I was blessed this week. I was privileged to be included in the birth team at Spartanburg Regional Hospital welcoming Baby JP into the world. When I received THE phone call Monday afternoon, I knew that it was pretty much a “given” that this baby would arrive via a cesarean section. Mom had been diagnosed with preeclampsia and her doctor had sent her to the hospital for an induction.
Mom and Dad had taken my childbirth class, Instinctive Birthing, and had planned and prepared for a normal birth. Their birth plan had been written and edited. Their plan was based on all the things they wanted to do to have an intervention free birth.
When Mom and Dad checked in at the hospital pitocin was started and membranes were ruptured, not part of the plan. When I joined them, the blood pressure cuff was inflating and recording mom’s bp every 15 minutes and she was confined to bed. The bp readings were not good. But we got right to work on relaxing. The lights were dim, calm music was playing in the background, part of the plan, and Mom was clinging to the desire to have a vaginal birth even though it would no longer be intervention free.
Mom focused on relaxing her entire body and used slow abdominal breathing for three minutes before every bp reading and she was able to get those readings down to levels that were acceptable to the doctor. Dad was lovingly supportive and did whatever was needed. Together they did a fantastic job. Mom got through hours of pitocin contractions that were not giving her any rest. Her determination and concentration were amazing. When she was finally so exhausted that she couldn’t focus, she chose to go ahead and have an epidural. Since she had labor as long as she had, the epidural did not slow down her labor. After getting a little bit of rest she was ready to finish the marathon and birth her baby vaginally. She labored–did ALOT of hard work and her hard work prevented the “inevitable.” Congrats to B & J for overcoming many obstacles. You did a fantastic job!! Thanks for allowing me to be your doula.