unmedicated twins birth, shoulder dystocia, sibling birth and more! December 21, 2007
Posted by guinever in : birth stories, birth story, doula, health, labor , add a commentAt the beginning of a contraction, I would lean against Calvin’s chest and, as the contraction came to fullness, I would bend my knees and sway my hips in rhythm to my contraction. He would apply counter pressure to my hips, and, at the conclusion of my contraction, would reward me with a sweet kiss. I remember picturing our baby in our arms and getting those same sweet kisses from my husband – that was my goal for each wave of childbearing.
There are so many things to like about this birth. Highlights include baby’s siblings being present, her husband being an awesome support and coach, the Gaskin maneuver working for shoulder dystocia. She describes this birth as “long, but gentle and easeful.” Read the full story.
Nicole, who calls herself a birth junkie, has given me permission to share excerpts from her four birth stories with you. You can read them at her Bellies and Babies blog. Her births are reminiscent of my own. Not that they were similar to my own labors, but because all of her labors were different from each other, just as mine were.
mom dilates quickly in the relaxing water
This old bitty of a nurse was helping me back to the room and I was peaking and resolving one on top of the other. I told her that the baby was coming and all she did was look at me with this look that said ‘NOW she is starting to feel REAL labor… I told her so’.
Not too long before, the nurse had checked her and she was only 4 centimeters, but after a little while in the jacuzzi, she was feeling a little pushy. Here’s another excerpt from the birth of her first baby:
Well… we got back to the room and she was going to just leave. I basically jumped her and told her to check me. The nurse literally rolled her eyes at me and said, while pulling on her gloves ‘there is no way that you have dilated that much in such short a time… just relax’. Well, she checked me… and her jaw just about dropped to the floor. She told me not to push, that she was calling the doctor. On the phone I heard her say that I was 10cm, completely effaced, and +3 station.
no tearing even when the doctor said she would
The doctor was adamant, because of the level of scarring from my first episiotomy, I would either tear extensively or REQUIRE an episiotomy. I told him I would rather tear. I also asked him about perineal massage and warm compresses… he said he never even tried it as no one had ever asked before. So he and I read up on it together and put it to practice. Read this birth story.
un-medicated twins birth
Dr. V tells me ‘thanks for the bragging rights’ of being the only doc in their office that has delivered twins unmedicated… and one of the few who have delivered vaginal twins. He also told me he is extremely impressed with the un-medicated mother, labor & delivery and to send patient’s his way if I have any friends… that the questions and learning together was ‘fun’.
If you’d like to see your birth story on this site, get the scoop here.
the joy of natural childbirth: a birth in pictures November 28, 2007
Posted by guinever in : birth, birth stories, doula, health, home birth, homebirth, labor, midwifery, pregnancy , 7commentsWith permission from the couple, I am pleased to share with you a birth in pictures. I include these on my website so that you can see the joy of natural childbirth. I have decided not to caption the pictures below, but rather describe them here first.
The mom had been pushing for awhile and moved to the bathroom. Birth was close when I started snapping these photos. In attendance at this planned homebirth of a first baby, were a certified nurse midwife, the midwife’s assistant who is a midwife in training, and me–the couple’s friend, doula and childbirth educator.
The photos begin with the quiet stillness in between contractions, with mom blowing out. Notice how she has her jaw, open and relaxed. The next is the determination of pushing during a contraction. Instinctively, she holds her breath and puts her chin on her chest, pushing until she needs to breathe. She takes a breath and then pushes some more. The baby crowns and is about to be born so she stands up. The father looks on in eager anticipation as his baby is about to born. The midwife supports the baby’s head, protecting mom’s perineum. There’s a little bit more blood than usual because the baby has a compound presentation, meaning an arm is coming out with the head.
The baby is born into the hands of her daddy and lifted into the arms of her mother. See the joy, the adoration, the exhilaration of both parents. This is a tiny peek into the intimacy of the moment of natural birth.
This photo story ends with the babe wrapped in a towel, the new family still in the bathroom. Not pictured: the couple climbs into bed where the baby nurses and the placenta is born.
Enjoy. You are about to witness a birth in pictures.
top 10 things you should do to have a natural birth September 21, 2007
Posted by guinever in : birth, doula, health, labor, midwifery, pregnancy , 13comments
So you’re pregnant, and you think you might want to have a natural birth. Having helped many women have natural births in my role as a doula and having birthed 5 babies naturally myself, I’d like to offer what I feel are a few of the most important things to do in order to achieve a drug-free birth.
1. Going natural is a mindset. Make the commitment during pregnancy that drugs are not an option for labor. Believe that you can do it, and you will. If you have the feeling that you’d like to try it to see how it goes, but you’re open to getting an epidural, I guarantee you that you will have the epidural. Labor is hard work and to get through it, you can’t be wishy washy going into it. One medical intervention leads to another.
