One of the biggest reasons I wanted to become a doula is the experience I had with the birth of my first child. It made me passionate about making sure mothers are educated and supported through their pregnancy and birth. I did not take any childbirth or breastfeeding classes. Aside from reading "What to Expect When Expecting" and asking my mom about her birth experiences, I had no idea what was ahead. I just thought that if birth was something God created my body to do then it would just do it, no preparation required.
My due date was a few days away when I first started having braxton hicks, which I believed to be real labor. I went into labor and delivery and they sent me back home. The next morning I had an OB appointment. At the appointment my cervix was checked and I was thrilled to be 1 cm dilated, not knowing that this has little to no indication about when labor would start. I was convinced I was in the throws of labor. The doctor asked me about baby's movement and I said that I hadn't been feeling baby as much, but assumed it was because he had less room to move around. They sent me to do a non-stress test where they saw that my baby's heart rate had more decels than they wanted, so they did an ultrasound. The ultrasound revealed that he was gripping his own umbillical cord causing the decals.
After the ultrasound I was sent up to labor and delivery for further monitoring. While we were in triage when they took my blood pressure and realized it was a little high. The medical staff said that they were having a slow day and since my due date was in a couple days they could go ahead and get me in for an induction. Not having any idea of how an induction worked, I agreed. The nurse told me that the IV would be a medicine called pitocin, which is exactly what my body makes during labor, and that because this was my first labor I could expect to be in labor for 24-48 hours. When asked about pain management I told her that I would like to try it without any medication. The nurse laughed and gave me the epidural consent form.
After being admitted and the pitocin started, I was pretty giggly and excited the first two hours only feeling mild cramping. My mom got to the hospital with some jolly ranchers that I was happily sucking on to help with the hunger, due to having not eaten since the night before. After those first two hours, I started feeling the contractions and 30 minutes later my water broke. Once my water broke I could hardly stand to be in bed, so I moved to the bathroom to labor on the toilet. I told my husband and my mom I just wanted to be alone, so I labored on the toilet for the next two hours by myself until I just could not take the pain anymore. I kept thinking to myself that I had days left of labor from what the nurse said, how could I possibly go on? Five hours into labor I called my mom in to tell her to get the nurse because I wanted the epidural. My mom told me she thought I was close, but I just kept thinking 24-48 hours of labor and there was no way that I could be close to the end.
The next thing I remember was the nurse coming in and telling my mom and husband to leave. The anesthesiologist came in at which point I got the shakes and contractions seemed to have no break. Somehow I managed to hold still enough to get the epidural. I layed back in bed expecting the pain to be gone then I realized I was completely numb on my right side and felt the same pain on my left side. Now I couldn't even move to help with the pain. The nurse came in to give me a catheter and when she lifted the sheet she said, "Oh your baby has hair!". This is when I realized that they never checked me before giving me the epidural. It was just assumed that I could not have progressed that quickly.
The doctor came in and got ready for delivery. About twenty minutes after getting the epidural I started pushing and about twenty minutes later, my sweet baby boy, Jackson Paul was born. After only six hours of labor. He was placed briefly on my chest to cut the cord and then the baby nurse took him to weigh and measure him and give him a bath. I cannot say how long that took, but it felt like forever. My mom and husband were over looking at Jackson while I sat in bed crying, delivering the placenta and getting stitched up. It felt so weird to have him born, see him only briefly, and then be alone. Finally they brought him to me all bundled up and I just soaked in every part of him.
When I got pregnant again I knew that I needed to be better prepared for birth by educating myself. I knew that I wanted to do things differently and I really desired to have an unmedicated birth experience. By this time we had moved to Fort Riley and I met a wonderful midwife who really encouraged me throughout my pregnancy. A few days after my 38th week of pregnancy I woke up feeling super emotional and had a very distinctive nesting urge. Just as I finished deep cleaning the house, I went to the bathroom and heard a trickle but did not remember peeing. Sure enough my water had broke! I was not having contractions at the time, but I was so excited that this was it. I called my husband and a sitter and we headed to the hospital.
