I'm excited to say, I had two natural childbirth families/births, two days in a row! YEAH!!! Both were beautiful births. Both moms were totally in control of their bodies, and very peaceful.
One of the moms had a "dysfunctional" type of contraction pattern, and the provider wanted to start pitocin. However, mom didn't want it. Not a problem! She did some nipple stimulation now and again, and that got her contractions to pick up the pace a little bit - on her own time schedule. Mom was worried that she was "stuck" at a certain dilation, after requesting and receiving several cervical checks that showed the same dilation. I told her that she's not "stuck", but rather, she's at a plateau. Her body will eventually break through that plateau and increase dilation.
I offered several position changes to help rotate her posterior baby, and it worked very nicely! I encouraged her to listen to her body, and move the way her body was telling her (aka: do what feels good). She had her hips swaying and rocking from side to side (doing the "labor dance") while leaning forward into her husband.
She was getting a little discouraged with the slow progress of labor, so I suggested moving to the bathroom. Well, that sure jump started the rest of her labor! She birthed her baby into my waiting hands in a very rapid fashion. (That would be catch #16 for me, if anyone is counting.......) I totally did not expect her to progress so quickly in such a short period of time.
What amazed me is how calm I was during this birth. I called out for assistance when she was precipitously delivering, and when another nurse came in, I calmly stated "we're having a baby". She didn't realize that I meant - mom is having her baby right NOW and that the head is already out!! The nurse did a double take, and realized what I meant :::big smiles:: Kind of humorous, looking back on it now!
Since mom wasn't in a traditional position on a bed, it made for a slightly awkward "catch". My concern was shoulders getting stuck, so I asked mom to squat down a bit more to birth the rest of her baby. Baby slid out very easily, and I lifted the little boy into his momma's waiting arms.
Baby stayed attached via the cord, on mom's chest, for quite some time. I'm not a cord cutter, unless baby needs resuscitated. (The midwife came in shortly after the birth, and I deferred to her for the remainder of the birth.)
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Roll out the Red Carpet. NOT!
5 hours ago
16 comments:
What a great birth! You sound like a wonderful support person. How nice that the delayed cord clamping was an added bonus! And a big hurrah for nipple stim over pitocin! Especially with what the whole birthy blogosphere has been learning about it over the last few days . . .
I especially love how you spoke to her about her "plateau", as opposed to telling her she had "stalled", or worse, "arrested". I have no doubt that your positivity had much to do with her eventual progress. RIGHT ON!
You've probably seen this on Unnecessarean, but check out Dr. Aaron Caughey on "stalled" labor: http://www.unnecesarean.com/blog/2009/5/27/dr-aaron-caughey-discusses-stalled-labor-and-patience.html
Cheers!
Have you seen Dr. Aaron C
Was it a toilet birth? I have done 2 toliet births. Accidents with multips. One I had no time to get gloves. It was either catch or the little guy would have been a premature swimmer. I am OK with warm tub births but air birth then a cold dunk would suck!
I wish more births could be like the one you had. I think more people would be satified with their birth. It reminds me of the British system where women come into the hospital and the British midwives do all the care and catch the baby and write their own orders.
While I have your attention, what do you think about Frontiers new program to deliver babies in Guatamala? I am excited about that.
That was such a great story!!! Those are the best days at work!! Makes you go home and feel like you helped with something amazing. :)
oh, what an awesome story :)
What a beautiful story. And a great way to end my day.
Lovely story!!!
I asked my doctor about delayed cord cutting just this past appointment and he told me that he doesn't put babies on Mom's chest when the cord is still pulsing because the baby's blood can drain back into the placenta?!?!?! I've never heard this.
Whoa, nice! Congrats; sounds like a great shift.
I'm just curious, here...You said you weren't a cord cutter UNLESS baby needed resuscitating...which seems utterly counter-intuative to me (Ok, baby needs resus...so lets whack off it's only oxygen supply). However, I know that this is standard protocol in hospitals so my assumption is that there are some battles that can't be fought in the moment. But I'm curious, is this a hard thing for you to do? Do you twitch a bit when you have to do that?
Rebekah - guess I should have clarified. If I need to resuscitate a baby in any manner other than tactile stimulation and use of a bulb, I will do a quick milking of the cord, then clamp and cut. The issue isn't really about cutting off the baby's oxygen supply - if there is a secondary apnea, you need to bag the baby with a bag and mask (and oxygen). Just allowing the baby the oxygen via the pulsating cord is not going to be enough. Also, if you need to resuscitate that much, baby is very compromised, and it's easier, safer, and more effective to resuscitate the baby where the emergency equipment is - on the flat surface under the radiant warmer.
Needless to say, having under 20 "catches" under my belt, I am in no way an expert in when to cut the cord or not. However, I trust my instincts to tell me if I need to clamp and cut to resuscitate.
Was this baby in the bathroom? I was just reading and unsure. My last nurse was scared to death I'd birth somewhere other than in bed on my flat back. I think this time I'm getting a midwife instead of an OB with the hopes that if I get a bad nurse and I get tongue tied I will have at least some one maybe there for the birth that wants to be there...
Blessings!
Dawn
Yes, this was a bathroom birth :-)
Dawn - the way you're talking....are you pregnant?? :-))
Nice! Sounds like a lovely birth. I was TOLD by my nurse in my 2nd birth I was STUCK numerous times. I wish she had explained about plataeus instead. Much more positive. Words matter!
Fabulous experience!
Joy - your doctor is an idiot. the baby's blood will NOT drain back to the placenta. The arteries (which bring unoxygenated blood from the baby to the placenta constrict very quickly after birth due to pressure changes in the 'system' of the baby. The vein (arteries and veins are reversed in the cord) remains open longer as it is bigger. Up to 25 % of the baby's blood volume can be in the cord at birth which is the rational for delayed cord clamping. In fact, if you have a compromised baby requiring resuscitation, it is actually better to start it on mom and delay the cord clamping because baby will do better if their volume is not depleted. The down side to delayed cord clamping is higher incident of jaundice. But babies are less likely to be anemic 6 months out.
I have a question. I'm 34 weeks and getting to the apprehensive part, where I worry about labor.
My biggest issue is worrying that the nurse assigned to me isn't going to support me. I know I've read places of nurses making fun of natural birth women, that we make too much noise or whatever.
How common is this really?
Ciarin,
Thanks for this comment about blood not going back into the placenta. I've been in a recent conversation with an L&D nurse about this, and she intimated that this was a possibility and/or a problem with delayed cord clamping. It didn't sound right to me, but I hadn't heard anything substantive to back it up, either.
One thing about the jaundice, though -- from what I've read, although there is a higher incidence of jaundice in DCC, I think the studies have shown that it is not actually a problem. This suggests to me that it may be actually normal (unless, of course, it gets out of hand), and a non-jaundiced baby might be physiologically abnormal.
-Kathy
Long time reader, first time commenter (ha, that sounds so corny, but it's late so, eh)
Anyways, couldn't resist commenting. Sounds absolutely amazing, both the experience of being able to catch the baby and guide the momma through birth... and from the mother's aspect of having a peaceful birth.
<3
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