The Birth of Ambrose Raphael 7/18/22

This announcement was written using the notes and birth pictures taken by Liz Griffin, CD(DONA), who attended the birth.

Emily’s due date happened to coincide closely with my vacation plans so she made sure she had realistic expectations about the likelihood she would have a backup doula attend her birth. She remained pregnant to her due date and beyond and an induction was on the books. However, Emily advocated to have the date moved later putting it on the day after I returned from a weeklong vacation. We were excited at the chance for me to attend her birth after all!

But babies have a way of changing plans, and no sooner had I returned to town, another client went into labor and labored for well over a day, requiring my backup doula to attend Emily’s birth after all. Since Emily had already done the mental and emotional preparation for a different doula, the change was not an issue and one she embraced with open arms. She also did the same with her birth, by the way. And it helped immensely with how it all played out.

Since Emily’s journey to get pregnant involved IVF, there was an elevated concern for risk factors which had the induction scheduled. Emily went to the hospital on the evening of July 17 for cervical ripening with the hope her labor would begin sometime the following day. A balloon was placed in her cervix (dilated 1 cm) along with low dose Pitocin. Her midwife with check on her 12 hours later to see how her cervix had changed to determine next steps. But Emily didn’t need the full 12 hours! Around 2:40 am she was already having contractions 5 minutes apart that were lasting 30-45 seconds. She was also vomiting, an encouraging sign of progression, albeit very unpleasant to endure. Emily received some medicine to help her get more rest and it helped her some.

At 5:00 am, Emily was dilated 5 cm! Her water had also broken on its own, a great sign that her body was on board with the plan to have a baby. Emily had a wonderful nurse who encouraged her and also advised her about when to call in her doula. I was still at the other birth, so my backup was dispatched to Emily’s side and served her so well.

She was by Emily’s side by 7:25 am and found her place in the rhythm of contractions immediately. Emily was in bed vomiting from her contractions but also shared how much better she felt after she threw up. And it also happens to be that when a woman vomits in labor, that downward surge in her body also moves her baby down! Emily was beginning to feel the immensity of labor and considered an epidural, but she hoped to take advantage of doula support first. Emily was remaining strong and courageous with each surge, breathing through the contractions and leaning against Raphael for support.

The plan was to be strategic and change positions every 15 minutes to try and move the baby down as quickly as possible. Wisely, her doula alternated between active and passive positions to allow for balance between hard work and rest, or at least as much rest as can be done with regular contractions.

Almost immediately after implementing their plan, the contractions came back-to-back! Emily began to moan through them and focused even more through each one. They were stronger and required a lot more work to get through. Emily returned to the bed on her hands and knees and labored while Raphael did counter pressure and breathed with her.

Around 8:45 am, while Emily was sideling with the peanut between her legs, she threw up and started shaking, as she moaned through every contraction. Her baby’s heart rate was showing some early decels which can hint to nearly full dilation or at the very least rapid cervical change. Imagine a baby is coming down quickly upon a disappearing cervix and thinking, “what the heck?” The contractions were only three minutes apart, which didn’t allow for much of a recovery for Emily. By 9:00 am she was feeling so much pressure she asked for an exam to know where she was in dilation. At that time, Emily was dilated 7 cm and 80% effaced and her baby was at 0 station! These were big changes! Emily was ready for an epidural because she was wanted some relief. Her midwife recommended turning off the Pitocin and seeing how laboring in the shower might help. Emily was willing to give it a try.

She labored for 30 minutes under the warm water, and while it helped a little, she still wanted an epidural. The doula asked if an exam might change her mind, but since Emily said it wouldn’t they went ahead and mobilized to the bed to get the epidural started. The epidural was placed just past 10:00 am. She got great relief from it, but her team made sure she continued to change positions every 30 minutes to continue the progress of her labor.

At 1:10 pm the midwife returned to find that Emily was feeling great pressure in her pelvis. This is a great sign that it’s time to push out a baby! So the midwife asked her to give a push to see what happened and she could already see the baby’s head! Raphael looked and his eyes got SO big when he saw the top of his son’s head. The midwife got dressed in her paper baby catching clothes and the delivery cart was wheeled up to the foot of the bed. And Raphael stood nearby, ready to help catch his son as he and Emily had hoped.

Emily was such an amazing pusher! Her baby crowned almost immediately, and at 1:28 pm on Monday, July 18, 2022, Ambrose Raphael came tumbling into the world, caught skillfully and lovingly by his midwife and father. Once the head was out, Raphael guided the rest of his son’s body into the world and into Emily’s hands. The emotions were high and the tears were flowing all around! Emily kissed her son and said, “Oh, we prayed for you.” And there she rested with her son on her chest for a long time. Once Raphael cut the cord, Emily brought her son even closer.

Ambrose weighed 6 lb. 15 oz. and was so adorable. He had a surprising amount of rolls for his supposed small size, he had everyone shocked at how small he was. At the time of this writing he has added inches and girth to his size and is breastfeeding like a champ. I was so glad to have finally met him at our postpartum visit and to know his mom was in such loving and capable doula hands. It was by all accounts a beautiful and inspiring birth and worth it every step of the way.