Yesterday, I was privileged to attend my first birth as a doula. My good friends, Jay and Jessi O'Brien, took my childbirth classes to learn more about natural childbirth. They already have three girls, but they decided to try something different with their fourth little one. Not only was this baby a BOY, but they wanted to see if they could go the natural route with his birth. After taking the classes they not only chose to go au naturale, but to do it at home as well! I couldn't have been more excited when they asked me to be there as their doula, and friend!
Poor Jessi had Braxton-Hicks contractions all throughout the pregnancy, and not just slight cramping either. These were intense contractions that would last all night at times. Needless to say, she was both tired and frustrated by the time she reached 39 weeks -- longer than any of her previous three pregnancies! Because of her track record, I kind of figured Jessi would have her baby "early," especially since she kept having regular bouts of "false" labor. As soon as she hit the 37-week mark, my cell phone was constantly by my side, and I was ready to go as soon as she called with news that contractions were "real" and settling into a pattern. I joked around with her that the baby would be born on February 29, Leap Day, since he was so competitive. That way he could tell his sisters he's the only one in the family who has a birthday every four years! I was doubly on guard yesterday, as I thought she might go into labor at some point. Around 8:30, Jessi texted me to let me know that contractions were getting more intense than the Braxton-Hicks stuff and I might want to be prepared to come over at some point. Coralyn and I already had the "birth day" cake made, so we pulled it out of the freezer and whipped up some chocolate icing. No sooner had we finished icing the cake, then my phone rang. Jessi was ready for me to be there with her, as contractions were now only 3 minutes apart! I quickly loaded up the girls, praying they would both be super good throughout the birth as I wouldn't be able to be with them during the process and had no idea how long it would be until the baby arrived. When I arrived a little after 9, Jessi was already in her tub, and I could tell this was definitely the "real deal!" Almost immediately, she had a contraction, and then another one right after it. In my head I thought, "oh my, she's already in transition." Not only were her contractions double peaking, she was shaking and saying she was hot, both signs that labor is moving along and quite serious. To confirm my suspicions, she starting making pretty low moaning noises with her next contraction. At this point I not only knew she was making quick progress in her labor, but that when I personally started acting that way during Kellah's labor, she was born about 45 minutes later! I had no idea when Amber, the midwife, would arrive and I was beginning to think I might end up catching this baby myself! After her contraction ended, I went downstairs to put two pots of water on to boil so the water in the birthing tub would be nice and warm once Jessi transferred to it for the rest of the labor. I then went back upstairs and tried to be as quiet as possible while I set up the birth tub. Jay had already blown it up, but it had deflated some, so I aired it up a bit and then put in the plastic liner. Do you know how hard it is to do that quietly?! Amber and her assistant, Lindsay, arrived about that time. We helped Jessi move from her tub to the birthing pool. Her contractions continued to be pretty intense and she kept making those moaning sounds with each one. I even got to moan with her so she wouldn't feel uncomfortable making noise. She needed to relax and that was what helped. Plus, she was making it all the easier for the baby to move down the birth canal. When Jessi got to the point when she announced that she "needed a break" and then several contractions later felt like she "couldn't do this anymore," I knew we were getting close. However, since I was "in Jessi's face" for each contraction, helping her breath out the pain and moan and stay relaxed, I couldn't tell if the baby was crowning or anything of that nature. I just prayed we were close and that Jessi would indeed have the strength and stamina to go on. I knew she could do it, but I needed her to know that too! Kellah decided to wake up from her nap around 11:15, so I raced downstairs to feed her. I didn't get very much time, as I was quickly summoned back upstairs with an urgent, "Amber needs you!" Okay, back in Jessi's face I went...the baby was not just crowning, but his head was coming out! With both of my girls, especially Kellah, that meant birth was imminent, like in the next push or two. I got really excited and told Jessi she would be holding her son soon. Her boy, however, didn't have the same idea. He wanted to take his sweet, precious time and decided to hang out for a bit. Jessi's water never broke, so as he made his way out, he was surrounded by the bag of waters! Jay, usually queasy, was a rockstar and held first the forehead and then they eyes and nose. When he announced that he had the ears, I was beginning to wonder when this boy was ever going to get all the way out! Jessi wanted to know if she was working on his shoulders or not. I assured her they were coming! Since this baby seemed quite content to stay where he was, Amber "stirred up" another contraction to get things going and Jessi gave it her all and finally Eli was born! He made his grand appearance at 11:27, "just" 2 and a half hours after I arrived! I was so proud of Jessi. She was simply amazing -- working with her body and letting it guide her throughout the entire labor and delivery process. With her three previous births, she had been given pitocin and then received an epidural. This time she didn't have any medication at all! And here's the kicker -- Eli weighed in at 10 pounds, 12 ounces and measured 22.5 inches long! She gave birth to a 3 month old! In fact, Eli is already 2.5 pounds heavier and 2.5 inches longer than Kellah at 10 weeks! Did I mention that I was proud of Jessi?! And Jay too! He was an amazing coach, putting constant pressure on Jessi's back pretty much the entire 2 and a half hours I was there! (He told me to tell the dads in my childbirth classes to do arm and leg exercises to prepare for all the hard work they would do during labor!) Now that I have attended a birth as a friend and doula, I am all the more hooked on natural childbirth! I can hardly wait until I have the honor and privilege of attending my next birth and helping another couple/family welcome their precious little on to the world. Though, I guess in this case, I wouldn't call Eli "little." I think I shall refer to him as Eli, "The Man," William!
