Oceans away
25 Jun 2011 1 Comment
I had dropped everyone off at school this morning and was getting ready, because dropping my kids off at school only requires the basest of preparations.
I was standing at my sink when I got a text, “want to come to a birth today?”
WHAT!? That came out of nowhere.
Well, hmmm, let me think.
A few quick calls to my husband to make sure he could pick the kids up from school and then a joyful “Yes!” was shot back.
A text came back, “mom is alone, husband is in Iraq”.
Wow, I can’t imagine being alone with my husband being thousands of miles away and bringing our first child into this world.
I gathered up all my “birth gear” and headed out the door to the birth center in New Braunfels.
I pulled up around 12 noon and walked in.
Mom was in the tub breathing through the contractions.
I quietly walked over and squatted down beside her. I said, “my name is Erica, I am a doula and I am her to help”.
In birth you don’t seem to need a lot of words, often it is just simply being there that is enough.
I sat and encouraged gently reminding her that she was doing wonderfully and that she was making great progress.
After a while she got out of the tub and moved to the bed.
She seemed quite content in the bed.
As labor progressed she moved to the pushing stage of labor.
After some time pushing we got out the labor link rope and started pulling to try to get the baby to move down some.
While mom held one end, I held the other, and with each contraction we both pulled and the team offered encouragement.
Just as the baby started crowning, the mom’s phone started ringing.
The mom’s sister in-law had arrived shortly before and ran to get the phone.
She announced “its your husband!”
They answered the phone.
It was magical.
The mother was able to tell him that their baby was about to be born.
With each contraction the team was reporting in on what was going on.
With the final push, their baby was born, loudly crying out and his father was there listening in to hear his son be born.
It was amazing.
I don’t get terribly emotional at births, but this one did it.
I had a giant lump in my throat and tears running down my cheeks.
It went so fast and was blessed by the father being able to be there in spirit and via phone to witness the birth of his first son.
This was the first birth I had ever attended were the partner wasn’t there, I was blessed to be a part.
“This one is smaller”
28 Jan 2011 6 Comments
My sweet friend Lindsay and her husband Scott were due with their second baby and very much ready to see him.
Their first baby had been a planned homebirth and because his little (actually BIG) noggin didn’t come down the right way, and after a long labor and 4 hours of pushing, she ended up having a cesarean.
This time she was ready and educated about the possibilities of a VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) and ready to give this baby the same wonderful birth opportunity that she gave her first baby.
At 37 weeks, Lindsay began having pre-labor contractions off and on and would regularly call me with reports in about the state of her body. As things go for women desperately wishing for an early labor and birth, the early labor just wouldn’t turn into active labor. It would just peek in and say “hey guys” and head right out after getting everyone all excited.
Thursday January 20th, (38 weeeks along) Lindsay had a follow-up appointment with her OB.
The appointment went wonderfully. Dr. Beth Reid checked Lindsay and confirmed that her body was indeed doing something with all those pre-labor contractions and that she was approximately 1-2 centimeters. During the exam Dr. Reid decided to help Lindsay along by stripping her membranes.
Lindsay went home and waited some more. She had just arrived at 38 weeks was really hoping that the pre-labor stuff would take a turn for the real deal.
Friday came and went without a peep from her body about when it would decide to begin its precious work.
At 6:20 a.m. Saturday the 22nd I got a text from Lindsay saying that she thought that this was really it this time. She was having contractions every 7 – 9 minutes and they were lasting about a minute and she had started having some mild contractions around 5 that morning.
Yay! Finally. The. Day. Was. Here!
I had gotten up about 20 minutes later knowing that I probably wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep and that there was a lot to do before I left this morning.
I got up, got my daughter bathed, dressed and fed right about the time my boys came down crying that they were starving and needed food as well.
After feeding the whole brood, I decided I probably had a little bit of time before Lindsay would call to have me come over, so I jumped on the treadmill and started walking.
About 10 minutes into the walk, at 8:20, I got a call from Lindsay saying that the contractions were getting closer together and stronger and she thought she was ready for me to come over.
