Today was special. It was 11-12-13. A good day for my grandson to be born. My daughter had to be induced so we all calmly went to the hospital to start the labor process. Before the pain got too bad, she opted for an epidural. Since she was on pitocin, the epidural wouldn't slow her labor at all, so why not? It was finally time to push. She pushed and pushed and pushed. Nothing. She pushed and pushed and pushed some more. Nothing. She got discouraged with the pushing and I saw her eyes fill with tears. "I'm just no good at pushing", she said. Nonsense. She pushed one kid out already. Something must be wrong! She pushed and pushed and pushed some more. Nothing. I felt her body just give up and saw that her pushes were half-hearted at best. The nurse just kept saying push harder, push harder.
Then came the shift change. In came Nurse Dawn. "Hi, my name is Dawn. I'll be your nurse. I'm not here to labor with you, you've done that enough. I'm here to deliver this baby. I know what I'm doing and if you'll do what I say, you'll have this baby in no time." She could have only said it better if she had come in the room with her hand in the air yelling "charge!" She checked my daughter and said "this baby is posterior. No wonder he won't budge. You're just pushing him against your pelvic bone. Young lady, she said, you have more than enough room to deliver this baby, and I don't think he's small, but once he is turned, when you push, he is going to come shooting out there. i only ask one thing. If the doctor tells you to not push, don't. Do we have a deal?" I saw my daughter's eyes brighten and a slight smile cross her lips.
After putting her in several yoga looking positions for 4 contractions, and a few contractions in positions I can't even begin to explain, my daughter pushed and sure enough that kid came shooting out. All that twisting and turning made no sense to me, but it worked. After the baby was whisked away to take care of some problems he had at birth, this women kept going. All I can say is that Teddy Roosevelt would have welcomed her at San Juan Hill!
I recalled a similar experience I had when delivering this very child 27 years before. I was in a similar situation. The shift changed and in charged Nurse Anne. She said, "my name is Anne and I'm going to be your nurse. Now I want you out of this bed! Bend over and make your back as parallel with the floor as you can. When the contraction comes I want you to jump up and down." I remember mumbling something about jungle medicine but I was too scared of her to do anything other than what she had instructed me to do, and within seconds of laying me back on the bed after 3 contractions, my daughter was born. I was sure she must be ex-military and I was convinced she didn't like me but she led the charge and I followed and we won! Turns out that Nurse Dawn had probably been under Nurse Anne for several years before Anne moved on to midwifery and I wondered if we hadn't benefited from Nurse Anne's experience twice, in two generations. In both cases, wisdom and experience led the charge and prevailed.
Both times, it made no sense to either of us why we had to go through contractions in funny positions, but because we listened and took their advice, my daughter and grandson entered the world. Both those women were into having babies quickly and with as little work as possible and they knew what they were talking about. It was a reminder to me of how valuable another person's wisdom and experience is and how important it is to listen and follow what they say. It will save you a lot of time, effort, and pain.
Then came the shift change. In came Nurse Dawn. "Hi, my name is Dawn. I'll be your nurse. I'm not here to labor with you, you've done that enough. I'm here to deliver this baby. I know what I'm doing and if you'll do what I say, you'll have this baby in no time." She could have only said it better if she had come in the room with her hand in the air yelling "charge!" She checked my daughter and said "this baby is posterior. No wonder he won't budge. You're just pushing him against your pelvic bone. Young lady, she said, you have more than enough room to deliver this baby, and I don't think he's small, but once he is turned, when you push, he is going to come shooting out there. i only ask one thing. If the doctor tells you to not push, don't. Do we have a deal?" I saw my daughter's eyes brighten and a slight smile cross her lips.
After putting her in several yoga looking positions for 4 contractions, and a few contractions in positions I can't even begin to explain, my daughter pushed and sure enough that kid came shooting out. All that twisting and turning made no sense to me, but it worked. After the baby was whisked away to take care of some problems he had at birth, this women kept going. All I can say is that Teddy Roosevelt would have welcomed her at San Juan Hill!
I recalled a similar experience I had when delivering this very child 27 years before. I was in a similar situation. The shift changed and in charged Nurse Anne. She said, "my name is Anne and I'm going to be your nurse. Now I want you out of this bed! Bend over and make your back as parallel with the floor as you can. When the contraction comes I want you to jump up and down." I remember mumbling something about jungle medicine but I was too scared of her to do anything other than what she had instructed me to do, and within seconds of laying me back on the bed after 3 contractions, my daughter was born. I was sure she must be ex-military and I was convinced she didn't like me but she led the charge and I followed and we won! Turns out that Nurse Dawn had probably been under Nurse Anne for several years before Anne moved on to midwifery and I wondered if we hadn't benefited from Nurse Anne's experience twice, in two generations. In both cases, wisdom and experience led the charge and prevailed.
Both times, it made no sense to either of us why we had to go through contractions in funny positions, but because we listened and took their advice, my daughter and grandson entered the world. Both those women were into having babies quickly and with as little work as possible and they knew what they were talking about. It was a reminder to me of how valuable another person's wisdom and experience is and how important it is to listen and follow what they say. It will save you a lot of time, effort, and pain.
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