Nurse's Negativity Slows Labor

Liana Marie was born at 5:15 a.m., November 18--one day before my due date. She was 7 lbs. 8 oz., 21.5 inches.
I was very fortunate to have an easy pregnancy, but toward the end I was ready to be done. I had major nesting going on at home and at work. Every night I left work I would post sticky notes on everything just in case I wouldn't be in the next day. I was having mild contractions on and off for two weeks, the baby was at 0 station, and I was 2 cm dilated for 2 weeks.
My water broke at 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, Nov. 17th right when my alarm went off for work. It wasn't a huge gush, so I wasn't positive, but I had been having mild contractions all night long and I felt really crampy all night. So I woke my husband up and told him I didn't think we were going to work that day!
We went back to sleep for a bit, then I got some last minute things done around the house and ran some errands (I went to three different Wal-Marts looking for a glider, because I hadn't bought one yet.) I was having pretty mild contractions that were about 7 minutes apart. Throughout the day they got closer together, but weren't really strong.
I wanted to labor at home as long as possible, but I tested positive for Group B strep, so I knew I had to get antibiotics once I went to the hospital. I called West Allis Hospital at 2 in the afternoon and told them I thought my water broke and they told me to come in right away. I wanted a natural, drug-free labor, so I waited a bit longer and went in at 4. My contractions were still about 5 minutes apart. When I got there they checked me and sure enough my water had broken so they admitted me.
The first nurse I has was very abrasive. I told her I wanted a natural birth and gave her my birth plan and she basically laughed in my face and told me I wouldn't be able to handle it. She made me really tense and I think that actually slowed down my labor. I was starting to regret having a hospital birth. My contractions slowed to about 7 minutes apart for about three hours. they wanted to give me Pitocin pretty early on, but my doula, Addie Wescott, convinced them to give us another hour of walking to try to speed things up naturally. I was hooked up to an IV for the Group B strep, and since my water broke I had to be constantly monitored., They did attach portable monitors, but it still felt somewhat limiting.
My husband, Addie, and I did a lot of walking to try to get things to progress. I also tried some different laboring positions, but the only thing that felt comfortable for me was to rock back and forth standing. Sitting in any form was way too uncomfortable for me--I couldn't even sit on the birthing ball. Luckily shifts changed and I got a new nurse, Gretta, who was awesome!! She was so nice and wanted to do everything she could to give me the birth experience I wanted. They did end up giving me Pitocin, because things just weren't progressing. My doula, Addie, was wonderful and asked them to give me the smallest possible dose. Luckily I didn't need much to get things moving, and they turned it off a few hours later.
Finally at 2:00 a.m. I was fully dilated. I never really had a strong urge to push though. I kind of felt like my body was pushing without me really trying or feeling the urge I ended up pushing for three hours though. It was exhausting! They also gave me some Oxygen because I was so exhausted, and out of breath. There were a few points where I was getting worried and the doctors were too because it was approaching 24 hours that my water had been broken. I don't know what was holding her up, but I was pushing with all my might! I was so tired that I was falling asleep between contractions even when I was standing up. I had also been awake for almost 24 hours by that point too. I kept waiting for the doctor to say they were going to have to do a C-section too. I could hear the doctor and nurse whispering, and they kept saying that I had to get the baby out. I also feared forceps or the vacuum!
When it came time to push again I was so worried about interventions that I pushed with all my might, and instead of her head coming out, then waiting for the baby to turn, she just kind of shot out in the last push. I ended up with a 4th degree tear since she didn't have time to turn. I didn't really feel it when I tore, but the stitches hurt worse than anything!! I didn't have an epidural or anything, so they did numb the area a little when they stitched me up, but I could still feel. it. HI held Liana for a few brief moments, but she was grunting, so they whisked her off to the NICU to monitor her breathing. Luckily she only had to be monitored for a few hours, and they brought her up to our room around 6 p.m. that night.
I couldn't have had a natural birth without my wonderful husband, Carlos, my amazing doula, Addie, and my knowledge from Coral's Bradley Method classes. I really turned inward to get through my contractions, and visualized myself opening up like a flower. I also remembered a quote from one of the books I read, (Active Birth: The New Approach to Giving Birth Naturally), "If I don't float I'll sink." I kept saying that to myself over and over! I imagined the contractions as though they were waves and I was floating over them. I would definitely go the natural route again. Maybe next time it will be at the Birthing Center!
Serene & Carlos, Milwaukee

