55. My Maine Birth: Emily Shares about her Maine Coast Memorial Hospital - Ellsworth, Maine Birth Story
Today's birth story guest is Emily and she shares her experience of birthing her son at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth with care of the certified nurse midwives.
MyMaine Birth is a space where we share the real life stories of families and their unique birth experiences in the beautiful state of Maine. From our state's biggest hospitals to birth center births, and home births, every birth story deserves to be heard and celebrated. From the first feelings of pregnancy to the first cry of your newborn, we explore the journey of child birth in all of its beauty, intensity, and emotion. Whether you are a soon to be mom, a seasoned mother, or simply interested in the world of birth, these episodes are for you.
As part of my commitment to capturing these incredible moments, I am proud to offer my birth photography services to families throughout Maine. As an experienced doula and photographer I am dedicated to capturing the beauty and emotion of this special moment in your life.
Emily: 0:00
What was funny, they really couldn't read me. They kept saying we can't read you because I was just. I went really inward, I was very silent. What's interesting is I had showed my I had, you know, demonstrated to my husband the noises that happen when you are reached transition, and he, you know, so he was expecting these howls to come out of me. Of course that's not always the case, but I feel like more times than not you can tell if a woman's transitioning. But I really wasn't watching the time and we were just peaceful and quiet and they'd come in every 30 minutes and take a quick listen to baby's heartbeat to make sure he was doing well and he was doing fantastic.
Emily: 0:42
And I think the interesting thing is, with my background of having been a labor and delivery nurse, I had seen such a variety of labors. I also think that education is so important. So I knew these sensations were normal. I wasn't scared at all. My legs started to shake and you could tell my husband's like what is that? And it's like that's normal. And in between contractions we were laughing and talking and I don't know. It was wonderful, I suppose at that point.
Angela: 1:13
I'm Angela and you're listening to my Maine Birth a space where we share the real-life stories of families and their unique birth experiences in the beautiful state of Maine and their unique birth experiences in the beautiful state of Maine. From our state's biggest hospitals to birth center births and home births. Every birth story deserves to be heard and celebrated, from the first feelings of pregnancy to the first cry of a newborn, we explore the journey of childbirth in all of its beauty, intensity and emotion. Whether you're a soon-to-be mom, a seasoned mother or simply interested in the world of birth, these episodes are for you. As part of my commitment to capturing these incredible moments, I'm proud to offer my birth photography services to families throughout Maine.
Angela: 2:01
As an experienced photographer, I'm dedicated to capturing the beauty and emotion of this special moment in your life. For all of the information, head over to MyMainePhotocom and fill out the contact form to schedule a call with me. Now sit back, relax and join me as we dive into the world of childbirth in Maine and discover the joy, strength and love that is at the heart of every birth story. Today's birth story guest is Emily, and she shares all about her experience birthing at Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth. Hi, emily, welcome to my Maine Birth. Thanks for taking the time to chat with me today.
Emily: 2:45
Of course, I'm so glad to chat about our birth.
Angela: 2:48
Yeah. So to jump right in and get started, will you first share a little bit about you and your family, sure.
Emily: 2:57
So my name is Emily. We live in the Penobscot area. My husband, lance and I we've been together for going on to 12 years. Now we have a almost four-month-old baby boy, lawson. I'm actually a nurse. I used to be a labor and delivery nurse in Ellsworth. I got done with that about two years ago and now I do visiting home nursing for new moms. So that's a fun transition, being able to go visit moms and their babies. I really enjoy that over the hospital setting.
Angela: 3:29
Oh, my goodness, that is amazing. So you basically are just postpartum support then for moms and babies.
Emily: 3:37
Yeah, and we also will visit moms while they're pregnant. We can help set them up with any services that they need check in on their health, listen to their baby's heartbeat. It's a really fun job, for sure.
Angela: 3:49
Yeah, oh my gosh, so do you have your own business.
Emily: 3:53
I don't. So I work with Downey's Community Partners they're who house us and with the Cradle Me program. When people deliver in the hospital, that's where they get the referrals, and we cover all of Hancock and Washington County.
Angela: 4:06
Oh, cool, very fun, wow. So now to get into your birth story. Will you share a little bit about when you first found out you were pregnant and your thoughts in choosing your care?
Emily: 4:23
Sure. So we found out in October we had conceived. That turned out to be a chemical pregnancy. So I had found out that I was pregnant and then I think it was about four days later I started to spot and my pregnancy test went from positive to the negative. So that was definitely a disappointment. And then we, by chance, conceived just two weeks after that chemical pregnancy. So that was a little confusing as to when I had ovulated and my cycle was a little off from that.
