Birth Summaries =)

So I decided to do some really brief birth summaries, just because looking back at the older posts its nice just for myself to remember =)

12/12/09 Super sweet momma gave birth to her daughter in the water. She pushed like a rockstar and her partner weeped at her strenght. Little Roscoe had a head full of dark hair like her mom and her papa's nose =)

12/13/09 Mom and dad came with grandma and grandpa and moms brother to the birth center. Mom labored hard for a while and then got into the tub. Everyone stood by encouraging while grandpa played folk guitar really loud. We had to ask him to stop while we listened for heart tones a few times, it was pretty funny. =) Mom pushed hard to bring her little boy into the world, and little Pierce James was born weighing 9lbs 3 oz.

12/17/09 Mom and dad were a young couple who came and labored a while at the birth center. We worked with her in every position to try and help her baby come down, but he didn't want to budge. The decision was made to transfer her and the other student who knew her better went with her to the hospital. They tried to do a vaccum assist, but it didn't work, and in the end she had a c-section under general anestesia. Not the birth they were hoping for, but they were happy to have a healthy boy.

12/22/09 Sweet mom and dad came in in active labor. Amazingly mom was smiling between contractions, trying to stay positive and enjoy the experience no matter how intense it got. After a few hours and a few different positions it was time to push and she did so great! Each push brought Linden closer and closer. I was able to show her his decent with a hand held mirror. Soon he was in her arms cuddling and sucking. Sweet little boy.

1/9/09 Mom and dad came to the center with grandma, great grandma and about 6 bags of supplies. Including some xmas lights which really made a nice soft glow. A few hours later the other set of grandparents showed up. At first it was a bit much, and too crowded so we helped the parents get some space. Mom needed some help getting her contractions stronger so she and her partner did some nipple stimulation in private and it worked really well. She was having lower back pain and the only thing that helped was me pressing her hips together during contractions. So for 3 hours, every 4 minutes thats what I did. When we were all getting tired and frustrated it was time to check mom and sure enough she was complete and ready to push! with the new found energy mom worked hard to push her little boy into the world, and soon James West was with us.

1/12/09 Mom had been laboring for a while and came in twice to find out she was only 1cm and then 2 cm dilated. To stay at the center you need to be at least 5cm, so they went home to labor some more. The third time they came in she was almost completely dilated and laboring hard. She got in the tub for a while but the positioning wasn't the best for her petite frame. So we had her sit on the birthing stool to let gravity help and it did. After a couple more position changes and a lot of hard pushing, and a tiny episiotomy (that was totally needed because she was so tight and the baby's heart tones were dipping) little Leathian Shore was born with a head full of dark long hair. She needed some help to breath, but within minutes was using her beautiful little lungs to let us know she had arrived. Because there was meconium and a need for rescuscitation, we decided to transfer mom and babe to make sure everyone was fine. A few hours later mom and babe were cuddling and nursing blissfully.

1/13/09 Moms water had broken early at 37 weeks 5 days with no signs of labor. She tried herbs and nipple stimulation to get things going and it worked a bit. The policy at the birth center is that you have 48 hours after your waters breaking before we need to transfer if you aren't in active labor (5cm) and when she came in she was only 1cm =( So we all packed up and headed over to the hospital. She was able to get some rest with a little morphine while they put her on pitocin to get the contractions going. a few hours later she was 6 cm dilated but in quite a bit of pain and opted for an epidural. (pitocin makes unaturally strong contractions because it is a synthetic version of the hormone that doesnt communicate with the brain to send more endorphines to deal with the pain) After the epidural she was able to rest and a few hours later was completely dilated. Mom pushed for about an hour and little Finnegan Maynard was born. LIttle Finn didn't start breathing right away, and needed to be helped a lot by their pediatric team. It was the most intense rescuscitation i have ever seen. At the birth center we only ever needed to give a little positive pressure ventilation with the bag and mask, but little Finn needed chest compressions because his heart went too low, and then a shot of epinephrine to jumpstart it, and an intubation to make sure the oxygen was going directly to his lungs. 30 minutes of pure terror as in my heart i called his little spirit to stay with us. Eventually his heart rate came up and he started to breath on his own, but there were signs of some possible brain damage. They decided to transfer him to UCSF for a new Cold Therapy that slows his metabolism to allow the blood to focus on the brain to either slow, stop or reverse any damage. After 3 days of cooling and a few seizures, they warmed him and did an MRI. The MRI looked good and a couple days later they took him off his ventilator and he was able to eat the milk his mom had been preciously pumping and storing for him. A couple days later he was able to nurse at her breast and then was released home with his parents. They might not know for years if there was any permenant damage, but he's home and thriving. Finnegan means "fair skinned" in Ireland, and Maynard means "brave". He was definitely our brave little fairskinned boy.