So I jumped off the treadmill, hit the shower and was out the door in 25 minutes, fully dressed with hair and face done and bags in tow. Not too shabby if you ask me.
I was heading out the door when I realized that I was going to have to take Robin’s truck, which, had a 15 foot trailer attached to the back of it! Hmmmm.
We didn’t have a lock for the hitch so I had to take the trailer with me.
Off I went with a 15 foot trailer attached to the back of the truck. That is a first for me and hopefully a last!
I made it to Scott and Lindsay’s, but I wasn’t quite brave enough to pull the trailer into their very steep driveway. Thankfully Scott came out and got the job done. Scott and his dad took the trailer off of the truck and got it parked in their driveway.
I got there about 9:10 and she was definitely in early labor. Scott was getting things together and ready to go. Scott’s parents were there taking care of their son.
You could feel the excitement in the air. Everyone was ready to meet this new little boy!
They decided they wanted to wait just a little bit longer before heading to the hospital.
We listened to the baby’s heartbeat with the doppler and all sounded great, his heart was beating right along at a happy 144!
10 o’clock rolled around and Lindsay said she was ready to go to the hospital.
We loaded up and I followed them to the hospital.
I always “strongly dislike” the drive to the hospital when I am not in the car with the woman in labor.
I have a million thoughts going through my mind and they are all about her and how she is doing and if she needs my help and so on and so forth.
We got to the hospital and got settled into the room about 10:20 a.m.
Lindsay was in active labor and doing great.
They got her changed into her luxurious hospital gown with the specially designed full access back panel.
After getting settled in the nurse checked her to see how far along Lindsay was.
She had dilated to 3 – 4 centimeters by 10:30 a.m.
We were told that contrary to what Lindsay’s OB had told her, that she could not use the birthing tub because this was her first VBAC and they needed to monitor her more closely.
(excuse me for a moment………GAG!)
ok., I am back.
Lindsay was very disappointed to say the least, but she pulled up her boot straps and made a commitment to birth this baby regardless of what was available to her.
The doctor on call that day was Dr. Kunda. We had been at the hospital laboring for about 45 minutes when Dr. Kunda walked in with a big sweet smile.
As soon as Lindsay was ready he checked to see what kind of progress she was making. She had dilated to 5 – 6 centimeters!!
That was only 45 minutes later.
Dr. Kunda asked her about her previous cesarean and how big she thought this baby was. She responded “oh, this one is smaller, we have pictures of me with my last baby and I was bigger”. To which Dr. Kunda replied, “well, the mother knows best”.
Lindsay was already beginning to want to push, but she managed it great by deep breathing and making low noises through each contraction.
Lindsay did wonderfully at changing positions regularly. She stood, sat in a chair, sat on a birth ball, got on her hands and knees and leaned on the birth ball and squatted. I really believe that movement and changing positions like she did helped so much in getting her baby boy in the best position for being born.
11:30 came around and Lindsay needed to make a pit stop in the ladies room. She liked making the “pit stop” so well, that we had a very hard time convincing her to come back into the room.
Around noon Lindsay was still feeling like pushing and asked Dr. Kunda to check her again. Waa Laa….she was now at 8 – 9 centimeters.
Then, Dr. Kunda said she had a swollen anterior lip on her cervix. This is when the door to the baby’s home has a hinge on the door that is out of whack. So, he suggested continuing to change positions like she had been doing to try to help that.
In my “homebirth” programmed brain, I started running through all of the things that I had heard midwives doing at home births to help with this scenario.
Unfortunately, I don’t know that any of them would have been an option in a hospital. To “un-medical” and all.
But after praying and changing positions, Dr. Kunda came back 30 minutes later and told Lindsay that he thought the anterior lip of her cervix could be pushed back and that she was fully dilated.
Lindsay started pushing at 12:30 p.m.
We cheered and coached and breathed and pushed with her.
Lindsay’s mom arrived from Columbus at about 1 p.m.
She joined in with us just like she had been there the whole time.
