My husband emailed me this today because he knows I love pictures and videos of cats, and because he knows I love pictures and videos of birth. So I can’t not share this with our blog readers. :)
We normally post our client’s birth stories, but on the eve of my amazing daughter’s second birthday, I feel compelled to write about her birth.
This birth story starts with my water breaking right at midnight on 01/22/10 (a palindrome!). I was about to get out of the tub and I was actually thinking about amniotic fluid (I am a childbirth educator and doula- I think about these things!). I stood up and felt a *pop*. How exciting! My water had broken! Then after that nothing happened so I just called Andria, my bestie, and texted April, my midwife, then went to bed. The next morning I heard from April. Her and Jayme (her apprentice and now full fledged midwife!) were coming over at nine to try and get some contractions going with the breast pump and some herbs.
They got here closer to 10 and we did 15 minutes on the pump and 15 minutes off for about an hour and a half, with some oh so yucky herb shots in between. I had a few contractions on the pump, but nothing legit. They left at 11:30 and I was due to go get some induction acupuncture and get checked in their office at 12:30. I was going to get some spicy curry for lunch after the appointment. That never happened. Around 11:40 I went down stairs to get a snack, and I got my first real contraction. By 12:10 they were 2-3 minutes apart, so I texted April to tell her I didn’t think I was going to make it to acupuncture. She told me to give it 10 minutes to see if they continued like that. All I could think of was how I was hungry and I wasn’t going to get any curry.
By 12:20 they were 2 minutes apart and crazy intense. April was just starting an appointment with another client, so she sent Jayme over to check on me. Before Jayme even got here I was starting to shake and the contractions were right on top of one another. I decided to try to pee to see if that made them less intense. They didn’t hurt, they were just so overwhelming. Just walking into the bathroom was one of the craziest things I have ever done. Amniotic fluid was gushing out of me and I felt like I was going to throw up and poop and then maybe throw up some more. Then it hit me *I am in TRANSITION*. How did that happen so fast? I had only been having contractions for 40 minutes!
I made Mike call April and she started on her way over here. I had him fill the tub up. I asked him to help him with my skirt (like, help me get it off), but he misunderstood and smoothed it and made it look pretty. I could have slugged him. Eventually I got into the tub, and it was probably the best decision I ever made. Getting in the water made the BIGGEST difference. Hear that ladies? Water birth. AMAZING. The intensity was gone. I felt calm and rhythm. I couldn’t help but think about how April warned me not to get into the tub too soon and I was worried I was gonna get “in trouble” (hahahaha). Anywho, as I was getting in the tub I had the uncontrollable urge to push, but I was trying to just let my body do what it needed to do without me actually trying to push since I had no idea if I was fully dilated. I didn’t want to make my cervix angry!
In comes Jayme. And thank goodness. I don’t know if I was ever so happy to see someone in my bathroom. She was pretty surprised to hear that I wanted to push. She checked me and I was fully dilated. CRAZY! From there, I started pushing a bit with the contractions, but it was still really uncomfortable to do so. April got here and suggested I change positions. That helped a lot. The only part that hurt at this point was my back with I got a contraction. The rest of me felt a-ok with the pushing. It was just really unusual feeling. Like I was throwing up with my vagina.
Everything else happened so fast and I was feeling a little crazy about it. I just pushed to the point of comfort and nudged her down. No big bearing down for me. I closed my eyes and rested in between. Every other time I got a contraction I would say something like, “Do you think she’ll ever come out? Are these pushes doing anything?” or “I don’t like this”. Ha! Mike was great. I was pretty grumpy towards him, because I don’t like people to talk to me or touch me when I am unhappy. He did a good job of just sitting there and looking enthusiastic about the situation.
