We love telling the story of our son’s birth. It's the
birth story we’d imagined, everything we’d hoped for – all
due to the care of (an exceptional!) midwife, and the opportunity to have
a home birth.
My EDD was July 22, and I saw my midwife Jane on July 5 for a routine visit,
and my baby was not engaged at all. Jane and I talked about what it meant
if the baby continued to stay out of my pelvis – because I have been
measuring very large for my dates (I was 43 cm at that appointment, but
only approaching 38 weeks!) there was a possibility that my baby just might
have been a bit too big for my pelvis. Because my husband and I really wanted
to have a medication-free home birth, we were a bit saddened by the prospect
of a potential c-section.
It ends up that we had nothing to worry about! I woke up early the next
morning to go to the bathroom, and when I sat up, my water broke –
and I didn’t trickle, I gushed! It was quite something, and I’m
glad it didn’t happen in public, because fluid was everywhere. I called
Jane and she had me lie down on my side until she got to our apartment.
When she arrived, she found that our baby was still not engaged! He was,
however, headed in the right direction. Jane gave us the go-ahead to continue
on with our day, so we went on about our day, and I took an afternoon nap,
waking up with period like cramps. I had 3 of those in about 10 minutes,
so I called my midwife. She said it was possibly contractions, and that
she'd come check me out. Her commute to my place is 40 minutes long, and
when she arrived, my contractions had increased to about 1 minute long,
with no more than 2-3 minute rest between them. In that 40 minutes, my cervix
had dilated to 5 cm. It was painful, but not unbearable. Jane suggested
I might be more comfortable in the bathtub, so my husband Corey drew me
a bath, and in I went.
What was crazy painful was the following hour. I laid in the bath and dilated
the remaining 5 cm - in 1 hour. It was very intense. I got no rest between
contractions, and the pain was quite something. My husband and my midwife
were amazing - they took quite a beating. With each contraction I grabbed
their hands, and either pulled them towards me or pushed them away, using
them as counter pressure. I also went crazy with my legs, pushing the walls
and sides of the bathtub. At some point, though I don’t remember this,
Jane said I actually walked up the bathtub wall with my feet! She was worried
I was going to drown myself! I think I laboured in the bathtub for an hour
or two, but time didn’t have much meaning for me. I was getting little
rest between contractions, and I was getting exhausted, so Jane asked if
I’d like for her to do an internal to see where I was at – and
she told me my cervix was gone! When she said that, for some reason I imagined
that my cervix had closed up, and that all that labour was for nothing!
But she told me the opposite had happened – that I dilated fully, and
that the baby was coming. She told me she had to go call the backup midwife
immediately. Although Jane told me that the baby was coming fast, and that
the backup midwife might not make it, my labour slowed down from that point
for a while. The second midwife, Esther, did arrive, and I stayed in the
tub a bit longer. I had noticed that the contractions were no longer as
fast, furious, and intense as they had been, and Jane and Esther encouraged
me to get out of the bath and move into the living room. I had become “too
comfortable” (!) in the bath, and gravity might help get the labour
going again. So off we went to our living room.
Keep in mind we live in a quiet apartment building, and that I was an
ANIMAL! In between contractions, during my lucid moments, I was laughing
and worried that our neighbors would think that someone was being murdered.
I am really a very reserved, quiet person who doesn't swear in public, and
would die of embarrassment if I burped in public, but god, did I ever let
it all go. I was swearing like a sailor, yelling like crazy, really letting
go. I surprised myself, even.
So in the living room, gravity did help speed things along. I tried several
positions, with my poor beaten up Corey and Jane supporting me in all of
them. Corey told me that I had even grabbed Esther’s bum a few times
and squeezed! I ended up making the most progress on hands and knees, and
eventually pushed out our baby boy reclined in Corey’s arms, at 12:37
am. Our baby was stuck for quite some time with his head mostly out, but
his little chin was stuck on my "back passage.” He eventually
popped out when Jane tucked his head up over my "back passage"
- and this may have been the most disturbing sensation of the night!