Decision to Use the Birth Center

The idea of an out-of-hospital birth was one that I hadn't considered until I was a few weeks into my pregnancy. I had never considered it because everyone I knew had their babies in the hospital. I had no idea another world even existed. No one every talked to me about different options until a mentor of mine recommended the Well-Rounded Maternity Center. she shared her story with me about her experience giving birth in the hospital vs. the birthing center. I realized then that I had the power to choose my birth experience. I began to read (a lot!) and research midwifery and natural childbirth. The more I learned about out-of-hospital births, the more at ease I felt about my choice.

What I wanted was a peaceful, loving and private experience. The hospital environment simply could not offer any of those to us. My husband was supportive of my vision and after his own research and Q&A he was behind the birth center 100%. Coral was wonderful about answering our questions and addressing our concerns. She even gave us recommendations on midwives. We also attended the birthing classes offered by the center.. We credit our preparedness and wonderful experience to the thoroughness of our midwife, Coral and her classes. By the time our big day come we were confident, excited and ready!

The one word I would use to describe our birthing experience is... perfect. We felt at-home in the warm space set-up for us at the center. As a family and as a team Samuel Roland was brought into this world with no strangers, no bright lights, no loud machinery and most importantly, no invasive procedures. My husband and I worked together in the birthing tub just as we had planned. Because of these elements our son had as gentle a journey as possible. I would, without a doubt, highly recommend the center to any and everyone expecting a new baby. We cannot wait to visit the center again when the time comes for us to expand our family!

Scott, Alexandria and Samuel Mente, Waukesha, WI

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

Rushed Pushing Leads to 4th Degree, UGH!

Ava Winter Duffey was born at 12:44 am on January 20. I was actually due on January 8th, so this was a long-anticipated day. I should mention that being so overdue was really getting to me--I was pretty uncomfortable and ready to try anything to get labor started. We spent a day buying a breast pump for nipple stimulation, castor oil, a visit to the chiropractor, and I drank several cups of double-does red raspberry leaf tea. I never used the pump or castor oil though. I had contractions starting at about 2 am, but by 10 am they had stopped and I thought it was a false alarm. Tom went to work for a few hours, and we even did an interview with a census worker in our home, which was annoying but they had been pestering us and he happened to stop by when we were both home so we just thought we should get it over with. As soon as he left, my contractions started back up, at around 2 in the afternoon.

We had hired a doula--LaNette McQuitty. We called her to let he know things were getting started. We were going to have a hospital birth, but wanted to labor at home as long as possible. We had a birthing tub set up in our bedroom, and after a few hours of contractions, tom started getting it filled. The contractions were much more intense than I had anticipated, and I have to admit that I started wishing for drugs fairly early in the process.

LaNette came to our home at around 7 pm, and I spent the next 2 hours in the tub. Our bedroom has a skylight, and the tub was beneath it, so I could see the bright full moon and that may have been the only period during the 11 hours when I opened my eyes.

At 9 pm, I felt it was time to head to the hospital. I really wished that we could just deliver at home, but St. Mary's is only a few blocks away so the transport wasn't that bad. We arrived at the hospital and since it was after hours, we had to enter through an entrance that was simply staffed with two security guards at a small desk. This was pretty comical because I was in full transition, howling like an animal, and these two big dudes were scrambling with worry over how to help me. One said to the other "What, is this your first baby?"

I opted to walk to the delivery room, eyes closed, guided by Tom, stopping every few feet for a contraction. Once in the room, things seemed to come together quickly. A nurse did an exam, which broke my water and revealed meconium. This wasn't a huge concern--after all, my baby was almost two weeks overdue so she was able to poop! Our doula reassured us that it wasn't enough to be worried over and if we were having a home birth, they wouldn't do anything differently. But since we were in the hospital, the nurses kept me on a monitor for the duration of the labor.

