Camille and Tom

Thanks for all your help and the power you gave me. It made me realize I can be in charge of my health and the health of my family.

My original due date was October 25th. By Halloween there was no progress whatsoever, so I was scheduled for a non-stress test at noon that day. I went in and they told me her heart beat was fine but when they measured my water levels, I was measuring at a 3.4. The tech called my midwife to see what she wanted me to do. The midwife told her I needed to go to the hospital right away. I thanked the tech and told her I would. I proceeded to go home and take a shower and eat.

I finally made it to the hospital around 4:30pm and the nurses couldn’t believe I hadn’t listened to the midwife. I was admitted into the prep room and they checked me. I was absolutely no where. They put me on a monitor and left the room. By 6:30 I still hadn’t had any surges whatsoever, so the midwife called and said they would have to induce me. She told me they would apply a gel to my cervix twice before giving me the Pitocin. I would receive it every six hours and had the first dose at 7pm.

Nothing happened and I laid there entertaining myself by laughing and breathing in deeply causing the monitors to think I was having surges. My family left around midnight and I received the second dose of this mysterious gel at 1am. A half hour later I started feeling something. Not much though, so I went to sleep listening to Enya. I utilized the 20 second breathing a lot during this time and never felt more than a lot of pressure. I also visualized a flower in bloom and a balloon inflating.

By about 4am I was getting uncomfortable from laying there and the surges were in my back mostly. I had Tom go ask the nurse if I could get in the bathtub while I went in to go to the bathroom. While in there, I had the incredible desire to push. I started praying just to have the ability to get off the toilet. I didn’t want to deliver there. I made it through a couple surges and finally got up. I leaned forward against the toilet and breathed till I was ready to stand. When I looked at the toilet, I saw blood in it and decided I was ready.

I went back out and the nurse told me I could get in the bath but she had to check me first. I said okay but told her “just so you know, I felt like I needed to push in there”. She told me that was fine and then checked me. I was at a 7. I had tested positive for the group B strep, so she said she needed to get my IV in and start the antibiotics. Then I could get in the bath.

It took her about 5 minutes to get the IV in. I didn’t feel it at all. I was too busy trying hard not to push. I kept pulling my arm away and squeezing the bar on the bed to stop myself. When she finally got the IV in, she checked me again and I was complete. She ran to the door and yelled at the nurse to get a birthing tray and call the midwife. Tom told me the nurse outside was in shock and that’s why my nurse yelled at her. I laughed really hard at that.

All of a sudden I had tons of people in my room. One nurse was telling me not to push while the head nurse told me I could. A respiratory therapist came in with his team and prepped his area. All I could think of was not pushing. Tom called my family and told them it was happening right then. It was all such a blur and all I concentrated on was breathing and not pushing.

Right at about the time they were ready for me to start pushing, the stupid nurse released my water for me. I was excited for my baby girl to be born inside it. Right after that she said I could start pushing. I said okay and breathed down as much as I could. That got her head out. I remember the nurse saying the words blue and fast, so I got worried. The next push was a combination of breathing down and pushing. That got the rest of her out. Tom told me she was blue, so they took her to the respiratory therapist. I called out to her when she started crying and told her it was okay. Tom said she looked over at me and calmed down. I got her back about 20 minutes later.

Cadence was born at 5:01am on November 1st. She was 7 lbs 6 oz, 19.5″ long and perfect. She nursed right away and all her tests were just fine. Tom didn’t get the opportunity to cut the cord because it pulled away on its own. I tore a bit but I attribute that to the pushing I did on the toilet. The midwife arrived after my parents and in time to deliver the placenta and stitch me up. Everything went very smoothly. I didn’t make any noise at all and Cadence is so calm. I recovered quickly after a total of 3 ½ hours and 2 pushes.

Once again, thanks for all your help. It opened up many avenues for me and I have utilized this method of health management for many other things since then. I’m currently working on my nursing and midwife degree so I can pass on this knowledge to other women. The work you do is amazing. I hope I can help in the same way you have and I hope I can work with you again.

Thanks Launi!