I absolutely believe that my incredible labour and birth experience was
due to the support and care from our midwife Jane. Throughout my pregnancy,
Jane’s straightforward confidence was contagious. Before meeting Jane,
the thought of birthing my baby in my apartment, without medication, would
never have crossed my mind. But when I was about 5 months along, I started
asking Jane questions about home birth, and while she never tried to persuade
me to go that route, she gave me enough information, in such practical,
honest terms, that we started to see that a home birth was really for us.
And over the following months her belief in my ability to do it at home,
her honest belief in me, made me confident that yes, I could do this, and
yes, I could do it at home. We couldn’t be happier with the results!
Christie Carlson
carlsonchristie@yahoo.ca
This was my first pregnancy and I started with a doctor, but was not
satisfied with the hour long waits in order to see her for 5 minutes. Switching
to a midwife was the best decision we made! I immediately felt well taken
care of, and that I was not rushed in/out of the office. I fel that I could
trust my team of midwives fully and completely to advise me appropriately
come the critical time of the labour. And this proved correct, as the labour
was quite an adventure! It took 24 hours to get me to 4cm dilated, but only
3 hours after that to get to 10cm! We promptly decided to do a home birth
(to the shock of my poor husband), as I couldn't handle the thought of having
the baby pop out on the way to the hospital; however, the baby had a different
idea and after over an hour of pushing, I was back to 7cm dilated. Then,
came the ambulance ride in an attempt to "jostle" the cervix back to 10cm.
This proved unsuccessful, and we ended up with an emergency c-section. Throughout
all this, we felt completely supported by our team of midwives; I remained
calm because I knew we were in excellent and expert hands. If we had remained
in the care of the doctor at the obstetrics clinic, I wouldn't even have
had the doctor I had been seeing, as I delivered on a different day from
my usual appointments! I can't imagine how we would have coped, given it
was our first baby and we didn't know what to expect. As it turned out,
we look back on the labour as a positive experience that brought us a beautiful
and healthy little boy.
We had a midwife for my last son in 1976. It was realy hard to find one then but we finally found a Dr that supported midwifery. Our midwife took care of my through out the pregnancy but is seems that my son was not ready to be born on time and 1 month late,after being induced at the Hospital, I had him. The Dr kept the lights down in the delivery room(then it was just like a surgery room) and the staff was realy upset that we did it that way. I also left the next day and the other women were still in for aprox 1 week. My daughter was born at home on the couch,by mistake, but that is when we realised that home was better. I am glad that this is now a recognised profession. My daughter is now looking into having her baby with the assistance of a midwife. I'm glad we have come out of the dark ages.
For my daughter (who was my first baby), I started out seeing my family
doctor, but was fed up with the five minute appointments that didn\'t
answer
any of my questions, so I switched to a local midwife, Zoe Cope. I
ended up
going two weeks overdue, and after doing a non-stress test, an
induction
date was finally set. Well, two days before I was supposed to be
induced, I
finally went into labour on early saturday morning. I had been flipping
backand forth over the idea of dong a home birth or hospital birth, and
finally settled on a hospital birth due to family pressures. The labour
was
progressing too slowly for me, so I called my midwife to make sure
things
weren't going to take too long, and she reassured me they wouldn't.
Well
dinner time came and all of a sudden my contractions were 2 minutes
apart! I
sat in the tub for a while, completely unprepared for th intensity of
the
contractions that hit me! Zoe came over and helped me get through them,
while my mom got my hospital bag together. We left for the hospital at
midnight, and got checked in quickly. After having my daughter get
stuck for
a half an hour, the nurse and Zoe were discussing possibly wheeling me
in
for an emergency c-section, but I convinced them to let me lie down and
push
her out myself, and I did! She was a big baby for me (9lbs, 4.5 oz, and
21inches for a 5'5 petite woman), but very healthy, and after
stiitching me
back together again, I have to say I was definitely ready to have more!
And
I still am!
Maggie Turbett
My story began 23 years ago in Vancouver B.C.
I was pregnant with my
son (
who still is the light of my life) and wanted the most loving relaxed
environment for him to be born. I have always has a fear of hospitals
due to
some very unpleasant childhood experiences, and it seemed only right
for him
to be born in the comfort of his own home away from the bright lights,
masks
and sterility of a hospital environment.
