It seems the weekends were made for babies lately. That's both good and bad. Good, in that I don't have to rearrange prenatal appointments during the week but bad in that sometimes the weekends are my only time off from appointments to run errands or rest.
This expectant momma has six other children and one of them arrived by cesarean, making her a VBAC client. She lives two hours away and had originally seen a nurse midwife who does home births but about half way through her pregnancy, the other midwife got a lot of pressure from her malpractice provider to quit doing VBACs at home so the mom had to look for another provider. Normally I don't drive that far but I agreed for this situation. (Sound like the story of my life? I'm a softie)
So she made the trip up here to me every month and took really good care of herself. She had a history of quick deliveries, in fact her husband had to catch a couple of her previous babies as her midwife didn't make it in time. We were hoping to avoid a repeat of that scenario. So the plan was for me to be notified as soon as she knew contractions were forming a pattern. Problem was, she had lots of prodromal labor that fooled her many times and left her still without delivery.
But Saturday evening, I was just checking out at a grocery store, not yet having eaten dinner yet and she called. She felt this time the contractions weren't going away, so I rushed home and handed off the grocery bags to my two guys (hubby and son) and grabbed my birth bags and got on the road. I think I did get to grab a granola bar or something as I ran.
Arrived several hours later and checked mom. About three centimeters and still just slightly posterior. I had a sneaking suspicion as a grand multip she had probably been that dilated for several weeks. Contractions eventually subsided and mom and dad went to bed to rest and so did I in their guest room.
The next morning I lay wondering if this was going to go ahead and kick into high gear that day and I should stay or whether it was going to just keep starting and stopping for a few more days. Should I go home or stay? I tiptoed down the hall to find mom and dad up and reporting progress. It seemed that things might be a "go" after all. I headed to Waffle House for some breakfast after listening to baby and making sure all was well. When I got back, full of breakfast and caffeine, mom wanted to be checked. She was 8.5 cms! Serious progress! But I was about to have another lesson in emotional dystocia.
That was about 10:30 AM. All the children were home and up and busy. The oldest child was 12 and she was trying to handle her siblings alone. Friends from church were supposed to come pick them up but because it was Sunday morning, but she felt guilty pulling them away from church. So, she did not disturb them until after lunch and her cervix cooperated. A mom who has delivered this many children and usually delivers fast, you would think that last little bit of dilation and pushing would just zoom by, right?
Apparently not when mom didn't feel safe to be herself and all her biddies were not yet being looked after. The children left just before 2 PM, her water broke on its own at 2 and we had a baby girl at 2:28.
That is the power the mind has over birth.
This expectant momma has six other children and one of them arrived by cesarean, making her a VBAC client. She lives two hours away and had originally seen a nurse midwife who does home births but about half way through her pregnancy, the other midwife got a lot of pressure from her malpractice provider to quit doing VBACs at home so the mom had to look for another provider. Normally I don't drive that far but I agreed for this situation. (Sound like the story of my life? I'm a softie)
So she made the trip up here to me every month and took really good care of herself. She had a history of quick deliveries, in fact her husband had to catch a couple of her previous babies as her midwife didn't make it in time. We were hoping to avoid a repeat of that scenario. So the plan was for me to be notified as soon as she knew contractions were forming a pattern. Problem was, she had lots of prodromal labor that fooled her many times and left her still without delivery.
But Saturday evening, I was just checking out at a grocery store, not yet having eaten dinner yet and she called. She felt this time the contractions weren't going away, so I rushed home and handed off the grocery bags to my two guys (hubby and son) and grabbed my birth bags and got on the road. I think I did get to grab a granola bar or something as I ran.
Arrived several hours later and checked mom. About three centimeters and still just slightly posterior. I had a sneaking suspicion as a grand multip she had probably been that dilated for several weeks. Contractions eventually subsided and mom and dad went to bed to rest and so did I in their guest room.
The next morning I lay wondering if this was going to go ahead and kick into high gear that day and I should stay or whether it was going to just keep starting and stopping for a few more days. Should I go home or stay? I tiptoed down the hall to find mom and dad up and reporting progress. It seemed that things might be a "go" after all. I headed to Waffle House for some breakfast after listening to baby and making sure all was well. When I got back, full of breakfast and caffeine, mom wanted to be checked. She was 8.5 cms! Serious progress! But I was about to have another lesson in emotional dystocia.
That was about 10:30 AM. All the children were home and up and busy. The oldest child was 12 and she was trying to handle her siblings alone. Friends from church were supposed to come pick them up but because it was Sunday morning, but she felt guilty pulling them away from church. So, she did not disturb them until after lunch and her cervix cooperated. A mom who has delivered this many children and usually delivers fast, you would think that last little bit of dilation and pushing would just zoom by, right?
Apparently not when mom didn't feel safe to be herself and all her biddies were not yet being looked after. The children left just before 2 PM, her water broke on its own at 2 and we had a baby girl at 2:28.
That is the power the mind has over birth.
2 comments:
My first lesson on the power of the mind, fear, or any emotional situation came when I was young and lived in the Virgin Islands and we went to a beach where the turtles came to nest. A turtle will swim up and down the beach until she feels it is safe enough to come out of the water and build her nest. Once out of the water she has let her labor kick into high gear.
When someone down the beach lit a cigarette, the light of his fire scared a mama away. She shut down her labor and then came back the next night, when she felt she could lay her eggs into tha nest she dug. I always remembered that as an important lesson for me as a youn but someday midwife.
Beautiful baby and birth. I definitely was so aware of my mind's power in my births and am just in awe hearing stories like this reminding me once again how a mother really puts every part of herself into birthing her child (whether a human mother looking after her other children or a sea turtle as the other poster mentioned). Don't you just love birth :) there's so much more to it then I ever realized before experiencing it myself and I've just learned so much already from friend's birth stories. Reading your stories on here and perspective I'm just further in awe and excited to find out more.
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