The story of Baby Henri’s natural birth at Charles-Lemoyne hospital, Montreal, in the midst of a pandemic and with virtual doula support.
I had a fairly easy pregnancy, obviously the first 3 months were accompanied by your typical morning sickness which in reality is all day sickness, but after that I really regained my energy, felt great and the worst symptom I got was numbness in my ribcage. I made sure to exercise everyday at least 30 minutes and to sleep as much as possible.
We planned for an all natural birth because it was important for me to allow the natural processes to happen, meaning I wanted to favour the natural release of hormones before, during and after birth to maximise recovery, favour breastfeeding, etc.
Everything was going according to plan until the baby decided not to show up, and after my 40 week appointment the doctors told me it was time to schedule an induction. I was devastated because that meant medication I didn’t want, a longer stay at the hospital. It meant being plugged into an IV and monitor, not being able to move about the room and possibly less effective contractions, more pain which could lead to an epidural, etc. I had spent over 9 months not taking any medication, not drinking coffee, not dyeing my hair, changing all the house cleaners, not using nail polish, all to ensure the best possible environment for my growing baby. In the span of one appointment that was all going to be taken away.
I made clear to the doctor that I was not going to put my baby’s life in danger by being irrational about waiting, but that I also wanted them to delay the induction as long as possible. We agreed on 41weeks 4 days with extra fetal and fluid level monitoring. The medical team also offered me a membrane sweep as a possible natural way to kick start labour. I ended up getting 2 membrane sweeps at 41 weeks, my cervix was not opened enough to do it before then. I was resigned and ready to get induced, but nature has its own plans and the baby decided otherwise.
At 5:30am on June 3rd I woke up with the impression I was going to pee myself. I ran to the bathroom but didn’t really make it. I wasn’t sure because there was not much liquid, but I thought maybe I just lost some amniotic fluid.
I didn’t want to get my hopes up that something might happen that day and I was having mild cramps so to distract myself I watched some TV. I started having mild contractions every 10-15 minutes and at 6:30 I lost a bit more liquid and what I thought might be part of the mucus plug. I decided to go and wake up my husband, V, and told him we might be having a baby today but again to not get too excited.
The night before I had prepared a loaf of bread, so being both up, we decided to bake the bread thinking we better occupy ourselves because it might be a long day… what a funny start to what would be a great and intense day.
The contractions at that point were very manageable, they felt like big cramps and I had to concentrate through them but nothing more. As the theory we had studied said that when you need to concentrate through a contraction you are further along than what I expected to be an hour after losing a bit of fluid, we decided to time a few contractions to get a baseline. There was no conclusive answer as the contractions were very irregular, we therefore assumed it was still very early on.
At around 8am we decided we should inform our doula, Kimberly, since by that time we were pretty certain this was the start of labour. We texted her saying there was no rush but that I was probably in labour… yes at this point we were still not sure. She called us back and we discussed what the best plan for the next hours could be and planned to talk later in the morning.
In the beginning I tried a few positions during the contractions and doing a light bounce while squatting felt good. Then when contractions got a bit stronger and I moved to the mat with the birth ball. I found being on my knees with my arms around the ball rocking front to back or side to side the best for me. It also enabled V to use the rebozo scarf or to massage my back.
We had planned and practiced quite a few techniques not knowing what I would like but only ended up using the ball. However, it was nice knowing we had options.
We had no reference as to how intense things were supposed to be and I remember wanting to wait before using all the tricks in order to not end up still in early labour having used up all possible coping method. However around 9:30 contractions were getting intense and I wasn’t really getting any time to relax in between them so we decided it was time for a bath.
V went and set it up for me and as soon as I got in, I felt amazing, so much so that I was afraid I had stalled my labour. I was getting more time between the contraction and when they were done I had barely any pain. The contractions I was having were getting stronger but seemed less frequent.
I stayed in the bath for about 30 minutes and decided to get out because I was under the impression that the longer I stayed in the harder the aftermath was going to be. I had read that the water helps with the perception of weight of your belly but to expect that when you get out it catches up to you.
Getting out of the bath was kind of an ordeal, I needed to be fully supported and wasn’t able to make it back to our living room setup with the mat and ball, but rather needed the setup to come to me. V was great and got everything set up and made sure I had food and plenty of fluids. At that time it was around 10-10:30 and in my perception that’s when things got very intense and the only way to get through the contractions was to rock on the ball, have V by my side and vocalize a lot… and very loudly.
Our initial plan was to wait as long as possible at home to spend the least amount of my labour at the hospital, however what we didn’t think about was how the drive to the hospital was going to go. So at this point both V and I thought it was too early to go while also thinking we didn’t know if I could manage the car ride. We called Kimberly back and V walked her through how I was doing, to which she told us with her experiences that it was probably time to go.
Then started the frantic packing of the car where I was telling V not to leave my side but to also put things in the car… also we had packed everything but left out things we use everyday such as toothbrushes etc., and that made it a bit difficult in the heat of the action to gather everything. I was also butt naked and unable to dress myself so when the car was finally packed V had to put me in pyjamas bottoms, which I soaked through in no time as I was losing amniotic liquid with every contraction, and socks but we didn’t even bother with shoes. I was unable to sit because of the pressure so I kneeled on the front seat holding the headrest for dear life while we drove to the hospital hoping we wouldn’t get stopped by cops.
