Pampered Pregnancy – Blissful Birth

The birth of Emmett Hiller  by Amy Nevland

Meghen called me a little after noon from her place of work, describing how she thought her water had broken while she had used the restroom.  After listening to the details, I agreed with her, telling her that’s what I thought, too.  Because she wasn’t having any contractions yet, she wrapped up her stuff at work and got her bags together.  However,  since her baby was at 34 weeks and 4 days gestation, she did need to head to the hospital as soon as she could.  When she arrived at St. David’s around 2:15, her contractions had begun and were quite frequent.  She was 2cm and 75% effaced at the time.  She was immediately put on antibiotics and some IV solution to protect from unknown infections and to slow down the contractions.  This worked for a few hours; however, when I arrived at 5:15pm her contractions had picked back up again.  She did not have her dilation checked again until 11pm when she began having an urge to push.  At this point she was 10cm dilated and 100% effaced!  She breathed-pushed while reclining, and while squatting.  While squatting at the bar, though, the baby’s heartbeat decelerated, so she had to lie back down.  About an hour and a half later, a very healthy 6lb 15oz Emmett was born.  She received an episiotomy that was stitched-up, and had no 3^rd stage complications.  Emmett was an 8 on the apgar, but was still taken almost immediately to the NICU due to his gestational age and some minor breathing issues.

As Meghen’s doula, I first gave her a crash course on nursing when I arrived at the hospital (b/c she hadn’t gotten to go to the class yet). Then we walked the halls together, even with her siblings in tow. (I showed her younger brother how to apply counterpressure on her back during one of the contractions.)  I applied counterpressure on her back quite a lot actually, as she was heaving quite a bit of back labor.  I also tried to make sure that she and Everett got all their questions answered by the doctors and nurses in a clear way.  This was very important, as Emmett was going to be spending some time in the NICU and this changed up the birth plans a bit. Later on, I got her husband some dinner at one point, and aided in reminding him where and when to provide massages and counterpressure.  During her transition time, I was more aggressive in reminding her to use her breathing techniques and to use a low voice.  When she was asking for the epidural, she was also saying she really needed to poop, but couldn’t.  The nurse and I discussed with her seeing where she was in her progress first.  That was when we found out it was indeed time to push.  During the pushing phase, I helped make sure she was able to try to push with the bar in squatting position for a while, and encouraged her on how well she was breathing.  I also was with her during the early postpartum phase while daddy was with the baby.

Meghen’s reaction to labor and birth was fearless.  She was able to go with the flow pretty well considering Emmett was a bit early, and things were not going according to the original plan.  The only times she seemed a little distressed was after the nurse from the NICU came and gave her the best case/ worst case scenarios.  She did regain her courage and go-with-the-flow positive attitude very quickly, though, and we were able to get out of bed and work on her contractions again.  She also had a very classic response to transition, complete with shaking and nausea, and saying “I can’t do this.”  But, besides those two very short times, her hypnobirthing techniques really did seem to carry her through labor and birth contractions very beautifully and calmly.  (She was picturing blowing up balloons.)

It was very fun to observe Meghen do her hypnobirthing thing and figure out how I could support her in this, as I had never done this before.  Her birth also reinforced how sitting on the toilette in the dark can be a very positive position to labor, in as this seemed to help her progress well and calmly. I also learned that not all 34/35 week olds are going to be “small.” Emmett was 6lbs, 15oz.