Pampered Pregnancy – Blissful Birth

Mary had spent the night at North Austin Medical Center, having her cervix ripened by cervidil to start the process of her induction as she was 41 weeks on the nose. I joined her in the morning at 9am – her contractions had started picking up speed with pitocin at 6:30am and the rupture of her bag of waters at 8:30. I swooped in just in time to get to work on an active 3 minute apart contraction pattern. Mary was already having to work to breathe and focus through contractions, so I didn’t have a down minute to mute my phone or put on music or play board games of any of that silly early labor stuff. Mary meant business from the get go.

From the start Mary’s contractions were strong and she didn’t have much rest time between contractions – so we convinced nurse Cyndi that if Mary kept a regular pattern, and made progress, that Cyndi wouldn’t increase the pitocin. Mary won that battle – the pitocin stayed flat her entire labor, and she proved that an induction doesn’t have to be a constant pitocin acceleration.

Mary like to labor best on the birth ball. She sat on the ball facing Jason (her husband). She would hold his hands, reach up on his shoulders, he would hold her or hug her or just encourage her. He was her rock all day. I was behind her offering counter pressure on her back, heat compresses on her sacrum, and open arms to lean back into between contractions just to rest. Any time Mary was feeling overwhelmed with a contraction, she got up an changed position, the perfect mental distraction. She would sit on the toilet, do hands and knees on the bed, stand and sway, but in between each position she always got back on the ball on of my favorite active labor positions – it’s gravity friendly, it keeps your pelvis open, and it can be restful during and between contractions.

Mary was getting tired. She began doubting herself, not sure if she wanted to be anybody’s hero in this marathon of a day, and just give in to the drugs. I told her to get another cervical check – if she was making progress doing what she was doing – she should stick it out. If she was stuck and this was “taking forever” I would “let” her get the drugs. A 12pm check showed she was at 4cm, so she kept on, and at 2pm she was 5cm. To some women this might seem slow and frustrating (knowing you have to get all the way to 10cm) but I reminded Mary that 1-4cm is the longest duration, 4-6 cm is about 1 hour give her take per cm, and from 6-10cm it goes fast. So in her head – she just needed to get from 5cm to 6cm and then she was smooth sailing. And lucky for me, Mary’s labor did just that. Mary started transitioning within the hour, and shortly after 4pm Mary was a complete 10cm. She made it through a cervidil/pitocin induction one contraction at a time, without any pain medication, and was ready to push her baby out.

With a new found energy, Mary’s practice push convinced nurse Cyndi to call Dr. Jahangari right away. Mary pushed in a squat position holding on to a rebozo tied to the squat bar. This allowed her to butterfly her legs to the side, while pulling herself up and curling around her baby. She pushed for less than 30 minutes, and Dr. J was barely pulling on her second glove while baby was crowning. Lillian Beatrice was born at 5:07pm and was 7lb 6oz. Mary was a strong woman warrior the entire time and Jason her rock, and I am proud I got to share this moment with them. Take that pitocin induction.

Pure ecstasy when mama holds her baby for the first time