I had the honor of attending a beautiful birth on Monday. Mama Sarah gave me permission to share her story. Sarah Sharp is a jazz singer and songwriter here in Austin – check out her website and go see her show sometime! Also, read Sarah’s testimonial about her birth experience.
Sarah called us at 4:30 am to let us know she was in labor. When I talked to her on the phone, she sounded happy and excited that she was finally going to get to meet her son Angus. I talked to her again at 5:00, and she was already heading to the hospital. Her contractions were fairly painful, and she was already 4 cm dilated before labor began. Since Angus was her third baby, she knew her labor would probably go quickly.
When I arrived at the hospital at 6:00 am, Sarah and her husband Andy were coping well with the contractions. Her cervical check showed that she was already 6 – 7 cm dilated. The contractions were short, but pretty frequent. Sarah liked to move around – she was constantly swaying, walking, and changing positions. She wanted suggestions for ways to move around that would make her contractions more comfortable and help the baby to descend.
The room was very bright when I got there – the fluorescent lights were glaring. We dimmed the lights, and when the sun came up we opened the blinds so that the natural light came in and we were able to turn the overhead lights off completely. Because the window looked out onto the roof, we didn’t have to worry about anyone seeing in. The view out the window was of some kind of weird boxy metal air conditioner thing. Andy took one look at it and said that if it was outside his window he’d put little arms and legs on it and make it into a decorative robot air conditioner thing. I liked Andy.
I asked if Sarah wanted to hear some music. She was up for it, so I played the Rachel’s station on Pandora with some little portable speakers I had. The mellow orchestral music and the lowered lighting really helped to change the atmosphere from a clinical hospital space to a serene, nurturing birth space.
I had brought my birth ball, and when I suggested Sarah try sitting on it, she found it very comfortable. I did the double-hip squeeze with the next contraction. It made a huge difference for Sarah; she said, “WOW! That REALLY helps.” I think from that point on, we did the double-hip squeeze on every contraction until the baby was crowning. Andy did most of the squeezing. After I had done a few hip squeezes, Sarah asked Andy to try. She gave very specific instructions for him as labor progressed, and he obliged for the rest of labor. By the time the baby was born, Andy was a pro. He swayed his hips when Sarah did, and he even climbed up onto the bed with her when he needed a better angle. Usually I’m the one doing the hip squeezing for hours at a time – Andy really made my job easy!
Sarah used the birth ball for most of her labor. We raised the bed and piled pillows on so she could sit on the ball and lean all her weight forward onto the pillows, concentrating on relaxing her entire body. She also liked standing next to the bed and leaning forward onto the ball. With Andy following Sarah’s strict orders about exactly how to do the hip squeezing, I sat on the bed by Sarah’s head and massaged her neck, shoulders, and hands. She breathed slowly and deeply with total control. When I noticed her clenching her teeth, tightening her shoulders, or holding her breath, I’d remind her to relax and inhale deeply.
At 8:00, Dr. Mingea did Sarah’s second cervical check. She was 9 centimeters dilated with a slight anterior lip, 90 – 100% effaced, and the baby was at +1 station. Her bag of waters was still intact. The nurse, Nancy, told us that we should call her as soon as Sarah felt an urge to push or her water broke, because once either of those things happened, the baby would be well on its way.
Twenty minutes later, Sarah’s contractions became very intense. She began trembling and had a harder time maintaining control during her contractions. I reminded her more frequently to breathe slowly and deeply and to keep her voice deep and low to encourage her cervix to open. At 8:20, Nancy checked Sarah’s cervix again because her trembling and vocalizations indicated that she was well into transition. Her cervix had not changed, and she still had no urge to push.
By 9:00 Sarah started talking to Angus, asking him to come down. She felt like he just wasn’t quite low enough. I suggested positions that would encourage her pelvis to open so that he could move into the proper position to fully descend. We tried marching with giant open steps, and we tried lunging. But Sarah didn’t like standing positions because during contractions she wanted to be seated on the ball with Andy doing the double hip squeeze. The seconds that it took to recognize the contraction coming, sit down on the ball, and order Andy to work his magic were simply too excruciating. Sarah wanted to use gravity to get Angus to descend, but none of the upright positions were working for her.
Since Sarah’s labor had been progressing so quickly until she reached 9 centimeters, I began to wonder if perhaps Angus needed more help rotating in order to move down. Around 9:30 I suggested Sarah get into a knees-to-chest position on the bed, which is one of the best positions to allow a baby to rotate. After about 5 contractions, Sarah felt the urge to push. We called Nancy immediately, and she stayed with us for the rest of the time. It became clear that Angus was definitely on his way. Soon Nancy had Sarah panting in an effort to resist the overwhelming urge to push for as long as possible so that Dr. Mingea could get there in time to catch the baby.
When Dr. Mingea came in, Andy finally got to climb down off the bed and rest his arms. Sarah moved from hands and knees into a sidelying position. At 10:00 am, she pushed Angus out slowly and gently, with great control.
This was a lovely, calm, serene birth. Dr. Mingea and her team were always there if Sarah or Angus needed anything, but they were also happy to leave Sarah alone to create her own birth space and labor her own way. It was a delight to see how Sarah and Andy made their birth happen just how they hoped it would.
Sarah, Steph, Andy, and baby Angus, born 8/2/2010
