So, here I am writing my first blog of the year.....and where do you suppose I am? But of course, the birth center. I never before have been in labor with someone while ringing in the new year, but here I am! I only feel bad for this couple because they were really hoping for a tax deduction...oh well, babies will only come when THEY want to, right?
I sit here and think back on 2008, and I am just in awe of where God has taken me... From one birth center to another, from house mother to house occupant.....staff midwife to administrator! From beautiful births to complicated ones, from successful VBAC to an unfair stillbirth, from losing my grandmother to multiple client miscarriages. 2008 was definitely a year of strengthening and stretching. I had many happy days and many sad days, and God got me through each one. I never know what God is going to do and I don't always know why, but I do know that the end of the day, month and even year, He is always there and knows what His plans are for me as well as His purpose ---plans for welfare and not for evil, to give me a future and a hope. With that, I am all good no matter what the year brings....so, here I go ..welcoming 2009!
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 15, 2008
Silent Labor
It's funny to me that there are actually textbooks about labor and delivery, because for once, I would love to experience a textbook labor. You know, like the ones that say oh, you will have early labor when contractions just start up at about every 15 - 20 minutes apart, then they will progress "closer, stronger, and longer" as another midwife puts it. As that is happening your body works toward bringing that baby out, right? How about no! At least that is not what I have been experiencing lately...I pause to think if I should even continue to write about this, just so I don't have to experience the extreme opposite! Oh well, this is the story of one those silent laborers.
So I had a client come in on December 1...she wanted to check if she was dilating. She had been contracting regularly the night before, lost her mucus plug that morning, and really wanted to know. I went ahead checked her and lo and behold she was 4-5 cm! I was caught off guard. As I checking a strong contraction came on and I asked if she could feel it. Obviously she couldn't since she answered with a "feel what?". This was her second pregnancy/baby. Her first was an induction at the hospital at 40weeks and 2 days with her being 1 cm dilated. She was very happy to hear she was not going have to start labor at 1-2 cm dilated especially since was the first natural labor she would experience. I told her that I thought she was experiencing early labor and would be surprised if she lasted another week before having this baby! Well....she did, much to her dismay, she came back the following week and said that she was doing nothing, but wanted me to check anyway. I told her I would but that it could stim up some Braxton Hicks...here we go...she was 6cm! Again, she was not feeling her contractions. I told her to go home and make sure she was ready to go, because when labor starts, it would not take long before baby would be born. That was a Monday Morning. On Wednesday morning, Melody called me stating that our client had been consistently contracting through the night and was meeting us at the birth center to be checked. Her slightly elevated blood pressure told me she was tired and possibly in early labor...her effacement changed drastically but her dilation was the same. Although, baby was face up, so we went into one of the birth rooms to do some positional changes to get the baby just right, then we sent her home to sleep. After a very long nap, Mama came back ....7 cms! We decided to go have good birth food...so off to Pizza Hut we went. **side note..Melody and I have this tradition that started with being at Pizza Hut and either getting a call for a birth or just going to one afterward and everything going smoothly :) ** The birth team got to eat dinner with the client and her immediate family! She ate her pizza while still contracting. I really intended on sending her home to bed, but something told me that I should keep her close by. Upon palpation, baby seemed to be in a funky position. The last time I did positional changes, it kicked someone into active labor and I really intended for her to go home. But we did the rebozo and positional excercises and sure enough contractions came every three minutes. My Client's husband claimed how she has a high pain tolerance, so I watched for any physical evidence of pain.....nothing. After laying her down, making her walk, contractions persisted. Finally at 1 am, she asked me to break her water. Since she was already 7 cm and knowing she could do this straight into the morning and get exhausted, I conceded. Her water was broken at 1 am, at 2 am she headed straight for the tub (showing physical pain) and baby was born at 2:54 am! Kyleigh Jayde was beautiful, bright-eyed, and very calm. She snuggled on mommy for a bit after Daddy caught her as we all rejoiced in her accomplishing not only a natural, but a water birth! All in a day's work. :)
I really can't complain about my clients who show no signs of labor until 7-8 cms, but I still laugh at the thought of a midwife experiencing a textbook labor and delivery.
