The Birth of Cora Violet 9/9/23

Tina and Brian welcomed their baby girl on September 9! I had such a great time getting to know this couple during our one-on-one class. I knew their goals for this birth…It was Brian’s second child but Tina’s first. They were a great team and had a wonderful back and forth banter which I knew would serve them well during the potentially stressful experience of labor.

Tina developed gestational diabetes which wasn’t ideal. She knew it might complicate things but continued with the intention of a little intervention in her birth as possible. But as Tina approached her due date, her blood pressure crept up. In time it became a safer notion to proceed with induction than wait it out and hope it didn’t continue to escalate. This was not what Tina and Brian would have wanted but they also knew that a healthy outcome was paramount. At Tina’s appointment they scheduled the induction. But then her blood pressure was high enough to send her straight to labor and delivery that very day to get induced. So as the plan of laboring long at home faded, they gathered their belongings to get admitted at the hospital for induction with even less time to let it sink in. They were troopers about it all and made their way to the hospital to settle in.

There was some cervical ripening necessary before any labor, so the plan was to administer Cytotec to ripen and then use a Cook balloon overnight. In total they administered 5 doses of Cytotec before going to the balloon around 6:30 the following morning.

And in those early hours as Tina waited for the balloon to do its thing, her water broke. It was 10:55 am when this happened and was an encouraging sign that her body was on board with the plan of getting the baby out. The balloon was removed, and Tina was dilated to 3 cm so they began pitocin immediately and raised it incrementally over the course of the day. By that evening with the pitocin at 20 mu and no cervical change or labor, they decided to turn it off and give Tina a break. Tina showered and ate dinner and then resumed pitocin at 7:50 pm.

It felt like the right time to proceed with an epidural, so they got the ball rolling with that. Tina had already been in that room over 24 hours and knew she had a long night ahead of her and the contractions would intensify. Plus, there was the caveat that the epidural could also help with her blood pressure management. The initial placement of the epidural went off without a hitch. It would just take time for the medication to work.

But then something crazy happened. When the doctor did an exam to prepare to insert internal monitors to assess contraction strength, she felt the umbilical cord! It was a cord prolapse and suddenly imperative that the baby be born right away! The doctor hopped on the hospital bed with Tina and as they rolled down the hallway, she asked Tina how she was doing to which Tina threw up her hands and exclaimed, “I’m okay!” This was totally in keeping with Tina’s attitude and sense of humor. The trusted her providers to keep her baby safe and her idea of how the birth would go had already veered in a drastically different direction, this was just par for the course.

Brian got dressed in the paper suit as they prepped Tina for the c-section, but they quickly determined that she would need to go under general anesthesia for the safest outcome for baby. Sadly, Brian was not permitted in the OR. Cora Violet was born quickly and safely, weighing 6 lb. 13 oz. and measuring 18.5 in. long and Brian joined her in the nursery soon after she was born. He spent that first hour with her and even got to cut the umbilical cord. Cora and Brian returned to the labor and delivery room where Tina was able to meet her baby for the first time.

As Tina snuggled her baby girl, she was the picture of peace. I admire her for having the courage to let go of so much of how she imagined her birth would unfold. She embraced the new direction of things and welcomed her baby girl with open arms, grateful she was born safely. Tina and Brian continue to be a solid team with a great sense of humor that will always come in handy when life throws them curve balls. However, Cora Violet may be the best curve ball they are ever thrown!