Lesson 9: The Second Stage of Labor
"I honestly believe that in our well-meaning attempt to tell a woman when we think she is at the pushing stage of her labor, we encourage her to push way too soon. The consequence is that when a woman begins pushing before a strong and irresistible urge is present, she uses her energy to accomplish a task that her body would do more effectively on its own if she was listening to her body's cues..." — Lois Wilson, excerpted from "When to Push: Listening to the Body's Cues"
introduction
 New Mama Skin-To-Skin With Her Baby!
In this lesson we learn more about the emotional and physical signposts of the Second Stage of Labor, which involves pushing and delivery of the baby. We discuss many of the common positions women find comfortable for pushing, the benefits of squatting, and the important role of immediate skin-to-skin contact with your baby for the health and wellbeing of both the mother and child.
We will close this lesson by reviewing birth videos and identifying the emotional signposts a woman may exhibit during each stage of labor; and most importantly, how she, as well as her support people, can best help her feel powerful and capable of birthing her baby. Please join us! |
Click for a larger image!
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learning goals & focus guide
Right Click to Download & Print This Focus Guide!
After viewing and completing Lesson 9 - "The Second Stage of Labor", students will be able to:
- Name 2 instances when squatting could help with pushing efforts during the second stage.
- Compare and contrast the following methods used during second stage, naming one example of when each technique might be helpful: spontaneous pushing, purple pushing, laboring down, and the middle ground approach suggested by Jacquelyn.
- List 3 positions for pushing that allow a woman's tailbone to flex open.
- Cite at least 3 benefits to the newborn of immediate skin-to-skin contact.
- Point out which phase and/or stage of labor Trisha (from the documentary Orgasmic Birth™) is experiencing, based on her emotional signposts.
- Name 2 instances when squatting could help with pushing efforts during the second stage.
- Compare and contrast the following methods used during second stage, naming one example of when each technique might be helpful: spontaneous pushing, purple pushing, laboring down, and the middle ground approach suggested by Jacquelyn.
- List 3 positions for pushing that allow a woman's tailbone to flex open.
- Cite at least 3 benefits to the newborn of immediate skin-to-skin contact.
- Point out which phase and/or stage of labor Trisha (from the documentary Orgasmic Birth™) is experiencing, based on her emotional signposts.
video lesson
The Second Stage of Labor: Pushing Your Baby Out & Putting He/She Immediately Skin-to-Skin
It's time to meet your baby! Here we discuss various positions useful during pushing, as well as the incredible benefits of immediate skin to skin contact with your newborn.
Audio Only:
Visual Aids:
A Kiwi Vacuum Extractor May Be Used To Assist A Mother's Pushing Efforts
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Forceps May Be Used To Assist A Mother's Pushing Efforts
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Pushing Positions, Demonstrated:
resources
~ "The Stages of Labor", by Penny Simkin
~ "What is the Evidence for Pushing Positions?", © 2012 Evidence Based Birth®, Blog Post By Rebecca Dekker, PhD, RN, APRN. Linked with permission.
~ "Prepared Childbirth: The Family Way", By Debby Amis and Jeanne Green (Your Purple Book, specifically pages 42, 44 & 45)
~ "What is the Evidence for Pushing Positions?", © 2012 Evidence Based Birth®, Blog Post By Rebecca Dekker, PhD, RN, APRN. Linked with permission.
~ "Prepared Childbirth: The Family Way", By Debby Amis and Jeanne Green (Your Purple Book, specifically pages 42, 44 & 45)
You can also squat outside of the bed if your provider will allow it. The partner can help by draping a rebozo or even just a sheet around their shoulders and allowing the mother to hang from the ends of the rebozo!
~ "Prepared Childbirth: The Family Way", By Debby Amis and Jeanne Green (Your Purple Book, page 44)
~ "Squatting for Birth: Preparation" by Katy Bowman, a Bio-mechanical Scientist
~ "The Importance of Skin-to-Skin Contact", by Jack Newman, M.D. FRCPC
~ Moran-Peters, J.A., Zauderer, C.R., Goldman, S., Baierlein, J. & Smith, A. E. (2014). A quality improvement project focused on women’s perceptions of skin-to-skin contact after cesarean birth. Nursing for Women’s Health, 18(4), 294-303. (If you are giving birth at a hospital where immediate skin-to-skin contact after cesarean is not the standard, share this small qualitative study with your provider!)
