I met Michelle early in her pregnancy when she decided that home birth was going to be the best option for her. After her first pregnancy and labor resulted in an induction at 38 weeks for her baby being “too big.” Of course Michelle rocked her labor and managed to push out her “too big” baby in 10 minutes! She did amazing! Now it’s been 10 years and Michelle is expecting her next baby and decided a low intervention home birth was where her heart belonged! Michelle’s pregnancy progressed beautifully and once she passed 38 weeks, she was grateful baby was getting all the healthy growing she needed! As each week passed, Michelle grew more and more anxious to meet her baby girl! 41 weeks rolled around and Michelle decided she wanted to have her membranes stripped. This process is not used very often but if it works, labor should begin within 24-48 hrs after it is done. By Wednesday afternoon, Michelle had still not started labor and wanted to try another stripping. I did so for her and was pleased to find that her cervix had changed some which was a good sign, labor would hopefully start soon! By Friday AM, I had not heard anything from Michelle and she was exactly 42 weeks! I was excited that we were narrowing down even more the day baby would make her arrival! Michelle decided to come in for another stripping Friday morning but by the time she drove from Pueblo to my office for a late morning appointment, she seemed to be in early labor and was VERY uncomfortable. I checked her again and found her to be more effaced which was a good sign but the exam was extremely uncomfortable for Michelle so I decided not to strip her and sent her home with hopes that her labor would kick over stronger.
I received a call from Michelle’s husband Colin a few hours after I came home from the office and he told me she was laboring about every 3-4 minutes with contractions lasting about a minute things seemed to be progressing. Due to the fact that Michelle lived in Pueblo, I decided it would be best if I left and headed towards her home. An hour later, I arrived to find Michelle very uncomfortable and moving along nicely! We got her pool set up and gave her the support she needed while she labored. Eventually, Michelle was able to get in the pool and was relieved to find the intensity of her labor decrease. We let her labor calmly in the pool for a couple of hours before she reported the urge to push! I encouraged her to listen to her body but Michelle was reporting pain with pushing and when I checked her, I found an anterior lip. I encouraged Michelle to kneel in the pool and lean forward to help get rid of her anterior lip but she hated this position as it made her uncomfortable! We both worked together through the discomfort for a few contractions and Michelle’s water finally broke! With the next contraction, the urge to push was VERY intense and Michelle gave it her all! Baby’s head delivered, dark hair and all, and with the next push her body slowly emerged! Michelle pushed her baby out in a matter of minutes! Michelle looked at me holding her baby in her arms and explained, “Tiffany, I did it!!” what a joy to hear, she did do it and so well!! Baby Zaija was born at 7:10pm weighing in at a healthy 9#14oz! Michelle pushed out her sweet baby in under 5 minutes! Thank you for allowing me to help you welcome your sweet girl into the world!