After about an hour of really gentle pushing with each contraction her head came out! With one of her hands! It came out with a popping feeling and I squealed a little bit because it was so strange and I didn’t know what had happened. Then they told me her head was out (whew! I thought I had blown out my vag!). I asked what i should do with the next contraction and April told me to push with all my might for the next one, so I did. Jayme held Zelda’s hand (awwwww!) as I pushed and out she came! All pink and screaming! Healthy as can be! Henry had been sleeping, and woke up right as she was born. He was knocking on the door shouting, “Zelda came out! Zelda came out!”.
I had a little bleeding at first since her cord was so short and tugged the placenta a bit, but that got cleared up quickly. I had to get out to deliver my placenta. I didn’t tear. I felt GREAT afterwards. We snuggled and nursed in bed while her cord finished pulsating and April checked everyone over. Henry got to meet her and give her a kiss. Then she started to get fussy, so I got to cut the cord (neato!). Jayme weighed her and measured her while April got everything ready for an herb bath for Miss Zelda and I. Once she was all checked out and foot printed, we hopped into a delicious bath and had a nice rinse and soak. April and Jayme got everything cleaned up. I chitty chatted with Mike about how crazy the afternoon had been.
When we were all cleaned up, we got in our jammies and snuggled back up in bed. Mike and Henry went to get birthday cake and have a little bonding time, while we rested up. I wasn’t tired at all since I had a really quick labor after sleeping the night before.
Then we ate cupcakes, gave Henry a big brother present, and just enjoyed each other. It was just the best darn birth. It was everything I ever wanted and more than I could have ever imagined.
Zel-Belle day one! 8 pounds 11 ounces of pure sassa-frass!
We received the following generous offer from photographer Lori Ferguson. Please contact her if you’re interested! – Steph
Hello!
My name is Lori Ferguson and I’m a photographer in the Austin area. I am writing to different Doulas in the area hoping they will help me. I am primarily a wedding (and all that goes with it) and family photographer although recently I was asked to photograph a birth. It was an amazing experience to say the least. It excited me and gave me a fresh “spark” in my photography business. I would love to add birth photography to my services, but before I do I need a couple of models.
Here is what I am looking for:
*Delivery in February
*Different birth methods (water, hypno, etc.)
*Would like to be able to start photography at least 1 hour before birth (hopefully)
*Full release to display pictures on my website and marketing material (these will be tasteful photos and faces can be obscured).
In return, I will provide a high-resolution disc of all the edited images with full copyright release. I will also provide a 25% discount on prints/albums if they want to print through me and the professional printer that I use.
I only need 2 births, so please talk to your mamas and let me know as soon as possible! Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. You may visit www.photosbylfe.com, enter site, go to Client Proofing and enter the password Holland to view the birth I photographed. It’s the Baby Hayden gallery.
Thank you,
Lori Ferguson
512-733-4398
www.photosbylfe.com
lori@photosbylfe.com
Sonya and David are one of the calmest, most centered labor teams I’ve ever seen. When Sonya began having strong, consistent contractions, she emailed the Get Babied doulas to let us know that labor had started, and she was doing fine and not needing any help yet. She said that David was an amazing labor coach and was giving her all of the help she needed. I got in touch with Sonya and David and told them to keep me updated and let me know when they needed me. Several hours passed, and David called to say, very calmly, that while contractions had picked up, Sonya was still doing fine but that she had had some bloody show so they were going to head into their doctor’s office and get checked out. Once they had visited with their doctor and she had determined that Sonya was 7 cm, 90%, -2 station, she decided to admit Sonya to the hospital. What a great place to be when you get to the hospital! David called me back, still calm, and I headed up to meet them.
I got there at about 3pm, and Sonya was lying in bed with her eyes closed breathing slowly and steadily as the nurses rushed around her with intake forms, hep lock set up, etc. Occasionally, she’d open her eyes and smile and then go back to her tranquil breathing. It was quite remarkable to see her so at peace when there was so much going on around her. David was equally cool. He greeted me warmly as he lugged their suitcases into the room. Once the nurses were finished with their tasks and Sonya and David were situated in the room, Sonya was able to take off of the monitors. She moved straight to the birth ball. She rocked back and forth on the ball for a long time, breathing deeply through each contraction. David held her hands while I rubbed her back and applied some counter pressure. Sonya’s mom, brother, and sister-in-law all arrived to cheer her on, and Sonya welcomed the distraction, talking to them while she sat on the birth ball. Eventually, though, she felt like she needed to concentrate and kindly told her family that she needed a little privacy.