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"Close the door! Were you born in a barn?!"
Chances are you probably weren't born in a barn. But, maybe we should learn something from those who were. You mean animals? Yep! I just read this interesting article about creating and protecting an ideal atmosphere for a horse giving birth. I think we would do well to take those principles and apply them to human birth. So, maybe we don't need to literally give birth to our babies in a barn, but perhaps we could make the setting more like the barn described in the story than a hospital. That is why I chose to have my first daughter at a birth center, and then my second daughter at home. I was much more in control of what was happening and felt much more comfortable and able to relax throughout the entire labor and delivery process. In a sense, I felt right at home (literally the second time around). As a result, both of my daughters' births were amazing experiences, ones that I cherish and look back on not with regret or memories of unbearable pain but with joy and fondness. My daughters may not be able to say they were born in a barn, but I did my best to get as close to it as I could. Now, let's not talk about what my two year-old daughter's room looks like after "nap" time though, or else you may think you're in the middle of a pigsty and question if we live in a barn. This morning there was good news on the television. A heart-warming story, even.
Three sisters were on the TODAY show to share about their unique situation. One of the sisters has been unable to have children, despite trying for many years and using various infertility treatments. After one of her doctor's appointments, she was in the car with her two sisters and crying about her inability to conceive. Both of her sisters have children -- seven girls between the two of them -- so this woman was understandably sad, frustrated, discouraged, and heartbroken over her own unfulfilled dreams of being a mother. Her sisters decided to make her dreams come true, and offered to be surrogate mothers for her. The procedures were done to make that happen, and BOTH sisters miraculously got pregnant and will have their babies within 3 months of each other! One sister is having a girl, and the other is having a boy -- the first in this girl-dominated family! Anne Curry was doing the interview and asked the two sisters how they felt about sacrificing their bodies for basically a year to be able to do this for their sister. They commented how they felt so honored to be able to do this for her and give her this gift. One sister said growing and carrying the baby was the easy part and that raising the child was the hard part, so she was happy to be the pregnant one and hand the baby over to her sister to raise. My heart was full of joy for this family as they share such a deep love for one another and get to share such special memories together as they prepare for the birth of these two precious babies.Seeing such a heart-warming story on the news was refreshing. I only hope that Coralyn and Kellah will share that same kind of sister love as they grow up. Not that they have to be surrogate mothers for each other, but that they would be willing to do something so sacrificial for one another. I pray my girlies are best friends for each other: more than just playmates who have fun together (of course!) but soul mates who are there to encourage and support one another when times get tough (because they will), to inspire and challenge one another to do great things and to follow wholeheartedly after Jesus. I don't know what God has in store for my little ladies, but I am excited to find out, to watch them grow and mature into the beautiful women He has designed and created them to be.For now, I am content with my active toddler and cuddly baby! I truly am blessed beyond words to have TWO such precious children! While I am "sold" on natural birth now, I wasn't always that way. I had to learn about it first. When I found out I was pregnant with my first baby, I didn't know about the options I would have for labor and delivery. I just figured the way things are done is the way they have to be done. Now, I have done lots of reading and research on the internet. I realize I have choices.
And that is what I want to communicate to my students - that they have options. My goal is to help them learn about those choices and why I personally made the decision to do things "differently" than quite a few people here in the United States. I want to help my students feel more prepared and educated as they get ready for their baby's birth. I want to equip them with tools to have a positive birth experience. When they leave my final class, I hope they feel that they have a better understanding of what will take place during labor and delivery. I certainly want them to feel more empowered as they make important decisions regarding their baby's birth. Not only that, I want them to feel confident about their ability to go through the birth process and welcome their babies to the world. In order to feel good about the choices you will make regarding your baby's birth, it's important to know how and why things are typically done here in the United States. An excellent video to watch is The Business of Being Born. But if you want something a little shorter, and still very informative, here's a great clip called Birth by the Numbers to watch. Hopefully, it will help you better understand some of the birth practices and trends in the United States right now. And having that information, you can feel better equipped to make decisions about what you want for your own baby's birth. My baby girl is almost 7 weeks old! How is she growing up so fast, already?! And although time is seemingly flying by, her arrival seems like just yesterday. In fact, I still feel like I am on a "birth high," all the more excited to teach about natural childbirth and help others prepare for a beautiful birth experience when they welcome their own precious babies to the world.
