I met Sarah at the beginning of her pregnancy. Sarah was actually my first mom to complete an entire pregnancy, birth and postpartum with me since I opened my practice and I felt honored to be a part of their story and excited to see how her pregnancy and labor went! Sarah had already had 2 home births before so for her, home birth was the easy answer!
Sarah had an amazing pregnancy and it was always a joy to see her and her little’s in my office for these last 9 months! I loved being able to feel her belly and watch her baby move as she had a posterior placenta and it made her uterus come alive! It was so easy to see every movement and feel every part of little one’s body, it was so much fun! These last couple weeks leading up to Sarah’s birth, she would mention how her contractions were changing and becoming more intense and there were times where she felt like she might have to call me and then, her uterus would quiet down. I always encourage my clients to call this “prelabor” instead of “false labor” as false implies that something is wrong and instead, everything is right, as the pregnant women’s body prepares for labor and begins to efface and dilate the cervix! You wouldn’t jump right in and run a marathon without first “preparing” for it, and so, the uterus also prepares itself for the big workout ahead!
Around 9:30am, I get a text from Sarah telling me that she is in early labor and baby is coming today! I encourage her to keep me posted and call me when her labor changes and she is ready for me to come. Though this is Sarah’s third baby, she has a history of having longer early labor with a VERY fast active labor and pushing phase so I keep a close watch on my phone while going about my day. At 2pm, Sarah texts me that her contractions are still 10 mins apart but getting stronger. I encourage her to labor a while longer but to call her doula in if she had not done so already. It was important she had support as she had already been at this since 3:30am and was exhausted! I decide to take a nap, not truly knowing when labor would change and I would be called in. I was able to sleep briefly before my to-do list took over my mind and I needed to get moving. I completed two of my errands and while I was starting my third, I received a call from Sarah’s husband that she was feeling the urge to push and ready for me to come! Fortunately, I was literally across the street from their home and after receiving the call at 4:30pm, I arrived at 4:40pm! Sarah asked me to check her when I arrived and after several contractions and listening to baby, she was finally able to get comfortable to check. I found her to be 8-9cm! She was so calm and doing so incredibly well and I could tell with each contraction she was resisting pushing. Fortunately, her husband had started filling the pool and by the time I arrived, it was halfway done. I quickly prepped her home and my space for delivery and helped mom get into the pool. I then called in the closest assistant I could and 1 minute before birth of the head, she walked in! As soon as Sarah got in the water, she relaxed and with that came intense pressure and the urge to push. I assured her she could work with her body and push when she felt ready. Dad leaned over the pool arms open wide ready to “catch” his son as I supported both he and mom. Slowly and beautifully, Sarah delivered her sweet son into his daddy’s arms!! Sweet baby Simeon was born on 10/10/15 at 5:36pm weighing in at 8#5oz! It was such a pleasure to be a part of this beautiful home birth and to make things even more exciting; I was still able to make it to the Air Force game that night, sitting down in my seat right as the pregame ceremonies began. It’s fun when we all get what we want!
