Tale of two Births

Let me tell you about my two mommies. Mommy A is "natural birth" through and through!! But even more than her desire to be ala naturale, her husband is rock-solid natural!! You see, HIS mother is a retired midwife. Mommy A is done being pregnant. She is tired. And, I might add, she is 11 days past her due date. Like a child in the back seat on a trip, she keeps wondering, "Are we there yet?" Mommy A has been in the office 3 times this week wanting to be checked. With every contraction she is wondering, "is this the one? Am I really in labor? Will I be holding my sweet baby tonight?"

Mommy A requested her membranes to be stripped on Tuesday. Wednesday she was SURE things had changed and she came in to be checked......well, let's just say things had changed, a little. Thursday night at 11, she called. "THIS IS IT!" she reported that contractions were 4 minutes apart, lasting more than a minute, and she was feeling shaky. YAY!!! (may I add that currently there are 4 moms past their due date!!) I called my assistants and we rushed to the Birth Inn. We set up the room, prepared our minds and waited for Mommy A to arrive.

Looking out the window we saw the headlights pulling into the driveway. Mommy stepped out of the car and waddled into the house, looked at us and......smiled. Uh Oh.......this does not look good. Following the routine of the last two days, she wanted to be checked. Well, sure enough, she had changed......a little. Baby still high, cervix dilated to 4, and still kinda thick. hmmmmmm. She happily contracted for for a couple of hours then slowly but surely, we all found our way to a pillow. Fast forward now to 7:30 am. Mommy A is up, she is rested, and she is REALLY wanting the baby OUT!!!

Now let me tell you about Mommy B. Mommy B has wanted another child for years. Her son is 24, and her daughter is 9. Son weighed 9lbs 15oz, and her daughter was 8 lbs 2 oz. At 13 days late, this baby boy might just be big! Both babies were born in the hospital, so this is the first time for a home birth. Mommy B is patient. She has eaten right, exercised and honestly feels better and healthier than she has in a while.
I saw Mommy B on Thursday. After some discussion we decided that a dose of castor oil would be a good step for this mom. She was instructed to ingest 2 oz at 3 or 4 am on Friday. (are you with me? we are at the Birth Inn with Mommy A who REALLY wants baby out, but is stalled. And Mommy B is taking castor oil!)

8:00 am Mommy B called. The castor oil had no effect. None, nada, zero. Ok, this is good-ish, I think. At least we won't have two Mommies at the Birth Inn at once!
Mommy A is going to walk. This is a good time to run home, eat some breakfast and let the dogs out. 10:45 Mommy B calls.......her water broke AND the castor oil FINALLY decided to work. Looks like I need to wrap up breakfast and head back to the Birth Inn.

I checked Mommy A again, helped the cervix along and Mommy and Daddy A left to grab some breakfast......just as Mommy B arrived at the Birth Inn. Checked Mommy B, she is dilated 4cm and cervix is very thin. Mommy B put on her jacket, took Daddy B's arm and off they went for a walk. Ahhh, so quiet in the Birth Inn. *sigh*

Baby A likes it when Mommy a is lying down. Now I know this seems contrary to what you might think, but it seems like baby A has a tendency to rotate in a less favorable position when Mommy A stands or sits. Baby B likes it when Mommy B walks or sits! Picture with me for a minute......Mommy A is in the living room on the couch, pillow propped under her belly providing just the right support for baby A. Mommy B is sitting on the birth ball laboring....with a labored smile on her face! Daddy B decided to go on a food run, good timing since contractions are really warming up for both Mommies!!

Every trip to the Birth Inn is a new experience. The thing that is evident this time is the fact that nobody is missing a meal! the kitchen has been very active!! I love the fact that these mommies are going to be nourished and energized for the delivery!

3:30pm Smiles are turning to grimaces, talking is suddenly silent. Mommy A and Mommy B are both looking intent..............Did I mention there is only one jacuzzi tub?? It's like a horse race, neck in neck, one pulling in front of the other, then the other pulling ahead. Decision time, who will get the tub? Both mommies are so kind, insisting the other can have the tub!! As it is right now, I don't think it is good for Mommy B to be in the tub, big babies aren't the easiest to deliver underwater! Mommy A has decided she doesn't want to take any chances with slowing down her contractions, remember, she wants this baby OUT!!!! So, nobody is going to use the tub.