Having Kellah at home was such a wonderful experience, and I highly recommend home birth to anyone. I realize that some people are nervous about something going wrong or uncertain about what to expect if they are having their first child. I totally get that! We had our first little girl at a birth center for those very reasons. But now that I have had two healthy pregnancies and complication-free deliveries I am all about having our future babies at home. Apparently, home births are becoming more "popular" these days. Read this article about the increase in home births, which are now up from .5% to almost 1%. That's right a whole ONE percent! And here's another article for your reading pleasure. And still one more article about I guess I'm not the only "crazy" person out there who thinks that having your baby at home is the way to go. I mean come on: you don't have to pack or unpack any bags, you don't have to fill out any paperwork to be admitted to the hospital, you control the environment for the birth, once the baby is born you get to go straight to your own bed, and you don't have to eat any hospital food. Who could ask for anything more? :) My students have had their babies both at home and in the hospital, and I don't really care where they decide to have them, as long as they are comfortable and at ease with the place they choose. More importantly, I want to prepare them for the labor and delivery process and equip them with the "tools" they need to have the best birth experience possible, wherever they are at. But, if they ask me, I highly recommend having your baby at Home Sweet Home. Pregnancy is hard work. Not to mention labor. But after all the sweat and tears, you get to hold a precious baby, YOUR baby. Then, you cry even more tears, of a very different kind. And you certainly can't beat those tears of utter joy and happiness as you meet your little one for the first time. After all, you have been waiting nine long months to hold and kiss your baby, to look into her eyes, to tickle his toes, to whisper "I love you" in person.
In the first moments with your new baby, you forget about the pain of labor, the pain you just experienced seconds before. The sweat and tears seem to fade away; they are replaced with giddy smiles and bursts of laughter, not to mention sighs of relief and shrieks of delight. So maybe the sweat and tears weren't all that bad after all. But what if there was a way to minimize the pain of labor, to make the process somewhat easier? You would jump at the thought, right?! Well, there is a way. And I'm not talking about the medicinal kind. No drugs are involved in this "solution." Instead, it actually requires more sweat and tears. Wait a second, I thought we were trying to do away with those. We are... But to do so, we still have to endure some sweat and tears, during pregnancy, in the form of exercise. Prenatal exercise is extremely beneficial, not only in the 9 months while you are growing and carrying your baby, but also in the hours of labor and delivery. Here are just a few of the benefits that come from the sweat and tears of prenatal exercise: *35% decrease in the need for pain relief *75% decrease in the incidence of maternal exhaustion *50% decrease in the need to artificially rupture membranes *50% decrease in the need to induce or augment labor with pitocin *50% decrease in the need for an episiotomy *75% decrease in the need for operative intervention (forceps or C-section) If that's not enough to convince you to exercise during pregnancy, here are some more labor and delivery benefits of all those prenatal sweat and tears: * More than 65% of the exercising women delivered in less than four hours. * 72% delivered before their due date (but fewer of them delivered before 37 weeks–preterm–than the control group). The exercising women delivered, on average, 5-7 days earlier than active women who did not exercise regularly. * Significant reduction in the incidence of umbilical cord entanglement. * Much lower incidence of fetus passing meconium from distress. * Umbilical cord blood samples indicated that babies of exercising moms remained relatively stress-free with plenty of oxygen. They seemed to tolerate the stresses of labor and delivery better than the control group. * The exercising mothers’ infants were, on average, 14 oz lighter but overall growth was not compromised. * Placentas of exercising mothers are larger, more efficient, and healthier-looking. * Infants born to exercising mothers were more alert postpartum and needed less consolation from others. I "stole" these statistics from a post at birthfaith.org and that author got her information while reading the book Exercising Through Your Pregnancy by James F. Clapp, M.D.I always knew prenatal exercise is beneficial. I tell my Bradley students that it is. We talk about that the very first class. Now I have more proof and evidence to share with them! And while I know exercise will help them come labor and delivery, unfortunately, I can't promise them a pain-free birth experience. But, I hope I will have helped equip them to get through all the sweat and tears in such a way that they can look back on them and say they were more than worth it. |
Sarah YoungWho am I? Well, I wear quite a few hats actually. I am a wife and mother, a daycare provider, a natural birth instructor, an athlete, a daughter, an aunt, a sister-in-law, a friend, and most importantly a lover of Christ. Archives
March 2013
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