The Birth of Jeffery Clay 2/4/21
Shelby and Ryan welcomed their second child, Jeffery Clay, on February 4, 2021. (Fun fact: He was the third birth I attended on that exact day. It was a record-breaking doula day for me!) After giving birth the first time, Shelby realized what she valued in her birth experience and what she would want to do differently. Shelby prepared her mindset by reading many books that reinforced her goal for an unmedicated childbirth, and she took the advice of her labor and delivery nurse friend, and set up an interview with a doula. (I was the lucky doula she met.) And we soon began our client/doula partnership.
Shelby sent me a text just before 8:00 pm on February 4. She knew I had been up the previous night at a birth and then attended another one right after, so she held off texting me until she was pretty certain she was in labor. The first text came through at 7:51 pm explaining some signs she had been seeing and feeling. She developed contractions low in her groin that incorporated her entire uterus. And she was trying to decipher if they were labor contractions or perhaps her uterine response to a membrane sweep that had occurred at her appointment earlier that day. Then two minutes later she texted to say that she was 99% sure her water JUST broke. She called and spoke with her midwife and with contractions already coming 5 minutes apart and getting stronger, they left for the hospital within the hour. We decided to meet there and go in on the “early” side (so we thought), to allow Shelby time and space to settle in and labor.
We arrived at virtually the same time and were able to walk in together, all three of us. Shelby was triaged and breathed and swayed with Ryan through intensifying contractions. She declined an exam since she was dilated 4 cm at her appointment the previous day and her water had broken. Shelby also sang through her contractions until she was no longer able to, which was around 10:30. Over the course of an hour in triage where she got an iv setup for antibiotics, spent some time on the monitor, answered all of the admission questions, and also breathed through contractions, and finally got an exam by her midwife, Shelby was dilated 7 cm!
Her labor had definitely taken off like a shot and she felt her son’s head deep in her pelvis with each contraction. There wouldn’t be time to use the shower like we had discussed. Instead Shelby was staying in the moment coping with one strong contraction at a time. After laying in the bed for the monitoring, she took a trip to the bathroom, and then we moved the bed into the shape of a throne for a more upright labor position. Shelby leaned forward with each contraction and felt immense pressure down low. We put cold wet washcloths on her forehead and neck as her body heated up with the work of labor.
Shelby moved to her hands and knees upon the throne bed and that’s where her baby really moved down. Ryan used a rebozo to lift Shelby’s belly, providing some relief from the intense pressure. And something about that position and where Shelby was in her labor made for a perfect combination to send her headlong through transition. She vocalized with her contractions and with no time to even fetch the squat bar she requested, Shelby crawled higher in the bed and labored sitting in a semi-squat on the bed through her contractions. She breathed in some peppermint essential oil to stave of the waves of nausea rode in on transition. And in no time it was clear that she was about to have a baby and her midwife needed to get dispatched quickly.
Shelby was involuntarily pushing and it didn’t take long. She cried out her power as she brought her baby down, and she even reached down to feel his head for herself. That only motivated her to push again and when she did his head was crowning. Shelby paused and blew out air as her baby crowned and it would be the reason she didn’t tear too. She pushed as her midwife encouraged her, and after his head was out the rest of his body came into the world. Jeffery Clay was born at 11:29 pm in the unmedicated birth his mom had been hoping for and prepared for. Her face was the picture of such joy! She cried and then she was elated, exclaiming, “I can’t believe I did it!” So much emotion was felt by both Shelby and Ryan as they took in the details of their son. They even noticed that he had a flattened nose like his big sister did, the result of a baby whose face is squished up against the uterine wall for a long time. Clay weighed 8 lb. 2.6 oz. and measured 20 ½ in. long. But they wouldn’t know those details until after the magic hour was over.
Clay was latched to his mom’s breast not long after birth, and Shelby coasted on the euphoria of the oxytocin as she tried to remember the timeline of her labor. It’s a difficult thing to do in the midst of that hormonal haze whose purpose is to dull the details and heighten awareness for bonding, so we helped. All told, Shelby was in active labor a total of maybe 4 hours. It’s really quite remarkable and encouraging how different each labor can be. And sometimes when it goes the way this one did, it has mom already thinking of her next birth! I was so proud of Shelby and honored to be there to stand beside her as she realized her strength. I knew she could do it!