Let me take this time to introduce you to my two assistants. They fondly refer to themselves as Girl Tuesday, and Girl Thursday. Girl Tuesday, Cynthia Barger is the mother of 8 children, 3 of them were delivered at home. She is a certified Doula and loves the adrenaline rush when delivery is near!.
Girl Thursday is Ginger Young she is the mother of 5 and 3 steps, and grandmother of 2. Ginger is also a certified Doula and is in training to be a midwife. You might wonder about the names they have given themselves. Cynthia assists me in prenatals on Tuesday, and Ginger on Thursday!

4:00 Cynthia and I take off for a little walk. Ginger stays behind. Mommy and Daddy B leave for a walk and Mommy A starts feeling pressure......Woo Hoo!!!

4:25 Mommy A is moving to the birth room! I wonder how the walk is going to Mommy B??

4:51 BABY A IS HERE!!!!!!! Strapping baby boy.....stay tuned for the weight.

Mean while, Mommy B has decided to rest. Guess what? Contractions have slowed. Baby does not like it when mommy is lying down.

Baby A is nursing and getting to know mom and dad. Baby B, well, let's just say that he is in no hurry to meet us!

Baby A weighs 8lbs 10 oz and is 20 3/4" He has strawberry blonde hair and of course, is cute as a bug!!

So birth is seldom what we imagine, rarely what we expect, but always a gift from God! When we are faithful to do our part in preparation and trust Him with the delivery, the baby...our gift from God...is delivered at JUST the right time.

Baby B has decided to take a break. I think he wants just one more night's sleep in his warm safe bed. So the bed is turned down, the lights are dimmed and Mommy and Daddy B are going to go to bed and rest. My assistants and I are going home......for a bit.

NOTE TO DEIDRE: I'm thinking it is time to add on a second birthing suite off the dining room. And a restroom for the midwives (with our own private jacuzzi tub) ;)

Sunrise

Two really nice births.....It had been a long week. My youngest daughter was in the hospital with rotavirus when 1 of the 3 calls came in with gals in early labor. I was wondering how this was all gonna work out. This particular mom, Mrs T, is one that I have delivered before. She had a 9 pounder with a large head on her first one. Needless to say we were expecting another big boy:) She called around 3 pm with ruptured membranes but no contractions. I went over to see her and check on baby. She had been some what concerned about movement. Baby had a significant arrhythmia so I was listening to heart tones carefully and was cautiously optimistic that she would be able to deliver at home. I also had Kathy listen to affirm that all was well. Bethany was planning to assist so I put she and Christy on alert. We all agreed I could go on to another mom in labor, especially since Mrs T was not contracting very much. My other mom was moving right along so Bethany agreed to check on Mrs. T at 10. At that point contractions still weren't consistent so after listening to baby Bethany headed back to Hutch at midnight. I finished the hospital birth around 1:30 which went GREAT for a first time mom:) While I was at the hospital another one of my moms called to report that her water had broke, unfortunately this mom was only 7 months along in her pregnancy. She came to St Joe and Dr Jensen took over her care. (She delivered 2 days later, baby is still in NICU but he is doing great too). Anyway, back to Mrs T...I got in my van..no heat working and freezing temperatures...brrrr and drove over to her house around 2am. I decided to stay because she had made some progress plus I didn't relish the idea of getting back out again. Contraction picked up shortly after I got there but mom decided to rest in the recliner for a bit. I called Christy to come and lied down for a short nap. Mom woke me up at about 5:15 with close contx I checked her and she was 6-7 cm. She got in the bathtub but not before stopping at the toilet where it was evident that she was progressing QUICKLY. I called Bethany..realizing at that point that she probably wouldn't make it:( Mrs T began making pushing noises after only a short time in the tub. Just after 6am she got out of the tub came over to the bed and delivered an almost 9lb baby in a few short pushes. The baby let out his first big cry and his big brother, now a toddler, who was asleep on the other side of the bed popped up with a sleepy look on his face and took a very brief look at baby then immediately plopped back down and went back to sleep. I couldn't help but notice through the bedroom window a beautiful sunrise in the distance. The day was November 14th and it was a lovely crisp cool winter day. Thank you Father for the birth of these 2 babies and for the birth of my own daughter 12 years ago this day. I stand amazed! by:Deidre DeGrado

