Warning: This is my longest birth ever! Part 1

Lisa and Ryan hired me as their doula, knowing I was heading out of town when she was 41 weeks.  She picked Alison as her back up doula, just in case she hadn’t birthed yet.  She is a first time mom, so we knew it was totally possible I may miss the birth.

7 AM Thursday Morning:

I was excited when Lisa called to say her water had broken.  I was also a little nervous because I was leaving early Saturday morning and potentially the baby may not be born by then.  I alerted Alison and told her what was going on and that hopefully we would have a nice fast birth, but that she should be ready to come to the hospital at 9 PM on Friday if baby wasn’t born yet.

Lisa wasn’t having any PW yet, so they spend the day trying to get things going on their own.  I spent the time running around doing my last minute preparations for my trip.

Around 2 PM Thursday:

Lisa was ready to go to the hospital, things were still not getting going and she was ready to go in.   The nurse at her OBs office was not happy she hadn’t called earlier.  Lisa told her, “I have no fever, baby is nice and active, water is clear so I felt good staying home.”

I went to their house around 2:45 because Lisa and Ryan wanted to review all the choices before they went in.  I must say I was nervous,

• Would the nurses or OB try to make them feel guilty for waiting to go in?
• How quickly were they going to push Pitocin?
• How long would they “let” her birthing time go on before pushing a cesarean?
• When was this baby going to be born?

(I was thrilled they were birthing at my favorite hospital with a great group of OBs, so I had high hopes, but was still a bit nervous)

5 PM Thursday

Our first nurse had 2 homebirths of her own. She was so supportive and encouraging.  No negative comments at all about waiting to come in.  Mom and baby doing great!  By 5 PM  we are all settled in the room.  We listened to the Baby Come Out Script, did nipple stimulation and walked.  By 7 PM Lisa was having PW every 3-4 minutes, but they were not intense enough to have to relax through.

7PM Thursday

We met Nurse #2, she had actually used Hypnobabies for her own birth 5 months earlier! OB #1 comes in and is fine with waiting until morning to start pit, if we even needed it.  We tried to get things stronger (more nipple stimulation, belly lifting, walking and even some Prostin around 10 PM)

1:30-5:30 AM Friday Morning

We decide to rest.  Lisa, Ryan and I “sleep” while listening to classical music on the radio.  We are awakened every 30 min or so by the nurse coming in, but we do get some rest.

Longest Birth Ever:

• Part 2
• Part 3
• Part 4