2. Surround yourself with friends and family who believe that you can have a natural birth, who assume that you can do it. Tune out the negative birth stories that some girlfriends might tell you about how awful labor was until the epidural took effect. Instead, seek out labor stories from women who have had natural birth and you’ll hear how awesome the birth was, how the baby latched on right away, how the nurses kept making comments that the baby was so alert. You’ll hear how proud her husband was, what a great help to her he was during labor, and that the birth was an empowering, amazing experience.
3. Take a private, independent childbirth class. (in other words, don’t take the birthing classes offered by the hospital.) If this isn’t possible, prepare yourself by reading several pregnancy books and learning labor coping techniques. Consider my list of recommended books.
4. Choose your doctor or midwife carefully. If you don’t know where to start looking for a care provider, ask your local childbirth educators and doulas for ideas. Ask lots of questions in your first few pre-natal visits so there aren’t any surprises later on. Be wary when the answer is always, “I only do that when its medically necessary.” You need to ask them, “How often do you feel its medically necessary?” (to do inductions, planned cesareans, episiotomies, etc) You want to find someone with a low induction, low cesarean, low episiotomy (and low tear) rate. Don’t be afraid to switch doctors or hospitals no matter how late it is in your pregnancy. Remember, it is your birth, and you are hiring them to work for you. There should be a mutual respect.
5. During labor, just take one contraction at a time. Don’t worry about the length of labor–how long it has been or how much longer it might be. Women talk about their long labors, but remember, its not as if they were in constant pain for 18 hours. Contractions only last for about a minute (longer during later labor) and you get breaks in between. Don’t let anyone tell you that your body isn’t working if your labor slows down. That is just the body’s way of giving you a rest. Be thankful for the break because labor will pick up soon enough.
6. Stay home as long as possible once labor starts. Nothing slows down labor as much as going to the hospital too soon.
7. Don’t be induced unless medically necessary. About half of all inductions done on first time mothers result in cesarean birth. This is because inductions are done too soon, before mom and baby are ready for labor. Read think twice, no think three times before being induced for labor.
8. Consider hiring a doula. Read what is a doula and should I have one?
9. Consider having a homebirth or going to a birth center. It’s so much easier to have a natural birth when you’re not in the hospital.
10. Read birth stories. Learn from the mistakes and successes of others. Be inspired from women’s birth stories. Here are a few to get you started:
- diary of a primipara
- my second labor–a lot quicker than my first
- the labor that kept on stopping–my third birth
- born in our living room-the story of my fourth birth
- 12 days overdue, but who’s counting? the diary and birth story of my fifth baby.
Birth is a natural process and women have been birthing babies for thousands of years. You can do it too. During labor, as long as you are doing alright and baby is alright, there’s no reason to intervene in the process if you don’t want to.
Please refer to my welcome page for more articles on labor and birth.
can my baby be too big for my pelvis? August 7, 2007
Posted by guinever in : birth, health, labor, pregnancy , 24commentsI frequently get questions in the comment section of my article, cervical dilation 101, frequently asked questions. Every once in awhile, a question comes up that doesn’t have a simple, short answer so I’ll write a new article. The following comes from a pregnant reader:
Just an update,
I went to the doctor today, I am 38 weeks and 3 days. I am 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced. My cervix is still posterior, but the baby is head down and -2. My blood pressure has been slightly elevated the last 2 weeks and the doctor thinks the baby weighs around 7 pounds. He is also concerned that I could need a c-section because I have a small pelvis. All this in account we are inducing labor Thurs morning. Do you think it could be a long labor? Or could it be pretty quick given I am already 3 cm and this is my second child?Thanks for all of your help, Christina
Dear Christina, Your pelvis is not too small. You do not need a c-section. A doctor has absolutely NO business telling a woman her pelvis is too small before she is even in labor and tries to push the baby out. (did you have a c-section for your first baby?) Your pelvis is not fixed in place. Hormones right now are working on softening the ligaments, loosening your pelvis so that it may move and widen and change shape to accommodate your baby. And your baby’s head is not hard and fixed in place either. Your baby’s skull has plates that move and mold to fit through your pelvis. These are the baby’s soft spots. This is why some babies are born with pointy heads; their heads have merely changed shape so they can be born and will quickly regain a more normal shape within hours. Please just be confident in your ability to birth your baby! Put the word c-section out of your head. There is a huge mind and body connection when it comes to labor. If you believe that you can’t birth your baby, or if your doctor’s words are in the back of your mind, then it might come true.