Sonya was comfortable sitting on the birth ball for a while, and the nurses were happy to monitor her baby intermittently while Sonya rocked on the ball. Her doctor said that Sonya was doing great and to just let her know when she was feeling pressure. When a couple of hours had passed with no pressure and increasing back pain, I started to suspect that Sonya’s baby may be occiput posterior, with the back of his head pushing on Sonya’s tail bone. I suggested a hands and knees position on the bed, draped over the birth ball. Even though Sonya loved the position she was in, she was game for a change. She really liked the hands and knees position, too, and she felt her baby move almost right away. Hands and knees helped relieve some of the back pain and allowed David and me to really apply counter pressure to her lower back and hips, which Sonya also really liked. This position also made it easy to apply the heat pack to her back which helped with the pain as well.
At about 6:40 pm, Sonya had moved to a seated position on the edge of the bed, and she was starting to feel some pelvic pressure. Her doctor checked her at 7pm, and she was 100%, 9cm, 0 station. This was encouraging news. Not that Sonya was getting discouraged. She just kept on breathing and staying focused. She never once slipped out of her zone. David helped her concentrate by whispering in her ear, touching her hand, and holding her. It was really beautiful to see them work together as a team.
At 9 pm, Sonya started wondering if she was ever going to get to 10 cm. She asked the nurse if breaking her water might help. The nurse was all for this, but there was a snag. The doctor was in the process of delivering another baby, and she didn’t want to break Sonya’s water too soon in case that really caused her labor to speed up and the doctor would have two deliveries happening at the same time. So the nurse asked Sonya if she could wait. True to form, Sonya remained unphased. She patiently waited for another cervical check by the doctor at 9:50 pm. This time she was 9.5 cm. Almost there! At 10 pm, her water broke on its own. Her doctor was still helping someone else deliver, so the nurse asked Sonya to lie down so that she could labor down for a little while before pushing. Once again, Sonya happily agreed. She was the epitome of grace and patience even during the most intense part of labor! Finally, at about 10:30 pm, she was able to start pushing. It took a little while, but Collin David emerged at 12:38 am on December 15, all 8 pounds, 12 ounces, and 22 inches of him!
Sonya had an all-natural, medication-free birth, which is exactly what she wanted. Usually, dilating from 7 – 10 cm is the fastest part of labor, but for Sonya, that part seemed interminable. Even so, she never once lost focus or stopped to ask for pain medication. She was strong, patient, and focused and kept her eye on her goal. David’s steadfast support was also inspiring. He never lost faith in Sonya or panicked at all. They both knew she could do it; it was just a matter of time. Thank you, Sonya and David, for allowing me to be a part of such a lovely and peaceful birth! You guys truly rocked my world!
Get Vegan! is designed to help you maneuver through vegan pregnancy and parenting in a non-vegan world.It is taught by Megan Newhouse-Bailey who is a certified health education specialist, doula, and childbirth educator. Oh! and she has also been a vegan for almost 14 years and is raising two vegan kids.
We will touch on-
-nutrition for pregnancy/breastfeeding
-baby showers
-registering
-raising vegan kids with omni partners
-baby food
-kid food
-birthday parties
-and dealing with people who just don’t understand the vegan lifestyle.
$30 Registration fee is per couple. You don’t need to be pregnant or a parent to join in. Each couple gets a packet full of interesting articles, info, and recipes. Register here! *PLEASE register by 1/27 to ensure you get a packet.
Veganism gets my vote!
January Meet the Doulas Nights at Get Babied!
