Love to all!
Brett and Mike
Friday, February 12, 2010
JOSEPHINE COLLINS DE BERGERAC!!!
With wonder, wildness and determination, our little Josie danced into the world at 8:18am on Friday February 12th, 2010. She weighed 7 pounds, 8 ounces and was 20 inches of pure perfection. We give endless thanks to the beautiful women of Sage Femme Midwifery for their tireless warmth and guidance, as well as to the many other talented people who helped us through the journey.
Love to all!
Brett and Mike
Love to all!
Brett and Mike
Saturday, February 6, 2010
The Birth of Esme Rose
On Monday, February 1st (our second set of testing) we had an AFI of 14 (again, confirming Rachel’s “sloshiness”), but when we went in for the 3rd set of testing on Thursday, February 4th (41 weeks and 5 days) the AFI had dropped to 5.5, still within normal range, but a huge drop in just a few days. They did a sterile speculum exam to check to see if the membranes had broken and Rachel was leaking, but that was negative. The hospital wanted us induced then and there fearing that the placenta had stopped working, but we signed out A.M.A., went home and took time to gather our things and thoughts.
We had surrendered our Birth Center birth, but we were more than prepared: we had our well-conceived, meticulously detailed birth plan in hand (on heavy duty card stock, just try to loose that), we had food and drink for several days, so Rachel wouldn’t be forced to eat hospital food only, and Dani could eat from the arsenal, not to mention energy rich foods for labor, we had all our knowledge from our brilliant childbirth educators and all our reading and researching and we had our emotional support base, Anne Marie (our Doula), Judi and most importantly each other.
We settled into our room a little after 8 and were slowly introduced to our medical team. With Judi’s help, we made the decision, against the doctors’ advice, to start Cervidil around 1 AM. We knew one of the draw backs to the Cervidil was that Rachel would have to keep the E.F.M. on as well as have an I.V. line placed. Once again, our girl would have nothing to do with the E.F.M., and our night nurse, who was very kind, had to come and fix it every 20 minutes during the night.
We had a (total) of 16 hours on the Cervidil, enough to efface and soften Rachel’s cervix to the point that we decided to try a 60 CC foley bulb at 11 PM on Friday evening, which dilated her to about 4 cm then fell out after 45 minutes. Rachel had started having regular contractions towards the end of the Cervidil treatment, and we were excited things were on their way! We started Pit at 2 AM on Saturday, February 6th, active labor started almost immediately. Rachel’s body was so ready for this labor to happen that we ended up calling Anne Marie in at 4 AM for her support! Rachel moved along so well that we were fully settled in there around 6AM: there was no question we were in labor!
Rachel was using her Hypnobirthing breathing techniques to their fullest extent and found them to be very helpful with staying calm, focused and relaxed. The contractions were quite sensational at this point and we used the tub, the toilet and the bed as the three main laboring places. We never focused on timing the contractions or paid attention to the time of day: Rachel was so internally focused that she didn’t get even an idea of her surroundings until our girl was about an hour old! Hypnobirthing technique teaches low, hypnotic moaning during each contraction and Rachel used this well—it was a surprise when everyone in the room joined in with each moan, creating a powerful chorus of women welcoming a baby into the world. Sometimes, the contractions would come and Dani would remind Rachel to say “I love you” as a way to open up and greet our baby, a technique recommended by our Doula—Rachel would sing “I love you” and Dani would repeat it and this continued through many of the contractions. It was a good reminder of the reason why we were making conscious decisions about the way we wanted to birth.
We were so lucky to have an incredible labor and delivery nurse, Meghan. Not only did she join in with our coping techniques like the moaning, but she tirelessly held the fetal monitor on our girl so we could move around as much as we wanted! Meghan had approached Dani during the labor to thank her for allowing her to be a part of our Hypnobirthing birth, which gave us a tremendous sense of truly being allowed to labor how we wanted to labor. We had put a sign on the door asking everyone to “please enter quietly, Hypnobirthing in progress”—this was very helpful as Rachel has no memory of being interrupted by anyone entering or exiting the room.
