Monday, March 30, 2009

....and the not-so-nice birth.......

After the wonderful, gorgeous birth on Saturday, I was called to another birth on Sunday. I was looking forward to this one. The couple is young, very athletic, very motivated to have a natural birth, and I just thought they would have an amazing birth. I should know better than to make assumptions, shouldn't I?

When I arrived at the birth center, the mom was in very active labor and already 6-7 cms. dilated. Many hours later, she was still 7 cm. and the water that was leaking had some meconium in it. By late in the evening, labor was starting to slow waaaaaayyyy down. We tried to get her to eat, but everything that went down would come back up. Finally, we gave her an IV and decided to just put her to bed and let her rest for a while.

When she got up, she started walking the stairs and hallway, trying to get this labor going. After a while, the meconium got heavier and then the baby's heart rates started getting really bad -- and the mom was STILL only about 8 cms. We made a quick 911 call and had her taken to the hospital. The midwife went with the couple; I had to stay behind to get the birth center cleaned up. I was absolutely certain that my client would end up with an emergency cesarean, so imagine my shock when the midwife called and said they'd had a vaginal delivery!! Yahoo!!!!! Stinks that I missed the birth, after being with them for all those hours, but I'm so happy for them. Apparently, by the time they reached the hospital, she was fully dilated, and the back-up doctor decided to let her give the delivery a try. Surprisingly, the baby's heart rate stayed good enough that they were able to complete the birth without any interventions!! I still cannot believe that it turned out this well! Truly the grace of God!

So tomorrow, I get to make 2 visits to see new parents and cute little babies!! Fun, fun, fun!!! Tonight, hopefully, I get a full night's sleep........ :)

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