Happy New Year! The beginning of the year is always a nice to time to regroup, reenergize, and tackle those new year’s resolutions. If you have been thinking about getting a doula for your birth or a postpartum doula after you’ve had your baby, please come to our January Meet the Doulas Nights! We at Get Babied are always so excited to meet future moms and dads, check in with current clients, and reconnect with couples whose births we attended. Our Meet the Doulas Nights are always a lot of fun, and they are a great opportunity to meet all of us face to face, take a load off, have some yummy food and soothing tea, and find out more about our services.
This month we have an exciting addition to our Meet the Doulas Nights: Nathan Pope from Live Oak Pharmacy will be giving flu shots right before our MTDN’s, from 6-7 pm. So if you have been procrastinating on getting your flu shot, come on out! Shots are $25. Please see below for a note from Nathan about the flu shot and Live Oak Pharmacy.
We will hold our Meet the Doulas Tea on Tuesday, January 10, from 7-9 pm. This is a casual Meet the Doulas Night with tea and light snacks. We won’t have a guest speaker or birth testimonial. The entire evening will be focused on chatting and getting to know each other.
Our second Meet the Doulas Night will be on Saturday, January 28, from 7-9 pm. Meghen Hiller will be our guest speaker, and she will be educating us about how to get the most money from your baby – through tax deductions, that is! Also, one of our previous doula clients will be telling her birth story. It will be a fun and informative evening!
All of our Meet the Doulas Nights are held in our office at 1825 38 ½ Street. You don’t need to RSVP. Just show up! We look forward to meeting you!
More information about flu shots from Nathan Pope and Live Oak Pharmacy:
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that just about everyone get the flu shot this year. And to make it easy to get your flu shot, Live Oak Pharmacy will begin offering flu shots for you. Live Oak Pharmacy only uses the preservative-free, inactivated vaccine which is safe and indicated for new or expecting parents. Payment can be made by cash, check or credit for $25 per vaccine.
Live Oak Pharmacy welcomes people from all walks of life and wellness. We believe that applied knowledge is power, in standing behind each and every product and service we offer, that sometimes listening is the best medicine, in the partnership between you, your pharmacist and your health care practitioner, and in seeking the science behind the claims. But most importantly, we believe that everything we do is customized for your health. At Live Oak Pharmacy you’ll find licensed and caring patient care pharmacists and other specialized staff members who are happy to answer your questions about your medications, possible interactions with other drugs, vitamins and other health and wellness questions.
And keep in mind 5 ways to prevent a cold and the flu:
• Get your flu shot
• Cover your mouth when coughing
• Wash your hands frequently
• Eat healthy foods
• Get plenty of good sleep
Nathan Pope, Pharm.D. – Owner and Director of Pharmacy:
Nathan, a graduate of Rutgers University, brings a diversified background to the patients and customers of Live Oak Pharmacy. With over twelve years in the pharmacy industry, Nathan has worked as a pharmacy technician, resident, clinical pharmacist, pharmacy manager and most recently Clinical Assistant Professor at UT’s School of Pharmacy and co-owner of Live Oak Pharmacy. Nathan has continued his own education in prescription compounding, homeopathy, and other Complimentary and Alternative Medicine.
Vulvar varicosities aren’t really a topic of conversation that often when you let your friends know how you are doing during your pregnancy. Hey how’s it going? Well I have varicose veins on my lady parts right now…other than that I am doing pretty well. Lots of the yoginis in my prenatal yoga classes haven’t even heard of vulvar varicosities.
So what are they? Vulvar varicosities are varicose veins on the vulva. Caused from the rise in the amount of blood in your body during pregnancy along with more weight and the enlargement of the uterus. All these factors place more pressure in the pelvic region and can interfere with blood flow to this area. When the pressure rises the veins can become distended and pop out.
Who knew? Once you have them you can use the natural remedies below to relieve pain and keep your self in the best of health. Normally, they resolve after birth – thank goodness for that right?