Also, why are you being induced in a couple days? High blood pressure, out-of-control blood pressure is definitely a valid reason for induction, but in your words, yours is “slightly elevated.” Although many doctors are quick to induce, most wait until the due date unless there is a medical reason and you still have a week to go. I hate to say this, but is your doc going on vacation? Sometimes, a doctor will induce his patients so they’ll give birth while he’s still in town and so that he will get paid for the births (rather than whoever is on call for him while he’s gone). He is getting you used to the idea of having surgery just in case you don’t have your baby before he wants to leave in the morning. He has already told you that you might need a c-section. He’ll have the induction started in the wee hours of the A.M. and be checking in periodically throughout the day with the nursing staff. He’ll go home for dinner and then come back and say you’re not progressing or your baby is just too big for your body so it looks like you need surgery after all.
Now having said this, this may not be the reality in your case, but you should consider it. Ask your doctor, why are you inducing me? What happens if we don’t induce this Thursday as planned?
To answer your question as to how long the induction may take, like I tell everyone, I have no idea! There is no magic formula that says a woman dilates 1 cm an hour even though some OBs like to tell us that’s the way it should happen. Read my article, what does being 2 centimeters dilated mean?
You are 3cm dilated and 70% effaced. With these numbers, a pitocin induction will most likely be successful and lead to a vaginal birth if given enough time. If your body and baby are ready for labor, you could have your baby in only a few hours or it could take all day. You also said the baby is at -2 station so your baby is still floating and very high.
Zero station is “engaged” or “dropped” where your baby’s head is fixed in your pelvis and not going anywhere. But at -2 station, your baby is still “floating.” It is common to break your water during an induction. Please know that if they break your water , called artificial rupture of membranes (AROM) before the baby is at 0 station or lower, then there is the danger of cord prolapse. This is a dangerous situation because the head will compress the cord, cutting off the baby’s oxygen supply. You do not want that to happen. So if you do get induced and if they talk about breaking your water, be sure that your baby has come down to at least 0 station.
To sum up, just trust in your ability to give birth! You can do it. To answer the question posed in the title of this article,
“Can my baby be too big for my pelvis?” Watch this inspiring video for the answer.
The answer is probably not! Be inspired by the pygmy women in Africa who are only 4 feet tall. Gloria Lemay writes for Midwifery Today that the average weight of their infants is eight pounds. In relative terms, this is like a woman five feet six giving birth to a fourteen-pound baby.
Birthing Blessings, Guinever
To read other pregnancy related articles, please refer to my welcome page .
help! I’m having Braxton Hicks: is this ok? August 2, 2007
Posted by guinever in : birth, doula, labor, pregnancy , add a comment
Braxton Hicks contractions are sometimes referred to as false labor or pre-labor. They prepare the uterus and start the cervix effacing and dilating, getting you ready for labor.
But if you’re not at least 36 weeks along in your pregnancy, when the baby’s lungs are fully developed and its “safe” to give birth, how do you know if the contractions you’re having are ok? In other words, how do you know that you’re not in real labor and about to have the baby?
You need to evaluate your activity and the frequency of your contractions and how many you have had. Take all three into consideration.
First of all, MOST false labor contractions are caused by dehydration. Many women go to the hospital and are given a big glass of water to drink. The contractions stop and they go home. OR they’re hooked up to an IV. Once re-hydrated, the contractions stop and they go home. You can do this at home. Drink water. If you think you’re having too many contractions, just drink a big glass of water and see what happens. If they don’t stop, be concerned and call your doctor or midwife.
Another time a woman experiences Braxton Hicks contractions is while exercising. If you’re walking, swimming or doing some other form of aerobic exercise and you’re having lots of contractions, that’s ok if they stop once you stop your activity and drink some water. So it’s ok to walk for an hour and have these contractions every 5 minutes or so while you’re moving.
On the other hand, if you’re lounging around and having contractions every 5 minutes and you’ve eaten and have had plenty of water and they won’t stop, this is the time for concern. Call your doctor or midwife and tell them what’s going on.
If you have 2-3 contractions once in awhile, that’s ok. But if you’re having contractions every 20-30 minutes all day long, it sounds like you might be in a pattern of early labor and this would be cause for concern.
So in conclusion, a few contractions that are about 5 minutes apart are ok especially if you experience them during physical activity. In contrast, having consistent contractions 20-30 minutes apart that don’t stop when you drink water or change or activity would be cause for concern.
I hope this has answered your question about Braxton Hicks contractions. You might find my other articles on dilation useful.
- What does being 2 centimeters dilated mean?
- How long does it take the cervix to dilate 5 centimeters?
- Cervical dilation 101: frequently asked questions
- what is a birth doula and should I have one?
- the top 10 reasons to get an epidural
For more articles about pregnancy and birth, please refer to my welcome page.