Mrs Sticky

What were you doing on September 11, 2001? I was at a birth in Elbing Kansas. I remember arriving at the home and everyone was gathered around the TV, glued to the set, staring, quiet, somber, watching the Town Towers go up in smoke. I didn't have a TV back then so I had no idea what was happening in our country. We were all scared, and shocked at what was happening. 'I'm not sure why but after looking back at my previous 9 years of calendars since 9/11/2001, I've had the privilege of delivering a baby on 8 of the past 9 years. Maybe this is God's way of giving 'Beauty for Ashes'.
Mrs S: Gravid 13 Para 9, came to her prenatal on Thursday September 9th 2010. When she walked in I thought ,Oh Boy,we've had a growth spurt. She could hardly walk down the stairs and I could tell with a quick glance that she was miserable and ready to have her 10th baby. I've been blessed to assist Mrs. S in several of her births, she has a history of no dilation until she is in active labor and has always gone a week or two late. When I saw her in the office I immediately thought she isn't going to make it 2 more weeks. She also has a history of having large babies, 10 lbs. or greater, thankfully without much difficulty. When I checked her she was 45-46 cms. WOW! and she isn't even late. That is the most she has ever measured. We both agreed that we needed to be proactive and get the baby out SOON to prevent difficulties with her delivery. We decided to have her come to the Birth Inn and have her baby the next day. A Plan right? By the way Dad had thought all along that his baby would be born on 9/11 but we decided to get things going on the 10th. A man makes plans but the Lord has His.
This is how her last several births have gone: strip the membranes, labor candy, walk a lot, dink around, then after several hours of that she is 4-5 cms dilated, contractions slow down and mom needs a rest, so the midwives leave to let the dogs out and rest, mom goes to bed to rest for a while and wait for the contraction to pick up. About 30 to 45 minutes later her water breaks and we're off, scurrying back to the BI. A good plan right?

That day Mrs S., her precious husband and I, spent the day sharing our testimonies while mom was dinking around with her usual slow to start labor pattern, we reviewed her previous births and mom said several times well I usually... So when I got the call water just broke, return to the BI I just laughed and thought to myself, she has a plan and she is STICKING with it, thus the name Mrs. Sticky. I checked her, no change in the cervix, still 4-5 cms.
Mom was very tired and wanted to get things going.
She walked around, changed position, but her cervix was posterior and not opening. She has a very pendulous uterus, which means her her large baby was falling forward which made her uterus tip forward, making her cervix posterior. When the cervix is posterior is just doesn't open, and to make things even worse the baby was posterior ( baby is looking towards moms abdomen rather than the preferred face pointing towards mom's back position.) We call this the humble baby position, that is what to pray for when you are expecting, a humble baby. The only way we could get labor to progress was to have mom on her back. UGH not preferred but productive for this mom and we wanted progress. We tried in the past to bind up her abdomen to help pull her uterus into an upright position but it never seemed to work for her. Lying on her back seemed to be the ticket. It is now September 11 and 1:24 am mom is complete and pushing. She was crowning at 1:26, Deidre and I looked at each other thinking this is a very big baby. Deidre looped the nucal cord over the babies head had the mom push again and the cutiest , chubby cheeked, baby girl slipped right out. She was slightly blue and her muscle tone was not the greatest but with suction, stimulation and mom talking to her, she started crying, music to my ears. Praise the Lord, He again was faithful to bring forth a health baby. Dad's premonition was right the baby was born on September 11, 2010, 'Beauty for Ashes'.

