Hope

A story about Hope:

Hope was referred to me by her midwife at around 32 weeks gestation. I met Hope and her husband Henry at their cute apartment and immediately liked the feel of the place and of the couple. I was relieved because we had an awkward initial phone conversation and I was afraid we wouldn't have good doula-client chemistry but luckily, in person things were different. She was so excited to be pregnant and really glowed like only a pregnant woman can. She definitely spread her wonderful pregnancy energy to me and asked really good questions. Hope reminded me of my vision of a flower child, definitely a free spirit and very artistic. As we sipped herbal tea and talked birthing I took note of how much I love this job.

I met Hope and Henry another time before their birthing and we had a delicious vegetarian soup and some homemade cookies I had brought over. Hope told me that she had gained 5lbs in the past week which surprised her but we agreed it was probably just water weight. Less than a week later we were reunited, this time at the hospital where she was very clearly in active labor. Henry had called me an hour before to say that Hope had actually been in labor all day (and worked a full 8 hours at her job!) but she had been denying it to herself (and others) up to this point. She was quickly admitted to L&D and when the midwife checked her she was already 6cm. As a first time mom we knew that this did not necessarily mean the baby was going to come anytime soon and we set about making Hope as comfortable as possible.

Through her contractions I encouraged her to stay upright to work with gravity and she did a great job of swaying back and forth, back and forth, with the force of each contraction. Things got intense a couple of hours later and she began asking for pain medication. I knew from talking to her prenatally that she was SO psyched about natural childbirth and I hoped that Henry and I could remind her of that. Sure enough I convinced her to get into the shower to use warm water to alleviate some of the pain and that worked pretty well. She stayed in the shower for over an hour and I stood right by her repeatedly saying "you've got this one, Hope, you've got this one" (later she told me how helpful my words had been). After she felt done with the shower she got onto the bed and the midwife checked her--she was fully dilated! Already exhausted, Hope was a trooper trying to push and was even convinced to get up on her hands and knees for two hours to push her little boy out. But her little boy would have NONE of it. Even though his mom was trying SO hard. After 2.5 hours the OB Resident came in and began talking C-section. I cringed. Over 20 hours of Natural laboring and then a c-section...ughhh. But when we watched the monitor and saw the baby's heart rate drop during contractions, we understood it was the right thing to do.

The anesthesiologist came in to give the epidural and Hope was having so much trouble sitting still and resisting the urge to push. Finally she was able to remain still sitting cross-legged and the doctor was very impressed with her flexibility (that's what yoga can do for you!) After that Henry and I sat around and waited for a half hour while she was prepped for surgery. We were both allowed into the operating room and got to witness the birth of James, a 9lb12oz baby boy! Turns out he had been stuck! Because Hope was such a small lady, James just couldn't fit.

Although the recovery was a bit tough (When I went to the hospital to visit the next day, Hope was completely out of it) everything turned out fine and now James is a very healthy little man with two very proud parents. A month later I visited the family at their apartment and we talked about the birth experience and luckily Hope and Henry both had a positive memory of the experience. She HAD done natural childbirth up to the very last minute and that was something to be extremely proud of. And next time, she'll do it the whole time and she's already invited me to come along for birth journey number 2.

Have I mentioned that I love this couple?