Mrs.B's water birth

Mrs. B had 2 previous births in the hospital which went well but she decided she wanted to have her baby at home this time. Her pregnancy went very good everything was normal. SHe also was 10 days late. I guess we are in a season of late moms. SHe called this morning with contractions every five minutes. Brenda headed up to her home. She was doing great walking around sitting on the birth ball and talking and laughing. Things were not progressing as fast as she wanted and in her other births when her water broke she delivered quickly so she wanted her water broke. Ater that things did pick up quickly and she decided to get in the kiddy pool to help her relax. After only 30 minutes she seemed to be getting close so I checked her and she was about an 8 but her cervix was very posterior so we healed it forward and in 4 contractions she was comlplete. She did push very hard for 20 minutes and the head was born but very slow. This is a sign of possible shoulder dystocia. We got her out of the water even though she was not exactly happy about this but the process of lifting her leg over and getting in a squat the baby was born. He had a tight nuchal cord (cord around the neck) He was quite huge 10lbs and 4 oz. She did have a minor tear but it was right along side the 2 previous episotomys. They are happy to have a boy after 2 girls. Hard birth but all was well. PTL

Mrs. M. not so late afterall

The Lord is good to those who wait.
Boy was this ever true. God intervened in so many ways. He is good and does not fail.

1. We found another new fantastic backup Dr. He was the greatest. I think he has a midwife's heart. This couple had insurance for the baby but not the mom. So the labor and birth was out of pocket for them. The Dr. was very understanding about this and tried very hard to keep the cost down.
2. The wonderful nurse also got on board and tried to help eliminate unnecessary expenses. This nurse attended a few home births with me years ago so when she saw my name as the attending midwife she said she would be their nurse. Only God could time this so perfect.

3.The other great thing I was able to finish all my prenatels on Thursday and as soon as I finished they called for me to come to the hospital. Perfect timing!

4. The baby's gestational age was 40 weeks not late at all, but he did weigh 9lbs 1oz.
Something for you moms to keep in mind. If you miss a period take the pg test right away. It helps eliminate these confusing date issues. Don't just assume you are pregnant if you are late. Confirm. PLEASEEEE. If in doubt an early ultrasound also help confirm dates. This mom was just sure she had her dates right but she didn't. You can be fooled. You would think after 10 previous births you would have it down but things are not always as they seem.

Another failure to start Mrs. M"s labor. I felt overwhelmed and stressed about this but the Lord has been very faithful and I have learned a lot about faith and trust. It has pressed me to the Lord almost every minute. That is a truly "a good thing". Wonder what Martha Stewart would think about that?
We all agreed that Tomorrow was the deadline and the baby needed to come for several reasons. Thus I started the search for a Doctor to take her on and induce her tomorrow. My faithful Dr. for the last 22 years appears to no longer be available. Not sure what is going on there even though he says he will always help us out (as long as they have insurance). His new office nurse has attitude problems and is very against midwives and out of hospital births thus will not return my calls. That was very discouraging. I decided to call a family practice Doc that has referred patients to me several times. He was wonderful and very happy to take her on and scheduled her for an induction tomorrow at 7:30 am. His attitude was great and very kind. The Lord was sooooo good. I'll let you know tomorrow how this turns out. I also have a mom Mrs.B that is now 9 days late. HMMMMM what is it? The weather, the water, the season, I don't know.
Over the years I can recall many such patterns. The old saying, trouble comes in 3"s I believe it. Well I hope and trust that the '3' season is over soon and we can move to a more pleasant season. What ever, we WILL keep pressing on.

Going out to see Mrs. M in the morning at 7:oo for one last try. I think I'll use our special labor tricks.. Pray it works.

Waiting patiently

Mrs M.'s story. Day 23. Still waiting. I am assisting a 46 year old in the birth of her 11th baby. This mom has a history of going 2-3 weeks late in her previous births. We expected this one to be late also. At 10 days late and a failure to start her labor with natural methods and much discussing we decided that she was probably off on her dates. She did not take a pregnancy test until after her second missed period she also did not feel movement until 2-3 weeks later than she usually does. We decided with much prayer to wait and give her more time. We all felt peaceful about this decision. We also had a biophysical which confirmed our decision. At 17 days late we tried again and failed. Not one contraction or change in her cervix. We started checking the baby daily for reassuring signs and the baby's weight seemed average 7lbs ish. Dad needs to go oot August 2nd and wants to spend time with his wife and baby before he leaves. He also doesn't want to go to the hospital yet and neither does the mom. We tried again to start her on day 21 and 24 only this time she did have some contractions. She has been having contractions daily and is also having an increase in mucous. Finally some signs of labor. We have decided that she must go in thursday for a hospital induction, out last attempt for a home birth will be tomorrow. This has been very challenging and has increased my faith and trust on a daily basis. I so hope to enter the results of a beautiful birth at home tomorrow. If not you'll get the details day by day. In the middle of waiting for Mrs. M we had 2 other births one of a 47 year old mom with previous csec. and another mom that was 35 weeks with PPROM and GBS (Group B Strept) positive. Hospital delivery but turned out great. Healthy mom and baby.