Positive Birth Story
We have the honor of sharing the birth story of one of our clients. We hope that this story shows you how amazing and empowering a hospital birth can be if you have the knowledge and the right support team.
This client found out that she was going to need to be induced due to consistently high blood pressure. After discussing the induction process with their provider, they made the decision to schedule the induction.
With their doula, Ashley, they talked through what a NST* is. They further walked through the process of induction in detail and Ashley answered any questions that they had. After their appointment with Ashley, the client said that she was feeling really good about it and felt prepared for her induction.
On the day of her induction, the doctor explained that he was first going to start with placing a foley bulb into her cervix. This helps the cervix to manually dilate to about 3-5 centimeters. Before placing the bulb, the client sat down and her water broke! The provider examined her cervix and found that her body was ready to go into labor on its own with no induction needed.
About 2 hours after her water broke, she began having contractions. Ashley helped support her client by suggesting that she eat and move around the room. Her contractions became more frequent and closer together.
Around 4pm her contractions were really close together and she was starting to feel tired and wanted to rest. Her provider checked her cervix and found that she was 6cm dilated and making really great progress. The client decided that she wanted the epidural so she could sleep and get some much needed rest.
Ashley suggested epidural friendly movement changes every 30-45 minutes to her client. Around 9pm that night she was 10cm dilated and ready to begin pushing. She had amazing and strong pushes and pushed for about 2 hours before she was tired and wanted some help.
Her provided suggested that he could assist by using a vacuum to help deliver the baby. The client wanted to think about this more before making her decision. Ashley was able to answer all of her questions with evidence based knowledge clearly explaining the benefits and the risks. After speaking with Ashley, she felt empowered and educated to make her decision to go forward with the vacuum.
The doctor placed the vacuum and after 3 pushes, out came a very big baby! Baby was placed on her chest immediately and both mom and baby were doing well. During this time, her provider repaired the tears that she had.
During her recovery time, Ashley was able to help her client by getting her some food and water and helping dad to bond with their new baby. When Ashley left, mom was resting and dad was feeding baby a bottle.
Before Ashley left, she answered any questions that they had and helped them process some unexpected moments.
* NST stands for Non Stress Test. This is done sometimes during pregnancy to check on the health of the baby to make sure that when stimulated the baby responds well and is getting enough oxygen.
