Bethany texts at 10:02 p.m on the 15th saying she is taking a bath and thinks her ‘water might be starting to break’!  She is slowly leaking clear fluid, she gets out of the bath and showers, not knowing what to expect for the night.  By 10:18 she is starting to feel light contractions but knows to prioritize rest this early on, so she goes to bed.  It takes awhile to fall asleep but ultimately she is able to find rest until about midnight.  When she wakes she notices her waves still aren’t strong or lasting long and decides to take a hint from her body to go back to bed again. Around 4:16 in the morning on Thursday the 16th she is bummed to wake up to non-existent contractions but is eager to get up and get moving in hopes they’ll get to meet their baby girl later today. She decides to start with the Miles Circuit and puts her body to work at intentional movement,  but ends up falling asleep mid-cycle.  When she finally wakes at 6:08 she showers and meets Spencer with hopes of walking around Target or the mall to speed things up.  By 7:26 she has her plan in place and gets out and about putting it into practice.  With her OB appointment already scheduled for 1:15 today she contemplates all options to include her providers but feels most comfortable testing her body and seeing what she can accomplish on her own first.  Mom makes progress when she’s moving,  by 9:51 she says her sensations are more obvious but not bothering her yet.  Just like with Archie she’s tricked by the contraction timer as it’s telling her she should head into the hospital.  She’s tracking the waves every 3-4 minutes by 11:27 but she recognizes they’re not much stronger than before, even though her discomfort is increasing.  At her appointment she finds out she’s already 3 inches (haha grandma) dilated, 80% effaced and the baby is at -1 station.  They make a plan at 1:36 p.m for her to head on into Family Beginnings and start their natural induction protocol.  

While she’s waiting for things to intensify she works in some positions to get Baby Girl engaged. She uses all her energy pumping for ten minutes then resting for ten minutes before her and Spencer walk the halls of the hospital.  They do this for hours before we make plans for me to come meet them around 4:32.  Spencer heads down Brown Street to get food as Bethany orders a smorgasbord from the hospital’s cafeteria.  While I’m en route at 5:57 she says she is starting to feel the waves in her back and rates her pain 4.5/10.  I arrive in room 2101 and find Mom and Dad in good spirits, chugging along, doing all the right things and looking forward to meeting their daughter soon.  Their Midwife Andrea comes to check on Bethany at 6:26.  She finds her cervix still 3cm dilated, maybe 4cm during a contraction, but reports the baby’s head is well applied to the cervix and that there is no forebag.  She explains carefully  that there is nothing standing in the way of Baby Girl’s progress, yet the natural methods Bethany has been exhausting herself with don’t seem to be effective.  The next step is a transfer from the birthing center to a room in the labor & delivery unit so they can monitor the baby more closely and start Pitocin.  They feel giving Bethany’s body a full 24 hours to get into active labor ,since her water broke, before intervening is the safest choice.  They intend to check on her again at 10 p.m to make that final call.  We plan to go for one more walk but Mom’s heart is heavy with discouragement in her body and its apparent lack of progress.  So, we go back to the room and regroup.  She sorts through her confusion, all the ways this birth is not going the way she expected and the fatigue from having to keep her contractions going all day.  She says bye to the day nurse and hello to the night nurse in between more specific position changes and a blood draw.  

Spencer prays over her, that Bethany would be encouraged in her spirit and that God’s perfect design in birth would happen in her body, the way that she desires.  We ask for a miracle. Mom decides to lay down and rest instead of continuing to wear herself out, humbly accepting the transfer.  She’s listening to worship music with tears staining her cheeks.  She rotates between right and left sided flying cowgirl positions and goes for one last snack around 9:04.  She is resting quietly and passively mentions just having two strong contractions.  Her team comes back to the room at 10.  Noticing her calm demeanor, they assume she hasn’t progressed and decided to save her from an unnecessary cervical check.  Bethany agrees, at this point she believes she’s stopped contracting since lying down.  Aside from the two strong ones. By 10:37 we have Bethany and Spencer’s things packed up and we are settling into their new room after a long walk across the unit.  In room 2023 the new nurses bring hope and renewed energy as they promise to implement Bethany’s birth plan as much as possible, including a water birth.  Mom perks up at that!  They even suggest she sleeps for a while before starting Pitocin.  Bethany is relieved at this and once again settles into a flying cowgirl position on the bed.

 We notice since changing rooms Bethany has started closing her eyes and stops talking for intermittent periods of time. We are confident, when the monitor confirms she is still contracting,  that things are moving in the right direction.  Bethany is skeptical since the sensations are so spaced out.  We remind her about the contractions she was having every 2-4 minutes most of the day while she was active.  That frequency didn’t seem to gain intensity.  We point out the fact that she appears to be getting more uncomfortable too.  She starts getting in the zone and by 11:09 we recognize another sign things are getting stronger as she starts to breathe heavy and deep with the waves.  She spends some time sitting on the ball and leaning over the bed, keeping an eye on the monitor in between, to confirm her contractions are real and strong.  Mom starts feeling discomfort in her hips at 12:04 a.m and needs to be in a more restful position, noticing her energy is drained.  Bethany ends up sitting over the peanut ball and laying forward on a stack of pillows for a period of time.  She’s unable to stay still during contractions and begins vocalizing through them at 1:50.  We apply counter pressure to her hips and low back but she now needs more support.  Next, we are encouraging her to relax her body into the contractions instead of fighting against them.  She wonders how much longer this position is going to offer comfort and feels ready for the birthing tub.  We tell the nurse so they can start setting it up.   Bethany decides she wants a cervical exam at this point and then plans to get into the shower while the tub gets filled.  At 2:21 Bethany finds out she’s 7 cm and the baby is at zero station, so low monitors need to be readjusted to track her.  By 2:30 more nurses start to flood the room setting up the birthing supplies and doctors table, all the while Bethany begins to make instinctual pushing sounds.  The midwife is at her side moments later encouraging her to push if she wants.  Everyone looks around at each other knowingly, her sounds are so clear that birth is imminent.  Bethany could not stop if she wanted to, her body took over, grunting and bearing down.  At 2:43 a.m. Grace Elaine is finally here, helped onto her mother’s chest by Bethany’s own two hands! The room was filled with awe and joy as we collectively celebrated what Bethany’s body had accomplished in such a short period of time with absolutely no help from any created thing  ❤