The new mommy, baby, and Me
Last week I was privileged to attend a birth as a Doula. I seriously LOVE my job.
The night before the birth, I had been working on my site and I REALLY needed to go to bed. I knew in the back of my head that any night could be the birth. I got ready for bed around midnight and went to lay down for some good rest. Right as I closed my eyes, I got a text message. I knew it was my mommy having her baby.
She said she was having contractions every 10 minutes and she would let me know when she needed me. How could I sleep now? Well, I did fall asleep for maybe an hour. I woke up in a panic thinking I missed the birth. I looked at the phone and she said she was headed to the hospital.
I brushed my teeth, grabbed my stuff, and I was off. It was 2:45 am.
3:00 am-I arrived and the mom was just getting settled in her room. She was at a 5! She felt discouraged, but I told her how great that was. As she talked with the nurse for a few minutes, I massaged her feet and ankles with some essential oils.
By now her contractions were coming about 3-5 minutes apart. I knew good things were happening. She decided to lay down so I could apply pressure on her lower back, but as she reclined the bed down, she had a really hard contraction, and her water burst! We then worked together to breathe through each one and stay calm. The nurse checked her again, an 8! I think she had just 2 more good contractions and she started pushing. The doctor wasn’t even there yet. The nurse checked her again and the head was crowning. I was amazing on how well this mommy was laboring. She was so calm and focused.
At this point, the nurse was trying to do anything to stop the mom from having that baby until the on call doctor arrived. I kept guiding her to breathe the baby out. It would be more gentle for the baby and helps with less chance to tear (that is what I have found with my own births).
The doctor finally arrived and had just enough time to get all of his stuff ready. One push later, a sweet little girl was born. I was about 4 am.
Wow is all I could think. That was so fast and simply amazing! Go mommy! I stayed for about 1/2 hour to make sure all of her wishes were met. As I left, the baby was cuddled up to mommy and nursing like a pro. Congratulations on #4 girl!
