Andrea and Matt welcomed their seventh child on October 25, 2022! This was my sixth time as their doula and after so many births together we felt confident we knew how things would unfold. Andrea would alert the troops and we would assemble, and she would birth within a short time. Well, even a woman with a well-established history of a short active labor can have a birth that is different, as Andrea’s journey would remind us all.

At our prenatal visit we discussed the importance of having a plan in place for the other children. Andrea would be giving birth at home, same as last time, but a backup plan for the kids is always wise. They had a trusted friend who could step in, but with Matt there, Andrea felt confident he could wrangle kids if needed, and her doula and midwives could be present for her.

Matt alerted the troops, so to speak, around 8:15 pm on October 24. Andrea was having regular contractions, and in less than 30 minutes from that text it was time to head over. I arrived around 9:00 pm to find Andrea breathing calmly through her contractions, but pleasantly chatty between them. She shared that she had been feeling contractions all day, Matt gave her dinner and her contractions spaced, but then resumed at a steady pace. Her midwives arrived a short time after I did, no doubt assuming the labor would be quick.

They hastily made the bed in preparation for birth and Andrea labored her way about the room. Leaned over the cub birthing chair for a while. It was a nice stable change from the birth ball. I applied counter pressure on her back through contractions, in between them there was still time to talk. Matt shared about a tender moment in which Andreawas cuddled on the couch with all three of her daughters—two were on the outside, and the third was still inside.  Matt and Andrea are well connected in labor. Matt was always nearby (as long as the kids didn’t have a pressing need). He touched her, stroked her shoulders, kissed her at the conclusion of the contraction. He was a committed partner and tried his best to be her everything.

Andrea felt most of the pain in her back, so we warmed my heating pad and pressed it there. Andrea moaned under her breath with her contractions and Matt moaned along with her. The midwives were sitting off to the side waiting, and listening, but also trying to be distracted enough so Andreadidn’t feel like a fish in a fishbowl being stared at. Every so often they would listen for a fetal heart tone, but by and large were a quiet unobtrusive presence.

By 10:00, Andrea and Matt were spooning on the bed. The contractions were mild enough for this. Pillows were placed for comfort, and Matt used his leg to help keep Andrea’s legs comfortably apart, Andrea’s request. As they lay on the bed, the contractions seemed milder, and Andrea’s mind wondered if everything was ok. Things weren’t progressing in the usual way for her. She asked to have her cervix checked, and her midwife responded calmly but with reassurance, “there are several signs you are progressing. The contractions are closer, stronger, and baby was lower at the last Doppler listen. Don’t get in your head. Each baby is different.”

Andrea tried to release that. We saw the tension between her eyebrows and reminded her to soften. And around 11:00 her sounds were more open and louder. She took a bathroom trip and labored upright on the cub. She told us she felt her baby there like she’s ready. And she kept shaking. I reminded her the shaking was part of it. Andreasought something different, so she labored on her hands and knees over the cub. There was some bloody show, another sign of changes. I reminded Andrea to focus on her deep breaths and her baby will let her know when she’s ready to come. “Almost done. Love,” Matt whispered. And she was, but not quite.

One of the kids woke up, so Matt went to fetch her. The midwives migrated out of sight to the hallway just outside the bedroom. And Matt tried to soothe their curious daughter back to sleep. But she was wide-eyed and staring at her laboring mom, and the guests who had come to usher the baby out. In time, her eyes closed, and Andrea’s contractions had spaced out enough to allow her some rest. Matt brought their night owl downstairs to help settle her and then another child wandered out of bed. So they assembled in front of the TV downstairs.

I took Matt’s post beside Andrea and lay beside her in bed. She grabbed my hands as an anchor of support as her labor moved into a more active phase. A wave of nausea overcame her, and she threw up. The midwives returned to the room and began to place chux pads around for when the baby came. Matt returned to the room right around this time too. 

Andrea’s midwife recommended she backward toilet sit and so she did. We made the light muted with votives and Matt stayed close, rubbing her back and clutching a rosary. Andrea was on the toilet a good 30 minutes and her labor pains grew so strong she hit the wall with her fist. “Ouch, ouch,” she cried, and I gently reminded her to say, “Out, out,” instead. Eyeing their large standup shower with a bench, I suggested that might be a good place to go next. Andrea and Matt entered the shower together, she draped her arms around his shoulders, and he held her up through a strong contraction. 

Two minutes later, Andrea told us she felt the baby there, I called for the midwives, who were there in the blink of an eye. And with the next contraction Andrea breathed her baby right out into her midwife’s hands. It was a lovely sight to see her give birth while in the arms of her husband. The bench was right there so she sat gently back and received her baby there. She was born calmly, crying enough, but not too much. 

In time they made their way back to the bed and did initial assessments of Andrea and birthed the placenta. It was determined that her blood loss was on the higher end of normal, so a hospital transfer was recommended. Thankfully, Baby Elizabeth was perfectly healthy so she would ride along with daddy in her car seat for easy access to mommy. Matt woke up all the siblings so they could meet baby sister and get the scoop as to why mommy was going to the hospital. She wouldn’t be there long, just long enough to get fluids and some medication to help with bleeding, and then she would be back home.

Before the EMTs transported Andrea to the hospital, the midwife did the newborn exam and got the stats. Elizabeth weighed a perfect 7 lb. 13 oz. and was 20 in. long. She was Andrea’s most challenging birth, but she stayed the course and took it one contraction at a time. It required Andrea to fight until the end, to pick herself up and keep on going. But she did it. And another beautiful Eshnaur baby was born.