The Birth of Daniel Patrick 9/5/22

Kelly and Dan welcomed their son, Daniel (6th generation!), on September 5, 2022. Birth is always full of surprises and the same was true for these first-time parents. Kelly’s water broke in the beginning, which is the statistically unlikely start. She knew not to get too excited and instead, gave her midwife (and doula) a heads up and spent the day relaxing as well as she could. There were no perceivable contractions, and she felt her baby moving just fine. The plan was to wait 12 hours to see if anything changed or if contractions started, at which point they would go into the hospital and get assessed and determine next steps.

The day was uneventful regarding labor, but it provided a nice chance for Kelly and Dan to spend their last day pre-baby together spending quality time. Kelly did start feeling some mild cramps (contractions?) every 8 minutes around 2:30 that afternoon but were comfortable enough at home to wait until the 5:00 plan. Once at the hospital, Kelly’s midwife confirmed that her water had indeed broken, and she was dilated 2-3 cm. The contractions were coming every 10 minutes, but she wasn’t quite in labor. The suggestion by the midwife was to use the breast pump to bring stronger and closer contractions and if it didn’t work after 4 hours, they would consider using Cytotec.

Well, Kelly’s body responded nicely to the breast pump because by 8:00 that night, Kelly’s contractions had jumped to 4 minutes apart, lasting nearly a minute. She labored in various positions but found hands and knees to be helpful. Over the course of that hour, things took a turn and Kelly threw up a few times and her contractions were consistent at every 3 minutes. The shower was the next plan!

An hour later, at 9:45 pm, Kelly’s cervix was checked, and she was dilated 4.5 cm and 90% effaced. Her body had made some nice changes and seemed to be moving into active labor. I was finishing up at another client’s birth and would be on the road to the hospital within the hour. The drive was 45 minutes, but Dan and Kelly were comfortable waiting rather than calling in a backup doula. After all, first babies take their time, right?

In the meantime, when she emerged from the shower, Kelly wasn’t so sure she wanted to continue laboring without an epidural. It had been her plan to go natural, but active labor was taking over, and her mind was thinking differently. Her nurse and midwife were resolute support for her and encouraged her to continue laboring as she had. I was driving to the hospital with an eta of 11:30 pm. The plan was to continue as she had been, laboring using the comfort measures at her disposal.

I arrived at 11:30 pm to find Kelly laboring on the bed with Dan by her side. She was breathing well through her contractions, but I could hear in her voice that she was working hard. Things had clearly taken off. Kelly felt a lot of pressure sitting upright on the bed so I suggested she move to hands and knees over the cub to see how that might change things. Dan applied counter pressure on her lower back and held a cold cloth up to her forehead. Because she was feeling so much pressure, she got checked at 11:50 pm and to everyone’s surprise Kelly was fully dilated! It was also looking like she may be the first on the unit to have a Labor Day baby and this had extra special significance since the first news story Kelly had done 10 years earlier in New York as a news anchor was about the first Labor Day baby born!

She blew raspberries as the pressure grew at the peaks, and she allowed her body to labor her baby down to the point of really needing to push. Kelly gave her first pushes leaning over the cub, then we set up the squat bar and rebozo. She pushed on her knees with the squat bar. Kelly squatted and kneeled as she pushed her baby lower. She pushed with commitment and strength, and it didn’t take long! Her baby boy was born at 12:35 am after just about 30 minutes of pushing.

Daniel was passed through Kelly’s legs into her waiting arms, and she and Dan looked down at their son in awe. What had just happened? And so fast! We helped Kelly lay back down upon the bed so she could rest with her baby in her arms and wait as the placenta came. Dan had the biggest smile on his face as he looked into his son’s eyes. What an amazing thing to witness!

The placenta came just over 10 minutes later, and it was at that point that Dan cut it. Kelly brought her son all the way up for a kiss and a snuggle as she let the crazy last two hours sink in. Daniel latched well and as his mother looked on. As new as she was at mothering, to look at her you wouldn’t know it. She held her son with confidence, and she was so calm. Her labor had taken off like a shot, but she stood her ground in that storm with Dan by her side. And together they brought him into the world. The rest of us were there to support and guide but they totally rocked it!