These are suggestions from other mommas:
*Frozen comfrey compresses (the same used for postpartum perineal healing). Bring 2 qts water to a boil, and then remove from heat. Place ~1 ounce dried comfrey leaves in the water, cover, and let sit 4-5 hours or overnight. Pour onto a mama pad (or a non-chlorine/non-gel disposable pad), and then freeze. Lay down on left side and “layer”… washcloth next to your skin, frozen compress, towel or other absorbent material. Stay laying down until it is no longer cold.
*Homeopathic pulsatilla nigricans.
*Witch hazel soaked pads (2 big ones) in your unders or with lycra bike shorts.
*Increase consumption of onions & garlic to increase circulation.
*Put your bum in the air with your head on your bed a few times a day (getting the pressure/weight of the baby off your pelvic floor) and kegel, kegel, kegel!
*Homeopathic sepia is supposed to work wonders.
*Nettle tea (strengthens veins)
*There’s some great info in Aviva Jill Romm’s book THE NATURAL PREGNANCY BOOK
*Yoga inversions for pregnancy – my prenatal yoga instructors keeps saying inversions are great for any kind of varicosities. doing inversions even just once a week in class.
*Stop sitting cross legged for hours on end at the computer!
*Definitely stay away from unsupported squats – use a block, bolster, or blanket under you when doing squats.
*Lie down with your rear end against a wall and legs up the wall. Use folded blanket or bolster under your hips so the uterus doesn’t compress the vena cava while relaxing with legs up the wall.
*You can find support garments on the internet that help relieve the pressure.
Talk to other mommas, and take care of yourself. This too shall pass!
The weekend of February 17th, we have Kay Miller, CAPPA trainer, coming to do her awesome certified lactation educator (CLE) training!!!
By completing this training, you are completing both the 20 hour Breastfeeding Course in support of the BFHI (Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative) and the CAPPA Lactation Educator certification workshop at the same time!
In this training, you will learn:
Benefits of this program:
February 17, 2012 8am-6pm
February 18, 2012 8am-2pm
February 19, 2012 8am-6pm
$425 if registered and paid by 1.20.12
$475 after 1.20.12
Register NOW and save $50!
http://www.heavensentsupport.com/lactation-educator.html
Hey folks! Megan here! Jenni, our LC who normally teaches Get Milk! is out of town for most of January, so I am subbing in for her. There will be a breastfeeding basics class (taught by me!) January 17th from 7-9pm.
The course includes:
You can register here!- http://www.getbabied.com/classes/breastfeeding-basics
Music and Massage! Jamie’s Story
by Steph Scott
Jamie had been in early labor since 4:00 am Tuesday morning. She and her husband Travor spent the day trying to get labor going, walking and using the breast pump, but Jamie’s contractions were around 10 minutes apart most of the day. At 8:30 pm, she texted me that she had lost her mucus plug. I wrote back that this didn’t necessarily mean anything would happen tonight – but an hour later, Travor called to say Jamie’s water had broken!
I met them at Seton at 10:00 pm. Jamie was 2 ½ cm dilated, but her contractions were already intense enough that she needed help coping with the pain. She wanted a natural birth, but Travor told me she was already questioning whether that would be possible. When I arrived Jamie was lying in bed on her side – she was supposed to be monitored for an hour. She and Travor were listening to hypnobirthing recordings. Travor sat by her head and breathed with her during the contractions to help her focus on keeping her breaths long and slow, and after contractions, he’d give her sips of water, praise her hard work, and encourage her for the next one. They were in a wonderful groove, but it was still so early that I suspected things would soon get really intense.
Jamie liked very firm counterpressure on her low back while she was lying on her side, so I did a lot of that while Travor was by her head. It took me a while to unpack my things and get the room set up; the breaks between contractions seemed really short. I brought out my lavender and peppermint oils. I put some nice lavender soap at the sink and put some lavender hand sanitizer on the bedside table, and I turned off the horrible fluorescent overhead light and put on a softer, gentler light by the door that made the room darker and cozy.