At some point, Rachel felt an intense need to push and was asked the doctor to check on our progress—we were 6 cm dilated! Rachel’s water broke around this time, and it was clear there was meconium staining. The contractions started to slow down in frequency and intensity and Rachel began to feel like this might go on forever and she couldn’t do it any more. She expressed as much to our team, and their support was of primary importance to continue forward. After this small break from contractions, they picked up in intensity and Rachel’s body was pounding down with every one. Around this time the midwives, Serena and Evaly, showed up and we remember Anne Marie announcing to them that she thought we were in transition. Rachel’s body had taken so well to the labor that the Pit had been turned down. Rachel’s back was aching with every contraction and the midwives and doula helped relieve discomfort with body positions and massage—it was not until Dani saw the baby come out face up that we realized Rachel had been having back labor. Not knowing seemed to be really helpful, because it gave Rachel one less thing to talk and think about.
Throughout the labor, Dani’s support with Hypnobirthing techniques was very helpful as well as making sure Rachel had food and drink throughout labor. We had prepared a Hypnobirthing mix (of Hypnobirthing breathing techniques and affirmations) as well as a calming, soothing instrumental mix to listen to during labor—keeping this going was part of Dani’s job, too! The most instrumental support that Dani gave to Rachel was her connection to Rachel’s experience—we cried together, struggled together, enjoyed the respites together. Rachel specifically remembers that Dani was able to say things that she didn’t even know she needed to hear exactly when she needed to hear them. These things were not scripted or practiced, but came from the connection that we share. Sometimes, though, Dani had to say things Rachel didn’t want to hear, but that was important, too—when firm instructions needed to be given. When Rachel felt she wasn’t strong enough, Dani was and that made all the difference.
We used the horse breathing technique to delay pushing as long as Rachel felt like she could, at which point, we asked the doctor to come back for an examination. We had dilated to 9 cm and told to continue not pushing by the doctor. However, when the doctor left the room, Serena took one look at what Rachel was doing instinctually, which was emitting small grunts and allowing her uterus to push the baby down very slowly and told her that what she was doing was perfect; to let her body do the pushing that it needed to do. The Hypnobirthing breathing and visualizations of her cervix being a rose bud that was opening petal by petal were invaluable to us and the technique of “breathing the baby down” was no exception. The doctors were called in for the delivery. Rachel was comfortable lying on her side, with Evaly taking the weight of her top leg, Dani at her side holding her hand and face and talking her through this, and Serena and Anne Marie at her back, massaging and comforting. Rachel’s body really took over and the sensation of allowing the baby to descend naturally was so satisfying that Dani cooed over her smiles and exclamations of “Yessss!”. At this point, the baby had an internal fetal monitor placed on her (something we didn’t want, but realized was necessary), because she was positioned in such a way that the E.F.M. was no longer functional.
The contractions had the top of the baby’s little head bobbing in and out and we could see about 1 cm of her head when our girl’s heartbeat descended with contractions and rebounded after each one, except the last: we were told we had to get the baby out NOW. Everyone told us to push and Rachel said “I already am!” to which Dani replied, “No, honey, PURPLE PUSHING” which turned out to be the magic words—there was no question what that meant! The entire team flung Rachel on her back with Evaly and Serena bearing their shoulders into her feet. Rachel pushed once, took a deep breath, pushed again—Esme Rose had her head out! Rachel was frantically told she needed to push more and she said she couldn’t, but everyone said she had to. One more push and Esme came out, pink and vital, eyes wide open, with no signs of distress. Three pushes and 90 seconds and she was out at 4:23 PM on Saturday, February 6th, 2010! We had been in active labor for 14 hours, something which we only realized afterwards, of course.
We were told that they needed to cut the cord immediately and the pediatric team needed to intubate her (also something we didn’t want, but realized was necessary) because of the meconium present in her fluid—this lasted about 90 seconds, everything was clear! Thankfully she hadn’t breathed any in. Even though we were told this needed to happen, it took both Rachel and Dani some time to realize: Rachel was asking “where’s the baby?” repeatedly and Dani, who was so wrapped up in Rachel’s super-human powers had to be told a few times to “go be with your daughter” while the peds worked her over. She got Apgar scores of 8 and 9, and there was nothing to be concerned about with our 9 lb 6 oz girl. She measured in at 21 ¼ “—she was a very lithe little thing.
