Kelsey and Brett welcomed their daughter, Ivy Grace, on August 2, which was a very popular birthing day for babies! (I had 3 clients give birth that day!) Kelsey had a strong desire for an unmedicated birth, so she chose an obgyn practice with midwives and even secured the rental of a birth tub. They had a bit of a commute to the hospital so that was an unpredictable element on top of the unpredictable nature of birth in general.

She first reached out to me on Tuesday at 1:30 pm with contractions coming 10 minutes apart. They were mild at that point but consistent so she would update me with any changes. Many hours passed and by 9:15 pm they had died down. I was a bit relieved to hear it since I had another client with an induction the next day. The need for backup was real.

But at 5:43 am, right as I was waking up to prepare to join my client with the scheduled c-section, Kelsey texted they were on their way to the hospital! Her contractions woke her at 3:00 am and were coming every 5 minutes. They got stopped at the tunnel on their way but ended up arriving just before 6:30 and got into a triage room. And after an exam was confirmed 5.5 cm dilated, 90% effaced, with baby at -2 station. She would be admitted to have a baby!

Twenty minutes later her water broke right as I was parking at the hospital. I was upstairs a short time later. Kelsey was calm for someone in labor. She was talkative and as a contraction washed over her, she focused on her breathing. Brett was a constant source of distraction with his funny comments. They were very helpful in the early part at least. But as things intensified the side chatter would naturally subside.

Kelsey was eventually brought to the room in which she would give birth. Soon after she got settled the tub arrived and was getting set up. We all, including her midwife, anticipated she would give birth by lunchtime, so we prepped the space and took our places in support around Kelsey and Brett.

Kelsey got into the tub at 9:15 am and we had Christian piano music playing over the speaker by 9:30 am. She stayed in the water about 45 minutes before wanting to get back out. Kelsey returned to the bed where we held a warm rice sock upon her back. She chomped ice and moved through waves of nausea. She labored there for a while, moaning with her contractions, and moving as she felt she needed to. By 10:52 that morning she told us they were getting way stronger. And at 11:00 am an exam confirmed she was dilated 8 cm and baby was at 0 station. She was moving right along!

She decided to give the shower a try this time and stayed in there for about 35 minutes. It was a good place to find privacy and to listen to her body. And we hoped the seclusion and relaxation would encourage the last bit of cervix to melt away.

By 11:40 am she returned to the bed, this time laying over the CUB on her hands and knees. She didn’t much care for it so she adjusted her position, so she lay upon her side. We were able to apply the warm rice sock to her back again which helped ease the pain she felt there. At noon we heard the f-word which was a good sign! “How much longer?” Kelsey asked. We couldn’t really say but we told her we felt baby would be coming very soon.

Her midwife recommends she try pushing to see how that felt. There was a forebag remaining and perhaps it might break on its own. Brett’s jokes were definitely shut down by Kelsey at this point as she debated over whether to have her water broken. We put a cold cloth on her head and neck and could feel her body heating up with her labor.

Kelsey was in a tough spot with the task of pushing looming large in front of her and just wanting her baby out. She shed some tears as she processed where she was and what still remained of her labor. Brett took her hand and told her it was okay. I whispered to her, “Your body is there. Your baby is there. You just need to get your mind there.”

Kelsey sat upright in bed to try giving a push and then returned to the bathroom and then the shower. It was 12:40 pm and we could hear her vocalize more in the shower. We could also hear that she was growing weary. So, we gave her a cherry popsicle for some quick energy before she exited the shower resolved to have her water broken and get her baby out.

At 1:11 pm her water was broken completely, and clear fluid flowed. Kelsey felt different almost right away and expressed her concern about whether she could do it or not. She grew hot so we turned on the fan and freshened a cool cloth. She pushed with some contractions as Brett and I held her legs, but the nausea returned. She chomped ice chips and lay on her side to push, resting her leg in the stirrup. But she told us she didn’t think her baby was moving. She had pushed for 5 hours with her previous and that memory was hard to ignore as she struggled through the task of pushing this baby out. She told us it felt like last time to which we reassured her it was a different baby and a different birth.

Around 2:00 pm she was draped over the birth ball. Then she dangled from the rebozo over the door to encourage her baby to come down. Then she pushed seme reclined in the bed. Her midwife checked for progress and realized there was still a cervical lip in front. Kelsey pushed in a variety of positions to try and encourage baby’s head to move the lip aside, but it wasn’t moving. An attempt was made to push the lip aside manually, but it wasn’t moving. So, Kelsey returned to the tub and then the shower to relax and breathe her baby further down.

After some hydrotherapy her midwife returned and to everyone’s relief but most of all Kelsey’s, the lip was gone! Kelsey had spent 3 hours in passive descent, breathing her baby down and laboring in positions to help her baby move the cervical lip aside. She was completely dilated by 4:16 pm and that’s when she was able to really push! Kelsey pushed on her hands and knees and even tried pushing with her knees together to open her pelvic outlet. And her next position was reclined pushing and that would be where she met her baby! Kelsey had to push with great effort at the end as it was clear her baby was on the larger side. But she did it and Ivy Grace was born at 5:20 pm! She weighed 8 lb. 13 oz., surpassing her sister’s birth weight by 1.5 lbs! She was 21 in. long.

In the end it was all worth it, but Kelsey had to work much harder than any of us expected. She had to push through obstacles in her mind and it took a lot of stamina and belief in herself to see her unmedicated birth through. But she did it! And we were all so in awe and proud of her for it!