I was 2 weeks overdue by the time he finally arrived (all 8lbs 12oz)
of
him.It seems unbelievable to me even now, since I'm only 5'tall and
101lbs.
My labor was long and intense, (27hrs) it didn't start until my
midwife,
Patti Mayor suggested a long walk on the beach to get my pelvic bones
to
shift out of the way. That worked like a charm. Her back up midwife Lee
Saxell was there to support me with my breathing. I spent quite a lot
of
time on my hands and knees to try and alleviate the discomfort. He was
born
without any complications whatso ever and breathed right away on his
own.
The whole experience was so wonderful, I had Lee for my midwife 2yrs
later
when my daughter was born (8lbs 10 oz) wit Gayle Grey as my back up
midwife.
My 2nd labor was only 4 hrs (thank God) so I was really relieved when
they
both arrived since I was already almost fully dialated. I did tear both
times and was stitch immediately after each birth, but other than that,
everything went extrememly well. I would definately do it all again!
Maybe
in water, I've heard that's great for relieving the pressure.
Deanna Friesen joy.friesen@shaw.ca
I am a second time mom. My oldest son is 7 and midwifery wasn't available when he was born. My first birth, while not traumatic definately fell short of the supportive atmosphere I was expecting. If it wasn't for my mother and my husband I would have been lost. The on duty nurse wasn't interested in providing any hands on care and wouldn't believe me when I told her that the baby was on it's way in short order. Let's just say she started to panic when I told her I was pushing and she hadn't even called my doctor to let her know that I was there. That labour was 6 hours producing a nice healthy 8 lbs 10 oz baby boy. But......
This time things were different. My midwife, Barb, was wonderful. We talked about my first experience and what I felt. She spent as much time validating my feelings as she did the physical aspects of my pregnancy. This time I wouldn't have my mom to support me and I really needed that supportive environment. We had a home birth plan and everything was ready. We were just waiting...
Well, we waited and we waited. I was growing more and more uncomfortable and having more and more trouble walking. My first appointment past my due date was Christmas Eve. Barb offered advice on stimulating labour but none of it was working. This baby was stubborn. We set up a time for 28 Dec to do a non-stress test and then an induction because I was now beyond coping with being pregnant.
Well I'll be at 0600 I went into labour and I went hard. After 20 mins I knew this was time to get things moving so we called Barb. Poor woman had just finished a long delivery and had barely gotten to sleep. In our 5 min conversation I had 3 contractions and she knew to come over. It was very empowering to not be second-guessed at this stage.
Barb arrived at 0645 just as my water broke. At that point all my hopes for a home birth were dashed due to meconium in the water and a missing back up person. So we got me off to the hospital. Not an easy thing to do with a woman in hard active labour. We arrived at the hospital and were in the LDR at about 0725. All I wanted was someone to please help me. There are no coping techniques when your in constant motion at this point and the pain was excruciating. Barb was very calm and very supportive in getting me where I needed to be, almost without me fully understanding what was going on. I had the joy of the gas for one whole contraction and then it was time to push.
Pushing was hard and baby was not making it easy as we had a little hand come out before we had a chin but finally at 0755 there he was. He was whisked over to be looked at by the pediatrician and then pronounced just fine. The only thing the staff could say was "He's huge". Son number two arrived in just under 2 hours at a whopping 11 lbs and 2 ozs and mom only had some minor tears.
Barb helped clean me up and get us both ready and off home I went at 1000 that morning.
This birth could not have gotten further away from what I had planned. I didn't want a hospital birth, nor the cord cut right away, nor the baby removed from me at any time but sometimes things change. Barb's support, instructions, information and kindness helped me get through it all and come out the otherside feeling 100 times better than the last time.
I healed much faster than the first time, had no infections, breastfeeding went exceptionally well and the after birth support was phenominal. All in all, if there is a baby number 3, I will surely have a midwife again.
Bronwynn Guymer <blhguymer@hotmail.com>
Victoria, BC Canada - Thursday, April 18, 2002 at 23:53:46 (EDT)