We loved sleeping with her that first night in the hospital: she slept the night through after such a tiring day in Ima’s (Dani’s) arms. We woke up at some point, just to spend time in wonder and awe over our newest and best accomplishment and how precious and perfect our girl was. We requested to be released 24 hours after the birth and the team at UCSF was very proactive in making this happen. We never had to chase anyone down to make sure things were getting done, they came to us! We slept in our bed, with our Esme the evening of February 7th.
Although there were things that happened during the birth that were unexpected and were specifically not in our birth plan, we would not change this experience for the world. It was so positive, beautiful, empowering and poignant—we will remember it all our lives as the most perfect birth we could have asked for.
We had surrendered our Birth Center birth, but we were more than prepared: we had our well-conceived, meticulously detailed birth plan in hand (on heavy duty card stock, just try to loose that), we had food and drink for several days, so Rachel wouldn’t be forced to eat hospital food only, and Dani could eat from the arsenal, not to mention energy rich foods for labor, we had all our knowledge from our brilliant childbirth educators and all our reading and researching and we had our emotional support base, Anne Marie (our Doula), Judi and most importantly each other.
We settled into our room a little after 8 and were slowly introduced to our medical team. With Judi’s help, we made the decision, against the doctors’ advice, to start Cervidil around 1 AM. We knew one of the draw backs to the Cervidil was that Rachel would have to keep the E.F.M. on as well as have an I.V. line placed. Once again, our girl would have nothing to do with the E.F.M., and our night nurse, who was very kind, had to come and fix it every 20 minutes during the night.
We had a (total) of 16 hours on the Cervidil, enough to efface and soften Rachel’s cervix to the point that we decided to try a 60 CC foley bulb at 11 PM on Friday evening, which dilated her to about 4 cm then fell out after 45 minutes. Rachel had started having regular contractions towards the end of the Cervidil treatment, and we were excited things were on their way! We started Pit at 2 AM on Saturday, February 6th, active labor started almost immediately. Rachel’s body was so ready for this labor to happen that we ended up calling Anne Marie in at 4 AM for her support! Rachel moved along so well that we were fully settled in there around 6AM: there was no question we were in labor!
Rachel was using her Hypnobirthing breathing techniques to their fullest extent and found them to be very helpful with staying calm, focused and relaxed. The contractions were quite sensational at this point and we used the tub, the toilet and the bed as the three main laboring places. We never focused on timing the contractions or paid attention to the time of day: Rachel was so internally focused that she didn’t get even an idea of her surroundings until our girl was about an hour old! Hypnobirthing technique teaches low, hypnotic moaning during each contraction and Rachel used this well—it was a surprise when everyone in the room joined in with each moan, creating a powerful chorus of women welcoming a baby into the world. Sometimes, the contractions would come and Dani would remind Rachel to say “I love you” as a way to open up and greet our baby, a technique recommended by our Doula—Rachel would sing “I love you” and Dani would repeat it and this continued through many of the contractions. It was a good reminder of the reason why we were making conscious decisions about the way we wanted to birth.
We were so lucky to have an incredible labor and delivery nurse, Meghan. Not only did she join in with our coping techniques like the moaning, but she tirelessly held the fetal monitor on our girl so we could move around as much as we wanted! Meghan had approached Dani during the labor to thank her for allowing her to be a part of our Hypnobirthing birth, which gave us a tremendous sense of truly being allowed to labor how we wanted to labor. We had put a sign on the door asking everyone to “please enter quietly, Hypnobirthing in progress”—this was very helpful as Rachel has no memory of being interrupted by anyone entering or exiting the room.
At some point, Rachel felt an intense need to push and was asked the doctor to check on our progress—we were 6 cm dilated! Rachel’s water broke around this time, and it was clear there was meconium staining. The contractions started to slow down in frequency and intensity and Rachel began to feel like this might go on forever and she couldn’t do it any more. She expressed as much to our team, and their support was of primary importance to continue forward. After this small break from contractions, they picked up in intensity and Rachel’s body was pounding down with every one. Around this time the midwives, Serena and Evaly, showed up and we remember Anne Marie announcing to them that she thought we were in transition. Rachel’s body had taken so well to the labor that the Pit had been turned down. Rachel’s back was aching with every contraction and the midwives and doula helped relieve discomfort with body positions and massage—it was not until Dani saw the baby come out face up that we realized Rachel had been having back labor. Not knowing seemed to be really helpful, because it gave Rachel one less thing to talk and think about.