As soon as the hour was up and the monitors were off, Jamie got out of bed and sat on the ball. Travor sat on the bed with pillows in his lap, and Jamie sat on the ball leaning over onto Travor. He was such wonderful support – he massaged her shoulders to relax them when he saw her holding tension there, he always remembered to offer her sips of water to keep her hydrated, and he intuitively knew how to help her focus on her breath by breathing with her loudly instead of trying to talk to her in words about how to breathe. When I emailed the other Get Babied doulas an update, I commented on how great Travor was and how Megan’s “Get Prepped Plus” class had turned him into a highly skilled doula! Megan wrote back that Travor was the superstar of the class. It really showed!
Travor also kept saying funny things to Jamie between her intense contractions. This is hard to do without getting yelled at, because humor can be annoying to a laboring mama when she’s trying to focus all her attention on coping with the pain. But Travor was able to find the perfect degree of levity to make Jamie smile. After the really hard contractions he kept saying, “Oh yeah, you kicked that one in the ASS!!” It cracked me up. Jamie would grin and murmur, “Thanks!” They were so sweet together.
Gus is a cutie!
While Jamie sat on the ball, I sat behind her and massaged her back. It didn’t take long before she started needing a lot of help and encouragement to get through her contractions and stay focused and motivated. I did a lot of very firm counterpressure on her low back; that seemed to help the most. Travor and I also did double-hip squeezes by standing on each side of Jamie when she was on her hands and knees so that we could each press one hip towards her spine. I could see her tensing up with each contraction, and instead of just breathing, she started whimpering in a way that sounded increasingly desperate. We talked about not fighting the pain because it was good; it was productive and was really helping to melt her cervix away and move Gus down a bit lower each time. Little by little, Jamie figured out how to work with the contractions instead of fighting them.
For the first few hours, she switched between the same two positions – sitting on the ball and sidelying in the bed. Because she had been awake since 4:00 am and labored all day, she was already exhausted when she got to the hospital. So we tried to make her comfortable enough that she could doze between contractions as much as possible. The contractions were getting more and more intense, and Jamie was doing great working with them. She told Travor and me that she liked hearing us talk to her and tell her she could do it. She had a very hard time relaxing because of the intensity of the contractions plus lack of sleep. At 1:00 am, another cervical check showed she was 3 ½ cm. She knew she still had a lot of labor ahead of her, so she asked for some medication. Within seconds of getting fentanyl she sighed and murmured dreamily, “This is AWESOME.” Travor and I grinned at each other across the bed – it was wonderful to see her smile again. As I spoke to her quietly about melting softly away and making more space for Gus to descend, I could see her shoulders moving down and her hands unclenching. As Jamie relaxed, I could feel myself relaxing too.
I began to pay more attention to the room around us as I was able to focus less intently on Jamie. Travor had exchanged the hypnobirthing recordings for the playlist Jamie had put together for her birth. Sitting behind Jamie and massaging her back and hips, I started really getting into the music. I was working on 4 hours of sleep, having just been to a birth early the previous morning, and I was a little bit delirious. At 1:20 am, “Crimson & Clover” came on, and I felt a subtle but distinct shift in the atmosphere. We were all sitting – Travor on the edge of the bed, Jamie on the ball with her head in his lap, me on the stool at her back, always massaging. But with that song, it started to feel like we were all dancing as we moved and breathed together in rhythm with Jamie’s labor and Joan Jett’s gritty vocals.
Jamie’s playlist was the perfect labor soundtrack. Most people choose their labor music based on how relaxing it is. Jamie said she just brought all the songs that made her really happy. She had a lot of Bob Marley, which is always wonderful for birthing – it’s impossible to feel too bad when you’re listening to Bob Marley. And “Your Pulling Touch” by Poi Dog Pondering is indeed one of the happiest love songs I know. As Travor said, Jamie has excellent taste!
Smack!