At about the time Lindsay’s mother arrived Dr. Kunda told Lindsay that they only let VBAC moms push for an hour and then they would start considering a cesarean.
I think that was one of the only times I wanted to open my mouth and protest! I had pushed 3 hours with my first VBAC and I knew that others had too.
But the truth of the matter is, when you choose a hospital, you choose to abide by their rules. You can make requests, but ultimately it comes down to their rules that dictate how the game is played. At home, you make your own rules because it is your home. So, when you choose a hospital, be fully informed as to what they will and will not allow.
Lindsay pushed with all of her might and did a wonderful job.
Their baby boy was making his entrance one push at a time.
At 1:32 he arrived in this world at a whopping 9 pounds 13 ounces, 20.5 inches long!
Welcome Copeland
Exactly 1 hour and two minutes of pushing for a first time vaginal birth with a chunk of a baby!
By the way, her last baby boy was 9 pounds 5 ounces, so much for “this one is smaller”
It was beautiful!
Scott was an amazing coach and support to Lindsay through the whole labor.
Big brother meeting little brother
It was my pleasure as always to be there to welcome new life into this world.
I am so happy for and proud of Lindsay for making this a beautifully successful VBAC.
Sweet Success
14 Jan 2011 1 Comment
Stephanie and Frank were expecting their fourth baby.
Stephanie had 3 cesareans leading up to this birth, each birth with its own set of plans as to how things would go.
This time Stephanie decided she wanted something different and set about to educate herself on how to do it all differently.
I always encourage people to educate themselves and to do the research so that they feel they are fully informed themselves and not just being partially informed by someone else.
It is so empowering to me and to others to see someone take a situation by the horns and tell it how it will be.
That is exactly what Frank and Stephanie did.
Stephanie told me that she wasn’t one to “skim” through a book, and she didn’t. Everything she got her hands on, she read and processed.
Along that road, as there always is, women process their feelings, their thoughts, their fears about this birth and how it may or may not go.
As a doula it is so important to me to be real and not sugar coat things, because the reality is, all things don’t work out perfectly and there is a chance that things can go wrong. So, when you have a client who has done the research themselves, there are lots of questions and a need to just talk it out.
“what if the baby comes quickly”
“what if we have to go to the hospital?”
“what is the actual risk of uterine rupture?”
So many feelings that are legitimate and tough. There is no final exact answer, which is what so many of us fear.
There is a fear that controls us so much, it causes us to choose something we dislike just to possibly “protect” us from our worst fears.
When women educate themselves, they immediately have the upper hand. They can then make a choice not just on what someone has told them, but what they know to be studied and true.
Then, they begin to have the answers to these “scary” questions and the fear begins to leave.
When truth is put into a situation it disarms fear and women can birth the way they were created to.
To say that you choose a vbac after three cesareans is a huge step in the first place, but to say you are going to have a vbac AND have your baby at home is a whole notha level.
It takes tremendous courage and faith in your body. It takes speaking the truth about your body even when your brain says…”what on earth!”
So, this is what they chose.
I met Stephanie for, what was hoped to be, her final ultrasound, just to confirm that the baby was well and that he wasn’t “butt first” (breech).
We went together and chatted about the birth and the baby and anything else that came up.
The ultrasound confirmed a healthy little boy with his head planted down and ready.
Stephanie said she had been having some contractions, but nothing major.
She dropped me off at 4:30 that afternoon.
My mother had our kids that night and so Robin and I went out on a date and had a very nice time.
We got home and had some cookies and ice cream just before I got the first text from Stephanie at 9pm.
She said “so, I am contracting every 3-4 minutes for about a minute for the last hour. You think this could be getting serious?”
to which I replied “Yes ma’am. Just let me know when you would like my company :0)”
So, I waited for about an hour when I received the next text.
10pm – “I’m getting in the shower. Walking around doing stuff makes it worse! If you want to come over soon that would be nice. it’s getting a little painful over here.”
So, I grabbed my bags and was out the door about five minutes later.