Throughout the labor, Dani’s support with Hypnobirthing techniques was very helpful as well as making sure Rachel had food and drink throughout labor. We had prepared a Hypnobirthing mix (of Hypnobirthing breathing techniques and affirmations) as well as a calming, soothing instrumental mix to listen to during labor—keeping this going was part of Dani’s job, too! The most instrumental support that Dani gave to Rachel was her connection to Rachel’s experience—we cried together, struggled together, enjoyed the respites together. Rachel specifically remembers that Dani was able to say things that she didn’t even know she needed to hear exactly when she needed to hear them. These things were not scripted or practiced, but came from the connection that we share. Sometimes, though, Dani had to say things Rachel didn’t want to hear, but that was important, too—when firm instructions needed to be given. When Rachel felt she wasn’t strong enough, Dani was and that made all the difference.
We used the horse breathing technique to delay pushing as long as Rachel felt like she could, at which point, we asked the doctor to come back for an examination. We had dilated to 9 cm and told to continue not pushing by the doctor. However, when the doctor left the room, Serena took one look at what Rachel was doing instinctually, which was emitting small grunts and allowing her uterus to push the baby down very slowly and told her that what she was doing was perfect; to let her body do the pushing that it needed to do. The Hypnobirthing breathing and visualizations of her cervix being a rose bud that was opening petal by petal were invaluable to us and the technique of “breathing the baby down” was no exception. The doctors were called in for the delivery. Rachel was comfortable lying on her side, with Evaly taking the weight of her top leg, Dani at her side holding her hand and face and talking her through this, and Serena and Anne Marie at her back, massaging and comforting. Rachel’s body really took over and the sensation of allowing the baby to descend naturally was so satisfying that Dani cooed over her smiles and exclamations of “Yessss!”. At this point, the baby had an internal fetal monitor placed on her (something we didn’t want, but realized was necessary), because she was positioned in such a way that the E.F.M. was no longer functional.
The contractions had the top of the baby’s little head bobbing in and out and we could see about 1 cm of her head when our girl’s heartbeat descended with contractions and rebounded after each one, except the last: we were told we had to get the baby out NOW. Everyone told us to push and Rachel said “I already am!” to which Dani replied, “No, honey, PURPLE PUSHING” which turned out to be the magic words—there was no question what that meant! The entire team flung Rachel on her back with Evaly and Serena bearing their shoulders into her feet. Rachel pushed once, took a deep breath, pushed again—Esme Rose had her head out! Rachel was frantically told she needed to push more and she said she couldn’t, but everyone said she had to. One more push and Esme came out, pink and vital, eyes wide open, with no signs of distress. Three pushes and 90 seconds and she was out at 4:23 PM on Saturday, February 6th, 2010! We had been in active labor for 14 hours, something which we only realized afterwards, of course.
We were told that they needed to cut the cord immediately and the pediatric team needed to intubate her (also something we didn’t want, but realized was necessary) because of the meconium present in her fluid—this lasted about 90 seconds, everything was clear! Thankfully she hadn’t breathed any in. Even though we were told this needed to happen, it took both Rachel and Dani some time to realize: Rachel was asking “where’s the baby?” repeatedly and Dani, who was so wrapped up in Rachel’s super-human powers had to be told a few times to “go be with your daughter” while the peds worked her over. She got Apgar scores of 8 and 9, and there was nothing to be concerned about with our 9 lb 6 oz girl. She measured in at 21 ¼ “—she was a very lithe little thing.
We loved sleeping with her that first night in the hospital: she slept the night through after such a tiring day in Ima’s (Dani’s) arms. We woke up at some point, just to spend time in wonder and awe over our newest and best accomplishment and how precious and perfect our girl was. We requested to be released 24 hours after the birth and the team at UCSF was very proactive in making this happen. We never had to chase anyone down to make sure things were getting done, they came to us! We slept in our bed, with our Esme the evening of February 7th.
Although there were things that happened during the birth that were unexpected and were specifically not in our birth plan, we would not change this experience for the world. It was so positive, beautiful, empowering and poignant—we will remember it all our lives as the most perfect birth we could have asked for.
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