1st Solo

Good Morning!! I think I am just now getting caught up on sleep and coming off of my rush from last week. Thursday, I had my first solo birth. It was AMAZING! Maybe not so much for the mommy, but for me, definitely. It was challenging. Probably the MOST challenging first birth anyone could have conjured up. But would I change it? NO! Well maybe the part where the baby went into distress and had to be born by emergency c-section. But, that's only because it wasn't in the mommy's plan. But mom and baby are both doing great! The sweet little baby girl weighed 8lbs 12oz and just didn't want to come out of the nice, warm place that had been created for her. :)
On Thursday night I got called up to the hospital because my girl was hurting pretty good. So, I mad my way up there and got to her at about 7pm. for the 5 hours or so, we bounced on the ball, swayed, tried turning the baby with hands and knees, and walked. Well, eventually the baby got tired of all that and went into distress. So as this sweet woman laid in bed she contracted VERY hard for a few more hours. With each contraction, I was putting intense pressure on her hips and lower back to try and ease some of the labor she was feeling in her back. We thought surely it was almost time. She was at 1cm. She had been contracting so hard from the pitocin, but was still not dilating. Finally she asked to be taken off and given the night to try and progress naturally. She was hungry and exhausted and she couldn't take any more pain without dilating. I told her how proud I was of her for going so many hours in that much pain and not asking for meds or c-section, which were HUGE goals for her. What a champ!! So, I left to go get a few hours of sleep, and to let her get some as well and told her to call me when things started moving. I never heard. I started to worry and at about 12:30 called to make sure everything was ok. No answer and more worry. Finally at about 2 I got the call that they had to be rushed in for an emergency c-section. My heart sunk, as I knew it wasn't what she wanted, and as I realized I wasn't there for it! I made my way up to the hospital to see them and that really made everything so much better. Once I saw that sweet baby girl and knew she was healthy, I knew that everything that had happened had to happen and all that mattered was that they were healthy. Again, she was so amazing to endure about 24 of back labor and not ask for anything to make the pain go away. I got some amazing experience with comfort measures and relating to hospital staff, so all in all I would say that everything turned out pretty great! Looking forward to my next one!!
Be fruitful and multiply,
Doula Tiffany