Kora's Story

A new week, another opportunity for a Birth Story!
Read on!

Kora's Story

by Mellisa

I took the Bradley Method classes. We felt prepared. We had a doula. I chose a hospital birth due to unknown family history. My husband really thought we should have a birth center birth. I pushed back because of the unknown.

I started with mild irregular contractions on 10pm Friday night. Right at bed time. My husband said, "rest, you don't know how long it will be". I tried resting until about 2 am. At that point I was done with getting up every 20 minutes with a contraction, needing to pee and being thirsty. At this point I was also hungry. So, I decided to go to the kitchen and get something to eat. All I remember is wanting to eat the fruit we just bought. So, I stood there at the counter cutting up all the fruit, eating some and putting the others in containers. I also timed contractions. They were still irregular and not intense. At about 5 am I decided I should get more rest. They contractions must have stopped because I slept until about 9 am.

My family was in town and were preparing to leave when I woke up; I told then I was having contractions last night.

They decided to stay.  My sister and husband helped me try to get my contractions going again. We called our doula just to inform her.  The contractions came back and started to become regular in the afternoon. We called the doula after dinner time between 6 and 7pm again, to tell her they were getting stronger and staying pretty regular. I was still pretty talkative and felt fine.  Our doula arrived between 8 and 9 pm. We did some laboring on the ball; I was definitely moving along in labor. I had to concentrate and relax during each contraction. It never felt painful. We discussed if I should go to the hospital now or later. I was admitted to the hospital around 10pm.

I tried the tub, but I kept having to get out to pee so I was annoyed; I decided to stay out of the tub.

Some time around midnight, but Dr came in to check me.  I was told by my doctor in a frank voice "You are not fully dilated, your water has not broken and your cervix is protruding. You are pushing. You need to stop pushing or your cervix will explode. If you do not stop pushing, I will take you in for a c-section".

I told my doctor that I was not purposefully pushing, that my body was doing it. At this point my water broke. My doctor proceeded to tell me that my other option was an epidural. I told her that I didn’t want an epidural or a c-section. She then told me that if I didn’t stop pushing she would take me in for a c-section and that it would not be in a form of a question if I wanted one. My husband looked at our doula and asked if there was anything else we could do. She said that I could try to blow out each contraction and focus on that. We asked the doctor if we could try this. She said that I had one hour and if I could not stop pushing then I would have to get the epidural.

I tried so hard not to push. With the fear of a c-section looming and not being able to stop the pushing, I looked at my husband and told him to tell the doctor to get the epidural because I did not want a c-section.  I did not request the epidural for pain management. I wanted to avoid a c-section.

Looking back, I honestly believe my doctor wanted to perform a c-section. It was not only Sunday, it was Father’s Day. I remember my doctor looking at me and asking me if I wanted the epidural. I told her that I didn’t want a c-section and that I couldn’t stop pushing. So, if that is my only option then yes. I also remember her saying that it might be another hour before he could get to me. I remember being scared. Thinking how am I not going to push for another hour.  Well, I remember him coming in soon after she left with all the paperwork for me to sign. Of course my husband can’t sign them. I have to sign them in the middle of contractions. The epidural is inserted. Then nurse Anne goes to put the catheter in, but can’t. She yells over and says turn off the epidural, she doesn’t need it! I am confused, my husband is confused as is my doula. She says the head is right here, you need push and can push! My doctor did not check me before the epidural was given. I began pushing as my doctor is frantically getting ready. I can totally feel the pressure of the contractions. I am yelling "I need to push, I need to push". Then I feel it subside and then I go back to saying "I need to push, I need to push". They are not telling me that a contraction is coming or to push. I continue to do this until my beautiful daughter arrives at 4:44am on Father's Day.

If you are interested in sharing your Birth Story here on the Radiant Birth blog, feel free to 

Contact Me.

Evelyn's Story

 A quick note about this Friday's Birth Circle ... there is still room for Mothers to join the Circle, so please contact me to reserve your spot! 

