Birth story - Yessenia and baby Castiel

Triggers: shoulder dystocia, long delivery, exhaustion

Originally, I was seeing an Obgyn but when Covid hit, we were told I would be unable to have my husband present for any upcoming appointments. I was afraid of what was to come when labor came as I didn't know if they would even allow my partner there. During this time, a friend on social media shared her midwifery journey and I decided to contact her "just to see what it was all about" and I told her my concerns about my husband not being present and she assured me that they were a small birth center and I could bring my husband and toddler. I contemplated switching due to no pain relief. I didn't believe I was strong enough to give birth naturally but due to the current pandemic, I felt I had no choice. They were extremely caring and when I shared my fear, they suggested hypnobirthing.

We decided on a home birth after a few appointments with the midwives to be in the comfort of our own home, avoid driving 45 minutes away and have my 2 year old present. (I prepared him by showing him positive home birth videos to get him used to the noises and he was excited about his "baby brother coming out"

At my anatomy scan, my baby measured 2 weeks ahead and my due date was then changed. This did put some fear in my mind because I felt like I was in a time frame as I approached 42 week (At 42 weeks, they would have had to transfer me to an OB for induction. )

We tried everything from nipple stimulation to evening primrose oil and raspberry leaf tea. All it would give me was prodromal labor from 39 weeks. The Freya app told me I was in established labor twice😅 I even had a bloody show a week before.

Then on August 21st at 330 am, I had my first surge but ignored it as I thought it was just fake labor. Then by 530 am, things began progressing and this time, it felt different. I put off contacting my midwife so I waited as long as I could. I called her around 10.30 am and she arrived at around 1130. I had been listening to the Freya app which was extremely helpful. I chose to let her check me for dilation and to her surprise I was 6 cm and 50% effaced (she later admitted she didn't think I was in actual labor because of how relaxed I was. Shortly after the 2nd midwife arrived and surges were manageable.

Never once did I doubt I could get through my surges. I'd close my eyes, focus on my breathing and when the "peak" of the surge would come, I'd tell myself was "this will pass". Swaying my hips side to side whilst standing helped. My husband helped so much as well, squeezing my hips and applying pressure om my back with every surge. Once I got in the pool, it was a game changer! was concerned my surges were going away but it was the water easing the pressure!

My 2 year old would come in occasionally and splash the water😆 and beg to get in and he'd rub my arm. As things progressed, I began to get a pushy feeling and had to use the restroom and the midwives both came into my room because they recognized the transition in my sounds. The pushing began close to 4 pm. I had a hard time down breathing and eventually after a couple hours in the pool attempting to push baby out, they asked to help me in bed. I was asked to lay on my back and with every contraction, one of the midwives and my husband would pull my legs back against my chest. I definitely felt a ton of pressure then and so much strength was needed. My midwives allowed me to push when I wanted and reminded me to use my energy to push down rather than letting out loud noises. I couldn't help it though. I was beyond exhausted from pushing and was anxiously waiting for the "ring of fire" . My primary midwife quickly grabbed coconut oil and massaged my perineum and stretched it down. When I felt the ring of fire, I pushed through as much as my body would allow. Then, I was quickly instructed to turn over on all fours. I did not know why but I used all the strength I didn't know I had left and brought the rest of him out with the help of my midwife using her hands to take his shoulder out. Baby had shoulder dystocia and that's why delivery was not easy. I would have loved a water birth but in my case, this method was best.

I was a bit afraid when I saw my baby with small busted eye veins and he was very purple, (he is big and healthy though). The midwives were calm and collected and acted very quickly upon learning his shoulder was stuck and baby responded within a minute of being born.

The most surprising thing of all is that I did not tear and I truly think it was the coconut oil and perineal massage the midwife did as my baby was coming.

Although this is our last pregnancy, I would do it all over again and it's all thanks to the knowledge we acquired from the PBC. I heard about the PBC from blogs about hypnobirthing and my husband and I decided to take the course at 36 weeks. I cannot say enough good things about it. It changed our entire perspective on labor and birth and I could not believe that I actually had choices with my 1st and how much different it could have been. We also watched " The business of giving birth" and that was also a total mind shift as well.

Thank you for reading and I hope my birth story brings excitement for your upcoming birth as many positive birth stories did for me.