stairs! When we came back to the room at 10:45, Stacy
had a quick snack and then it was time for another cervical check.
This one revealed the same dilation and station, but there was another
bag of waters! Sinead explained that this is a fairly common condition
where the bag has several layers and the AROM procedure ruptures the
outside layer, but there’s still a barrier between the baby and the
cervix that needs to be broken.

The three of us walked the halls some more, and Stacy noticed much
more fluid, indicating that the second AROM procedure really did
rupture the bag for good. The contractions came more frequently, but
they still weren’t very strong. After about 30 minutes of walking,
Stacy needed a rest, so we returned to the room for a game of
Outburst. We played until around noon, and Stacy and Anthony were
excellent competitors! Eventually, Anthony won, only because we had t
he topic “Famous Football Running Backs.” Otherwise, I would have
creamed him.

Anthony was so supportive throughout Stacy’s labor. With every
cervical check, he immediately moved to Stacy’s side and held her
hand. He encouraged her every step of the way, and reminded her how
great she was doing. During transition, he massaged her with cold
washcloths and reminded her to focus on her breathing. Stacy said he
had learned a lot from Susan McCutcheon’s book Natural Birthing the
Bradley Way, because he was much more skilled at comforting her than
he had been with the four previous labors.

Around noon, Dr. Mingea told Stacy that she wanted to start pitocin
because the AROM didn’t seem to be working to get Stacy to dilate
effectively. Stacy agreed to the plan, so she started the pitocin
around 12:30. After an hour, Stacy’s cervix was still the same. Her
contractions were even more frequent, but still short. Stacy tried to
catch a nap, since she had been too anxious all night to sleep. She
was unable to nap, but resting did give her a second wind. I stepped
out for some lunch, and when I returned, Anthony did the same.

Just a half hour later, around 2:00 pm, Stacy entered transition. She
became totally focused on getting through her contractions. I did the
double-hip squeeze, counterpressure on her sacrum, and massage to help
her stay comfortable. It took all the tricks I had, plus constant
encouragement, to keep Stacy focused and in control. Later she told me
that she had been repeating “Epidural…Epidural…Epidural” in her mind
over and over, and that helped her to stay calm and to remember that
there was an option for relief if she wanted it.

Just when I was starting to wonder if I should take a break from the
double hip squeezes to call Anthony, he came back from lunch. He
looked a bit startled to see Stacy’s labor so far advanced from when
he left the room about 30 minutes earlier, but he took it in stride.
He moved right to Stacy’s side, grabbed her hand, and started
encouraging her to keep going. She was beginning to feel out of
control, so his support was most helpful.

We tried several different positions, but nothing felt comfortable to
Stacy. She liked the squat bar but thought it was too much of a strain
for her legs, so the nurse suggested that she face backwards on the
bed while the bed was set up like a chair. This enabled Stacy to squat
in a completely supported way that didn’t strain her legs. Soon, we
could tell from the sounds Stacy was making that she was beginning to
push. She said, “I need to push! It’s burning!” and we knew then that
her baby was very close.

Suddenly Dr. Mingea came in, and I could tell that despite her pain
Stacy was relieved. Dr. Mingea told us later that she had received the
call to come as soon as Stacy’s labor was imminent, but everything
progressed so quickly that she had to run out of the doctor’s lounge
and only just made it in time to catch the baby . Dr. Mingea was calm
and encouraging, and she coaxed Stacy through pushing so gently that
Stacy didn’t tear at all with the 7 pound, 7 ounce baby.

When Dr. Mingea announced, “It’s a girl!” I admit I got a little
teary. We didn’t know until that moment whether baby Lexie Sage was a
girl or a boy. She was born plump and pink, with a perfectly round
head and red hair, just like her siblings. Dr. Mingea had Lexie placed
on Stacy’s abdomen right away for some skin-to-skin bonding. Stacy
told me afterwards that this immediate post-partum time was the best
she had experienced in her five births.

I’m so grateful to Dr. Mingea, Stacy’s nurse Sinead, and
everyone who helped Stacy through her labor without an epidural. Her
two main goals were to have Dr. Mingea there and to avoid the
epidural, and she was able to achieve both objectives!

Lexie Sage, born 8/6/2010