03/29/2024
Rachna’s ten word birth story: Waiting, questioning, strength. Swaying, coping, rest. Finally, she is here.
Rachna was set to have a 39-week induction, but due to staff shortages at GRH she had to wait multiple days, including 24 hours after her water broke spontaneously, before a nurse was available for her. During these hard waiting days, I stayed in regular contact with her and her husband, advising them on what to do at home to get labour going and when to go into the hospital.
When I arrived at the hospital in the early morning of January 5th, Rachna was in spontaneous labour in triage. I switched out with her husband and started applying counterpressure and repeating affirmations through the surges.
We finally got into a labour room at 9:45 am and Rachna’s cervix was 3-4 cm. She technically wasn’t in active labour yet, so the doctor advised starting an oxytocin IV to get the contractions a bit stronger. For the next few hours, Rachna laboured while standing and leaning, moving through the surges according to her intuition. She used combs in her hands as distracting sensation, and heat packs on her back to ease some of the discomfort.
After deciding to get an epidural, Rachna spent about an hour alone in the washroom. Without the pressure of the nurse, the ability to move as she wanted to, and the power of the dilation station (aka the toilet), Rachna came out of the bathroom in a different stage of labour, potentially already in transition. Her surges were close together and she was experiencing nerve pain shooting down her legs. After this change, Rachna was quickly able to get an epidural at 11:30 am to give her some relief.
At 12:54 pm another cervical check revealed that Rachna was fully dilated and her baby was low down, the nurse could see her baby’s hair already! It didn’t take Rachna too long to figure out how to push, and with my guidance her husband was able to support her physically and with lots of encouragement throughout pushing. Baby A was born at 2:23 pm weighing 5 lbs 12 oz!