Mrs. Pokey

Mrs. P was gravid 4 pare 3. I helped her with her first and second deliveries, then she moved to another state and had number 3. She has a history of going late and followed that pattern with number 4. Mrs P was 42 weeks and started having irregular contraction on the evening of September 5th. When she arrived at the Birth Inn she was 3 cms. and 90% effaced. Her contractions were 12 to 15 min. apart. but strong enough to convince her she was in active labor however, after arriving she decided she wanted to rest, so to bed we all went thinking she would wake us during the night in active labor.
At 7:00 am on Labor Day we woke and mom said she had contractions most of the night and was 4-5 cms. She was tired and wanted to sleep because her contractions had slowed down. I recommended a walk to see if we could get things moving and she agreed. It really didn't help so we decided to let her rest and I went home to shower and let my dogs out. They were very happy to see me.
At 3:00 pm mom called and said her contrx. had picked up and were getting stronger. I went over around 4:00 pm and mom was gone. Hmmmmm. They had gone out for a while and arrived back around 4:30 I checked her again and she was 6-7 cms. Yea!
Contractions really would not get close unless she walked so we did enchourage her to be active. As long as she walked they were consistant but not really close together. We discussed options and she decided to go out for a walk again. When they returned it seemed the contrx. were picking up in strength. At 7:30 we put her in hands and knees, she was ac ( almost complete) but her contractions were anywhere from 5-10 mins. apart. Cynthia suggested she move to the toliet and mom agreed. She walked over and sat down and had a few contraactions that were 3-4 mins apart. Good toliet move. I've always said things come out on the toliet. The next contrax. she seemed to bear down and she lookd up at me as if to say what now. I moved over quickly and helped her stand and lean on her strong hubby to prevent the baby from getting a swirley. I was going to get her back to the bed but was prompted to but my hand back behind her and check, as I suspected the baby was crowning. I just sat my own behind down on the toliet and caught the baby. My first delivery with me on the toliet. It was funny.
Mom and baby (a girl) are both great and happy to be delivered . Baby weighed 8lbs.2oz.
They are going on the mission field soon, to Mongolia. Now that has to be a callling from God.
I just love birth it can be most challenging but also very rewarding. I thank God for calling me into this ministry and for his faithfulness.

A fast one!

This was a fast and exciting birth:) At Mrs. A's 38 week visit she was 4-5 cm dialated, 100% effaced and a bulging bag of waters. The condition of her cervix was very good news because she had experienced a 4th degree tear with her first birth, so I was hoping that she would go into labor earlier and wouldn't have a bigger baby than last time (8lb 3oz).So that her chances of a bad tear would be minimized. Needless to say I told her,"baby would probably arrive any day." I fully expected her to go into labor that night. Open mouth insert foot...first lesson in midwifery NEVER tell them when you think they will have their baby. I can hear Kathy saying " You don't have a crystal ball and your not God." You'd think I'd know this by now;)...Her cervix just seemed so ripe...Needless to say 10 days later still no baby. We discussed options over the weekend as we were all getting more concerned that the baby was getting big and a minimal tear to the perineum becoming less and less likely. We agreed to meet Monday morning for a prenatal. Fortunately she had some contractions during the night...but by morning they had mostly pittled out. I met them at the Birth Inn at 9:30am..I listened to baby, palpated for size and presentation and did a vaginal check. Baby sounded great, she was in an anterior position, I estimated at 8.5 lbs, the cervix was 5-6cm dialated with bloody show and the head well applied to the cervix at 0 station. I had suggested breaking the water, which as I told her I had never done with a mom not in full blown labor. I just had a sense in this case it would work. I'd been praying, we all had and I felt God's peace. They agreed that it was time:) So at 9:38 we had rupture of membranes with clear fluid and a happy baby. They went out for a short walk as it was VERY hot outside. When she came back and she had some contractions with a few hard ones. She labored inside for another 15 minutes or so then hubby said they needed to get back out walking. I decided to run home and get my car as my hubby had dropped me off. It's now 10:30am...10 minutes later my assistant, Christy, calls to inform me that things had picked up significantly..at which point I start speeding back. She gets the tub going and has mom on her side who a few short minutes later informs her that she needs to have a BM. This usually means baby is COMING soon! My new assistant is now getting nervous so she text's me as mom throws up. Christy gets her in the tub..as I'm pulling up she says "it's burning". We get mom back to the bed because we want her on her side for a slow controlled delivery to help preserve her perineum, (otherwise a water birth would have been great)! I check her she is complete and plus 2 station. I apply the warm compress and arnica oil. We do a 4 handed delivery with mom in excellent control of her pushing, dad did a great job coaching her and she did so well letting just her body do the pushing. After a slow crowning the head appears then out pops a little hand. (Same thing happened with the last one.) I slowly deliver the shoulders. A beautiful baby girl emerges and I put her up on mom. Baby weighed in at 9lb 3oz! Good news is she only had a 2 degree tear! Praise the Lord! A full pound bigger and a smaller tear! God knows what he is doing.
posted by Deidre