And now onto a Birth Story ...

 

Evelyn's Story

by Jenni 

I must say, this was my dream birth from start to finish, the only exception being the tearing that happened. But, I'd do it this way again in a heartbeat, you know, if we ever decide to do this again! Ha!

After going to bed on 7/31/2009, the baby was VERY active in utero. She usually kicked some at bedtime, but tonight, she was kicking and moving way more than normal.

At 3:00 am on 8/1/2009, I woke up to go to the bathroom. Given that I was 38 weeks pregnant, a nightly bathroom trip wasn’t unheard of. Typically, though, I went around 2:00 or 5:00 am, so 3:00 was a little different. When I finished using the restroom, I felt a small surge of fluid and thought “hmm…that’s odd, I thought I was finished”. I thought *maybe* labor was starting but didn’t want to get too excited. I put on a panty liner and walked toward the bedroom, when another small gush of fluid came out and the panty liner was clearly not enough. I changed into another panty liner (which was all I had upstairs) and went to the baby's room and got a prefold cloth diaper and used that instead. I went back into the bedroom and told Scott (Jenni's husband) “I think my water broke.” He said “Seriously?” and I had another surge of fluid. Yes, seriously. I tried to go to bed and sleep some more since it was so early in the morning, but contractions started coming at about 2 minutes apart lasting 40 seconds or so. They weren’t too strong yet, but because they were so close together, I couldn’t sleep. I felt pretty icky after my water broke, so I decided to take a shower. I washed my hair and shaved my legs and stood under the water for a long time. Then I got out, got another diaper (I had soaked the first one through already) and went to lay in bed. Scott coached me through the contractions using visualizations and techniques we had learned in our Bradley class. (Scott says: I had been worried I was not going to be able to keep talking long enough during the contractions and that I would run out of things to say. Or that I would keep using the same couple of visualizations over and over for such a long time that Jenni would gripe at me, “Say something ELSE!” In reality, Jenni was such a natural at finding her rhythm and relaxing through the pain, I didn’t have to do nearly as much coaching as I thought.) Scott timed the contractions using his iPod Touch and they were still about the same as they had been before. He got me some water and around 5:00 am he called our Doula, Kelly. She advised us to call our doctor, so he did that as well. Since my water had broken, the on call doctor didn’t want me to labor at home longer than 8 hours, so she advised us to come in at 11:00 am. Around this time, my contractions started to spread out some, so I was able to nap in between them. At some point (around 7:00 maybe?) I threw up and we called Kelly again. She asked to speak with me and listened to me have a short contraction (I was disappointed – this was the shortest, weakest one I’d had yet, and it was the one she listened to!) and advised me to use slow, deep breaths during the contractions. She listened to another one and said I was doing very well with the breathing. She asked what I thought of the contractions and my response was “These are serious.” She also advised that I try to eat small bites of food and drink water, so Scott made me some oatmeal, which I ate a few small bites of.

I brushed my teeth and got dressed in comfy pants and one of Scott’s XL college t-shirts and we went downstairs where Scott could make me some more food. This time he made toast with margarine. I sat on the exercise ball through several contractions and texted and called friends and family in between them. I still needed Scott to help me through the contractions either by massaging my back or by talking me through them. We timed them, but they were erratic – sometimes lasting 30 seconds, one lasting 2 minutes, and anywhere from 90 seconds to 3 minutes apart. (Scott says: Somewhere around now, Jenni moved to laying on the floor on her side. Intensity was certainly picking up, but we were still taking our time and not in a hurry.) We called Kelly hourly at this point, and at 10:30 am Scott called Jenn (our Bradley instructor, assistant doula, and photographer!) to come over while he packed up to go to the hospital. We planned to leave at 11:00 am, but we waited for me to go to the bathroom, then waited out a couple of contractions, so we wound up leaving around 11:20 am. In the car, I turned completely inward and began to manage the contractions on my own. Scott has since told me that he couldn’t tell when I was having a contraction and when I wasn’t, so he wasn’t able to help me, which was OK – I was handling them well. His job was to drive smoothly and safely. The remaining timeline was recorded by Jenn, otherwise I would have absolutely no idea when anything happened.

