My daughter's baby arrived Friday morning. Her birth story is one of a kind.
Thursday she saw the midwife and gave in to curiosity and got checked--50%
effaced, barely dilated at all. The midwife thought it would be another 7-10
days. She was very discouraged. Friday AM she woke about 4 AM feeling poorly (as
we say in the south). Had some backache that she dismissed to the car ride on
Thursday ( 2 hr drive to the midwife, on a barrier island on 4th of July
holiday). She woke up about 6:30 AM with some bloody show but then fell back asleep.
Got up at 8:30 with alternating horrible back ache and very mild abdominal
cramps. We could not get any pattern noted--from 10 seconds to 2 minutes between
pains. We called the midwife who said we could drive up for a check but she
would recommend just hanging around the house doing normal routine. At 9:15 she
started throwing up and having diarherra and became very irritable -she could
handle the abdominal cramps but when the backache hit she was in agony. I
called the midwife and told her I thought Stacy was in transition. She said it
was impossible. I said we are coming up to see her. As I was packing the car,
she called Stacy back who was between pains and was now very calm and told Stacy
we needed to focus and stop panicking. When I went back in the house Stacy
was laying on the floor crying. I finally got her in the car-she kept saying
she couldn't sit down in the car so I told her to lean over the back seat. I
called her husband who was out on a charter to start toward shore. About 15
minutes into the drive (during which time she was in uncontrolable back pain that
she couldn't get on top of) she announced that she had to push! She removed
her underwear and having a dress on, leaning over the back seat, we are sure she
flashed alot of people. I put on my flashers and sped up, dodging
sightseers, bikers and hoping to find a law enforcement officer to help. About 35
minutes into the drive she had a gush of bright red blood and said she thought the
placenta was coming out. I tried to look back but all I saw was hair coming
out. I called 911 who said to pull over, they would sent an ambulance but I said
I would keep driving to try to meet them. (This in the middle of the Cape
Hatteras National Seashore).The cell service kept going out. A National Park
Service Ranger met me at the end of the Oregon Inlet Bridge ( at this point I"m
doing 80 MPH-he had stopped traffic) and escorted me to a beach parking lot where
we were met by a highway patrol officer who was stopping traffic on that end.
A lifeguard came up from the beach. The Park Ranger had a defillator,
supplies and a emergency blanket and said Let's have a baby. I asked how many
backseat babies he had delivered and he said 2-the highway patrol officer had
delivered 3 and life guard none. The officer did traffic control ( I would love to
know how many vacation videos has this on it!) and the ranger and I climbed in
the backseat, lifeguard at the door and she continued pushing. SHe was in
absolute agony with her back. EMS got there and said the midwife was also on her
way. The EMS also got in the backseat-5 people in back seat of my new 2 door
Explorer-I had put down garbage bags and beach towels before we left. Then Stacy
had a break and was able to relax for a minute so we moved her to the gurney
in the parking lot--pushing started again there. We finally moved her into the
ambulance and decided to do it there. Pushing was hard-head was big. Fire
truck then came and we picked up 2 firemen in full turnout gear. They sent a
highway patrol officer back to Hatteras to escort the dad who had made it to the
marina. They decided to move to the hospital since the head was so large so one
fireman drove while one EMT did peri massage and head support for the baby. I
was doing back pressure, one fireman drove and the other relayed messages to
the dad, the midwife and to the hospital. The other EMT had never attended a
birth and he learned the hard way not to try to put a blood pressure cuff on a
laboring woman.-Stacy flew up in his face and told him in her "Exhortist
movie" voice said not to touch her. We did make it to the hospital and the baby
was fully delivered there with the midwife about 30 minutes later. 7 lbs, 14 oz,
20. 5inches long. 13.5 inch head. The baby was put to the breast immediately
and started licking and latched in about 30 seconds. She had delayed cord
clamping and the cord wasn't cut or any baby care done until dad arrived 20
minutes later. The baby is nursing like a pro. Nursed 11 times in the first 24
hours, and had 6 stools and 4 wets. He never took that long period of sleep after
birth so from 2AM-6AM Friday morning, he and I walked the floor, swayed,
danced, and played while and mom and dad slept. I really "enjoyed" hearing the
breastfeeding miseducation from the nurses and pediatrician--my blood pressure
was skyrocketing. She was told: drink alot--4 to 6 quarts of water in addition
to other fluids; wear a tight fitting bra; wear a bra a band size and cup size
bigger ( that was from 2 different nurses); don't let the baby nurse more
then every 3 hours ( from the pediatrician); get the baby on a schedule (ped);
don't listen or read anything from Internet doctors --this was in response to
Stacy asking about a delayed immunization schedule when he started telling her
about all the immunizations the baby will need. That one really got Stacy riled
up and she announced to him that Dr Jack Newman and Dr Jack Gordon were
international and published experts in the field of pediatrics and she certainly
would follow their recommendations and that she was glad that she had the
ability to communicate with them via thde Internet! The midwife had already tried
to tell the staff there who I was and they were eying me very gingerly whenever
they said something. But the baby ( only 2 babies there this week) never left
her side and everything went smoothly. We decided that labor was probably
about 3 hours with an hour of that pushing. The baby wasn't posterior so we
weren't sure why the back labor was so intense. I left them alone last night
settled into their home and was very fortunate to get a last minute reservation on
the ferry (usually takes 2 months to get a reservation for this week) back to
the mainland. The ferry ride takes a longer time but the 3 hr ride allows for
a nap.
So if anyone hears about anyone seeing the laboring woman at Coquina Beach
NC, you now know the whole story!
Barb Whitehead, BS, IBCLC, RLC and new nanna
Eastern NC
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