The Birth of Hunter Robert 3/25/23
DeAnn and Tyler welcomed their second son on March 25. DeAnn was no stranger to an induced labor since her first baby came that way. However, she had hoped to avoid induction this time with the plan to labor at home as long as possible. She gave birth the first time without pain medications but hoped to have a gentler journey to welcome this baby. One in which she followed her body’s own cues as labor began.
DeAnn’s body was moving in the right direction and had been for weeks. She was dilated 2-3 cm at 39 weeks, but there she remained at 40 weeks. And then she went beyond her due date and the stress of childcare overcame her. She worried that her mother who was staying with her to help would have to leave before her baby came. The stress of going into labor without her there brought a lot of anxiety and had DeAnn trying all of the self-induction methods she could find. But none of them were working. I recommended she stop trying to put herself into labor and rather relax and be patient. She told me she would give it a try. And she made arrangements for her mother-in-law to come help after her mom left if it came to that.
Eventually, an induction was scheduled for 1 ½ weeks after her due date. DeAnn still hoped not to need it but she had also made peace with another induction. Her baby waited and she found herself checking into the hospital to get admitted for the induction process. She was dilated 4 cm so that meant she wouldn’t need ripening, which was a good thing. They began the process by breaking her water. Baby’s heart rate dipped so they held off in pitocin which worked out for the best since DeAnn had hoped to avoid it anyway. Instead, they used a breast pump to bring on contractions.
Within an hour or two, DeAnn was feeling contractions she had to breathe through. At 10:10 pm she told me she was able to cope with them just fine. But by 11:00 pm her contractions were already ranging between 3-5 minutes apart. It was time for me to head in since it made no sense to wait and see in this case!
DeAnn rolled over the ball on the bed to labor on her hands and knees for a bit but she returned to sitting on the ball. She leaned forward against the bed during contractions, breathing deeply through each peak and returned to us in the space between them. She was able to chat just fine during the breaks but was clearly drawn into the work of labor when the contractions came.
DeAnn was soon vocalizing through each contraction and told us she felt things were getting harder. (Yes! We could tell!) Her contractions went from 3-5 minutes apart to a steady pattern of every 2 ½ minutes in a very short time. And it was evident from her demeanor that her labor had taking a sharp turn to active.
She had a strong desire for hydrotherapy, so we prepared the shower for her with votives and lavender aromatherapy on a wet washcloth hung in the shower. She had an aromatherapy pillow she brought from home and smelled the lavender in it through each contraction by the bed, so this was an attempt to keep the lavender nearby. And DeAnn responded well to it. She entered the shower at 12:23 am on March 25.
Two minutes later DeAnn told us she felt a lot of pressure. She wasn’t sure if she was pushy yet, and the next contraction she breathed through without that pressure. So we waited a bit longer.
DeAnne asked me if there were breaks in transition and I told her there were, but she might not notice them as much. There were always as many breaks as contractions. She sat upon the bench in the shower and felt pushy pressure there. DeAnn was acting more and more pushy so she got out of the shower to return to the bed and hopefully push out a baby.
Her doctor met her there and it was clear her baby was right there and ready! People came in to set up the delivery table and they did it just in time because DeAnn was pushing a short time later. She didn’t push long at all. If anything, she had to work to slow it all down at the end.
Hunter Robert was born at 12:55 am on March 25 in a whirlwind! There was shock, elation, surprise, and relief, and joy all rolled up into one big emotion! DeAnn held her son as Tyler stroked her hair out of her face. Then she cried as the emotions washed over her. It was a beautiful first meeting.
DeAnn did not have any tears, which is a credit to her controlled pushing, even though this baby was coming fast. He wasn’t small either, weighing 8 lb. 14 oz. and measuring 21 in. long. She was settled in her bed saying goodbye to her doctor within 10 minutes of the arrival of her son. They snuggled and she unrolled him in front of her to get a good long look at all of him. And then she brought him to her breast for his first feed. His brother had some issues but from the first moment this little guy seemed to have the hang of it!
It was an honor for me to stand and serve DeAnn and Tyler in the birth of their second son. And I’m thrilled that although an induction, DeAnn had alternatives available to her that worked and helped her to avoid pitocin. Flexibility and communication make for a wonderful start to an induction or any birth, for that matter.