 

The car ride wasn’t nearly as bad as I had anticipated, and since it was a Saturday, it only took us 20 minutes to get there. Once we got there, Jenn suggested we walk around some before checking in, just in case things slowed down, then we could leave and go to a hotel nearby instead of checking in just as labor slowed down. I didn’t really want to walk, but thought the advice was good, so we started walking outside. It was too hot and I needed to go to the bathroom, so we went inside. I went to the bathroom as quickly as possible so I could stand up during contractions – those that I had on the toilet were the hardest, and I didn’t like them one bit. Scott and I walked around the lobby area for a short time, and I started to feel queasy, so I sat down and pointed to our makeshift puke bucket. Scott didn’t know what I was pointing at, so I pointed more fervently. He quickly understood when I started coughing. He got it to me in time, when I vomited bile. At this point, I just wanted to lay down, so I laid on the floor of the lobby. Jenn (I think?) gave me a pillow and at that point Kelly showed up. She joked about this being the place we were going to give birth and encouraged me to go upstairs and check in. I was so thankful. Labor was not slowing down; it was progressing at a good pace.

We walked to the elevators and I had a contraction or two on the way. When I would have a contraction, I would lean my head against my forearm on the wall, and Scott would rub my back. Slowly we made it to the elevator and up to the 3^rd floor, where we had to check in - after a few more contractions, one in the elevator, several in the hallway on the way to L&D. (Scott says: It was a good thing we had so many people with us, because we brought so much stuff to the hospital! Yoga ball, pillows, soft-sided cooler with juice and ice cubes of Gatorade and chicken broth, an iPod docking station, another bag of dry foods, a duffle bag with clothes and other odds and ends.) I had to fill out some paperwork and was barely “with it” enough to do that, but we made it through. At this point, it was around 12:45 pm. There were no rooms available but one was being cleaned, so they sent us to a “waiting room” which was actually a hallway with chairs in it and a family or two hanging out. Kelly asked if I wanted to sit on my yoga ball, and I definitely did, so I sat with my back to the families and went back into my own world. Kelly suggested I go to the bathroom and I told her I didn’t like to labor on the toilet. She said that that meant it was the best place for me to be because it was getting the baby into a good position. So, I went to the toilet, and Scott joined me in the room. He kept telling me I was doing a good job and would occasionally remind me to relax my shoulders or my face or wherever he noticed I was tense. This was very helpful and I was able to do as he said.

At 1:25, we were finally in a room. I changed into a robe I had brought from home instead of the hospital gown. Dr. Carrie Lawson – the on call doc for Dr. Tchabo – came in and checked me (this was my first internal check through my entire pregnancy) and I was at 5 cm and 100% effaced. I was so relieved because I was worried she’d tell me I was only at 2 cm or something and after all that work I would have been seriously disappointed. As it was, 5 cm sounded great to me! My contractions were about 3-4 minutes apart and 1 minute long and steady. The doctor looked over my birth plan and said everything was fine and that I would need a Heplock. The nurse (Sarah) came in and introduced herself. She was really nice and totally amenable to the birth plan too. I started to relax a little about having a hospital birth. She tried to put the Heplock in my right arm (the side where all the other wires, etc, would be for the monitors), but failed the first time. I really don’t like needles, and they were even harder to deal with while managing contractions. I needed Scott to help me through it, so I stared into his eyes and I think held his hand while she tried the other arm. I had to ask her to wait through the contraction I was having before sticking me, and she complied, but I remember thinking that she wasn’t very observant. The doctor agreed to intermittent monitoring, and so the nurse also strapped those on to me (also not paying attention to my contractions).

