L-A-B-O-R !!!

My friend Tiffany called me at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday morning to tell me she was in labor!!! She had been having contractions since 3 a.m. and was doing fine. On and on this went through the day....her and her hubby (and her little girl, Alana) went out to breakfast, went on walks and just hung out at home.

I went to her house around 4 p.m. to check and see how things were going. The contractions were getting more intense, but she was handling them just fine. She enjoyed laboring while walking, leaning over and being in her bathtub.

She decided she was ready to head for the hospital around 9 p.m. Her plan was to get there pretty late in labor so they could not mess with her. Attempting a VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) is not easy, and she did not want any staff interference.

We walked in the hospital about 10 o'clock p.m. She was checked in and had all the "stuff" done upon admission. The doctor said she was 5 cm and the baby was pretty low.

I went out in the hall to put my cat in the microwave (my lavender filled cat...used for a hot compress on the shoulders/back) and I heard some nurses talking. One was telling the other, "There is a VBAC in room 2....which means another C-section, of course."
I was livid. How dare she?! Her client is trying to give birth naturally instead of having major abdominal surgery. She should be thrilled. In fact, medical research says that a mom has a three-fold risk of death from a c-section verses a vaginal birth. Gee wiz. Don't they read their own literature?

Fast forward a few hours...and a few run-ins with the THREE doctors that were in our room alllll the time....around 1 a.m. Tiff felt a little pushy. I told her to go with what her body was saying...so she did. A loud POP resonated around the room (her bag of waters that she would not let the doc break...it broke on it's own) and the baby fell out. Literally. Right there on the bed. Tiff was on her knees leaning over and had that baby right then and there. Nate (her dear hubby) reached down and picked up his baby and started talking to her...and she began screaming. The docs were saying (and I am not being sarcastic nor am I exaggerating), "What do we do? What do you want to do? What should we do?" That upped my confidence in the medical staff. Yeah. Thankfully the civilian dad knew just what to do...and his little girl was fine.

All this to say....Tiff went against all odds and gave birth on her own!!!!!!!!!!!! She was fantastic and the baby (Briana) is perfect in every way.

Briana was born at 1...ish in the morning on Thursday after 22 hours of labor. We say 1...ish because she came so fast no one saw what time it was till later. :)

Below are a few labor pictures. The baby was born so fast that we have no pictures of the birth or right after....but that is okay. At least she was not pulled on or even touched by anyone at her birth except the two people that love her the most...her mom and dad.




Oh. Her first C-section was for "failure to progress"....which, of course, means failure to progress fast enough for the doctor. She had been on pitocin for many hours...as high of a dose as is allowed...and did not get past 6 cm. Slice and dice. But this time.....her body apparently CAN work! Uuumm....wonder what would have happened in her fist birth if they had let her body work...uuummmm.


Oh. (again) I missed the field trip this morning to pick all the fresh veggies and tomatoes to make and can salsa and marinara sauce. Sniff...sniff. Oh well. There is always next year!











Tiff laboring in her tub.












Nate helping Tiff through a contraction. He did great! (oh yes, so did she!)










Walking around the living room.....












Mom and baby Briana!!!



















The New Matthews Family...Nate, Tiffany, Alana and Briana :)