MUSIC BIRTH STORIES: 44 Hours

My latest client started texting me Sunday morning saying she was having low back pain, and what felt like menstrual cramps. We kept in touch throughout the day, and I made sure to get a Sunday nap because I assumed we would be up all night! She went to the hospital at 7:00 pm, but was sent home with a sleeping pill because she was only dilated 1 cm. At 3:30 am her husband called saying they had been admitted to the hospital at 4 cm/80% effaced.

I arrived at 4:3o am and mom was still struggling with back pain. So we did lots of position changes and I provided back massage during contractions. At 6:15 an ultrasound confirmed that baby was posterior, so we continued working to get baby to rotate by moving often and utilizing hands and knees positioning. At 6:40 her husband turned to me and said "I'm so glad you are here!". :)

At 7:50 mom spent some time in the tub, but her contractions were so spaced out she decided to get out and move around more. She arrived at the hospital with contractions coming every 4-5 minutes, but now they were every 6-9 minutes. The nurse mentioned breaking the water or starting some pitocin, but my client wanted to keep working with her naturally progressing labor. We also discussed the possibility of going home for a while if the cervix wasn't changing.

At 10:20 mom endured 3 cervical exams before the nurse with the longest fingers confirmed that mom was now at 6 cm. To be honest, I was pretty surprised! I didn't think we would be making progress with so few contractions. So the option to go home was gone, but we still needed to speed up contractions.

Mom was motivated and energized. She walked up and down several flights of stairs, stopping to lunge during her contractions. Things started to pick up and mom said it was "a good pain".

The entire day mom was all smiles. She had originally planned on getting an epidural, but found that she could easily cope with her contractions, and that she preferred being able to move and work with her labor.

At 2:30 pm her OB stopped by to check on things. Mom was now 7 cm and 90% effaced. She offered to break mom's water, but mom wanted to let things progress the way they were. At 3:30 mom decided to get in bed and rest in between contractions, and they spaced out to 10 minutes apart!

Mom got out of bed at 4:15 pm and contractions picked up again. Her own mother attended the labor and offered lots of physical and emotional support throughout.

We hit the hallway again to keep things moving and stopped in the family waiting room to talk to all the expectant grandparents. Both sets of grandparents came from India for the birth. I loved learning more about their culture and awesome family values. I met them all about a week ago and answered many questions about birth in America and the support I would be giving their daughter. It was such a fun night!

At 5:30 pm mom was now 8 cm, but progress was coming slowly and night was quickly approaching. We were starting to worry about mom being able to maintain her energy throughout the night, so the decision was made to break the water, which would hopefully speed things up. Losing the water put extra pressure on the baby and we worked with the nurse to find positions that worked well for both mom and baby.

At 8:30 pm mom was still 8 cm. Contractions were getting more painful and closer together, but it was clear that the birth was still hours away. Mom opted for an epidural and a well deserved nap. After sleeping for a few hours, mom was at 9 cm, so some pitocin was started to help mom get through the final dilation. But baby didn't like the pitocin, so it wasn't on for long.

At 3:30 mom was finally dilated to 10 cm and it was time to push. I assumed that pushing would take several hours because everything had progressed slowly throughout the entire labor, and because she was a first time mom. But I was wrong!