 

I labored on my right side in bed for a while, and Scott went to the cafeteria to get lunch. I asked for the monitors to be removed, and they were. At around 3:10 pm, Kelly convinced me to labor on the toilet, which brought on very intense and powerful contractions. I had a lot of bloody show and Kelly estimated I was probably around 7 cm at this point. I started feeling a fullness in my bottom and I pushed, completely involuntarily, once or twice on the toilet. Once I knew what pushing felt like, I was more capable of breathing through that type of contraction to wait until I was fully dilated so that I could push. Not pushing was certainly difficult, though! Scott came back from lunch around this time, and I was put back on the monitor in bed. I was very very warm, so Kelly and Scott applied cool washcloths to my face and neck, and I kept eating ice chips. I also became very verbal around this point – saying “ooh, ooh” or “ow ow ow ow” during contractions. Kelly advised me to use this type of vowel sound that kept my throat open rather than closing it off because if you keep your throat open, your cervix will be freer to open. At 3:45 I really started having the urge to push, but I had not been checked again, so I had to blow through the contractions. They were really intense and painful and I couldn’t resist pushing entirely. The nurse and doctor were called to let them know I was pushing, and at 3:55 Dr. Lawson checked me again. I was at 9 cm and, according to Jenn’s notes, I was having lots of double peak contractions, even one or two triple peaks. I had no idea at the time – I just knew they were strong. Kelly and Scott alternated putting pressure on my left hip/back area – the same place that had been hurting me during pregnancy and that had lead me to the chiropractor. The pressure helped, but it did not eliminate that back pain. I can’t imagine what it would have been like had I not been receiving therapy for it for months! I think it was around this time that I had the one fleeting thought of “an epidural might be nice” but then another contraction came and I had to focus, and I never thought about artificial pain relief again.

At 4:23, Dr. Lawson came back and declared that I was ready to push (I had declared this a while ago, and was practically begging them to let me push!). For the first push, Dr. Lawson held up my cervix to see if the baby’s head would drop, and at 4:25 I officially pushed for the first time. The doctor seemed surprised to say that I was a good pusher. I wasn’t so confident. Pushing was new territory – I had learned to cope with the contractions and could handle them. Pushing was a totally new experience.

At 4:25 the doctor left and Kelly and nurse Sarah attempted to put up the squatting labor bar. And then they thought they had it wrong, so they turned it around. And then they fidgeted with it some more and turned it back around. (Scott says: And then they thought they had it wrong, so they turned it around. And then they fidgeted with it some more and turned it back around. Finally, we all decided this must be right, because the other way looked even more wrong than this looked.) This was all very distracting to me. Finally, the labor bar was in place and the bed was positioned properly. Despite the labor bar being advertised on the hospital tour, our nurse said she had only put it up one other time in her 10 years at the hospital. Kelly sat at the foot of the bed and held a hand mirror so she could see how I was progressing. I had had a few more pushes and Kelly kept telling me what a good job I was doing.

 

I was pretty uncomfortable in the position I was in – I was sitting on the bed and would stand up on the drop-foot part of the bed and push against the labor bar during contractions. I wanted something to lean on in between pushes and Kelly suggested Scott sit behind me, so he did and I sat between his legs and was able to lean back on his chest when I wasn’t pushing. This made it more comfortable for me, but as I said earlier, pushing was a whole new ball game, and I didn’t like it one bit. I finally told Kelly “I’m so scared!” and saying it made it easier for me to focus on the job at hand. Scared didn’t begin to describe it – I was absolutely terrified. Scott has since asked what I was scared of, and I can’t put my finger on it. For one thing, I was worried, despite being told what a good pusher I was, that I was doing it wrong because I felt like I was only going to the bathroom – not pushing out baby. But, I don’t think that was all of it – I think I felt a little alone and without direction. The books all talk about labor pain management, they don’t spend a lot of time on the pushing part. I think Kelly told me it was OK to be scared and that I was doing a great job. During the next few pushes, I started making very guttural, animalistic noises – very loudly. After a few of these, Kelly suggested that my throat would be sore if I kept up this way, and so I tried to push without the noises. I would push for what I’m sure was a few seconds (that seemed like minutes…or days) and at the end would let out a roar. These pushes became much more effective, and Kelly told me I could touch my baby if I wanted. I tentatively placed a finger inside and sure enough, I could feel a bit of her head! I asked Kelly “How much longer?” and she, frustratingly ;), said “I don’t know.” Kelly recommended I pull against the bar instead of pushing against it, and again, this helped my pushes be more effective. All during this time, I was very hot and Scott and Jenn kept applying cold wash cloths to my face and neck between contractions and feeding me ice chips (I think).