Thankfully, the midwife I had been seeing throughout my pregnancy was on that afternoon. She checked me and told me that I was 4 cm dialated and that I need to get walking and bouncing on the birth ball. She did not want me on pitocin! God was so gracious in allowing her to be there when I went in with broken water and no contractions! I walked and bounced, bounced and walked for about three hours before regular contractions picked up. They allowed intermittent fetal monitoring and encouraged me to get in the tub. About four hours into labor, I got into the tub and contractions started to pick up. I kept thinking "When is it going to get worse?"
After about an hour in the tub I started feeling pressure like I needed to poop. Terrified I was going to poop in the tub, I had a nurse help me onto the toilet. I then began pushing a baby out! Dropping to all fours on the bathroom floor, I could not help but bear down. It was so amazing feeling my body work to get my baby out! The nurse helped me move to the bed. I started to push on all fours while the nurse put a warm compress to help my baby's head crown. I then felt like I wanted to lay down on my back and pull my own legs up to push and that is exactly what I did. A doctor ran in just in time to catch the rest of my sweet baby girl! Penelope Claire was born just under six hours of unmedicated birth! I was on a birth high! I got to hold her for the first hour and nurse her. When I was ready, they took her and weighed her and then I got up out of bed on my own and took a shower within a couple hours of delivery.
After Daniel was born we just felt the desire to have another baby! My husband and I went on a date and discussed when to start trying for another baby. Daniel was 10 months old and we decided that we would try the next month, little did we know I was already pregnant! My pregnancy with Molly was definitely the most difficult. With each pregnancy my migraines became increasingly more concerning with symptoms including, vision loss, memory loss, paralysis in half of my body, fainting, vomitting, difficulty speaking and obviously the headache. After losing vision driving with my children in the car, I decided to see a neurologist and tried a medicine to help with the migraines. The medicine could affect the growth of the baby, so I had to go for monthly ultrasounds. The medication ended up not working, so I decided to go off of it because it wasn't worth any effect it could have on my baby.
When I was in my third trimester we got orders to move back to Fort Bragg. We made the move when I was 33 weeks pregnant. I am not sure if it was the move or just God's timing, but two weeks after we moved I went into labor at 35 weeks. I had regular contractions on and off all weekend until my water broke on a Sunday afternoon. Once my water broke, my body did the oppoosite of what it is supposed to do once that happens, contractions completely stalled. My husband, terrified of delivering the baby himself since fourth babies sometimes come quickly, decided we should go to the hospital. In triage, they verified that my water had broken and I was dilated to 4 cm. They were already talking about starting pitocin before I was even admitted! I argued that I would like to walk around and bounce. They said they wanted me on continuous fetal monitoring and that I could bounce beside the bed on the birthing ball.
At this point, I had completed my doula training (and would have had a doula had I not gone into labor so early) so I knew that I just needed to have some time and it was likely that my body would kick into active labor. My nurse was coming in about every 30 minutes asking me if I was ready for pitocin and I kept denying it. After about three hours of being pestered, my husband said that I was so stressed about fighting the pitocin my body was not going to go into labor (can you tell he heard a lot about being a doula while I was training?). The nurses changed shifts and the next nurse came in and said that since this was my fourth baby, my body knew what to do and it just needed a whiff of pitocin. She started me on the lowest dose and agreed to stop it when I asked. After only 30 minutes of pitocin my body kicked into action.
I got up and went to the bathroom and told my husband I felt like I needed to poop, at which he so wisely said, "Well that is probably the baby's head!" In disbelief I told him that was impossible and that I did not want to be checked. He then went and told the nurse that it was time. The midwife on call came in checked me and agreed with my husband, or should I say, doulo, it was time for baby to be born! My body felt best pushing on all fours and that is exactly how my little girl, Molly Evelyn, was born. Aside from hemorrhaging after the birth, it was a wonderful experience!
Laurel Zimmerman loves Jesus, her husband, four children, and serving others. In addition to being a homeschool mom and doula, she enjoys calligraphy in her free time.
