I am very thankful to have been chosen by Emily and her husband Alex to support them in their childbirth education preparation and during the birth of their son Logan as their labor support doula. Emily knew from the beginning that she wanted a natural delivery and she did all the work necessary to make that a reality. She was amazing, as was her whole team of supporters–Alex and her sister Meggie. More and more clients are hiring Holistic Doula NYC for both childbirth education and labor doula services and the pairing works really well. Emily recently blogged about her experience and was gracious enough to grant permission for me to share it here. If you are looking for childbirth education, doula services, or both like Emily was, feel free to send me an email at hello@holisticdoulanyc.com. Here’s Emily’s birth story, thank you Emily, you were AMAZING!
Logan is here! Here is how he got here:
First off Alex was amazingly supportive throughout my pregnancy. He listened over and over again while I talked about my cervix and my uterus and used words like cervical mucous and bloody show and hemorrhoids and all sorts of other unpleasant things. He learned just about as much about childbirth as I did and was committed to being an incredible birth partner. I could not have asked for more from him.
Second, I had an amazing doula named Andrea Crossman. Here’s her website: http://www.holisticdoulanyc.com
Alex and I opted to do childbirth education classes with her because 1) she came to our apt, 2) she tailored the class towards the unmedicated birth I was aiming for and 3) we got to know her better during the classes. I think every tidbit of information Andrea gave us during the classes was useful in labor. She told me about some of the gorier things TV and other women don’t tell you to expect (bloody show, vomiting) so that when they happened I wasn’t scared. She also taught us about how fear inhibits labor. Knowing that helped me to get into a mindset of accepting the various stages of labor and all the things that come with it instead of allowing fear to creep in.
I also read just about every book there is about childbirth.
Here’s a taste of my pregnancy library:
The Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy
Don’t forget the DVDs:
None of these books or DVDs are perfect, and as with everything there is some work in sorting out opinion from fact, but all of them were useful in satisfying my unquenchable need to understand all the crazy things going on with my pregnant body.
So, labor begins!
I had been having Braxton-Hicks contractions on and off for a few days, but by Sunday evening on May 23rd they started picking up, getting stronger and more regular. I was very eager to get this baby out so instead of taking Andrea’s evening advice and taking a bath and getting some rest I went for almost a 2 mile walk, which really got the contractions going. By around 11pm we were pretty much sure this was the real thing. I called Andrea who advised that I try to get some rest, especially because labor for first time moms can be very long, and early labor is a time of manageable pain. I did my best but I couldn’t sleep. At least the Lost series finale was on so I was distracted for a good while. Around 2am Andrea came over and she did her best to get me to sleep but it just wasn’t happening. I was too excited and I couldn’t calm down to sleep between contractions. She sat up with me talking while Alex got some rest. At 5am my equally restless sister came over and we continued chatting and hanging out until 6:30 when, with a particularly strong contraction, my water popped. I know the term is broke, but really this was a strong pop. When it happened I imagined a little leprecon popping a balloon inside me. I have no idea where that image came from.
Once my water broke I was really, really in labor. I hustled into the bathroom and woke Alex up along the way. I immediately wanted to be in the shower. At this point all modesty went out the window, as well. I stripped off my clothes and got into the shower, where I directed the hot water at my lower back. I moaned and swayed and cried for Alex, who allowed me to practically pull him in with me, clothes and all. I hung my arms around his shoulders and moaned and swayed some more. I barely turned my head away from him when I started vomiting. He was an unflinching trooper. I also got into the bath for a few contractions. Once I got out of the bath I wouldn’t sit or lie still. I could feel Logan moving lower and lower and the mere idea of sitting was excruciating. I shut off my brain and allowed Andrea to time the contractions. There were a couple conversations with the doctor but mainly I trusted Alex and Andrea to make decisions about when to call and when to leave for the hospital. Meggie provided amazing emotional support.
I had been walking around moaning and swaying, trying to make the deep, accepting moans Ina Mae recommends, visualizing my cervix opening for Logan. Andrea told me that when I started to feel rectal pressure we needed to go to the hospital. In my mind it was with the next contraction that I felt rectal pressure. It is clear to me now that I was entering into transition. Andrea had told me during our childbirth classes that during transition the contractions are no longer escalating. “If you can do your first contraction in transition, you can do them all,” she had said. I told Andrea that I was feeling pressure and was ready to go.
At that point the hardest thing became not pushing. I could feel my body starting to bear down and I became anxious to get to the hospital. Our cab driver was amazing. I think he was as eager to get to the hospital as I was. By the grace of God there was no traffic in the Midtown Tunnel at 8:30 in the morning. I know He’s God, but I’m not quite sure how He pulled that one off. In the tunnel I cried out, “I don’t want to have my baby in the tunnel!” Andrea, Meggie and Alex assured me that that wouldn’t happen.