 

Somewhere between 5:10 and 5:15 pm, I let out a mega-roar of a noise and pushed with all of my might. I began to understand the idea of “ring of fire” – an apt description of crowning, for sure! At 5:15, Dr. Lawson came back in and asked if this was the position I intended to give birth in. I was confused – was I not in the process of giving birth? So I said “yes” and the doctor took over Kelly’s position at the end of the bed. She asked if I wanted a perineal massage and I think I said yes. She then proceeded to run her finger around Evvie’s head as I pushed. This was SO PAINFUL. I think I said “ow ow ow” during those pushes. Sometime around this time, Kelly thought to ask for a mirror so Scott and I could watch as she emerged. They got it up just in the nick of time – I gave another push and her head was out – and it seems to me that her body just came out with it, but I may have had to push for that too. In any event, her body emerging was the most wonderful feeling! And at 5:22 pm, Evelyn Lily arrived. I barely saw it on the mirror – I was too relieved to not have to push anymore!

Dr. Lawson placed Evvie on my belly and they began to rub her. She was a little gray (Scott says: she was extremely gray for the first 10 seconds or so) and wasn’t yet crying. I didn’t really worry too much – just a fleeting thought of, “shouldn’t she be crying?!” before she did. I was able to hold her and kept saying, “Oh my God! Oh my God!” It was all I could think. Dr. Lawson, as per our birth plan, let her cord finish pulsing before it was time to cut the cord. I asked Scott, “Do you want to do it?” and he replied, “I guess so”. And he did. (Scott says: It was thick and tough and took a few snips to cut all the way through. I was also worried I might somehow slip and cut her, so I was probably being extra-cautious.)

Soon after the birth, someone asked me about our next child and I replied "I think we'll adopt the next one". At that moment, no one, including me, was sure whether I was joking. A few hours later, though, I knew that I was and that I'd gladly carry and deliver another child, when the time comes.

If you are interested in sharing your Birth Story here on the Radiant Birth blog, feel free to Contact Me.

Julian's Story

So long Labor day weekend! Hello September apple picking and leaf peeping!

Now, a Birth Story.

Julian's Story

by Pamela

Setting the Stage
This pregnancy was, by all intensive purposes, pretty easy. We never had any major complications, and sure, while some of the side effects that go along with pregnancy aren’t very comfortable or particularly pleasant, I enjoyed being pregnant very much.

When we got along in our pregnancy enough to discuss birthing methods, we decided that natural was the way to go for us. We hired a doula (Mary Beth) to help us in the hospital (the best decision we ever could have made) and took Bradley classes to help arm ourselves with the knowledge for a natural birth. We prepared a natural birth plan and specifically requested nurses and doctors who support natural childbirth.