~ "The Evidence for Skin-to-Skin Care After a Cesarean" ~ © 2012 Evidence Based Birth®, Blog Post By Rebecca Dekker, PhD, RN, APRN. Linked with permission.
~ "Squatting for Birth: Preparation" by Katy Bowman, a Bio-mechanical Scientist
~ "The Importance of Skin-to-Skin Contact", by Jack Newman, M.D. FRCPC
~ Moran-Peters, J.A., Zauderer, C.R., Goldman, S., Baierlein, J. & Smith, A. E. (2014). A quality improvement project focused on women’s perceptions of skin-to-skin contact after cesarean birth. Nursing for Women’s Health, 18(4), 294-303. (If you are giving birth at a hospital where immediate skin-to-skin contact after cesarean is not the standard, share this small qualitative study with your provider!)
~ "The Evidence for Skin-to-Skin Care After a Cesarean" ~ © 2012 Evidence Based Birth®, Blog Post By Rebecca Dekker, PhD, RN, APRN. Linked with permission.
diving deeper
Want to Dive Deeper? Let's Go!
~ "Pushing for First-Time Moms", by Gloria Lemay from Midwifery Today
~ "Finding a Care Provider who will Support Upright Pushing Positions", ~ © 2012 Evidence Based Birth®, Blog Post By Rebecca Dekker, PhD, RN, APRN. Linked with permission.
~ "Finding a Care Provider who will Support Upright Pushing Positions", ~ © 2012 Evidence Based Birth®, Blog Post By Rebecca Dekker, PhD, RN, APRN. Linked with permission.
Web It! Resources from The Family Way®:
~ "Some of My Best Friends Are Germs" - Medicine used to be obsessed with eradicating the tiny bugs that live within us. Now we’re beginning to understand all the ways they keep us healthy." From The New York Times
~ This video on the importance of skin to skin for one little baby may be a tear-jerker, but it has an incredible, happy ending that makes it worth watching!
~ This video on the importance of skin to skin for one little baby may be a tear-jerker, but it has an incredible, happy ending that makes it worth watching!
“'Microbirth™' is a new 60 minute documentary investigating the latest scientific research about the microscopic events happening during childbirth. These events could have life-long consequences for the health of our children and potentially could even impact mankind." - From the official website, microbirth.com
reflection opportunities
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Student Poll: |
Journal Entry:
Please visit the forum below under "Unit 3: Preparing For The Stages Of Labor - The Second Stage Of Labor" to reflect on the following question:
- Compare and contrast the following methods used during second stage, naming one example of when each technique might be helpful: spontaneous pushing, purple pushing, laboring down, and the middle ground approach suggested by Jacquelyn.
- Compare and contrast the following methods used during second stage, naming one example of when each technique might be helpful: spontaneous pushing, purple pushing, laboring down, and the middle ground approach suggested by Jacquelyn.
Please note you must log in to the forum at the beginning of each online session, even after you have already logged into the Class Portal. Click below on "Powerful Mamas Online Student Forums" to access this feature:
Inspiring Birth Stories!
"Friday, which was my due date, started off like most of my days. I woke up around 6:00 am but noticed I wasn’t feeling 100 percent. I just felt kind of off and a bit nauseous. I had planned to go garage sale hunting with my mom that morning. I called Mom at 6:30 to let her know that a garage sale expedition didn’t seem like a great idea. In the meantime, Lawrence got up for work. I started having some contractions that were about 15 mins apart, but didn’t think too much about it. At 7:00, I told Lawrence to go ahead and go to work because, even if the contractions were actually a result of being in labor, I figured I probably had lots of time ahead of me. By 7:40, I called our doula because I suspected I was in real labor and not false labor. After talking with me, she agreed and told me to keep her posted about when we wanted her to arrive.
In the meantime, Lawrence realized he’d forgotten his work laptop at home and stopped back to get it. When he came home he could see my labor had progressed significantly since this morning. He started timing my contractions. He realized quickly that my contractions were consistent and regularly about 3 minutes a part. Going back to work for the day was out of the question, but he needed to transfer some work to a coworker and wrap up some loose ends. It’s such a blessing we live so close to his work in situations like that! He was back home for good by 8:40. We called our doula again at 9:00 so she could evaluate my progress. We asked her to come to the house since there seemed to be no doubt labor was in progress.