1/14/09 We had a vbac mom (hoping for a vaginal birth after cesearean) who technically is not allowed to have her baby at the birth center because of some stupid laws. But Judi said that if she came in in active labor and the baby just fell out... then there's nothing we can do about that. I got the call at 12:45am, Mom was pushing and judi was there alone, get there fast. I flew like a bat out of hell and got there in 15 minutes at 1:00am. When i got there mom was almost crowning. I rushed to get everything else Judi needed. His heart tones had dropped pretty low while she was pushing, so Judi had her push hard and fast and little Ander was born at 1:18 crying on his way out. It was the most beautiful sound. Unfortunately mom did tear because he came out so fast, but her baby boy was perfectly healthy. We got her cleaned up and into bed with her baby to cuddle and rest.

I will write about the most recent birth in another post soon. =) and then we'll be all caught up. If you didn't notice, the last three were 3 days in a row =)

Births

Ok, so it has become apparent to me that there is no way for me to write about each birth I've attended. They have been happening too frequently and I've got way too much other stuff going on to keep up with them all. So in summary, since I started apprenticing at the Sage Femme birth center in Oct there was 1 birth, November there were 2, December there were 5 and in january so far there have been 5 making a total of 13 births. When that's added to the 14 from my LA apprenticeship, I've been to a total of 27 births =)

I have learned so much in the last 3 months at the birth center. From the births themselves to the pre/postnatal appointments and classes that I've sat in on. My skills have been improving and I'm slowly being given more responsibilities. Drawing more blood, doing the forms for lab work, discussing prenatal issues and procedures, and being involved in the decision making process during births. I am feeling much more confident in my understanding of birth and all the variables that play a part.

I have had the unfortunate yet fortunate opportunity to assist in resuscitations of newborns. While it is hard when it is needed, I am very grateful for the experience. Also grateful that of the 2 babies I helped Judi resuscitate at the birth center, both of them are doing great. =) I have also had a few experiences where we needed to transfer to the hospital and where I was presented with very challenging situations. I have been tested to be strong for parents when every cell in my body wanted to cry and collapse. To try and guide them through each experience, emergency and intervention with hope, clarity and faith.

I am grateful for those experiences too. Even more grateful though that each of those babies and mothers are healthy and happy now. There was one case where I really wasn't sure if the baby was going to come around. We were at the hospital and the pediatric team was working on him to try and help him breath, and for 30 minutes I saw no movements, heard no sounds coming from this little boy. Eventually he came around, but with the potential to have some brain damage. After a new treatment to help heal him he was able to go home after a week. I haven't seen him out of the hospital yet and I can't wait to hear his little voice and see his face without any tubes helping him breath.

Even with these challenging births I have not been swayed or scared away from this new path I've chosen. The world needs more skilled birth workers who understand birth and mothers and babies. Who can help them come into this world with as much love and peace as possible. So it seems for each challenging birth, there are twice as many, if not more, easier births, which are like a therapy of their own. Like when the babe is not even fully born and already starts to cry out. Its the most beautiful sound.

All these new experiences have driven me to study even harder. And it is really satisfying to read what was once confusing or intimidating and have a better understanding of it. I still have a long way to go, but it feels so good that everything feels like its falling into place. It's also very satisfying to see a smirk of pride on Judi's face as she walks past me doing a something right on my own. I was talking to a mom about breast feeding, and as Judi passed by she heard me saying passionately to the mom "Each breast is different, each nipple is different, each baby is different,... so learning how to breastfeed can be challenging, but it is possible and we will help you learn how to!"

Lastly I am so fortunate that Simon is so supportive and understanding. He's always there when I need him, willing to listen and offer a shoulder to cry on if I need it. Or if i've just learned something and have to share it, so long as its not too gross =)

So thats the update for now. =) life is so precious.