I got to their house about 10:15 and Frank answered the door, very much trying to be calm, but you could just feel the excitement radiating off of him. He offered me tea and I went and checked on Stephanie.
She was handling the contractions beautifully and chatting with me between contractions.
About an hour later things really picked up pace. I realized we had turned a corner when I told Stephanie a funny story about a women in labor and she didn’t bat an eye. That is when I thought to myself “oh good, here is solid active labor”.
Within about a half an hour the contractions were steadily coming every 2 minutes and lasting about a full minute.
I told them that this would be a good time to call the midwife.
Stephanie called Christy Tashjian her midwife at about 12 midnight.
Stephanie decided she was ready to get back into the tub and labor there.
She labored so well and when transition arrived, Frank was sitting right beside her being an amazing support.
Christy arrived at 1:20 and checked the baby and Stephanie.
We sat and labored with her and then we heard the wonderful sound of pushing. It was simple and faint, but a slight catching of the breath was all that was needed to know that it had arrived.
She began pushing at approximately 1:50am, twenty six minutes later she birthed her beautiful baby boy in her bathtub.
Samuel Lucas Rue
It was so fast and amazing.
We welcomed little Samuel Lucas Rue into this world a week overdue, on December 23rd, 2010. He weighed in at 8 lb. 8 oz..
I hope this is an encouragement to all women out there pursuing a VBAC. It can be done!
Midwife Christy
Around the farm
30 Mar 2008 9 Comments
in History of Me, Uncategorized
I thought I would fill you in on life here at placid farm.
It isn’t the most exciting, but it sure is relaxing and beautiful.
The kids just love to spend time with the grandparents.
We are trying to keep our garden small this year. We have only planted a few things. Last year we over did it and ended up having our garden demolished by squash bugs.
We also have so much going on at the church that it is very hard to keep up with the daily work in the garden and our hectic schedule.
We do have a new batch of chicks in. We lost our last hens to some local wildlife while they were out free ranging it.
The boys are so excited to see them growing.
We are really looking forward to fresh eggs in the fall. We will definitely be sharing the love with people come September.
We had a visitor on Saturday. He sure looked harmless, but not harmless enough.
I took this picture from a distance.
Robin found another one in our barn last week. Hopefully they will make their homes somewhere beside our back porch.
That’s it for now. We are just enjoying this lovely weather and spending lots of time outside!
New Business cards and stuff
08 Mar 2008 6 Comments
in Belly Laughs, Uncategorized
My wonderful husband made me some great new business cards, that are actually grammatically correct.
My last set of cards were pretty on the eyes, but said “labor assitant”.
Obviously this is not a good thing for many reasons.
1. I only have two jobs listed on the card which makes it all the more noticeable.
2. I don’t want people to think they are hiring a teacher who is illiterate.
3. I just want my card to look good.
I also ordered some great new stuff for my childbirth class.
One of which was a beautiful and VERY detailed chart of everything from human anatomy, conception to birth.
Let me just say here that I have a good bit of advice to all other childbirth educators, if you decide to purchase this particular chart from Childbirth Graphics, you should not view it with your children or husband present.
First of all it will immediately and I do mean immediately bring about LOTS of questions from your children and then quickly following that will come lots of muffled laughing and “wait, what on earth was that” and “is that really necessary?” from your husband.
I mean really, this is a great chart but……(on the off chance that you are a man reading my birth blog, stop reading this now, before you are totally grossed out)
do we really need to show the penis in the vaginal canal????? Don’t we all know (adults anyway) that this is where it would naturally belong.
The point of the whole page was to show you the female reproductive system, ovaries, uterus and egg.
Unfortunately at the bottom of the page, you are casually looking at the picture and then…out of no where…
A penis in the birth canal! Come on. They already described the male reproductive system on another page, couldn’t they have just given the woman her time alone!
By the way…this was all illustrated by a woman.
So, now I have a very wonderfully graphic chart that I will have to put a post-it note over when showing the female reproductive organs.
I got some great handouts and such that I will be using in class, I also got a new breastfeeding video that should be here shortly.
So exciting!
I love birth.