Jamie was able to cope well and rest with the fentanyl until around at 4:00 am. At that point, she was feeling a lot of pain, along with increasing pressure that made her want to push. She tried not to because she didn’t want her cervix to swell if she wasn’t completely dilated, but it became harder and harder to resist. Soon I could tell from the sounds she was making that she was pushing. She asked to be checked; she was 8 cm. She was making great progress, but she was thoroughly exhausted. She asked for an epidural so she could have some relief from the overwhelming urge to push and so she could get some rest; otherwise, she didn’t think she’d have the energy to push effectively. By the time she got the epidural, around 4:30 am, she had been laboring for about 24 hours.
Travor and I had also been up for 24 hours and working hard, though not as hard as Jamie. He had spent the day helping her try to get labor started, and I had been to an early morning birth. All three of us got some much-needed sleep after Jamie’s epidural. It took me a while to convince Travor to move out of his chair by the bed where he was sitting and holding Jamie’s hand – but finally, after they had both been asleep for about an hour (still holding hands), he agreed to move to the sofa bed. He slept with a scarf and a ridiculous furry hat with ear flaps because it was freezing in the room (Jamie had been hot all night). I slept on the sofa bed too, until around 8:30 am when Tanya, another of the Get Babied doulas, showed up with a triple mocha for me along with sugary treats for breakfast. (At the time I was convinced this was the most delicious breakfast I had ever tasted. I will be forever grateful to Tanya who appeared like some kind of angel from Starbucks – when I opened the door and saw her standing there I could swear there were harps playing).
Sleep Deprivation & a Ridiculous Hat
At 8:00 am Jamie was 9 cm; the epidural had slowed her labor down. Her doctor started pitocin to try to speed it up, but by 9:30 Gus’s heart rate started to dip after contractions, showing that he was stressed and not tolerating the pitocin well. They turned the pitocin back to the smallest dose possible and put Jamie on oxygen while we waited for a few more contractions to see what would happen. Everyone stared at the monitor, willing Gus’s heart rate to stay within the safe range – it did! Jamie’s doctor said she might need a cesarean if his heart rate started to dip again, but she was fine with Jamie laboring longer with the low dose of pitocin and the oxygen. Finally, at 2:15 pm, Jamie was finally 10 cm!
Gus was at +1 station, and the doctor wanted Jamie to labor down for one more hour to try to get him to +2 which would mean a lot less work for her to push him out. She was okay with this plan, although she was feeling more and more pressure and some pain at this point. She hung in there for another hour with Travor and me doing counterpressure on her sacrum. At 3:30 the doctor gave her the okay to start pushing, because Gus had moved down to +2 station.
Travor stayed by Jamie’s head holding her hand, and I brought warm washcloths for her perineum to help avoid tearing. The nurse did perineal massage with betadine instead of olive oil because the doctor wanted to avoid olive oil in case she needed to use a vacuum. By the time the doctor was delivering the baby, she wasn’t worried about needing the vacuum, and she did perineal massage with olive oil herself. Jamie pushed very well – she was really strong and the epidural had enabled her to regain a lot of energy. She didn’t think she wanted a mirror, but I suggested she try it. Right as Gus was being born, Jamie’s eyes were closed, so I prompted her to open her eyes and look in the mirror. She had been pushing quietly, but she suddenly gave a triumphant scream and then started laughing and crying at the same time as the doctor placed Gus right onto her belly.
Gus was born at 4:56 pm. He was a plump 8 pounds, 3 ounces and 20 inches long. As soon as Travor saw him, he started crying. Gus was so cute that none of us could look away from him! He was a very peaceful baby, and very alert. When his dad talked to him he got quiet and listened as if he understood what Travor was saying. Jamie got him unwrapped from all his blankets for some immediate skin-to-skin breastfeeding time. It just took a few minutes before he was latched on and chomping happily!
I want to end this birth story with something Travor said, which I think is maybe the nicest thing I’ve ever heard at a birth. After a really long, hard, contraction he told Jamie, “This little guy is going to love you more than anyone else in your life.” I know that is already true! Congratulations Jamie and Travor, and little Augustus Sharp!
Steph, Travor, Jamie, & Gus
Gift Certificates.