While we waited for her to arrive, I continued to labor at home and eventually lost my mucus plug around 9:30. That really sealed the deal for me. I no longer doubted whether or not this round of contractions was actually going to result in seeing my son. I never quite got the excited feeling a lot of people talk about in early labor. It just gave me determination and strength for the task ahead. I did a lot of walking and leaning on Lawrence for support during each contraction. Moving and swaying during the contractions really helped with the discomfort. Being able to move made labor so much more bearable.
Our doula, Jacquelyn, arrived at our house around 10:00 am. It was so great to have her there with us, encouraging me to breathe during the contractions. Having an expert there with us gave me a lot of peace of mind. It’s so easy to feel uncertain during labor, especially for a first time mom. Having her guidance and suggestions made a world of difference to me because I didn’t have to think, I could just focus on breathing and laboring.
I labored on our exercise ball for the next hour at home. By this point, contractions were two minutes apart and it was clear I was definitely in active labor. We started talking about when to transfer to the hospital. Jacquelyn asked me ideally how far I would like to have dilated by the time we got to the hospital. I told her 7 cm. Knowing we had a 20 minute drive to the hospital, we decided at 11:00 to head over there.
I had been dreading the car ride since we discovered that our hospital was on the other side of town. It was twice the distance from our house compared to the hospitals downtown. While not the most convenient hospital, it ended up being the best choice in the long run. I rode in the back seat of the Corolla, half the time leaning over the back of the seat and the other half just sitting. I had my eyes closed for most of the trip because it helped me focus and not think about how long it was taking to get to the hospital. I remember looking up at one point and seeing the Lawrence was driving 62 mph through downtown, which has a speed limit of 55 mph. While that doesn’t seem particularly remarkable for most people that was a big deal for Lawrence and I knew he meant business. Lawrence has religiously followed the speed limit for as long as I’ve known him so it brought me a fair amount of comfort to realize he was breaking his rule to get me there faster. During the drive we had a Coldplay cd playing in the background and I remember Lawrence asking me if I wanted it turned off. Turns out Coldplay was a good distraction while laboring in the car so I told him to leave it on. I never would have guessed that Coldplay would make it into my laboring soundtrack.
As we walked into the hospital, my water partially broke. It’s such an odd feeling to have warm liquid running down your legs. As we got to the third floor, the nurses greeted us by name and told us which room was ours. I was officially admitted to the hospital at 11:26. When I got to my room, they hooked me up to the fetal monitor so they could get a strip of heart tones for Logan. Meanwhile, our doula filled them laboring tub with water. My midwife checked my dilation and announced I was in between 6 and 7 cm dilated! I was so glad to hear I had already made so much progress.
After baby’s heart beats were recorded as healthy and strong, I got into the tub. Meanwhile, nurses were asking general admittance questions. That was probably one of the more irritating parts to me because I just wanted to focus on breathing and getting through my contractions. Thankfully, it was short lived and I knew they were doing their best to get it over with so I could focus on my task.
I ended up transitioning in the tub, which eased some of the pain and difficulty. The buoyancy of the water really helped to relieve pressure and pain in my belly. I felt relatively lightweight for a moment in time. It was a wonderful sensation because the baby feels so heavy by the end of the pregnancy. It was really lovely. I felt so hot most of the time I was in labor too so the cool tub water was also heavenly. It was like a cool hand on a fevered forehead. Since the hospital doesn’t allow water births it was necessary for me to get out of the water to finish the laboring process. Once I got out, I started feeling the urge to push, which ushered in the hardest part of labor for me. I started pushing at about 1:00.
