Encore: Leah and Her Midwife Handle a Complication
Show Notes: Leah is a registered nurse engaged to a UFC fighter, Brandon Davis. They have just grown their family with a new baby! She had a homebirth with her first baby. When asked how she decided to have a homebirth, she said she’s always been fascinated with it, but she doesn’t have any friends or family members who had had homebirths previously. That being the case, it took a large amount of research on her part to come to the decision and know for certain she wanted to give birth at home. As a registered nurse, she did have some negative reactions from coworkers and friends about her decision. “I think that labor is best left untouched.” Leah’s fiancé was very uncomfortable with the idea of a homebirth. Early on, she asked him to visit several care providers, and he quickly disagreed, saying she needed to give birth in the hospital like every other “normal” mom! Not wanting to argue, Leah began seeing an OB. She continued with this care provider up until week 26, when she began feeling very uncomfortable with the idea that she was now going to be having a hospital birth. She decided to set up a quiet little meeting with a local midwife without involving her fiancé until afterwards. She immediately felt connected with this midwife and said, “This is it. I know that whatever my birth story is going to be, you are going to be a part of it.” Leah continued to see both her OB and her midwife up until week 36, where she completely transferred care over to her midwife. Though she liked her OB, Leah began feeling pushed to do things she didn’t want to do, including a 3rd trimester ultrasound and weekly cervical checks after 35 weeks. She felt that her prenatals were far more in depth with her midwife; they discussed issues like nutrition, which never happened with her OB- not because she didn’t care, but simply because there was just not enough time. In fact, her OB was so busy, that she had a patient due every single day of the month that Leah was due. She had warned Leah that she would likely not be the person delivering her baby anyway. Leah’s midwife was able to discern that her baby was posterior, and explained how that had the potential to complicate, or at least prolong, labor. She recommended chiropractic care and yoga to help get baby in a more optimal position. She appreciated how much more hands-on her care was with her midwife. The OB pushed for a 3rd trimester ultrasound to see baby’s position, but her midwife already knew baby’s position by consistent belly palpation. “I felt like she was almost a sister or a mom to me, as well as a care provider.” Leah decided to work up until the day that she gave birth. She was healthy and her baby was healthy, so she decided to continue. During her 39th week, she got up on a Friday to go to work and noticed some bloody show. She let her midwife know, and asked her what that meant in relation to when labor would start. Her midwife responded that it could be any time between the next 24 hours and week! Leah went to work and worked the full 12 hour shift. She was on her feet all day, and by the time she got home, she was feeling crampy and “not good,” but she hadn’t realized at that point that she was on the cusp of labor. Leah tried to go to sleep early, but couldn’t sleep. Although she was feeling crampy, she thought that maybe she was just experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions. At about 3:30 in the morning, the discomfort was feeling less tolerable. She thought that maybe she should start timing them to see if they were actually contractions. At this point, she was having contractions every five minutes. At 4:30, she called her best friend who lives hours away and let her know that she thought today was going to be the day, so get in the car and head her way whenever she was up and ready. At 5, Leah called her midwife and let her know what she was feeling. An hour later, she called her midwife back and let her know that she was still consistently contr