Because of Covid restrictions, the protocol at Charles-Lemoyne hospital was to get to the emergency entrance for triage. V pulled up and dropped me off with the ambulance staff just before noon. There was a quick panic as everyone thought I was having the baby in the car. After a few questions they wheeled me upstairs and straight into a room. This was great, because due to COVID, partners aren’t allowed in the hospital until you are admitted to a room. Since I was admitted directly, by the time V had parked the car, he was already being called up to join me.
Upon admission the nurse assigned to me dimmed the lights, did a quick physical exam, took a blood sample, hooked up an IV line and checked to see how dilated I was, to discover that at this time (12:15pm) I was only 2.5 cm dilated which was really discouraging considering the intensity and frequency of my contractions (Kimberly had warned us not to only look at numbers but it was still hard not to get discouraged). V arrived as the nurse was finishing a few last questions. They went through the birth plan and he requested a birth ball and squat bar. He then got the yoga mat, towel and music set up. Once I was set up in the room, the hospital staff gave us space and privacy and left the room, returning only to check in on me and the baby.
Over the next hour, V and I worked through my contractions using the techniques Kimberly had shown us. We cycled through lower back massage, hip squeezes and rebozo sifting. Around 1pm the nurse returned to check on the baby’s vitals and at that point during each contraction I was feeling the need to push which had them worried because it was way too early and pushing this early would only cause further complications for my recovery. We established that taking a bath could relax me and help reduce the need to push as well as help deal with the pain. Prior to getting into the bath they checked my cervix (just before 1:30 pm) and I was at 3.5 cm. They told me that could stay in the bath for 30 minutes, which I did. The bath at the hospital was very nice, it was more of a jacuzzi bath which meant I was able to get fully submerged to my shoulders which wasn’t possible in our standard bath at home. While in the bath, the intensity was increasing as was the need to push but at least the reprieve I had between contractions was much better than when I wasn’t in the tub.
I started to feel overwhelmed while in the tub, having only progressed 1cm in the 1.5 hours I had been at the hospital, and gauging how I felt, I didn’t see how I was going to be able to endure what I thought was going to be another 12 hours. After 15 minutes we decided to call Kimberly for more guidance and see if she had any recommendations for dealing with the pain. She reminded us of the pressure points on the hand and suggested that when we get out of the tub, I use the squat bar. The pressure points helped a lot, but my contractions and urge to push continued to increase.
At 2pm V buzzed for the nurse’s assistance. I told them I needed to push, and they told me I needed to hold on and that it was still too early. A team of them helped me out of the tub and back to my room, all the while telling me not to push. Upon returning to my room, they performed another cervical exam and changed their tone very quickly. Moments after getting placed in the bed they went from telling me to hold on, to ok now is the time to push. The reason my time in the bath was so intense was because unbeknownst to me my cervix had gone from 3.5cm to 9cm and the baby’s head was already starting to show.
The doctor started her shift at 2pm and had communicated with the staff when I got into the tub, so she (and everyone else) assumed I had a lot more time. At 2, when I got out of the tub, they paged for her, but the baby wasn’t waiting! The nurses helped me through the first few contractions after the tub. With V holding my hand, and a mystery nurse holding the other, V asked if I could be placed on my side since I felt too uncomfortable laying on my back. They were very accommodating with all my wishes and followed my birth plan without us having to refer to it.
The doctor arrived a few minutes later and then everyone was coaching me through the delivery. I was pleased because I felt they were respecting my birth plan, allowing self directed pushing, which wouldn’t have mattered anyways because at this point I wasn’t listening to anyone and was doing whatever my body was telling me. Over about 10 pushes, the baby descended and with a few final pushes the baby’s head came out. I was fortunate as once the head was clear, the rest of the body followed without any effort of pushing.
They put my baby on my chest and with a well of emotions it was over. As specified by our birth plan, they delayed clamping the umbilical cord. Finally, a few minutes later the placenta came out and they gave me a small dose of pitocin to prevent hemorrhaging. That was the only moment where I deviated from my all-natural birth because the baby was out, and I decided I was ok with it. Finally, before all was finished, the doctor performed an evaluation to identify if I had any tearing or bleeding. I am thankful that I was fortunate to not have any tears. It’s hard to say what did it, but we had put all the chances on our side, doing perineal massages, exercising, etc. With that the hospital staff left the room, allowing us to rest with the newest member of our family, a baby boy, born at 2:41pm, and weighing in at 7lbs 4oz.
All in all, it took just over 6 hours to bring our baby into the world and it couldn’t have gone better. Having a natural birth made me feel the proudest I have ever been of myself and for me it definitely made recovery a walk in the park. I was obviously tired but had very little pain afterwards which made taking care of a newborn much easier.
The following 24 hours went by smoothly, due to COVID we couldn’t leave the room, but this had little impact on us as realistically we wouldn’t have left anyways. On the whole, COVID had a greater impact on my pregnancy (appointments, preparation, etc.) than it did on the actual delivery, with the exception to the fact that our doula Kimberly couldn’t be there. We were very pleased with how everything went at Charles-Lemoyne, we felt that our birth plan was followed very well and that they were respecting our wishes. The nursing staff were great and made our experience that much easier by being so supportive and helpful.
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