One of the things I particularly loved about having a midwife, doula and a pro-natural birth hospital was the encouragement to try different laboring positions. This was a huge priority for me because I didn’t want to be stuck strapped to a bed, lying on my back. I wanted to be able to move and get my body in the best position possible to deliver the baby. I tried squatting, lying on my side, doing a modified lunge, standing, kneeling over an exercise ball, leaning over the back of the hospital bed, and finally semi-sitting, which is how I ultimately delivered Logan. Making the decision to go with our midwife, having a doula, and having a supportive hospital setting ended up making all the difference in the outcome of Logan’s birth. After discussing with our labor experience with our doula post-birth, we believe that at some point Logan turned occiput posterior (OP), meaning his head was along my back, during the time I was pushing. Typically with babies that are OP, painful back labor is part of the process. I never remember experiencing back labor, which lead my doula and midwife to believe Logan had been properly position for most of labor. The trouble with OP babies is not just the fact it causes back labor but that it makes it much more difficult to actually deliver them. As a result, the first hour and half of pushing I was made very little progress. One of the highlights for me is when my doula prayed for me and shared Philippians 4:13 with me, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It really encouraged me and gave me motivation to keep working towards my goal.
Unfortunately, things weren’t really progressing. The baby was moving down, but very slowly. At that point, the dreaded c-section was briefly mentioned, not as a threat, but as a possibility if we couldn’t figure out how to turn the baby. Pushing is so exhausting that it really cannot continue indefinitely. Due to all the pushing and my sensitive skin type, I ended up with some severe swelling which was limiting the types of positions I could use to labor. Positions like squatting are great for giving babies room to turn but put too much pressure on already swollen parts so it wasn’t a good idea. It eventually came to the point where my team decided it was better to risk some additional swelling to turn the baby or I was most likely looking at a c-section. It was at this point that my doula and labor nurse, collaborated and figured out a way for me to do a modified lunge pose, where I had one foot on a chair and one foot on the floor. Technically, it is against hospital policy to get out of the bed once pushing has begun, but both my midwife and labor nurse were on board with violating the rules. Thank the Lord they were willing to let me try the modified lunge position because that position ended up being the key to success. Over the course of the next few contractions I was able to give Logan enough room to turn into an anterior position. My doula later told me she could actually see Logan turning and then making a rapid decent with each contraction because my belly was literally bumping and moving with each contraction. She said in the hundred or so births she’s attended she’s never seen anything like it.
I am so thankful my midwife is a patient woman, who was willing to give me time and exhaust all options, even ones against hospital policy, before resorting to invasive measures like a c- section. When discussing my labor and delivery with my doula afterwards, she emphasized how critical our decisions had been in the outcome of Logan’s birth. Had we made different choices my laboring could have easily ended with a c- section instead of a vaginal birth. Early on in the pregnancy Lawrence and I purposely picked a care provider who was very supportive of natural child birth. That decision gave us access to the hospital with the best reputation for encouraging natural birth and an incredibly supportive nursing staff. The head nurse attending my labor and delivery also happened to be in charge of the free doula program the hospital offered. Coincidence or luck? I think not. It was God perfectly orchestrating all the details. It was the result of many people’s prayers on my behalf. I know I had at least half a dozen people praying for me during labor. We took natural child birth classes which gave us skills and access to information that helped us make informed decisions. Lastly, we hired a doula to help us navigate the uncertain and unpredictable process of labor. Her suggestions, encouragement, and collaboration with the other members of our team helped to make a natural delivery possible. We prayed about the decisions we made along the way and it is clear to me God’s hand was in all of it.
After all the hard work of getting Logan to turn there was an upswing in the mood of my delivery room. Pushing suddenly became a lot more productive and the threat of a c-section faded away into the background. I got back into the bed and pushed in a semi sitting position. I could instantly tell the difference in how effective my pushes were. After a few contractions I heard my midwife tell the nurses to get prepped for delivery. I was really tired having pushed for nearly two hours, so hearing and seeing the nurses prep for delivery was music to my ears and a sight for sore eyes.
Near the very end of pushing, my doula told me if I wanted, I could reach down and feel Logan’s head. I was so ready and determined to finish that I didn’t really care to stop and have a moment. I just wanted him out where I could see him and not just feel him. I said, “Don’t even care. I just want to finish.” I couldn’t see people’s reactions to my comment, but Lawrence told me later they were all trying not to laugh. I had a couple more contractions and finally Logan’s head crowned. My midwife tried to get me to slow down the pushing at the very end to minimize tearing but I ended up with a second degree tear anyway. It was so difficult to slow down the pushing because the compulsion to finish was so strong. I was truly surprised I couldn’t feel the tear happening. I was always convinced I would be able to feel it. I’m very thankful I was wrong about that! It is a blessed relief to know I couldn’t feel the tear!
