Consumers Supporting Midwifery Care

Our first baby was due April 25, 2004. I finished working April 8 and used the time off to rest every minute that my body desired, clean and nest and prepare everything for the arrival of this little one. As the due date approached I felt prepared and ready for the birth and eager for it to take place. The due date came and went. On Sunday, May 2, we went to a friend’s house for dinner and once home we used some pressure points that our doula had told us about and got ready for bed. Around 12:35 as we were ready for bed I noticed that my tummy was hardening and at that same time I was feeling a sensation so when I felt this sensation I asked my husband if my tummy was hardening at the same time and he confirmed that it was. After this had happened several times we decided to count the time in between just for the fun of it. In doing so we noticed that this was happening about every 7 minutes. I didn’t know if it was real or false labour. We went to bed. I had a hard time to fall asleep, still wondering if it was every 7 minutes and checking the clock when I had a contraction. We timed contractions on the palm pilot using a contraction timer program. I slept off and on through the night and around 8:30 I had to get up because I needed to be doing something to deal with the contractions. We spent the morning doing various things: I did the ironing, we tidied the house, finished packing the hospital bag, watched TV, relaxed and we watched coverage of the Liberal sponsorship scandal. I dealt with the contractions one by one. As evening approached I kept doing different things to cope with the contractions. By this time I was losing my mucous plug and we knew it was really labour. We called the midwife on call. Contractions were strong enough that I knew I could not sleep so I found ways to cope such as rocking, hanging over the birth ball, hot showers etc. I was amazed at my clearness of mind during labour. I could get things done as I laboured.

Around 1:20am contractions were strong and close together, like 3-5 minutes apart and when my husband realised it he said, “Oh boy, time to make some calls” It was kind of funny because I think at that point it became real to him too. So he called our doula and our midwife. Once the midwife arrived she watched me cope with a couple contractions and then said that either nothing was happening or I was the strong silent type so the only way she could tell what was going on was to examine me. She did an internal exam and said “You’re 9.” I couldn’t believe it! She said that at this point we had to leave for the hospital immediately and that if we waited she could not safely put me in a car to go there. She asked if we had considered a home birth and we said yes but that we would go with our original plan to go to the hospital. So we packed up our stuff and everyone loaded into their cars and followed us to the hospital. My husband was under strict orders to keep right in front of the midwife and to pull over immediately if my water broke or I felt like pushing. We arrived at the hospital room probably around 3:00am May 4. The room was dim with most of the lights off and quiet with the clock ticking and quiet talking only. I passed each contraction one by one.

I had my water broken around 6 or 7 am. I was afraid that it would cause a drastic increase in contraction frequency and intensity but it did not. Later in the morning I began to feel pressure and eventually felt like I could push. In the beginning I pushed sitting on the birth ball and as things got more serious I got into a kneeling position at the end of the birthing bed. I had a stack of pillows in front of me and rested on them between contractions. My husband and doula were on each side of the bed. When I felt a contraction coming I would rise up and push my arms against theirs, bearing down and pushing. Pushing was hard and seemed to take so long. I remember feeling like my face would be covered in broken blood vessels, such was the pressure. I remember asking if the baby was crowning because it seemed like I was making no progress. Eventually the mdiwfe had my husband come see the head and the second midwife took his place at my side. Then I knew we were getting closer. Once the baby’s head was out I didn’t really notice the shoulders coming out. Then the rest of her body seemed to fly out and behind it a wave of fluid and the most incredible sense of relief. I heard her cry, and I fell forward onto the stack of pillows and cried. They put our baby in front of me and I looked at her and counted her fingers and toes and looked and saw that she was a little girl and cried with joy.

I felt like I could do anything. I had just achieved a 34 hour labour drug and intervention free.

I am so grateful for the wonderful birth experience that I had and credit this largely to the care I received from the midwives at the Midwifery Collective of Ottawa.

*name changed by request