Of course, things don’t always go as you planned…

About a month before my due date I started experiencing swelling. Everyone swells during pregnancy so I wasn’t too concerned about it. Unfortunately, I gained about 10 pounds in 2 weeks from water retention and developed carpal tunnel in my right hand due to the swelling. We monitored these symptoms but they never really caused us to raise any flags. About a week before my due date my blood pressure started to increase, enough that my doctors were concerned, and I also started having intense headaches. Still, I really didn’t think much about it until the Sunday before my due date the headaches were so bad that we went to the hospital to make sure everything was okay. The baby’s movement also decreased for a few hours so I got really paranoid that something was wrong (he was sleeping). On the Tuesday night before my due date I started having some cramps. We didn’t think much of them, however they were recurring and intense enough to make me slow down so Thad (Pamela's husband) started keeping track of them just in case. They lasted for about 3.5 hours and then stopped totally. My doctors told me to keep my regularly scheduled Wednesday morning appointment. Little did I know that that appointment would move things along considerably.

At my appointment not only was my blood pressure high but there was protein in my urine. Between the protein, swelling, headaches, and blood pressure, my doctor advised a scheduled induction on Thursday morning because he didn’t want my pre-eclamptic symptoms to go any further. I was already 2 cm dilated at this point and about 50% effaced so my doctor felt that inducing labor by artificially rupturing my bag of waters would jump start my delivery. After a lot of discussion, Thad and I decided to go with the induction. I had carried the baby for 39 weeks and 6 days at this point. Sure, it’s not a spontaneous start of labor but when the concern is over symptoms that can get worse in an unpredictable manner we decided not to tempt fate and risk harm to me or the baby.

Birth Story
We arrived at the hospital at 0545 for a 0600 induction. Unfortunately our doctor had just had a delivery so we didn’t end up having my water broken until 0815 and there was meconium in the fluid. Of course this raised a flag for the doctor but since I was already 2 cm. dilated and 50% effaced the hope was that my body would take over the labor naturally. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Luckily my doctors were okay with me moving me around and Thad and I spent the next few hours walking to see if we could get things moving. I only had a handful of contractions but nothing too uncomfortable. By about 1115 they checked me for dilation and there was no progress. At 1145 we decided to try some pitocin at a very low dose to see if that would jump start my contractions. At 1600 my doctor came to check my progress and I was only 3 cm dilated. My doula, Mary Beth, said that at this point the contractions should be “knocking me down” and they weren’t that bad so we went with the doctor’s advice and upped the pitocin yet again. The contractions became steadily stronger and longer, and what had begun as contraction-talk-contraction soon quieted into focused, active labor. The pain of the contractions also steadily grew, with the breathing and positioning techniques becoming less effective as the contraction times grew to two minutes and the breaks between decreased, with contractions sometimes stacking three or four in a row. Around 2200 the contractions were so long and close together, the nurse began lowering the Pitocin dose, which did very little. By 2330, the Pitocin drip had been turned off completely, but the contractions were still extremely strong and abnormally long. The doctor was doing an exam every two hours or so at this point, and at midnight, I reached the 5cm mark. Thad and our doula were both hopeful that things would accelerate at this point, with the contractions being as heavy as they were. Unfortunately, after another two grueling hours, I was only 6cm dilated, and all of our energy reserves were running low. We pushed through another two hours which included vomiting and bouts of the shakes, and we had high hopes as the doctor entered at 0400. Unfortunately, it was not to be, as I was still right around 6cm dilated. With so little energy remaining, we decided an epidural would be the best path for rest and another session after a brief rest. The epidural was administered at 0515, and we all took a quick sleep until 0730, at which point the nurses started up the Pitocin again (contractions had slowed to a point where we would not be able to make progress). The contractions were not as painful with the epidural in place, and over the next five hours, dilation slowly progressed. By about 1300 I was nearing the 10cm mark, but the anterior lip of the cervix refused to retract properly. We waited through another hour of contractions (and a stronger epidural), but the lip stayed in place. The nurse and doctor felt it was soft enough that it would not present a danger to the baby, and at 1500, we repositioned and started actual pushing!

