Six little girls and one little boy in ten days...
It all started with a funny phone call which woke me up... “Hey, Jacquie, it’s Mel! I’m at the hospital!”
“Mel?” (I have a Mel who's due in a month...) Wake up, Jacquie...This is another Mel...She’s friends with another client, and must have driven her to hospital. “Right! How is she? What’s happening?”
So began the 10 days of fun (no overlaps.)
Girl’s night at St. Paul’s. Eight women waiting for a baby girl. Magic, laughter, acceptance, hugs, and love...and a “face-off with a skunk” thrown in for a bit of drama. My daughter was there, too, to witness this birth, to add a greater measure of awe to the night. Hip shakes...”I want to rock!” “I want to push!” ...then, “Hi, Sugar!” “You smell like graham crackers.” “You’re beautiful!” This was a birth of simplicity and joy. It was such a gift to be a witness on this night...
Then, another girls night...but this was a challenging lesson of acceptance and love for an unborn baby. The water breaks before its time, the baby finds stress in labour, decisions need to be made, plans need reviewing...and a tiny girl is born. Deep love is borne out of adversity. Friends come out of the woodwork, and reaffirm that people can be good. So good.
The third birth started the next day...with a cough. You know, coughs really help open that cervix! Tissues placed strategically around the house...roaming through the rooms, climbing stairs, dancing, showering, telling stories of ducks and friendship, listening to the renovations in the basement. Just a normal day. Then the excitement begins...
I tell my clients that birth is not a linear process. The numbers mean nothing. You can get stuck at 9 cm for 7 hours, or you can go from 1-10 cm in an hour. What we need to watch is the rhythm, the momentum of the labour. If I’ve been with a client all day, I just KNOW by watching the labour escalate how long it will be... So, it was getting strong. We went to the hospital. “No, you’re only 1.5cm dilated. You’ll need to go home for a while.” It didn’t make any sense to me - I could feel that the baby was coming. The power of the contractions was palpable - I could almost feel the buttery quality of the cervix. She knew her baby was coming. “We’re out of here,” says dad, protectively. Back home, she spends 10 crazy minutes in the shower. Then.. “We have to go back to the hospital!” We pant together in the car, I “hear” the baby slide deeper and deeper. We arrive and roll into the birthing room - baby is born within 15 minutes. “We had a girl!!!” The nurse that asked them to leave earlier, apologizes...
Okay! So, what did we learn here? Trust the mum!
The next day, only three days before a booked cesarean...labour starts. Yahoo! What a joy! Music and showers, music and showers. And a labour that really takes off once mum kisses her son before his nap. “Love you!” calls Oscar as he slides down the stairs to his bed. A quick trip to the doctor’s office, surprising the other patients - a contraction here on the wall, another by the stairs... 3-4 cm...”Okay, okay, okay...” Then back home for pears and a lovely long bath...and sleep, and quiet calm contractions. Off to the hospital to settle in... “Ahhhh...” so quiet in the room. The water breaks, crystal clear. The room is dark. Hot blankets wrap her body...hands stroke the legs in rhythm. U2 plays “It’s a Beautiful Day.” She stands...and has her baby. “Oh, you’re going to love your brother!” “That might have been the best thing I’ve done in my life!” VBAC works!
Four stories told. Three more stories to tell. But, take time to digest how normal, logical, yet magical birth can be... before I continue...