At the hospital I hopped into a wheelchair because I felt like I couldn’t walk fast enough to get upstairs. In the car Andrea had instructed Alex to tell my doctor that I was having rectal pressure and to ask if we could be a direct admit. This was a genius move and part of the benefit of having an experienced and capable doula. The doctor said yes so I bypassed triage and went straight into a delivery room. It couldn’t have hurt that at the nurse’s station I said/screamed “Tell her I’m going to push!!!”
Once in the delivery room I stripped off all my clothes and submitted (sort of) to the hospital policies of checking my blood pressure, strapping on a fetal heartbeat monitor and putting in a hep lock. The nurses and the doctor on call (my doctors weren’t there yet) could tell by the state I was in (truly in active labor, screaming, naked, with doula, husband, and sister in tow) that I was going for an unmedicated birth. No one said the word epidural. The doctor checked my cervix and said I was 6-7 centimeters dilated. Andrea said “Oh 6-7 cm that’s great! We’ll have a baby by lunch time!” I growled back at her not to tell me what time it was. “I wouldn’t dream of it!” she assured me. I thought at that point that Logan was very low and I couldn’t believe I had to wait until 10 cm to push. My body had already begun to push for me. The spectacular nurses worked with me without my having to ask. One of them swayed and rocked and squatted with me as she held the fetal monitor to me so that I didn’t have to lie down. They both were so kind, supportive and hard working. I loved having Andrea there. I wasn’t listening very well to what was going around me but I could tell that Andrea was gelling with them and that they had a mutual understanding as colleagues.
I continued laboring standing up, leaning against the bed. I was hyperventilating a bit during contractions so everyone coached me to breathe more deeply because Logan’s heart rate dipped while I breathed so hard. Each contraction was causing me to push a little more, and finally one came so strongly that I both pooped and peed on the floor. No, I was not the slightest bit embarrassed. It did not occur to me to be embarrassed. Of all the things women are afraid of doing in labor, fear of pooping is not one I had. So the nurses cleaned it up right away and one of them checked my cervix while I was standing. Instead of feeling my cervix she felt Logan’s head. “So I can push?!” I screamed with relief. They replied that I should probably wait for the doctor.
The doctor came rushing in (still the doctor on call, my doctors weren’t there yet). If he hadn’t encouraged me to get into the bed, I would have followed my natural urge to push in a squatting position. The nurses lowered the bed and my body kept baring down as I climbed into the bed. I paused on all fours to push once. The nurses and Andrea asked if I could deliver in that position, and the doctor somewhat sheepishly said no so all hands went to turning me over.
The relief! I could finally push with abandon! I roared and screamed and pushed and roared and roared and pushed. As soon as I was lying on my back everyone was exclaiming that they could see his head. “Get him out of me!!” I screamed, to which everyone replied that I already was getting him out of me. Within 6 pushes his head was out. And strangely enough, pushing did not hurt at all. I did not experience any “ring of fire” or any pain when he came out. I was just elated.
The doctor said that the cord was around Logan’s neck so I stopped pushing and he asked Alex to come over and cut the cord. Andrea had told us during our classes that having the cord around his neck was not uncommon and not as dangerous as it seems, and she was there by my side reassuring me of the same. Logan came out the rest of the way and they handed him to me. I cried and held and rubbed him and told him to breathe. He was born at 9:29 am and we had only left Brooklyn at 8:30. My labor was faster than anyone could have predicted. The nurses swept him away and the pediatrician worked on getting the fluid out of his lungs and getting him breathing better. Alex and my sister went to stand with Logan and the pediatrician but Andrea stayed by my side reassuring me.
At this, the end of labor, I cried and shook and asked repeatedly about Logan as everyone reassured me that he was fine. The doctor was just working on him a little. Andrea continued to reassure me and she coached me through the process of my doctor stitching me up (he had arrived at that point), encouraging me to ask for more lidocaine when I needed it. I needed her for every part of the labor, but especially when Alex and my sister were (understandably) distracted by Logan she stayed with me and kept me as calm as I could possibly be in that moment.
Logan was, as everyone told me, completely fine and wonderful. The doctor suctioned some fluid out of his lungs and he did wonderfully. I rejoiced when they handed him to me, and my husband rejoined me at my bedside.
I feel so blessed to have had Alex, Andrea and Meggie by my side supporting me during labor and delivery. I needed all three of them so much. God gave me an amazing gift with the support, strength and submission to the process that I needed in order to have an unmedicated delivery at the hospital, and I wouldn’t change a moment of it.
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