So I had a client come in on December 1...she wanted to check if she was dilating. She had been contracting regularly the night before, lost her mucus plug that morning, and really wanted to know. I went ahead checked her and lo and behold she was 4-5 cm! I was caught off guard. As I checking a strong contraction came on and I asked if she could feel it. Obviously she couldn't since she answered with a "feel what?". This was her second pregnancy/baby. Her first was an induction at the hospital at 40weeks and 2 days with her being 1 cm dilated. She was very happy to hear she was not going have to start labor at 1-2 cm dilated especially since was the first natural labor she would experience. I told her that I thought she was experiencing early labor and would be surprised if she lasted another week before having this baby! Well....she did, much to her dismay, she came back the following week and said that she was doing nothing, but wanted me to check anyway. I told her I would but that it could stim up some Braxton Hicks...here we go...she was 6cm! Again, she was not feeling her contractions. I told her to go home and make sure she was ready to go, because when labor starts, it would not take long before baby would be born. That was a Monday Morning. On Wednesday morning, Melody called me stating that our client had been consistently contracting through the night and was meeting us at the birth center to be checked. Her slightly elevated blood pressure told me she was tired and possibly in early labor...her effacement changed drastically but her dilation was the same. Although, baby was face up, so we went into one of the birth rooms to do some positional changes to get the baby just right, then we sent her home to sleep. After a very long nap, Mama came back ....7 cms! We decided to go have good birth food...so off to Pizza Hut we went. **side note..Melody and I have this tradition that started with being at Pizza Hut and either getting a call for a birth or just going to one afterward and everything going smoothly :) ** The birth team got to eat dinner with the client and her immediate family! She ate her pizza while still contracting. I really intended on sending her home to bed, but something told me that I should keep her close by. Upon palpation, baby seemed to be in a funky position. The last time I did positional changes, it kicked someone into active labor and I really intended for her to go home. But we did the rebozo and positional excercises and sure enough contractions came every three minutes. My Client's husband claimed how she has a high pain tolerance, so I watched for any physical evidence of pain.....nothing. After laying her down, making her walk, contractions persisted. Finally at 1 am, she asked me to break her water. Since she was already 7 cm and knowing she could do this straight into the morning and get exhausted, I conceded. Her water was broken at 1 am, at 2 am she headed straight for the tub (showing physical pain) and baby was born at 2:54 am! Kyleigh Jayde was beautiful, bright-eyed, and very calm. She snuggled on mommy for a bit after Daddy caught her as we all rejoiced in her accomplishing not only a natural, but a water birth! All in a day's work. :)
I really can't complain about my clients who show no signs of labor until 7-8 cms, but I still laugh at the thought of a midwife experiencing a textbook labor and delivery.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Getting Started
Ok, so I am gonna give it a try on this blogging thing....in it I have decided to write about my thoughts and feelings concerning my journey in midwifery. I can probably go on and on about my journey thus far, but I think it would be easier if I just start from now and maybe eventually there will be blogs of how I got here. I have recently been given the administrator position at Edenway Midwifery at the The Cleburne Birthing Center which has been a big job. In order to do this position well, I really just needed to start over. So I have been "getting started" on this new venture for a little over 6 months and this journey has been nothing short of amazing. I really feel that God brought me here and has blessed me so much in this process. Back in May when I have very little clientel and had no idea if new clients were gonna come...they did. As soon as I started at the BC , I was receiving on average, a client a week. I have been so privileged in taking care of many women , all very special to me in their own very unique way! I love that I have been called to a place and a profession where I can love and care for women in of the most important times in their life. Yes, many can say it's just pregnancy and who would think of it as special, but in my world, it is an exciting, beautiful time when God has given a woman the responsibility of carrying and raising another life! Ok, so my idea of pregnancy is slightly romanticized and fluffed...(although I know about mood swings, hormone surges, gaining weight, exhaustion, and the list goes on..) but in my confessions, one would see why I see and feel about it the way I do. Being a midwife is special but there is more to it than catching a baby, and I hope to capture that here in my Confessions of a Midwife!
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