After about 10 minutes of pushing (learning curve!), the epidural wore off, and while the pain was more intense, I also had a much better sense of where and how I should push, and the nurse was more excited about the movement of the baby, or at least what we thought was progress. As we continued pushing, a number of things became apparent: the baby was not moving as much as he should, my temperature (approaching 102 degrees), pulse (150 sustained) and blood pressure (180/110) were all worrisome, and the baby’s heart rate was sustained around 190-200 during contractions, signaling distress. After 75 minutes of pushing, the baby had still not moved past the unretracted lip, and the doctor and nurse both recommended we move to an emergency c-section in light of both my and the baby’s deteriorating condition. At this point, the water had been broken for 30 hours, I was already on IV antibiotics to protect against infection, and it was clear that a vaginal delivery was not in the cards.

After being prepped with a chest-down epidural, I was moved to the OR. I fell asleep almost immediately (I have never been so tired in my life), and actually was next awakened by Thad to see our wonderful son as he was moved to the triage station. It was 1714, and we had an 8lb. 13 oz. baby boy. We also received a couple pieces of information that would have been helpful the day before – he was sunny side up, his head position was asynclitic, and the cord was wrapped around his neck twice, preventing his proper descent!

Julian's Birth
After the doctors sewed me up, I was moved to transition, where the nurses were wonderful – as soon as his breathing was steady enough, they gave us 30 minutes for skin to skin contact, and he snuggled right into me – it was amazing! Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to keep his oxygen numbers high enough on his own and was showing other symptoms of respiratory distress, so he was moved to the NICU for additional oxygen and monitoring. He ended up staying there for five days, working through the TTN and then jaundice (caused by the difficult labor and delivery). We finally were able to bring him home almost a week after his birth.

Thad’s input
Obviously things didn’t go as we had planned. It was the most difficult and challenging 24 hours of my life, without a doubt. I’ve never been through anything like it, and doubt I will ever see its like.

As Pamela covered all the details, I won’t go into that, suffice it to say that the doula, Mary Beth, and I were both physically and mentally exhausted, so I can’t even imagine what place Pamela went to that allowed her to continue when we were both so close to collapse.

I will mention a couple of things, though, and they’re both Bradley related. Even though we weren’t able to deliver Julian vaginally, we still feel that we did the best we could have under the circumstances. There were so many times when we had a decision in front of us, and after discussion, we first tried things the natural way, and when that failed, we were forced to turn to the medicinal path to make progress. I can’t even count the natural things we tried – walking, squatting, raspberry tea, primrose oil, nipple stimulation, both blue and black cohosh, special positions with the doula’s riboso… the list went on and on. Unfortunately, they just weren’t enough. I believe that the baby wasn’t quite ready to come out, but due to the worsening pre-eclampsia and the meconium in the water, it is also clear that we didn’t have the luxury of time to wait, so we made the best of it.

Our doula was an absolute wonder. We are forever in her debt for the effort and comfort she provided during such a trying experience. She was a pillar of strength and also provided calm, sound advice during each of our decisions. I don’t know how we would have done it without her.

Pamela's Input
I don't know if I'll ever be able to look back at the labor and delivery and not get emotional. It was the hardest single thing I've ever had to do in my life and I suspect that it will never be topped. The whole experience pushed me into a new place as well as pushed my relationship with Thad to a new place as well. Looking back, though, despite the difficult recovery and series of unexpected events, I would not change a thing. Bringing Julian into this world required a lot of determination, patience, and ultimately a lot of love between me, Thad, and our doula and I will never be the same because of it. Now we have a beautiful, healthy baby boy and I am slowly on the mend. How can I be disappointed about anything that happened when the outcome was so wonderful?

I'll never be able to thank Thad and Mary Beth for everything they did for me. The doctors and nurses were wonderfully supportive and I am in their debt as well. Sure, it wasn't the delivery we were hoping but we are so lucky to be where we are today. Julian is the most wonderful thing to ever happen to me and I am so grateful for him each and every day. 'Nuff said.

If you are interested in sharing your Birth Story here on the Radiant Birth blog, feel free to Contact Me.