I didn’t quite realize it was over until Logan was on my chest. After 8 hours of labor, it was so surreal to be seeing the baby I had carried for 9 months. It was awe inspiring to finally be holding him! I never expected the process to go so quickly! It is certainly more unusual for a first time mom to progress as quickly and smoothly as I did. It surprised both Lawrence and me.
Immediately following birth Logan had to be suctioned due to meconium that was present in the amniotic fluid. As a result, Lawrence had to cut the umbilical cord right away. We had hoped to do delayed cord clamping but it wasn’t possible giving how he was breathing. Logan sounded a bit like Darth Vader right after birth because he had junk in his lungs. As a result, his APGAR score at one minute was a 7 and at five minutes was an 8. Thankfully, he recovered very quickly after being suctioned.
Meanwhile, I delivered the placenta after receiving the very uncomfortable fundus massage. That massaging of the uterus to aid in placenta delivery and reduce the risk of hemoraging is quite unpleasant after all the work of labor. Thankfully the placenta delivered easily and didn’t require any cord traction. The delivery of the placenta marked the official end to labor. I remember feeling so relieved it was over! No more intense pain. No more contractions. No more pushing.
On top of the immediate joy of seeing my son and the relief of having completed the task of labor was the overwhelming satisfaction that I had labored well and achieved my goal of a natural child birth. I am so very thankful that God blessed me with a short and efficient labor. As a result, I was able to complete the whole process without any drugs. Never once in the process did I feel a desire for drugs to help with the labor pain. God blessed me with the strength and determination to endure and cope with each contraction as it happened. I had hoped for a birth experience like this, but knew it might not be possible due to unforeseen complications. It is a gift from God to have a labor and delivery story like I do. I am truly amazed by what the female body is created to do. God gave us such an incredible ability to adapt and change in order to bring forth new life. What a blessing to have experienced this remarkable process!" ~ Ashley M.
In the meantime, Lawrence realized he’d forgotten his work laptop at home and stopped back to get it. When he came home he could see my labor had progressed significantly since this morning. He started timing my contractions. He realized quickly that my contractions were consistent and regularly about 3 minutes a part. Going back to work for the day was out of the question, but he needed to transfer some work to a coworker and wrap up some loose ends. It’s such a blessing we live so close to his work in situations like that! He was back home for good by 8:40. We called our doula again at 9:00 so she could evaluate my progress. We asked her to come to the house since there seemed to be no doubt labor was in progress.
While we waited for her to arrive, I continued to labor at home and eventually lost my mucus plug around 9:30. That really sealed the deal for me. I no longer doubted whether or not this round of contractions was actually going to result in seeing my son. I never quite got the excited feeling a lot of people talk about in early labor. It just gave me determination and strength for the task ahead. I did a lot of walking and leaning on Lawrence for support during each contraction. Moving and swaying during the contractions really helped with the discomfort. Being able to move made labor so much more bearable.
Our doula, Jacquelyn, arrived at our house around 10:00 am. It was so great to have her there with us, encouraging me to breathe during the contractions. Having an expert there with us gave me a lot of peace of mind. It’s so easy to feel uncertain during labor, especially for a first time mom. Having her guidance and suggestions made a world of difference to me because I didn’t have to think, I could just focus on breathing and laboring.
I labored on our exercise ball for the next hour at home. By this point, contractions were two minutes apart and it was clear I was definitely in active labor. We started talking about when to transfer to the hospital. Jacquelyn asked me ideally how far I would like to have dilated by the time we got to the hospital. I told her 7 cm. Knowing we had a 20 minute drive to the hospital, we decided at 11:00 to head over there.
I had been dreading the car ride since we discovered that our hospital was on the other side of town. It was twice the distance from our house compared to the hospitals downtown. While not the most convenient hospital, it ended up being the best choice in the long run. I rode in the back seat of the Corolla, half the time leaning over the back of the seat and the other half just sitting. I had my eyes closed for most of the trip because it helped me focus and not think about how long it was taking to get to the hospital. I remember looking up at one point and seeing the Lawrence was driving 62 mph through downtown, which has a speed limit of 55 mph. While that doesn’t seem particularly remarkable for most people that was a big deal for Lawrence and I knew he meant business. Lawrence has religiously followed the speed limit for as long as I’ve known him so it brought me a fair amount of comfort to realize he was breaking his rule to get me there faster. During the drive we had a Coldplay cd playing in the background and I remember Lawrence asking me if I wanted it turned off. Turns out Coldplay was a good distraction while laboring in the car so I told him to leave it on. I never would have guessed that Coldplay would make it into my laboring soundtrack.
