The Most Rewarding Thing Ever

We wanted to share our good news! Eva Mary was born Saturday, march 5th at 3:31 a.m. She weighed 6 pounds 1 ounce and was 20 inches long. We had an amazing natural delivery with Dr. Siddiqui at Sinai and want to thank you for all your help! We couldn't have done it without you. I began contracting that Thursday evening at home. They were every 5 minutes until Friday evening when they picked up to every 3 minutes. I was 4 cm when we got admitted at 9 pm Friday night and I labored down until 2:30 am when I began pushing. I pushed for an hour. She was extremely alert at birth, definitely an unmedicated baby! It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but by far one of the most rewarding. I wouldn't change anything, it was a great delivery. Thank you again for being such an important part of our pregnancy and delivery! We truly appreciate everything you did to help us accomplish our goal of a natural delivery. Matt and Danielle, Milwaukee

Fatigue Makes Natural Birth Difficult

I was four days late and my doctor was pushing induction because she was going to be heading out of town at the end of the week following our due date. We pushed back on the and said that we were willing to wait it out. Since I wasn't dilating at all, the doctor said I probably would be better off getting induced since the baby "was ready." Sure enough as God had planned, I went for a pedicure the night I was supposed to be induced and when I got home I went to the restroom and then whoosh--my water broke.
Knowing what I learned from Bradley--I took my time, had a nice long shower, relaxed a bit and waited for Ben to get home from work. Since my parents had made the trip out from CA it was nice having them there when the excitement happened. After about four hours, we took off to the hospital.
I wasn't feeling my contractions even though I was having them so finally after being checked into the hospital, the nurses said that my doctor was concerned that since I wasn't feeling my contractions that I should get some Pitocin to get things going. I begrudgingly did and about an hour after the Pitocin started I finally felt the contractions. The contractions were much worse than I imagined. I thought I would have been able to sit on a ball, lay in bed, shower or do some of those types of therapies but the only way I could labor comfortably was to walk around and when the contraction same I would have to lean forward on the bed and rock back and forth all the while doing my focused breathing. One thing I realized that I didn't plan for was, What to do if all of my ideas of what to do while laboring" didn't work. So I was a bit caught off guard by that and since I was up the day before my labor started at 5 am.m and worked all day long trying to tie up my corporate responsibilities before our little bundle arrived, i was pooped!
To make a long story short, after four hours of contractions one minute apart, and pacing in my room for 4.5 hours (from 10 p.m. to 3:30 a.m.), I finally got an Epidural. I was becoming extremely nauseous and exhausted. Since I was determined to have a vaginal birth, I thought at that point (in the wee hours of the morning) that even if I could tolerate the vomiting, I would be too tired to deliver and push our baby out.
The Epidural did help--I was able to rest in bed and that helped a ton. Shortly after I became fully relaxed. I started feeling lots of rectal pressure--I told the nurse but she kind of brushed me off so we then demanded that I be re-checked, since the last time I was checked was only 45 minutes prior to when the pressure started and I was only 5 cm dilated then. Sure enough, within 45 minutes (5 a.m. to 5:45 a.m.) I went from 5 cm to fully dilated. They called my doctor then and I started pushing at 6-6:30 a.m. Our special blessing, Payne Richard Stark was born at 8:05 a.m. He was 7 lbs. and 5 oz. and 20 inches long. We insisted on skin on skin following his birth and that was amazing. Payne latched on about five minutes after coming out of me as well and the three of us shared the first 20 minutes of Payne's life together and absolutely loved it. Ben was able to cut Payne's cord which was a great experience for him.
Payne is very healthy and has been the best addition to our family. Thank you so much for all of your coaching and teaching. You really helped Ben and I with our plan and we feel that Bradley, although things didn't go as planned, still helped us enjoy and prepare for our experience as best we could.
Anna & Ben, Milwaukee

Hospital Not First Choice

My water broke early in the morning. Contractions followed shortly thereafter. I was four weeks early and did not have my group B Strep screening yet. Our midwife and physician thought it best to birth at the hospital. We were so excited and confident in our decision to birth at home, but circumstances we could not control changed that.

Birthing at the hospital was the farthest thing from our minds. Sure we read about all the scenarios, but we were planning for a certain outcome. I did not feel fully unprepared. We feel like we got the closest thing to natural in the hospital as we could have. Oscar was delivered without the use of induction, Pitocin, or any pain medications. Ben was still able to catch him and cut the cord. I held him immediately. His breathing issue was noticed shortly after and he was taken to the incubator for inspection. The neonatal doctor decided they should take him to NICU, but I was able to hold him again before they left.

Your class was a joy to attend. Ben did an amazing job of helping me during labor. He really listened and helped guide me and reassure me all the time. Lots of touches and kisses and kind words. He was quick to remind me to loosen my shoulders to slow down my breathing. And I can honestly say that labor was not-that-bad! I focused and powered through my contractions almost silently, thinking only about my breathing and visualizing the baby moving through me. Screaming, swearing and even moaning seemed counter--productive to me. I felt like it went pretty quickly, considering that my water broke at 6 a.m. on Sunday and Oscar was born at 5 am.m. on Monday without induction or Pitocin. True labor didn't begin until mid-evening on Sunday and I dilated quickly by giving into each contraction and working with it rather than against the pain.

Yes, I was very disappointed that our birth plan had to be modified. I am still grieving the loss of the experience for myself and for Oscar. All the choices I made in the last nine months were to give him the best possible birth and unfortunately these circumstances were out of my control. We always wanted what was best for him, so though I am sad that things didn't go as planned, I am happy that he is safe and healthy.

Jessica & Ben, Milwaukee