I found it really difficult to change positions or to move around much anyway, and I even did some pushing on my back. I honestly did not feel that any position was more comfortable than another, but squatting seemed to give the baby a better angle to move out.

I pushed for over three hours. Our doctor came in for the last hour, and once we hit the three hour mark, he said I was reaching a point of danger for the baby and I needed to get her out. This is something that can be debated00I was rushed through the end of the delivery and there are some things that happened that were disappointing, mainly that because there was a sudden urgency, the baby was not allowed to turn her body and shoulders after her head was out. Things were rushed, and unfortunately I had 4th degree tearing as a result. I don't want to frighten any of you--this level of trauma is very rare and chances are that none of you will experience this!!! The good news is that after 12 days of healing I am feeling much better and have been told that I will heal well and shouldn't have complications in the future. The bad news is that this could have been avoided if I had a little more time to let Ava turn herself naturally.

Ava came out all at once, eyes open and looking right at daddy. Tom was there to catch her, but she came out so fast at that moment that she kind of landed on the bed. Since we were completely drug-free, she was super alert right away.

Overall, I had a great labor and delivery, and the staff at St. Mary's was wonderful to us. LaNette was an excellent doula and is actually a midwife so she was amazing to have as support--so much experience and knowledge made me really comfortable with how things were going at every stage.

Amy & Tom, Milwaukee

Amazing 10 lbs, 6 oz Vaginal Delivery!

On Monday the 17th, I had extreme nesting; running around the house, cutting tags off of every single baby washcloth and pair of socks, organizing baby toys, leaving a trail of unfinished tasks throughout the house. After finishing everything, I realized that I'd have "nothing to do the next day" so I called up my family and asked if I could come visit to keep my mind busy and distracted from the wait. Starting that evening, I began having contractions, but I had been having regular contractions on and off for a week. However, those contractions usually only continued for 5-6 hours and then stopped. These kept coming, though very irregular.
On Tuesday the 18th, I went in for a 9 am check up with my doctor. Though I had been 80-90% effaced since Christmas, it has been very hard to check for dilation since baby's head was so far down ( a good "problem") :) However, last Tuesday, my doctor announced that I was 3-4 cm. She suggested I go home and take a nap, so i called my family and said that I wouldn't be coming to visit them after all. I caught a short nap and then around 11 am felt my first strong contraction. From 11-2ish, I fiddled around on Facebook and email, timing my contractions on contractionmaster.com. John I kept testing regarding my progress since he was at work.
By 3ish, I started kneeling against furniture and rocking during contractions. John got off of work and we made it to West Allis Hospital around 5ish. From 5ish-7 am, I slowly progressed from 3.5-6 cm. Because I was so tired going into labor, I started getting scared that I would not be able to handle transition and pushing. Reluctantly, I chose to sit, most of the time, either upright or semi-reclined so that I could sleep between my contractions instead of trying all the positions that I had planned. I had John hold my hand while I took deep breaths and gave low moans to cope with my contractions. John would stop me if my moans started getting higher in pitch and remind to go low and open.
The choice to sleep turned out for the best. By 7:30 a.m., my doctor was on call and broke my water. The nurse, Dawn, was fantastic and encouraged me to go through transition in a side lying position. It was painful but helped the progress. She encouraged me if I felt the urge to push to only do so gently and not bear down fully.
When I was fully dilated at 10 am, she had me stand and hold on to John and we pushed through several contractions. Then they had me back in the bed in a couple different positions. After 1 hour 45 minutes of pushing, out came baby! John got to announce it was a boy! Robert! We waited to cut and clamp the cord. Robert had kept one hand by his head when coming out which caused a little tearing. When it came time to weigh him, the nurses were all saying "I bet he'll be about 9 lbs." They put him on the scale and all stood gasping! I said, "What is it?" "10 lbs, 6 oz."!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My doctor said that because of his size and his hand being by his head, I had just delivered the equivalent of an 11 pounder!
Overall, it was a very wonderful experience! The nurses never offered meds and took every part of our birth plan seriously! They kept saying that I was very focused (thank you, Coral!!!) I know the knowledge and the mental preparation from the class, as well as the wonderful pelvic rocks for positioning, helped this natural birth become a reality!
Julia, John and Robert Anthony, West Allis