Sunday, January 19, 2014

And Then We Had a Picnic...

They were expecting their first baby. Her labor had come on fast and steady, more quickly than most firsts. We had a couple phone calls through the day and each time we spoke, it sounded as though progress was happening rapidly.

She arrived on a cloud of calm.  Glowing in that way, the glow of labor.  We went back to her room and she got settled. Baby sounded wonderful and all was well. Her contractions were strong but becoming less frequent in their pattern.  I did a cervical exam and she was completely dilated! She was concerned that the contractions were slowing down. I explained to her that sometimes women are given a "pause" by their bodies. A little rest after all the work of dilation and before the work of pushing. She thought about this for a moment, smiled and then said "great, let's eat!".  She began to tell some stories about a birth she had been to and other fun little anecdotes.  She was in the birth pool and we all gathered around, spread some food out and all enjoyed a picnic.  She continued to have contractions but they were relatively mild and still pretty spaced out.

Then about 2 hours after arriving, and after enjoying her picnic, she started to grunt. The contractions became stronger and closer together. Her body had decided that the time was now right and that the baby could make its appearance. She gracefully worked through pushing and brought her sweet little one Earthside, surrounded by peace and love.

2 comments:

  1. How often have you seen this 'pause' in action?

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  2. My doula trainer called it the "rest and be thankful" pause

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