Now that it has been almost an entire year, I figured I better get this lovely (if quick) birth story posted.

My phone rang at 2:18am on April 25th, 2011. Mom’s water had broke 15 minutes earlier and they wanted to let me know. They wanted to stay home for a while before going in and they weren’t quite ready for me to come over.

When I woke in the morning after having not heard from them, I called them (it was about 8:15am). They let me know that contractions had started at 3:30am and were initially 15 minutes apart and still short and crampy feeling. At the point of my phone call, the contractions had moved closer to 10 minutes apart.

They still weren’t ready for me so I let them go and got ready for the day.

Mom called again at 11:45am looking for suggestions on getting things moving. I suggested she check out spinningbabies.com. There is a section for what to do when you are in labor. She later relayed to me that she did one inversion for 30 seconds, did lunges during her contractions, bounced on a yoga ball for 15 minutes, and then had some lunch.

At 2:02pm dad sent me a text that contractions were now 6 minutes apart and they were getting things ready to go. At 2:28pm they called to say they were heading to the hospital. They checked in at 2:45pm and I arrived at 2:50pm.

At this point mom was having some pretty close contractions. She was definitely demonstrating signs of transition: she was very much in Labor-Land and was having a hard time getting comfortable. Dad stayed by her the entire time (they had done Bradley training). She stayed mostly on her hands and knees on the bed. She was able to flip over to have an exam done. The nurse checked her and she was already at 9cms!

Pretty soon after the check her body began telling her it was time to push. She was doing small grunty pushes as the nurses rushed around her. We helped mom get on her side to see if the nurse could find the baby’s heart rate. I held her leg to let her be more comfortable and the baby was found to be at nearly +3 (+4 is on the perineum!)

Mom’s nurse told to prep for the birth. Dad stayed by mom’s front/head while I stayed behind her holding her leg. We worked together on helping mom work with her body and the contractions. Mom mentioned that she felt pain (I attributed that to crowning, but at this point we had no clue that the baby was coming that fast, so no one checked to see if the baby *was* crowning) but she stayed on her side and continued letting her body do all the work and, to the surprise of dad, me, the nursing staff, AND mom, Baby#7 entered the world via a very gentle slide onto the bed, with the nurse attending.

There were no complications (plus with the doctor not there) so they were able to delay clamping the cord and the placenta was delivered naturally 20 minutes later. Mom also required no stitches after the peaceful, side-lying birth!

Congrats mom and dad! Thanks for letting me a part of your very special day!

It’s a GIRL!
7#10ounces, 17 inches long
April 25th, 2011 at 3:23pm

posted by Jaci
Tags: baby, birth, birth story, delivery, doula, labor, natural labor
Filed under: Birth Story

This story has been sitting on my desk just waiting for me to write it. It took far too long and so isn’t as detailed as normal.

For this birth, I was only a backup doula. Their main doula called me late in the evening to let me know they suspected that labor had started.

When my phone rang again early that morning (I no longer have the time written down, but I believe it was around 2:45am) I wasn’t surprised to hear that they had arrived at the hospital. I WAS surprised to hear that mom had already dilated to 8cms!

Though mom wanted to get in the shower, the baby wasn’t reactive on the strip so that prevented mom from moving around much. Mom spent much of her time laboring on her side with dad at her head and her main doula and myself quietly offering support.

At 3:47 mom’s water broke and after a check was deemed “complete.” Mom labored down a bit (basically means that even though mom’s cervix is 10cm, she doesn’t start pushing until she feels “pushy”) and began doing small pushes while on her side while I held her leg.

At 4:10 am her doctor arrived and mom was moved to the lithotomy position (on her back). The baby was visible (and had lots of hair!). At 4:13am after two good pushes, baby’s head was out followed quickly by the shoulders.

It’s a girl! 8lbs 5oz and 19.5″ long. Congrats to mom and dad!

posted by Jaci
Filed under: Birth Story

Okay okay, so not at the same time, it has just been a while since I’ve updated this blog. It’s my goal to write their birth stories this week so I can get them posted.

If you need to contact me, please feel free to post on any comment. The husband will be adding a contact form to the blog soon but until then comments to this post or any post will suffice!

