Showers of Blessing...

We all love surprises!  Since mom and dad already had a son and a daughter at home, they chose not to learn the gender of this baby at the 20 week anatomy survey ultrasound.  This baby would be a tie breaker, and a surprise to look forward to.  In this time of advanced technology, there are few surprises.
 
The pregnancy went along very low risk and uneventfully without health concerns outside of mom's age being over 35.  A woman's preparedness for labor begins in her mind, her expectations, and in her ability to trust her body to give birth.  As the due date was approaching we discussed mom's desire for an un-medicated, natural labor and birth, delayed cord clamping to allow oxygen rich blood to go to the baby, and for mom to hold her baby right away if all went well.  Since mom was dilated to 3 centimeters at 38 weeks and 3-4 centimeters at 39 weeks, we felt she would go into labor on her own prior to 40 weeks.  Only 3% of babies are born on their due date, with the majority of the others falling around 10 days before or 10 days after, and a few outliers in the very preterm or postdates.  At 39 weeks I swept her membranes for her, which is often followed by spontaneous labor, and again at 40 weeks...to no avail.
If mom had been under 35 years old we would have given another week for her labor to start, but feeling it was in her and the fetus's best interest to be delivered, a plan was made to put her in the hospital at 40weeks, 3 days.  It would be a low intervention labor of a 20 minute non-stress fetal monitor tracing, followed by AROM, or artificial rupture of membranes and ambulation to get labor started. 

The appointed morning came and mom and dad wondered why God hadn't answered their prayer for labor to start naturally at home.  A reactive non-stress test predicted a healthy fetus with good placental reserve for the work of labor.  Mom's water was released with an amnihook, and small leakage promised more water to come.  Even when the water is released before the baby's head the body continues to form more water in the amniotic sac to cushion the baby.  As I left the hospital to go to the office and see patients during the morning only, mom and dad were briskly walking the halls, smiling and chatting the time away.  As she was 4 centimeters and 70% thin when I broke her water I'd give her until noon to change.  I planned to return to the hospital around noon or whenever the nurse called to tell me she was frowning and working harder.
Mom spent the morning walking, sitting on the birthing ball, drinking water, eating pop sickles, and walking some more.  Intermittent electronic fetal monitoring reassured us that the little surprise was handling the demands of labor just fine, thank you. 
Calling the hospital at 11:50 to ask how my patient was doing, I was told she was sitting on the birthing ball and her contractions were every 3-4 minutes.  She seemed to be coping well.  Good, I thought.  Maybe she won't need Pitocin to pick her labor up. The nurse practitioner student and I headed in to see our last patient for the morning.  At 12:15 I grabbed my keys and lunch and headed down the 4 flights  of stairs to my car and back to the hospital.  Half way to the hospital my phone rang, "Donna, she's 7 1/2 centimeters now and in the shower and uncomfortable."  "I just crossed the bridge, I'm on my way," I replied.
Water therapy, tub or shower, has been proven to relax the muscles and relieve pain.  With the relaxation and natural endorphins the body produces in the body of a laboring woman, the cervix relaxes and moves out of the way of the baby's head. 
Now, about 2 miles from the hospital, the phone rang again.  "We need you now in Room 2, in the shower."  "Well, I won't make it, but I'm coming."...

Walking quickly through the doors in labor and delivery I was told, "Your patient just delivered in the shower. "  A million thoughts ran through my head...wishing I had been there earlier but knowing that if I didn't make it on a very short notice I really wasn't needed, I walked into the patient's room to see nurses and techs by the bathroom door, the resident near by, and my patient sitting on the shower seat with a blanket over her, holding her brand new baby GIRL wrapped in a blanket too and loudly protesting being so abruptly evicted form the comfort of her womb.  Just a couple of minutes old and with a first apgar of 8, they both looked great.  By now everyone was taking a deep breath and celebrating what had just taken place.  Mom walked back to bed for the placenta to be born and in a few minutes her baby went to the radiant warmer to be checked out and weighed and measured.

When it was all said and done my patient surely did have the natural birth she had wanted, with very little intervention. She related that she had two strong contractions in the shower and didn't realize at first that what she felt was the baby coming down.  She and the resident assisted the birth of her baby, a beautiful, vigorous little girl who will probably grow up to like showers.  Dad later said, "We wondered why God didn't answer our prayer for labor to start at home.  It's probably good it didn't.  We'd have probably had her in the car." Kudos to nurses, techs and residents who assist mother's having their babies naturally, who can turn on a dime!
"I will make them and the places all around My hill a blessing, and I will cause showers to come down in their season; there shall be showers of blessing." Ezekiel 34:26.
Welcome baby Esther.  May God continue to shower you and your sweet family with blessings!