Molly and the Birth of Roy
Shortly after the COVID-19 pandemic began, my husband and I decided it would be a great time to try to get pregnant (psych! Being pregnant in a pandemic is an interesting ride!). We were lucky to get pregnant relatively quickly, and I made an 8-week appointment with my OB practice. Soon after, I realized that midwifery care and pursuing an out-of-hospital birth was the way I wanted to go. I knew that the midwifery model treats birth as unpredictable, yet safe and normal--not a medical emergency--and this made me feel more at ease than the traditional medical model.
I began researching free-standing birth centers in Richmond, and decided to go with River City Midwifery after meeting Linsey and Adrianna at a Zoom open house (again, the joys of pregnancy in a pandemic!). From the first appointment, I was blown away by the difference in the care: my midwives took the time and care to answer my many questions, to get to know me and my husband, and to reassure me that my body knows how to grow and birth a baby. Around this time, we also hired Sara as our birth doula.
Throughout my pregnancy, I felt closer to this amazing team of women who were supporting me: Adrianna, Linsey, and Sara. I know it is their vocation to support women in pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, but to me it felt not only professional, but also deeply personal. I believe it is this relational connection that enabled me to push through a long, sometimes difficult labor and postpartum. I am the kind of person who seeks out lots of information--it makes me feel less anxious to know all the possibilities. Midwifery care and doula support were a great match for me, because all of my providers equipped me with evidence-based practices every step of the way, and I was involved in decision-making about my pregnancy. I never once felt that something was "done to me," but rather that I was a critical part of my own care.
My due date came and went, and when I was 41 weeks + 1 day, I had a non-stress test and biophysical profile that estimated my baby's weight to be 10 pounds! That was a little alarming, and I began worrying about shoulder dystocia and meconium aspiration. Again, I turned to Adrianna, Linsey, and Sara, who gave me articles to read about both issues and reassured me with evidence.
At 41 weeks + 4 days, I made myself a castor oil milkshake to get things moving, and that resulted in 7-8 hours of early labor at home in the night, which stalled out the following morning. By that evening, labor had started again, and I was ready to go to the birth center around 4AM the next morning. Once at the birth center, I was 6 cm dilated, and the whole care team (Adrianna, Sara, and Hannah, who assisted at the birth) put me to work doing lunges, a side-lying hip release, and laboring on the toilet during contractions. Over the next few hours, we tried a variety of rest positions, laboring in the tub, and more active positions to bring the baby down.
At 10AM, six hours after arriving at the birth center, Adrianna checked me again and found that I was still 6 cm. This was very discouraging to me, though I tried not to let on how I was feeling and keep it positive. I really started to doubt at this point whether I would be able to birth my baby, but my entire care team never voiced anything but encouragement. Around 5PM, Adrianna checked me again to find that I had dilated some more to 8 or 9 cm! At this point I started to get some confidence back. After breaking my water and some more laboring, Adrianna checked me to find that I was fully dilated, but the baby's shoulder appeared to be presenting first-- a clear indication for a C-section. For 15 minutes, I was thinking we would be transferring to the hospital, but a subsequent check soon after revealed that the baby was actually head down, and I was ready to push.
I spent about an hour and a half pushing, using the tub, the birth swing, the birth stool, and various positions on the bed. At first, I was hesitant to push. Adrianna took the time to lock eyes with me and she said, "Molly, you can't run away from this." That really encouraged me to just let my body do what it knew how to do--that was how I would meet my baby! It took me a while to learn how to push effectively, but once I did, it felt to me like my baby came out in just three pushes! Our son, Roy, was born at 9:04PM, surrounded by a team of powerful, passionate women (and my husband, too!) who I love and respect--it is my hope that he will always have the same love and respect for women around him all his life.
We spent sweet moments just enjoying meeting our son. Linsey weighed him at a whopping 10 pounds 13 ounces-- everyone in the room was shocked he was so big. I was vaguely aware that there was some concern about my bleeding, and Adrianna and Hannah had gotten to work administering their protocols for postpartum bleeding. Throughout this process, Adrianna clearly communicated with me, explaining everything they were doing and what would happen if my bleeding continued. About 1 hour 45 minutes after the birth of my son, we made the call to transfer to the hospital due to my blood loss. I was transferred by ambulance to the hospital, with Sara and Hannah following behind me, and my husband remained at the birth center with our son for another hour or so to get him checked out.
I was so grateful that Sara was able to accompany me in the hospital. I was not afraid this entire time, because I trusted my care team and I knew that they had been following procedures for postpartum hemorrhage. I did have to get stitches, but due to all the bleeding the repair did not take place until 3 hours after the birth, so I was very swollen and this made the repair longer and a bit more complex. I think the repair took about an hour, and was one of the more difficult parts of the whole birth process. It was sharply painful, I couldn't hold my baby, and I was in the hospital (not where I wanted to be). But Sara was there with me the whole time, and she let me squeeze her hand with all my might the whole time. She stayed until we were settled and helped me hand express some colostrum to feed my baby. We were discharged from the hospital the following night: Hannah, who assisted in our birth, also worked at this hospital, and she picked up an extra shift to be our discharge nurse.
The postpartum time period was very difficult for me around 1-2 weeks after the birth, when our son was still losing weight and it seemed that some supplementation to breastfeeding would be needed. We had so much support from Sara, our midwives, and our pediatrician (Dr. West at RVABaby) in making a feeding plan that worked for us.
I love telling this story, because it reminds me of how incredible women's bodies are. There is raw power and energy that comes from surrounding yourself with other women who also know the empowerment that comes from birthing a baby. We hope to have more children in the future, and I couldn't imagine doing it again without the support of the amazing women on our care team.