The Birth of Zelie Mae 8/22/23

Emily and Mike welcomed their second baby, a girl, on August 21. Emily was hoping for a VBAC after having a c-section the first time. Her due date came and went and so an induction was scheduled at 41 weeks. But Emily’s body was showing signs that it was moving toward labor. In fact, by 6:30 pm the night before the scheduled induction, she was having contractions 10 minutes apart that were increasing in intensity. She and Mike waited through the night and went into the hospital around 6:00 am.

Emily was breathing through contractions but managing them well. And she was pleased to learn she was dilated 5 cm, 70% effaced, and baby was at 0 station. The nursing staff was confused however, since Emily was scheduled to come in that morning for an induction. It was a good surprise though!

Emily was not afraid to move around all over the place to encourage her baby’s descent. She did squats and lunges and walked. The midwife came in around lunch time to see about possibly breaking her water. Since Emily’s contractions were picking up in intensity and closer than 5 minutes, things were moving into active. And Emily was coping with the pain just fine.

The midwife came in around 12:45 pm and confirmed that Emily was dilated 5-6 cm and then broke her water. She was moaning lightly through her contractions and managing them well. She was ready for the next step and prepared herself for the strong possibility of her labor picking up in intensity after the water was broken. Emily walked around and paced, labored sitting on the bed, and even did some squats with the rebozo over the top of the door.

Her contractions moved to a steady.3 minutes apart and moving right along. Emily had some tender moments of the imminent reality of meeting her baby girl. “I can’t wait to meet her!” And we all were laughing at how much this little one wanted to keep her mom on her toes! It had been an emotional roller coaster to say the least between a possible repeat c-section, induction, or even a VBAC. It all remained to be seen, but Emily was grateful that her body went into labor on its own and her baby was choosing her birthday.

As the contractions intensified, Emily moved into some forward leaning positions. She labored on her hands and knees over the peanut in bed, and then leaned into the CUB standing beside the bed. Lavender on a cotton ball helped to calm her mind and relax her body.

At 2:30 pm, Emily moved into the shower to labor. The lavender essential oil followed her in there and she sighed through her growing contractions. Mike started some praise and worship music which really filled the space with encouragement and positivity. Emily maintained her sense of humor too, because at one point Mike asked her how she was doing and she said she was living her best life.

By 3:10 pm Emily exited the shower and returned to labor on her hands and knees on the bed. After holding that position through a good number of contractions, she decided to lay on her side for a bit of rest. She sat up in bed next and tried to wrap her head around moving forward. She had hit a wall and began to doubt whether she could keep going.

So back into the shower she went at 4:20, since it provided such great relief and focus the last time. Emily felt her baby moving lower and found peace in knowing her baby’s heart rate was steady and strong through the contractions. After 30 minutes she got out with contractions that were still steady at 3 minutes apart. But when her midwife came to see about her progress at 5:00 pm, Emily was still dilated 6 cm. This had her worried she wouldn’t dilate since she wasn’t able to dilate with pitocin in her first birth. We reminded her that this baby had her own journey to make, and then added a heating pad to her back for some relief. Pitocin was started around 5:40 pm, just low to start.

Emily labored over the peanut ball again and asked us to talk to her to distract. By 6:20 pm the pitocin was at 4 mu. Emily tried laboring on the toilet but the pressure was uncomfortable, so she returned to the shower again. The pitocin was raised gradually every 30 minutes and Emily’s body continued its work. Mike was so sweet in his encouraging words, telling Emily she was so beautiful, that he loved her, and that she is amazing and doing so well. He was the king of words of affirmation!

Emily got out of the shower around 8:00 pm and she was dilated 6-7 cm. She was growing very weary and requested an epidural. It didn’t take long, and she was comfortable about 30 minutes later. Her baby had some decels and the thinking was that it was related to rapid progress. So, the midwife did an exam and Emily was dilated 7 cm but her baby was at -2 station. We moved her into a variety of positions over the next couple of hours. Flying cowgirl, peanut ball between her ankles with knees together, right side, left side alternating positions. But at 11:44 pm she was still dilated 7 cm and the baby had not come down. They recommended putting internal monitors in to get a better idea of contraction strength so they could better monitor contraction strength and finetune the pitocin levels.

We continued to have Emily in a variety of positions and an hour later she was still dilated 7 cm and her baby was having decels after contractions, except on her right side. So, her doctor had the pitocin lowered by half to see how her baby would respond. Emily dilated to 8 cm by 3:00 am, but her baby was LOP which wasn’t helping things. We did some sidelying releases and had Emily lunging on one side and then the other (using the peanut ball), and the pitocin was raised incrementally again.

But by 6:00 am, with pitocin up to 12 mu, Emily’s cervix was the same. There was a reason her baby wasn’t descending, and Emily wasn’t sure she wanted to continue pushing things with her baby’s heart rate dipping. So, she made the confident decision of proceeding with a c-section. She expressed to us how different this birth had been from her first and it was already a healing experience for her, rewriting a c-section as a positive thing that she chose.

It wasn’t long before Emily and Mike were in the OR to meet their newest love. Zelie Mae was born at 6:51 am weighing the same weight as her brother: 8 lb. 10 oz. She was a big girl! And she was also the same weight as her brother: 20.5 in. Emily cried when she heard Zelie’s cry, knowing her baby was fine and had arrived safely. And she wasted no time sticking out her tongue and rooting to latch.

Emily and Mike returned to the room they began the journey in and soaked up the feeling of holding a newborn again. With a busy toddler at home, they knew the first day with just the three of them was precious. Although they were also eager to introduce Zelie to her brother.

Emily mentioned at our recent postpartum visit how healing and empowering this birth was. And I am thrilled that she had the opportunity to rewrite her c-section experience. Every step of the way was different, and Emily turned out to be a pretty strong laboring woman when it was all said and done. And she also had the courage to let go and follow where her baby needed her to go.