I met Jordan early in her pregnancy when she found out I took Tricare. I was so excited to be a part of her pregnancy and home birth journey and to serve her military family, it was an enormous honor! Watching all of my mama’s grow and change over the course of their pregnancy truly brings joy to my heart and tears to my eyes and Jordan was no exception! Jordan’s family had a busy summer and went through a few challenges with family loss through their pregnancy and I was blessed to be there to encourage them when I could, I loved talking with her and her husband about their life and getting to know them better each visit!
The one thing I always found interesting when talking about what to expect with Jordan’s labor, she informed me that in her first pregnancy, she went into labor at 39 weeks and had a VERY fast labor of about 6 hrs! This is not very common as many first time moms will carry their pregnancy through their due date and often have longer labors. I was excited to see exactly how Jordan’s labor played out for her second baby! I had noticed heading into the November month that I had been spoiled rotten with all of my afternoon and evening babies and was curious too see what November brought me! My hopes of continued day time deliveries seemed to be foiled when Jordan called at 11:15pm to inform me that her water broke at 11pm! I asked if she was having contractions, what color the fluid was, and if baby was moving well and everything seemed normal but she wasn’t having any noticeable contractions. I encouraged her to rest, as I figured she would have a fairly quick labor once the contractions hit, gave her some pointers on when to call me and went back to sleep. At 3:04am, I received another call from Jordan informed me her contractions were about 10 mins apart but mild and that she was having her doula come over. I encouraged her not to wear herself out too much and get as much rest as she could and then explained when to call me again. At 7am, I woke up to a full clinic day and no call from Jordan, I couldn’t believe it! I decided to check on her to make sure everything was still going well and make absolutely sure her water was broken (I believed her, I just wanted to make sure we weren’t forcing out a 39 week baby whose water really was intact)! As soon as she laid down for the sterile exam, water came gushing out and there was no denying her water was broken! We joked a little and I felt like she was 5cm and knew once labor hit, she would go fast! I gave her some instructions on ways to increase labor throughout the day and left her with a labor enhancer tincture. I headed to the office for the day but Jordan was on my mind the whole time!
At 2pm, Jordan texted me to let me know her contractions were about 10 mins apart but mild and that she had been walking around the block doing lunges and squats with her doula to help labor increase. I finished my office day at 3pm and ran up north for an errand. I almost texted Jordan at 3pm to see how she was doing but didn’t want her to feel like I was being pushy (I wish I had listened to that gut feeling because I was on a path that would have been much faster to get to her house when they did call to tell me to come!). At 3:07 pm, I received a text from Jordan (not her I’m sure) telling me she was having rectal pressure and I needed to come NOW! I quickly turned onto Union and started racing towards Peterson Air Force Base. I called both of my assistants on the way there and told them they’d likely miss the birth (myself included) but to head on over just in case! At one point, I remember looking down at my speedometer and seeing 90 and praying that I wouldn’t get pulled over! Throughout the next 13 mins (which was record time to their house, it usually takes me 20 mins), I kept receiving texts giving me updates on her progress, “the urge is getting stronger,” “we can see the top of the head occasionally,” “dad is prepared to catch if he has to” and all the while I’m praying I don’t miss the delivery because well, that’s my favorite part!! I finally get through the gate on Peterson (which was torture sitting in line for that) and slowly sped through base to get to their home (slowly speeding, as in going 40 in a 30 knowing they would likely not care if I was on my way to catch a baby! Gotta be careful on post or base!). I bounced into their driveway and put my car in park before it stopped, which nearly put my head through the windshield! I grabbed my bag and raced up their huge flight of stairs, over two baby gates (because those things are of the Devil and I can never figure out how to open them! ;)) and burst into the room with sweat pouring down my face and a racing, excited heart, I MADE IT!!!! I’m pretty sure in my rush I heard one of my assistants pull up behind me but I couldn’t react, had to get upstairs! I threw on a pair of gloves and jumped right into encouraging/coaching mode. Jordan was doing AMAZING at controlling her urge to push and I let her know she could let go when she was ready! A few contractions and pushing later, a good dousing on me from her waters and strong pushing efforts by mama, baby was in my hands and passed to mama’s belly, she did it! And only 17 minutes after I arrived at 3:37pm! PHEW!! Come to find out, her contractions didn’t get intense and close together until 2:50pm which is right around the time I had the urge to check in (maybe I’m starting to get the midwife intuition??), so from start to finish, her active labor was 47 minutes!
Needless to say, there was a lot of laughter and joking about who was going to catch the baby and how the doula had never had a catch before and how dad really didn’t want to catch if he didn’t have to! What fun! I’m pretty sure I looked like a crazed maniac coming into the room that day but I didn’t care, somehow, I had made it and mom was SO strong holding baby back! I got my adrenaline rush that day, now I’m good for awhile 😉 Baby came in weighing a beautiful 8#5oz with a head full of sweet blonde hair just like mommy and exactly at 39 weeks and 0 days (way to guess mom)! What a prize it is to be a part of these beautiful experiences!
Photography courtesy of Monet Nicole: http://www.monetnicole.com/
