I met Leah and her husband early in her first pregnancy when they decided it was best for them to pursue a home birth. Leah’s pregnancy progressed well but we discovered at her 20 week ultrasound that her placenta was lying very close to her cervix and in order to have a safe home birth, we needed it to move. We followed up at 28 weeks to find it was still too close so we waited another 6 weeks and at 34 weeks, her placenta was still too close to her cervix though it was SO close to being far enough away. We decided to do an MFM consult in another month at 38 weeks but Leah wondered if she would go in labor early like her mother did. MFM was not terribly concerned with her placental location and felt it would move no problem before she delivered. We all agreed to keep an eye on her bleeding in labor and if there was any concern, we would transfer.
Shockingly, at 38 weeks and 4 days, I saw Leah in my office and she let me know she thought her water broke in the middle of the night but she wasn’t sure and wanted me to check. Sure enough, her water was broken and nice and clear! I sent Leah home with directions on what to do and when to call me and waited patiently for labor to start. Around 2:30am, I received a call from Taylor, Leah’s husband letting me know Leah had been contracting since 10pm and they were finally getting closer and longer and they wondered if it was time for me to come. I told them to give it another 2 hours and then call me back. Two hours later at 4:30pm, I received a call from Taylor again, he felt Leah was in transition so I decided to come. I checked on her and baby and we decided to check her cervix because she was feeling a lot of pressure. We found she was still 3cm so I decided to go home and get some rest since just a few hours before, I had been with Hannah! At 9:30am, Taylor called to let me know Leah had had some bloody show and wanted me to come check on her. I arrived shortly after and found her laboring beautifully, there was a definite difference in her labor this time! We decided to do another check and in just 3 hours, Leah had progressed to 8cm! No wonder she was having bloody show, she progressed 5 cm’s SO fast! We got in the pool and Leah began to feel the urge to push very quickly after that. From 10:06am, Leah pushed with all her might and about 45 minutes, we decided to get out of the pool while she pushed so we could watch her to make sure she wasn’t bleeding. She pushed so well as baby slowly began to crown over the 11 o’clock hour. She changed positions frequently and at 11:43am, she finally got to meet her sweet boy! Baby Philip was born at 11:43am weighing in at 6#12oz and not a single abnormal bleeding episode! We were grateful she was done, and pleasantly surprised at her relatively fast labor for a first time mama! Welcome to the world sweet Philip, thank you for allowing me to be present for your amazing birth!