~Jaci

posted by Jaci
Filed under: Birth Story

I follow a few natural birth-minded blogs and this is one of my favorites: http://www.nurturingheartsbirthservices.com/blog/

Her most recent post is about the question that I hear quite often as well!

http://www.nurturingheartsbirthservices.com/blog/?p=1147

It is particularly poignant because at several recent births mom began grunt pushing when her body told her to. By the time she was put into the “hospital” pushing position, baby was on her perineum with very little conscious effort from mom!

posted by Jaci
Filed under: Shared Blog Post

Here is a special treat. Usually I post birth stories from my point of view. This time Mom5 shared with me her version and gave me permission to post it here!

To view my version of the story, go to http://peace-love-birth.com/2010/11/03/mom5s-ld-story-my-point-of-view/

Continue reading ›

posted by Jaci
Tags: baby, birth, doula, labor, natural labor
Filed under: Birth Story, Mom's POV

Mom5 and Dad5′s story begins a considerable amount of time prior to my actual support. Mom5 was hospitalized for one day for preterm labor and was put on meds and bedrest for approximately one week to stop contractions prior to 30 weeks. She was dilated to 2cm after all of this occurred and then continued to dilate until she began to notice her contractions getting rather regular, beginning around 36 weeks.

At the beginning of both Thursday 10/21 and Friday 10/22 I received morning text message updates saying that contractions continued on through the night unchanged. I continued to offer support via text message and phone calls, ensuring her she wouldn’t be pregnant forever and that every day baby stayed in the womb was one day better prepared baby would be for the outside world.
Continue reading ›

posted by Jaci
Tags: baby, birth, delivery, doula, labor
Filed under: Birth Story

Mom4 sent me a text at 9am on Sunday letting me know that her contractions had started and were regular but still far apart and not causing much for pain. Mom4 had been put on bedrest a few weeks prior due to preterm labor. She had gone off of Terbutaline on Wednesday prior to this when she hit 36 weeks. This put her at 36 weeks and 4 days currently.

Throughout the rest of the morning she would text me with updates as things progressed. At noon, after a lot of back-and-forth texting I gave her a call. She had a contraction on the phone but still sounded like she was having a little too much fun so I suggested to her that she wait for her contractions to be 60 seconds long consistently before considering going in. When she had 10 in a row that were that long, and were 2-3 minutes apart, she let me know Husband4 and herself were making arrangements for Son4 (their first son) and coming to town (they live 30 minutes or so out of town.)

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posted by Jaci
Tags: baby, birth, delivery, doula, labor
Filed under: Birth Story

Mom3 called me at 11:12pm on Tuesday, September 14th to tell me that her water had ruptured during a particularly hard contraction. She said that she’s been contracting on and off for days but that nothing was happening at that moment. I told her to get as much rest as possible and that I’d take a shower and get everything ready but would wait to hear from her before coming over.

I hadn’t heard from her so I went to bed at approximately 1am. At 4:09am my phone rang and it was Mom3. Her contractions hadn’t started but she had a big gush of fluid, so was positive that her water had ruptured. I didn’t want to head over before she wanted me to so I directed her to take a relaxing shower and do an inversion (see spinningbabies.com) while I went to look up some positions for her to try to ensure that this baby was in a great position.

Continue reading ›

posted by Jaci
Tags: baby, birth, delivery, doula, labor
Filed under: Birth Story

I saw Mom2 on Tuesday, May 11th and we chatted a bit about the contractions she was having. I then stalked her Facebook to find out that she had a night of contractions that were on and off, enough to irritate and cause her to not be able to sleep, but nothing to get excited for. Upon talking to her I began to get suspicious that baby was posterior.

I went to bed hoping and praying that she’d be giving me the phone call sometime in the night but alas she went through another night of contractions and texted me the next day wondering about how my labor presented with my delivery with my second son. Hers were suspiciously similar.

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posted by Jaci
Tags: baby, birth, delivery, doula, labor
Filed under: Birth Story

*Disclaimer* I thought I’d put a little disclaimer on this blog post. This mom is one of my very good, dare I say a best, friend of mine. You might be able to pick up on that throughout. She also happened to be the first person I ever assisted through a birth. I was a bit cavalier when it came to interjecting between the mom and her doctors. I now take an approach where I do not make requests or discuss your treatment with your doctors, but rather I create an environment where you are able to make the best decision for your own care.

Continue reading ›

posted by Jaci
Tags: baby, birth, delivery, doula, labor
Filed under: Birth Story