Last week was Spring break for my daughter and I pretty much missed most of it.
I got a call at 3:30am for someone who was in labor an hour away. I drove to the woman's house to find her working hard with contractions that were every 3-4 minutes. But then sometimes irregular, and every 5-6 minutes. Back pain. Posterior baby? I tried to palpate quickly to figure out baby's position and really felt like the back was out front. It's hard though, to have someone in labor lay on their back between contractions. I might have had 30 seconds of palpating before she had to get up again.
By 11am contractions had spaced out quite a bit. I sent the apprentice home. I drove around the town for an hour not wanting to make this woman feel like a watched pot during prodromal labor. When I came back she wanted to be checked. 2cm with a tight band around the os.
I talked about going home and they didn't want me to leave. However, contractions were anywhere from 8-12 minutes apart and not nearly as strong. Encouraged the mama to rest and do lost of hands and knees, knee/chest, lunges, etc to alleviate back pain and encourage baby to get into a better position. By 5:30pm I was on the road towards home, stopping first to do a postpartum visit with another client.
By 7pm I was home, exhausted and hungry. My mom had ordered the kids pizza and there was left-overs waiting for me. Hurrah! Got the kids into bed by 9ish, fell asleep myself around 11pm and woke sporadically through the night, waiting for the phone to ring. It never did.
Around 9am I called my client. She had continued to have here and there contractions through the night and was able to sleep in between. Things were picking up again. I got dressed, took the kids to my MILs (they had plans to stay there 2 nights, 3 days and I was super excited about having the house to myself and G!). Around 1pm I arrived at client's house again. She was doing well with contractions that were every 5-6 minutes. Not so strong yet, but getting there. She asked to be checked again and she was a mere 3cm. I gave her gelsemium for the rigid os for the next several hours. The rest of the evening is a blur. I ended up calling my midwifery partner to come out that evening around 9pm. I was wrecked with exhaustion and felt like I needed some new perspective. It was beginning to feel very surreal being at this house for hours on end without having a lot of change going on.
We ended up using evening primrose oil capsules vaginally along with continued gelsemium. That really helped break up that band on the cervix. I slept from 12-2:30am and then got up so my partner could sleep. Everyone in the house was sleeping except for me and the woman in labor. It got to be that we were both sleeping in between contractions. As the sun rose, we did another cervical check. 5-6cm. It was Thursday morning. This poor woman. So strong, having incredible back labor, so tired and really being whipped emotionally. Ay yi yi.
The labor continued on throughout the day. The baby got lower and lower. By 3pm she asked for another check. 7cm.
An hour later she had had enough and asked to go to the hospital. This woman was attempting a VBAC at home and had only switched to a homebirth because her doctors told her at 30 weeks that she might be able to have a vaginal birth if Doctor X was on call the day she went into labor. But if Doctor Y was on call she'd have to have an immediate c-section because that particular doctor didn't pay the extra money needed for the malpractice insurance that would enable her to do VBACs. WTF?! Honestly, this system is so fucked up. Pardon me, but it is.
So there we were calling the hospital to let them know we were coming in. VBAC woman who has been in various bouts of labor for 3 days... We prayed they'd treat her well and respect her wishes. By 4:30 an epidural had been placed. My partner sent me home because I was completely wiped out exhausted. I drove home praying this woman would get the vaginal birth she wanted. I really hoped she was one of those women who get an epidural and just relax and literally pop open to 10cm.
Turns out she was. I got a call at 10:30 saying she had a beautiful vaginal birth with a really great midwifey-doctor who didn't cut the cord or yank out the placenta for a FULL hour!
The baby came out anterior with a very large caput on the right side of her head. Very asynclitic head. I saw them yesterday (4 days postpartum) and baby still had a bit of a bump on her head.Poor thing. but both mom and baby are doing well and it was really one of the best transports ever in our opinion.
So Thursday evening I came home. Kids gone, husband at work. I was so tired that I was wide awake. I called a friend and we went and grabbed a beer and nachos together. I'm actually off-call for 2 weeks or so and felt like I couldn't let the time off and the kids gone go to waste, so to speak. Had to have some social outing of sorts!
Came home, had a shower, and watched some Spanish movie from the library. Stretched out in my bed (nobody in it but ME!) and felt like I was in a different life.
Friday morning, G and I got breakfast together without having to keep children entertained or in their seats. Went to the new foo-foo grocery store and held hands as we looked at really overpriced food. (G appalled at cod for $20 a pound.)
Friday afternoon, MIL brings children home. G goes to work and MIL stays the night. I yawn through the day as we go here and there with the kids. Watched Changing Time with Catherine Denueve and Gerard Depardieu as little E slept next to me. Another night of lone foreign-movie watching. Ahhh, my fave way to relax.
Saturday kids had a birthday party to attend. They had fun. I felt tired and socially awkward. Nothing to talk about. My whole life is pregnancy, birth and a little gardening. Cold and rainy and a day that felt like one should just stay in bed.
Ended up meeting friends at the brewery with the kids for pizza, trivia and beer (and root beer!). That was the best. The kids were awesome and the friends were funny.
Sunday I had to go back out and do a postpartum visit for the VBAC woman. They're doing well. Did a lot of processing about the birth. Woman feeling good about how things worked out. Long, but really nice visit. Gorgeous baby, radiant mama.
Visited an old friend after postpartum visit, who lives out that way. He's the same as ever (which is a good thing) and smokes like a chimney as we all used to. Talked about art, books we've read, movies we've seen, latest revelations about life in general. Made me realize how much my life has changed. I used to have hours and hours to spend talking with this guy. After 30 minutes I had to abruptly stop and leave. realized G and kids were waiting for me and I still had an hour's drive home. Sunday, family time. I'm sitting in an old friend's smokey living room laughing and enjoying the conversation. Another lifetime. So strange. How we change as we grow older. (Don't mind me, I'm having my usual freak-out about my "life's path" because I turn 35 this year. Same thing happened at 24, 29, and now 34. Identity crisis on a very small scale.)
The rest of Sunday afternoon was nice. Bike ride with kids, hung out with K and worked on Birth Project stuff.
By last night I had a 101 fever and a very sore throat. The end result of sleep deprivation, I'm sure. Feel pretty crappy today, although fever is gone. Have to drive 45 minutes to MILs to get little E's seizure meds that she forgot to bring. Argh.
All right, off for another cup of Earl Gray with a lot of throat-soothing honey...
