The Birth of Zen Valentina 8/5/22

All photos credited to Erika Casanova, except the mirror photo taken by myself.

Ashley and Darius welcomed their third baby, in a homebirth, on August 5. This was our second birth journey together. And after welcoming her son in a hospital birth center with midwives, Ashley desired to welcome their third baby at home. They also made the decision not to find out the gender ahead of time, something completely different for them.

This third baby stayed true to the wide-held understanding that third babies are the wild cards. Ashley had contractions that came on strong and regular and had her wondering if it was labor. But then it wasn’t. She grew used to this pattern, but it became exhausting and frustrating. On Thursday, August 4 at 4:23 am, she texted that she was pretty sure it was the real deal. Her sweet baby would not be born until the following day, but at that time she was working through strong contractions at a steady pattern of 4-5 minutes apart. Her midwife recommended she rest and hydrate and see what came of the contractions, and I said the same.

The contractions continued into the morning, but they had spaced out to 6-9 minutes. I recommended she do the Miles Circuit to help baby get into a better position, if necessary, which she did. Ashley tried to rest but she also went curb walking. She was a woman on a mission to get her baby out. Later that night around 11:15 pm, she texted that the contractions had gotten closer and stronger at 5-6 minutes. She felt a lot of pain in her back and mentioned that her midwife suspected her baby was OP (occiput posterior/sunnyside up). She would have her work cut out for her on this one.

Just past 4:00 am on Friday, Ashley checked in again. Her midwife sent a backup to look in on Ashley and assess things. The contractions were still at the 5-6 minutes apart pattern and not letting up. After the midwife left with the determination that Ashley was in early labor but things would pick up once baby’s position was better, Ashley reached out to let me know. I gathered my things to head over since the midwife had recommended so.

When I arrived, I could tell that Ashley was tired. She was sitting backwards over a chair and trying to rest between contractions. Her midwife arrived an hour or so later and got settled in. An exam was done, and Ashley was dilated 5 cm, 75% effaced, and her baby was at -2 station. So we got busy working on baby’s position. I did sifting with the rebozo. I shook the apple tree to loosen her pelvis and perineum, and then I did some belly sifting to encourage baby to make the necessary adjustments. And when the time came to listen to baby’s heart rate, the midwife’s assistant’s eyes grew large when she noticed the baby was midline instead of to the side. Something had shifted!

Ashley continued to do the work. She walked wide legged up the stairs and then did some rebozo dangle-squats. Her contractions moved to the 3-minute range, and I recommended she labor in the shower for a bit. Peace and Calming oil blend on a washcloth helped to fill the space and help her settle her mind and spend some alone time. She had loving family in the home with her in full support—her mom, two sisters, her daughter, and her husband of course. But sometimes quiet and solitude are critical for labor’s progress.

After the shower, Ashley lay down. It was 1:30 pm. And she rested for about 45 minutes in this way, breathing through her contractions. A bathroom trip got her up and she spent some time in the bathroom on the toilet listening to birth tracks she had been practicing with. Her labor sounded like it was pickup up, and her midwives made the move to ready the tub. Ashley felt like things were progressing but going slowly. She asked her midwife to break her water because she remembered how it sped things up in her previous birth. Her midwife checked and would do it if the conditions were favorable. Ashley was dilated 7-8 cm! Her baby was still at -2 station. Her water was broken at 4:50 pm, and after a pep talk from her midwife, Ashley returned to labor on the toilet. She did standing lunges with the rebozo overhead next, and then returned to the shower around 6:00 pm. It was a short shower, and she found her way back downstairs to the tub. Ashley thought she was beginning to feel pushy in the tub, but the sensation never grew to overwhelming. She stood with Darius and then I recommended she return to the bathroom to labor on the toilet in the hopes she would feel the urge to push naturally there.

It wasn’t much longer before she felt like she needed to push. Ashley wouldn’t make it into the tub as she envisioned. Her baby was ready and that walk looked so far. At 8:55 pm and her midwife confirmed she was dilated 9.5 cm. She offered to push the lip aside and Ashley was all for it if it would help. It was a concerted effort but after a few contractions it worked. She dug deep for strength she had in reserve, and she pushed her baby out while pulling tug of war with my rebozo. Ashley had to work! But after 30 minutes of hard pushing, and days of contractions, Ashley brought her baby into the world at 9:32 pm on August 5! And perhaps the best moment of all was when she looked down to see it was another girl! And her oldest daughter cried happy tears to know she had a baby sister. The look of surprise and elation was beautiful and erased away any trace of worry and exhaustion that had graced it prior.

Zen Valentina settled in beside her mother and latched like a pro. Her placenta was shy in coming but finally made its debut to much relief, very much like Zen had. Ashley was surrounded by family who welcomed their newest love. It was a beautiful scene—all of the tears, smiles, and adoration of this newest little life. Zen had a head full of dark hair and was simply beautiful. She weighed in at 7 lb. 8.5 oz. and measured 20 in. long. And as I watched her snuggled skin to skin with her mom I got to thinking. There is just something about a brand-new life taking in their surroundings with awe at just 12 inches’ distance, to remind us of what’s truly important. Love and life. Support and encouragement. Trust and yielding. Community. Power and strength. Patience. Thank you, little one, for these lessons for us all.