As we walked into the hospital, my water partially broke. It’s such an odd feeling to have warm liquid running down your legs. As we got to the third floor, the nurses greeted us by name and told us which room was ours. I was officially admitted to the hospital at 11:26. When I got to my room, they hooked me up to the fetal monitor so they could get a strip of heart tones for Logan. Meanwhile, our doula filled them laboring tub with water. My midwife checked my dilation and announced I was in between 6 and 7 cm dilated! I was so glad to hear I had already made so much progress.
After baby’s heart beats were recorded as healthy and strong, I got into the tub. Meanwhile, nurses were asking general admittance questions. That was probably one of the more irritating parts to me because I just wanted to focus on breathing and getting through my contractions. Thankfully, it was short lived and I knew they were doing their best to get it over with so I could focus on my task.
I ended up transitioning in the tub, which eased some of the pain and difficulty. The buoyancy of the water really helped to relieve pressure and pain in my belly. I felt relatively lightweight for a moment in time. It was a wonderful sensation because the baby feels so heavy by the end of the pregnancy. It was really lovely. I felt so hot most of the time I was in labor too so the cool tub water was also heavenly. It was like a cool hand on a fevered forehead. Since the hospital doesn’t allow water births it was necessary for me to get out of the water to finish the laboring process. Once I got out, I started feeling the urge to push, which ushered in the hardest part of labor for me. I started pushing at about 1:00.
One of the things I particularly loved about having a midwife, doula and a pro-natural birth hospital was the encouragement to try different laboring positions. This was a huge priority for me because I didn’t want to be stuck strapped to a bed, lying on my back. I wanted to be able to move and get my body in the best position possible to deliver the baby. I tried squatting, lying on my side, doing a modified lunge, standing, kneeling over an exercise ball, leaning over the back of the hospital bed, and finally semi-sitting, which is how I ultimately delivered Logan. Making the decision to go with our midwife, having a doula, and having a supportive hospital setting ended up making all the difference in the outcome of Logan’s birth. After discussing with our labor experience with our doula post-birth, we believe that at some point Logan turned occiput posterior (OP), meaning his head was along my back, during the time I was pushing. Typically with babies that are OP, painful back labor is part of the process. I never remember experiencing back labor, which lead my doula and midwife to believe Logan had been properly position for most of labor. The trouble with OP babies is not just the fact it causes back labor but that it makes it much more difficult to actually deliver them. As a result, the first hour and half of pushing I was made very little progress. One of the highlights for me is when my doula prayed for me and shared Philippians 4:13 with me, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” It really encouraged me and gave me motivation to keep working towards my goal.
Unfortunately, things weren’t really progressing. The baby was moving down, but very slowly. At that point, the dreaded c-section was briefly mentioned, not as a threat, but as a possibility if we couldn’t figure out how to turn the baby. Pushing is so exhausting that it really cannot continue indefinitely. Due to all the pushing and my sensitive skin type, I ended up with some severe swelling which was limiting the types of positions I could use to labor. Positions like squatting are great for giving babies room to turn but put too much pressure on already swollen parts so it wasn’t a good idea. It eventually came to the point where my team decided it was better to risk some additional swelling to turn the baby or I was most likely looking at a c-section. It was at this point that my doula and labor nurse, collaborated and figured out a way for me to do a modified lunge pose, where I had one foot on a chair and one foot on the floor. Technically, it is against hospital policy to get out of the bed once pushing has begun, but both my midwife and labor nurse were on board with violating the rules. Thank the Lord they were willing to let me try the modified lunge position because that position ended up being the key to success. Over the course of the next few contractions I was able to give Logan enough room to turn into an anterior position. My doula later told me she could actually see Logan turning and then making a rapid decent with each contraction because my belly was literally bumping and moving with each contraction. She said in the hundred or so births she’s attended she’s never seen anything like it.
