Birth Story of Luna

C and B began care with me at 9 weeks along in C’s second pregnancy.  C’s first birth ended in a cesarean delivery and she wanted a different experience this time around. Pregnancy progressed beautifully.  At 40.6 weeks, I had a group prenatal on positioning that C came to and gladly practiced all the positions and maneuvers.  After the class, I did a quick appointment and a cervical check.  C agreed to a membrane sweep at this time.  Her cervix was 3cm dilated, 50% effaced and baby was at a -1 station.  I gave C my homeopathy plan for labor encouragement, and we agreed to another round of sweeping in two days at her regular weekly appointment if no baby. Next day, C was on day two of homeopathy and was having nagging contractions about every 15 minutes that woke her in the night.  All day long they stayed the same.  That night it seemed like things weren’t going to pick up so C decided she would drink a little wine to help quiet her uterus.  I sat down to watch a tv show with my husband after our kids went to bed, not anticipating a birth call. About 9:30pm that night, I got a call from B.  He said C’s water had broke and she wants me to come now.  I quickly shot a text to my birth assistant and her doula so we could all meet and go.  All three of us were a good hour away and we had decided ahead of time that we would all ride together. C’s doula called back to let them know we were on the way.  B said contractions were every 5 minutes, and seemed closer when C tried talking to her doula. We made excellent timing to C’s.  We were ten minutes out when we got the call that C was done and wanted to transport.  We all encouraged her that we were close and let us see what was going on before going in because she could be progressing quickly! We arrived at 10:40pm and found C in the shower, B using the shower head to provide counter pressure.  The birth pool was 75% up.  It was obvious looking at things that things had started fast and furious. C was working hard.  Contractions were on top of each other.  My heart broke for her when she would tell me it hurt so much.  After much talking, C agreed to a cervical check.  A few minutes after 11pm, I found C to be 9cm dilated, completely effaced and baby at a 0 station.  We all encouraged C how close she was.  She got off the bed and headed right to the shower for the counter pressure with the shower head helped immensely. Since C was so far along, the birth pool was out.  The birth assistant and I got the pool down and got the room ready for delivery.  I gave C a few drops of rescue remedy to help with the intensity of things.  She stopped talking about going to the hospital, and went into labor land. As midnight drew near, C tried hands and knees and moved to the bed to lay on her side.  I gave her another dose of rescue remedy, which seemed to be the perfect remedy for C.  As long as we used the rescue remedy every thirty minutes, C could cope with the intensity of her labor. Through the next hour, C tried multiple positions.  Squatting, then hands and knees and the birth stool.  The baby was moving down, causing a lot of pressure.  C requested for warm compresses on her perineum as she labored through each contraction.  Her doula was providing count pressure through each contraction. At 1am, C began to push.  A couple minutes later she decided to try the toilet, but that didn’t last long.  C mentioned feeling more pressure, and when my hand went down to feel, I felt a baby head starting to on the perineum.  I told C I would need her to stand or squat or some other position so we could catch the baby.  After a couple minutes, C got up and moved to her bed side, squatting while leaning over the bed.  Baby was crowning at 1:17, followed by the whole baby at 1:18.  Sweet victory, mama got her VBAC. Within a few moments, after soaking her sweet baby in, C looked at all of us and commented on how grateful she was that she did not go to the hospital and stayed home. Welcome to the world sweet Luna!  Born earthside on January 5, 2015 at 1:18am, weighing in at 7lbs, 6ozs, 18.5 inches long.  She took her mama on quite the 3.5 hour labor journey and showed her mama how strong she is!  So loved by her sweet family, especially her big brother!