Gabriela and Michael welcomed their daughter Aurelia Autumn on September 17. Gabriela had a medical reason for induction which had her at the hospital at 39 weeks. But she was open-minded and trusted her providers and she trusted her body. It would know what to do. After all, her body had been making some progress behind the scenes. It was dilated 3 cm at the start of the induction process. After talking through options with her midwife, the decision was made to begin with Pitocin and go from there. It was a gradual start with the dose slowly increasing until labor took hold. And several hours later, even though Gabriela was shaky and queasy, her cervix remained 3 cm dilated. She was 80% effaced though and we were hopeful things would kick into gear soon.

About 90 minutes later, at 2:30 pm, Gabriela was contracting every 2 – 2 ½ minutes and having to breathe and focus. Her midwife stopped in to do an exam and confirmed that Gabriela was dilated 4-5 cm. They decided to break her water to keep the momentum moving forward and that is what really pushed her over the threshold into truly active labor. We first heard some sighs as Gabriela exhaled and she grew less patient with things. “I’m over these,” might have been uttered from her mouth between contractions. Things appeared to be moving quickly and Gabriela surely felt that way. But at 6:10 that evening she was dilated 5-6 cm and 90% effaced. She moved to her hands and knees to labor with more painful contractions, but it was a challenge to keep her baby monitored. So Gabriela turned over and reclined in the bed. She continued to exhale her sighs and dig deep as her contractions mounted higher. “I need something,” she told us. And then on the heels of that she growled, “This baby’s coming!” A quick check confirmed she was dilated 8 cm and her baby was at 0 station. It wouldn’t be long now! Gabriela grew nauseous and threw up as the midwife opened up the delivery table. And five minutes later she was fully dilated with her baby at +1 station.

Gabriela pushed in a variety of positions and even incorporated the rebozo. Clearly, her baby’s position was less than optimal, making her work much harder in second stage than expected. It would explain how incrementally she had dilated as well. After pushing nearly an hour and a half, the OB came in to evaluate and explore options. Mention was made of a possible vacuum assisted delivery, but just the mention of it seemed to be all Gabriela needed to actually NOT need it. The doctor’s face brightened as Gabriela pushed her baby into view with impressive commitment and vigor. And she brought her baby into the world a few contractions later at 9:31 pm. Aurelia was born with a head full of black hair and had rotated into the OA position. She was perfect, and she weighed in at 7 lb. 11 oz. and measured 20.5 in. long.

Gabriela saw her natural birth through. And Even though she had to be induced. Even though she endured Pitocin. Even though her baby was a bit off kilter inside. Even though there was talk of a possible vacuum (and even a c-section)! Even though she was surrounded in masked faces while a pandemic raged around the world. Even in spite of all of those things. Gabriela did it! And Michael stood strong by her side every breathe, every contraction, every stage. What a great team!

The Birth of Aurelia Autumn 9/17/20