From Laura, my doula's perspective

When I arrived at the hospital and went into Julie and Chris’s room, I was so happy to see she had found a fabulous dress to labor in. She looked chic, and beautiful, and, well, like HERSELF rather than like a hospital patient or someone who was sick with something. She was radiant and glowing, and I loved finding that she was already receiving a lot of great support from her mom and husband. As I observed her first contraction, I saw that she was handling them very well, and I could tell that she was already at the point where they would be picking up substantially from here on out. But they moved even faster than I expected them to. She was handling these larger contractions with such ease that the nurse didn’t realize how far along she was in the process. Or, at least, it didn’t seem like the nurse was aware. The nurse kept asking Julie “admittance”questions in the middle of her contractions. I was so happy to see that Julie just ignored her questions and focused on her breathing while Chris and Ricki answered the questions on her behalf. Julie’s breathing got stronger and heavier as labor progressed and I could tell that things were picking up FAST. Julie wasn’t comfortable in the bed and asked a few different times to be moved to the tub. The nurse insisted that she get at least a 20 minute reading on baby’s heart-rate first, so we did our best to keep Julie comfortable in the bed. Ricki was diligent in keeping the monitor on baby so that the reading would not be interrupted again and we would be able to get Julie into the tub sooner rather than later. She breathed through quite a few really big contractions there on the bed, and the nurse finally clued in and realized that Julie was much farther along in the laboring process than she thought. I asked Julie if she would like to be checked and she agreed. The nurse did the check and reported that Julie was at a 7 and that there was a lot of bleeding. More than what was normal. She sent the other nurse out to pull up Julie’s file to see if they had reported a low-lying placenta on the 20 week ultrasound. It felt like a very long wait while she was gone! Julie asked if that meant that she would have to have a C-section and I said something along the lines of: “They don’t know what’s going on yet. All they know is that there is some bleeding and they’re going to find out what that means.” In my head, I seriously doubted that they would have “overlooked”a low-lying placenta. Julie would have had an additional ultrasound late in her pregnancy if her placenta had been extremely low. They would have checked back to see where it had ended up and to see if it was covering the opening of the cervix. I said a prayer that nothing would stand in the way of her having the birth that she had planned so carefully for. I just kept thinking: “There is no way, after all the work she has done, that this can’t work out beautifully.” The dilation check had sent Julie into another huge series of transition contractions and she was in a VERY undesirable position {flat on her back} when they came on. Ricki and I were by her head and we both just gave her all the support we could, and then, when the contraction ended, we worked to get her into a more optimal position before the next one started. Julie was a major trooper while they finished getting the heart-rate readings, and once she got the green light, Chris and I practically had to chase her to the bathroom! She whipped her dress off and was in the tub in a matter of seconds. She took a second to decide how she wanted to sit. I could tell that she was a little scared to lay back and settle in because of how bad the contractions felt when she was on her back in bed. I told her that the water would make things feel a lot better and that it might be okay to lay back in the tub so she could relax fully. She did, and seemed to relax immediately. She had been in the water less than a minute when I noticed that there was meconium in the water. The nurse came in and I pointed it out to her. I told Julie that it was there, and then told her that we see this all the time, and that it was normal and okay. She vocalized really well and expressed surprise at how well it helped her cope. She was deeply settled into her birthing mind at this point. She seemed very lucid and aware, yet very “far-away” and deep inside her own mind at the same time. The tub helped her a lot and she really relaxed and focused on her work. She only had 4 or 5 contractions in the bathtub before she started feeling “pushy.” We had her stay in there as long as we could get away with. The nursing staff started pushing to have her get back in the bed, but with how much the water was helping her, Chris and I wanted to let her be in there as long as possible. Finally the nurse came in and said we needed to get her into the bed and get baby here. Julie was on board with that. She waited until she was sure she had a minute before the next contraction, and then hopped out of the tub and got back into the bed. She was FAST. I have never seen a mom move so fast, so late in labor! She was NOT going to get caught in a contraction standing in the middle of the floor. She got back into the bed and continued to labor there. The doctor checked for dilation and reported that she was complete. She really started to dig-in and push with each contraction. I could tell that she was feeling “out-of-control” internally, but externally she maintained strength and composure. She asked “How much longer?” at one point, and I, of course, had no direct answer for that, so I said something along the lines of “Not much!” She pushed through 5 contractions and as baby descended, she did an amazing job of coping with any burning or pelvic pressure that she felt. Julie was extremely focused. I worked with her on relaxing her facial muscles and unclenching her jaw in-between pushing contractions. She did an amazing job following my prompts and would immediately relax any area that I brought her attention to. With one big push, baby’s entire head was born and the rest of his little body immediately followed. Julie snapped immediately back into her “normal” self and was absolutely overjoyed to be holding her sweet little boy! She immediately began talking to him and loving on him and he was very alert and very quiet and calm. It was amazing!!! Julie did a great job being “Mama Bear” and made sure that all of her wishes for baby were respected. I loved watching this beautiful little family basking in the joy of that moment! Chris and Ricki were wonderful supports for Julie. Chris was calm and confident throughout and seemed to know intuitively how to be there for Julie at every turn. He was never panicky, or openly doubtful of her. He just gave her an unlimited supply of support and love. He did a great job of doing the knee press on Julie to help her cope with contractions in the bed. Ricki was awesome too! I love seeing mothers in the delivery room. There is just nothing like having your mama there! This mother and daughter were obviously very close and the spirit in the room was powerful and loving. It was a blessed and very sacred experience and I am so grateful that I was invited to be a part of it!