Guest Post: Mary's Hospital Birth Story

Shared with permission from Mary. Enjoy!

I had a lovely midwifery team who worked well together, and communicated well with the nurses on the floor. I'm not sure if you're aware of how it works here in Ontario, but CNMs are covered by our provincial health plan and can either attend births in hospitals or at home. We only have one or two freestanding birth centres. Midwives cannot perform water births in hospitals because of hospital regulations, but at-home water births are covered by our plan. Because our health plan is public rather than private, a lot of the corporate aspects of health care management are avoided. Therefore, from my understanding, we have lower rates of medical intervention because doctors are more patient and there is less of an emphasis on rushing the mom. That's not to say that everything is perfect here - we need more midwives quickly, because right now you have to call when you pee on the stick to get one!

My midwives have a long list of when they would have either transfered care or consulted on care for me. The only time they needed to was when I had a 3a tear and needed an OB to stitch me up (baby's shoulder's didn't bend the way they should have on the way out - head only gave me labial tears, but shoulders gave me the 3rd degree one). They do not work "under" a doctor - rather there is a doctor on-call at the hospital who they consult with.

I had a team of two midwives in a practice of 14. One of these midwives did "clinic" and one did "on call" - I saw both of them throughout my pregnancy. A backup "on-call" midwife came to support my on call midwife when it was time for me to push. My midwife was with me for virtually the entire labour, with the exception of when she went to go register me and when she had to step outside for 5 minutes to call another client.

I know I had a very lucky lucky labour, but I credit a) my midwife for keeping me at home until I really needed to go b) my midwife, for keeping how dialated I was under her hat c) the hospital, for letting my midwife do her own thing and have equal access to the tools she needed, and for knowing that all the bells and whistles would be there if I really needed them, even though I didn't. Oh, and d) how freakin' fast my baby wanted out.

6:30 – Mary starts feeling real contractions and tells Rob to make dinner (veggie burgers with extra pickles)

7:30 – Dinner time. Contractions aren’t going away. Mary isn’t thrilled because she can tell that baby is sunny side up.

8:30 – Mary and Rob watch Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. During the Lonesome Polecat song, Mary develops a useful hum that helps her through early labour.

10:30 – Granny and Granddad arrive to pick up Darcy dog.

12:15ish – Mary and Rob call the midwife. Mary is still humming and can talk through contractions, but they have changed from being 6-7 minutes apart and 1.5 minutes long, followed by a 30 second one, to 3-4 minutes apart and 45 seconds long. Midwife orders Mary into the bath.

12:45 – Mary hates the bath. A lot.

1:15 – Midwife calls back. Mary’s contractions are still 3-4 minutes apart, but are now longer. She isn’t humming anymore. Midwife says, “meet me at the hospital.”

1:30 – Mary has the most harrowing car ride of her entire life. Rob has to be reminded to drive gently.

2:00 – Mary and Rob arrive at hospital and begin getting settled in. Mary throws up the extra pickles and panics slightly, as the red powerade makes her vomit look crazy.

At around 2:45, Mary is only 4cm, but the midwife can stretch her to 6 cm. Mary doesn’t know this (thanks midwife for keeping it a secret!)

3:00 – Mary goes into the tub for some very active labour, alternating between “fuck” and “baby” as key words.

3:30 – Mary asks for drugs and is told she is doing really well. Rob goes to park the car.

4:00 – Mary begins feeling the urge to push and begs for drugs. She gets checked and is up to 8 cm. Mary doesn’t believe it, especially when she is told she was only 4 cm 1:15 ago.

4:30 – Mary hates the tub again. A lot. Gets out and goes to the room for some pretty crazy transition, in Mary may or may not have bitten Rob, and in which the midwife is FINALLY able to help Mary move baby face down instead of sunny side up and the last little bit of cervix gets out of the way.

4:50 – Mary begins to push.

5:35 – Mary says that they may have to cover the clock in the room, because she is hyper aware of how long she has been pushing.

5:39 – Kate is born! Rob tells Mary that it’s a girl. Mary gets some help with her sticky placenta, and the sleeping OB/GYN is awoken to stitch her up. Kate stays on Mary’s chest and gets to hear “Bless Your Beautiful Hide,” (from Seven Brides forSeven Brothers), “Till There Was You” and “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”

My baby had delayed cord clamping, immediate skin to skin (I was naked after the tub), nursing BEFORE we got cleaned up, delayed weighing, AGPARs while she was on my chest, and all sorts of lovely things. She stayed on me the WHOLE TIME the doc was stitching me up (which was a long time - I'd guess about 45 minutes to an hour). I had occasional fetal monitoring with a hand-held doppler, and was never ONCE strapped down. I pushed on my back because emotionally that was what needed to happen for me - the midwives started to give me options, but I wasn't listening well or responding well, so they put me on my back so that I could feel more grounded - it was what I needed for me, and I they knew that and respected me. The best part of all of it was when they were going to take Kate to be weighed, I picked her up off my chest and actually took a good look at her for the first time. The midwives sat there and watched me look at my baby for 5 minutes while I cried and kissed her. Then when I went to hand her over, they said "are you sure you don't want another minute or two?" Oh yes, and they brought me peanut butter on toast. LOVELY.