Mrs. Abundance of amniotic fluid

Mrs. AF is a gravid 4 para 2. She is one week from her due date, I saw her in the office on the 15 of July for her regular prenatal appt. She was measuring 40 cm which is usually what you measure at term. She had been having some light contractions and had bloody show this am and lost her mucous plug. She asked "when should I call you" and I responded with the standard answer, when your contractions are getting stronger or lasting longer or more intense, when they change and feel different, or lasting longer. She said ok then we decided to do a check of her cervix to see if anything was happpening. Well it sure was, she was 5-6 cms fully efffaced cervix soft, stretchy, with a bulging bow. They lived one hour away so I instucted them to call as soon as her contractions changed. She call back around 8:00 and said I think you should come. With her last birth when I arrived she was 8 cms but not having a lot of contrx. The same was true this time just mild contrx but more consistant. She was 8 cms with a bulgingbow. Mom wanted me to break her bag so she would have the baby sooner , I agreed that would probably be the case so we did break the bag and a flood came forth. She must have had a gallon of amniotic fluid that was slightly stained with mec. Very pale yellow in color. The heart tones were really good. As we thought would happen labor progressed very quickly. Mom was up walking around in the living room and said well I think it is time so we followed her to the bedroom. She was planning to have her baby lying on her side. She stood by the bed for a couple of contractions then said ok its time. She laid down I checked her and she had only an anterior lip. I had her get in her hands and knees for several contracions then gently moved the very slight lip over the baby's head and she pushed a beautiful baby girl out in 2 pushes.
The last 3 births I've had I've had to do a manual removal of the placenta UGHHHHHH! I have been praying that we would not be faced with that again, because it is very painful for the mom. The placenta came without any problems. This mom is a very petite mom and her other children weighed 7 lbs. This big girl weighed in at 8 lbs 9 oz.

A very interesting part of this birth story is that the dad of this baby was born in the very room that his daughter was born in. The midwife that caught him was a midwife that I trained with 20 years ago. Cycle of life just continuing on.
All is well with mom and baby.

I have missed blogging about 7 births I will try to do a better job.

Mrs.Sunny side up

Who came up with that name? When I think of sunny side up, I think of bright, sunny, warm, fuzzy feelings. Well for any of you that have had an OP delivery (posterior position) its not at all warm and fuzzy is it??? It's very painful and presents with a variety of symptoms and sometimes complications with the delivery.

On Thursday, Mrs. Sunnyside up comes to the Birth Inn after having lots of contrx. She was dilated to 4-5 cms. and her cervix was a little thick. Deidre was coming to this birth to get a primary care birth under my supervision. She doesn't really need supervision but she is getting her national certification (CPM) and needed some numbers within the last 3 years. Deidre had checked her that morning and said her cervix was a little thick and tweeked her, at the mom's request of course. She started having contractions within an hour and commented that she was having a lot of pain down her leg. Her contractions were really hard when standing up but would slack off when sitting.

A dysfunctional labor means there is a lack of progress being made with labor. When this happens consider the cause; it's almost always the position of the baby. HMMMM. This was number six for her, so this mom was very in tune to her body and what was happening or not happening. Having these kinds of contrxs. with no progress was quite different for her. After a few hours of this in previous births, she would have already delivered.

We were praying for her and trying to decide what we could do to help her. We tried different positions and tried putting her in the jacuzzi but it really did not help. When Deidre arrived I had her check the mom again and she determined the baby was OP (Occiput Posterior) and high. Sometimes when there is a BBOW (bulging bag of water ) it can be difficult to determine the baby's position. Usually there is an increase in back pain but this mom was not really complaining of severe back pain only the pain in her legs.


As most of you know, we do not break the BOW unless there is good reason and /or a benefit to mother or baby, but we usually do not break the water until transition. After prayer and discussion we determined it might help to do this with this mom. Problems can come with that intervention so you must use that tool wisely. The contractions usually pick up and get much stronger after ROM. We already have a mom with increased pain we sure don't want to add to her pain and it not be beneficial.

After discussing it with mom, we decided to rupture the bag and attempt to turn the baby during it's decent into the pelvis. With one attempt, Deidre turned the baby and it just flipped over. That is an awesome feeling! (for both mother and the Midwife.) Within two contractions the baby was born. PTL.

Intervention can be helpful or harmful so we must try to have discernment. Our motto is, "First Do No Harm". I praise the Lord for his direction and wisdom. Without it, it is impossible to please HIM or the mom.

Congrats DG. We love you and consider it a blessing to serve God and his precious people during Childbirth. Another child brought into this sinful world to make a change for Christ. That my dear friends is why we do what we do.