The Birth of Joannah SooMin Jang 4/8/22
Jayne and Dorian are parents AGAIN! I just love when I am contacted by someone who has already birthed with a doula and understands their benefit. As a military family, Dorian was stationed in Hampton Roads for a short time, just enough time to get pregnant and give birth before moving again! Jayne and I got along well, and even enjoyed an outdoor lunch for our prenatal visit. She assured me she knew how her labors began. They were always the same with a mucus plug and then contractions. While I trust a woman to know her body, I also reminded Jayne that every birth has the potential to be a different experience and to remain open to that possibility. She agreed but she also knew her well-established history.
Fast forward about a month and Jayne, who had welcomed her three other babies at, 40w6, 39w5, and 40w4, texted me with an update after her 39-week appointment. She was 70% effaced and 2.5 cm dilated, with a posterior cervix. Then later that night she texted about discharge that was bloody. It seemed a result of her exam to me, but Jayne suspected it might be the beginning of labor. Her parents had not yet arrived to watch the kids though, so it was unsettling to have to think through the alternative plan if they should need it.
A couple of hours later, there was significant bloody discharge reminiscent of the start of her previous three labors. Her parents weren’t there yet and I was waiting or a call from a client getting induced. How would it all shape up? I put in a call to my backup doula just in case, and Jayne reached out to their neighbor who had offered to assist with the kids if needed. And then we waited and kind of hoped it wasn’t labor! She showered and was going to try to get some sleep.
But Jayne knew her body. And she knew her pattern. And it was just as she said: bloody show in the evening and then contractions in the middle of the night was how all of her labors began. And by 12:15 am, Jayne and Dorian were on their way in to the hospital. At admission, Jayne was dilated 4-5 cm and 80% effaced. She completed the required 20-minutes of monitoring before laboring freely.
When Jayne’s contractions kicked it up a notch, Dorian called for me to come. I was not yet summoned for the induction so I left knowing I would likely attend two births before heading back home. I was in Jayne’s room by 2:30 am to find Dorian applying counter pressure to her lower back like a pro.
Jayne was breathing calmly and quietly through her contractions, but she was working hard. Not every woman makes noise during labor. In fact, the calm and quiet ones can progress right under your nose. She was feeling waves of nausea and her contractions grew stronger before our eyes. In 30 minutes, she was expressing her concerns about whether she was mentally ready for this baby. She didn’t expect the baby to come for another week or more, but here she was. I assured her she would be able to do it and her doubt was a good sign that things were moving. She would meet her baby soon.
By 3:11 Jayne was sighing through her contractions. This was as vocal as she got outside of talking. Dorian was her righthand man, always within arm’s reach and loving her with his touch and tender looks at her.
“I think she’s coming. She’s getting in the pelvis,” Jayne said matter-of-factly. We called her nurse in, who then called the midwife. I trusted Jayne. After all she had already narrated her entire labor from the very beginnings. Why shouldn’t she know how it would finish?
Her midwife entered the room and confirmed with an exam that Jayne was dilated 9 cm. As the nurse scurried to setup the delivery cart, Jayne’s brain left her body. “What do I do?” “Where do I go?” It was as if in an instant she had birth amnesia and couldn’t recall anything about how to get her baby out. Gentle reassurance and direction to lay atop the CUB on her hands and knees helped her to focus on what her body was telling her to do. And with the next contraction she was pushing.
Dorian continued to press upon her lower back, even as Jayne pushed their baby out. She was 9 cm at 3:24, and baby was born at 3:26. It was one push on her hands and knees and tada! Baby Joannah SooMin Jang was born and passed into her mother’s arms. She was crying and vigorous from the start, earning a nice Apgar score and freedom from extra hands for at least an hour.
Jayne got settled onto the bed where she could properly snuggle baby Joannah between her breasts and get a look at her. She commented to us right away that she was surprised she didn’t get nasty at the end like she thought she would. Perhaps that’s the one thing she did not script currently in the whole birth. ;)
Dorian and Jayne gave their fourth baby just as much awe and wonder as their first, never tiring at the miracle of new life and the way love multiplies for each new child born. Birth math is funny that way. There is no real way to calculate how labor will unfold, just as there is not formula for the way love grows to accommodate all your children.
Joannah weighed in at 7 lb. 14.5 oz. and measured 20 in. long. She had a head of dark hair and had a strong resemblance to her mom, which is only fair, if you ask me. It was such a joy to serve this couple. And while there is comfort in having birthed previously, it’s always humbling to see how each baby still may do things their own way. After all, inexact due date notwithstanding, this little one wasn’t “due” for another week. And Jayne and Dorian handled the change in expectations like pros. Parenting: the training ground for the unexpected.