I am so thankful my midwife is a patient woman, who was willing to give me time and exhaust all options, even ones against hospital policy, before resorting to invasive measures like a c- section. When discussing my labor and delivery with my doula afterwards, she emphasized how critical our decisions had been in the outcome of Logan’s birth. Had we made different choices my laboring could have easily ended with a c- section instead of a vaginal birth. Early on in the pregnancy Lawrence and I purposely picked a care provider who was very supportive of natural child birth. That decision gave us access to the hospital with the best reputation for encouraging natural birth and an incredibly supportive nursing staff. The head nurse attending my labor and delivery also happened to be in charge of the free doula program the hospital offered. Coincidence or luck? I think not. It was God perfectly orchestrating all the details. It was the result of many people’s prayers on my behalf. I know I had at least half a dozen people praying for me during labor. We took natural child birth classes which gave us skills and access to information that helped us make informed decisions. Lastly, we hired a doula to help us navigate the uncertain and unpredictable process of labor. Her suggestions, encouragement, and collaboration with the other members of our team helped to make a natural delivery possible. We prayed about the decisions we made along the way and it is clear to me God’s hand was in all of it.
After all the hard work of getting Logan to turn there was an upswing in the mood of my delivery room. Pushing suddenly became a lot more productive and the threat of a c-section faded away into the background. I got back into the bed and pushed in a semi sitting position. I could instantly tell the difference in how effective my pushes were. After a few contractions I heard my midwife tell the nurses to get prepped for delivery. I was really tired having pushed for nearly two hours, so hearing and seeing the nurses prep for delivery was music to my ears and a sight for sore eyes.
Near the very end of pushing, my doula told me if I wanted, I could reach down and feel Logan’s head. I was so ready and determined to finish that I didn’t really care to stop and have a moment. I just wanted him out where I could see him and not just feel him. I said, “Don’t even care. I just want to finish.” I couldn’t see people’s reactions to my comment, but Lawrence told me later they were all trying not to laugh. I had a couple more contractions and finally Logan’s head crowned. My midwife tried to get me to slow down the pushing at the very end to minimize tearing but I ended up with a second degree tear anyway. It was so difficult to slow down the pushing because the compulsion to finish was so strong. I was truly surprised I couldn’t feel the tear happening. I was always convinced I would be able to feel it. I’m very thankful I was wrong about that! It is a blessed relief to know I couldn’t feel the tear!
I didn’t quite realize it was over until Logan was on my chest. After 8 hours of labor, it was so surreal to be seeing the baby I had carried for 9 months. It was awe inspiring to finally be holding him! I never expected the process to go so quickly! It is certainly more unusual for a first time mom to progress as quickly and smoothly as I did. It surprised both Lawrence and me.
Immediately following birth Logan had to be suctioned due to meconium that was present in the amniotic fluid. As a result, Lawrence had to cut the umbilical cord right away. We had hoped to do delayed cord clamping but it wasn’t possible giving how he was breathing. Logan sounded a bit like Darth Vader right after birth because he had junk in his lungs. As a result, his APGAR score at one minute was a 7 and at five minutes was an 8. Thankfully, he recovered very quickly after being suctioned.
Meanwhile, I delivered the placenta after receiving the very uncomfortable fundus massage. That massaging of the uterus to aid in placenta delivery and reduce the risk of hemoraging is quite unpleasant after all the work of labor. Thankfully the placenta delivered easily and didn’t require any cord traction. The delivery of the placenta marked the official end to labor. I remember feeling so relieved it was over! No more intense pain. No more contractions. No more pushing.
On top of the immediate joy of seeing my son and the relief of having completed the task of labor was the overwhelming satisfaction that I had labored well and achieved my goal of a natural child birth. I am so very thankful that God blessed me with a short and efficient labor. As a result, I was able to complete the whole process without any drugs. Never once in the process did I feel a desire for drugs to help with the labor pain. God blessed me with the strength and determination to endure and cope with each contraction as it happened. I had hoped for a birth experience like this, but knew it might not be possible due to unforeseen complications. It is a gift from God to have a labor and delivery story like I do. I am truly amazed by what the female body is created to do. God gave us such an incredible ability to adapt and change in order to bring forth new life. What a blessing to have experienced this remarkable process!" ~ Ashley M.