Emily: 4:59
It was kind of interesting because it was this time of year it was November and I had gone on a Portland trip for Black Friday shopping and I had known that this could be the time period where maybe I was pregnant. I tested before I left and it was negative. And then I went to Portland for the shopping trip and my husband was back home, and my last night in Portland I had a dream that I was pregnant with a baby boy. So I messaged my husband that morning and I said we need to take a pregnancy test once I make it home. And so I came home and took a pregnancy test and it was positive. So that was kind of funny, I will say, though, after having that chemical pregnancy that did kind of, you know, took the excitement out of that second test because made me wonder is this going to stick? The first time when I had my chemical pregnancy I had just assumed I'm pregnant, but after that experience it really made me kind of doubt the process a little bit and so I took like a pregnancy test every morning because I wanted to see if the line would get darker, because last time it had faded and disappeared with the chemical pregnancy. So that was a little disheartening, starting the process of the pregnancy off, doubting it, and then you've got those X amount of weeks that you wait until you're seen by your provider.
Emily: 6:22
We did choose to go with midwifery care. I was really back and forth as to where I'd want to deliver. I did really enjoy working at Maine Coast, but it had been a while since I had been there and Eastern Maine felt a little bit too just maybe not the route I wanted to take. I suppose I know that they are able to do great care, but I hear a lot of epidurals. So we went with Maine Coast. We were considering also Bar Harbor, but Maine Coast is what we went with. We really loved the Midwife and Blue Hill and that was right down the road. So very convenient and yeah, so we went the Midwifery route for our pregnancy.
Angela: 7:09
So now, just to back up for a second for listeners that might not be aware of what it is, would you share a little bit about what a chemical pregnancy is?
Emily: 7:20
Sure, yeah. So with that it's almost. It can vary. So essentially it's a really early miscarriage, typically before five weeks. So for my case, we found out I was pregnant. I had a dark line and I also for about two years before we conceived. That was our form of birth control. I said you know family planning that we were using with the natural cycles app and with the chemical I saw my temperature went up. So after you ovulate your temperature goes up and it'll stay high If you are pregnant. It'll drop if you're going to get your period. And what was interesting was I saw my temperature drop. So I kind of knew something was happening.
Emily: 8:09
But sometimes chemical pregnancies can happen because there might be a chromosomal abnormality. The implantation process may not have gone as needed, but for our sake, we found out I was pregnant and then three days later I got my period on the day where I would have gotten my period. So it was very, very early and it turns out it's really common. And what's interesting is a lot of people might not even know that they had one. I wouldn't have known if I didn't take that pregnancy test, because I got my period or I started spotting and bleeding on the day that my period was expected. That was a big learning curve, but I had a friend and I'd heard many stories of women who had chemical pregnancies sometimes conceive right after. So I was really hopeful. I took that energy of being disappointed because of course I was very disappointed and thought maybe next month will be the month. So we were really lucky that we did conceive so quickly after the chemical pregnancy.
Angela: 9:07
Yeah, wow. So now tell me about how your pregnancy went. Did you do any testing and how did you feel?
Emily: 9:16
Yeah, I feel so. I had a really nice pregnancy, so that was wonderful. We did do the genetic testing. In the beginning I really wanted to find out the gender quickly. I already knew that it was a boy. I know that sounds silly, but that dream I felt strongly that we were having a boy. So we did the genetic testing early on. I think that was at about 10 weeks. We found out at 11 weeks that we were pregnant with a boy.
Emily: 9:42
We did decline a lot of other interventions. We the RhoGAM shot. I actually didn't need to have that because both my husband and I are both negative blood types, so that was that was helpful. I did also do the GBS screening. I wasn't really a fan of doing the glucose screen. I was questioning if there was an alternative that we could do, but it just it worked out that I had to just take the glucola and everything was fine with that. But testing wise, we we did well. We only had the 20 week ultrasound. I feel like a lot of people thought that was kind of funny that I only had one ultrasound. You know a lot of questioning me as to what if? What if something's wrong? What if your baby's too big? And I just I felt very confident having that one ultrasound and seeing how he was doing.
Emily: 10:33
I would say the most challenging part of my pregnancy was I was having frequent they thought it was uterine irritability.
Emily: 10:39
I never went in to be seen for it, but sometimes every three hours my stomach would be contracting. It started at about 30 weeks and every time I changed positions, and especially at nighttime, it had nothing to do with my hydration or if I was too active I could just be lying there and my stomach would just turn hard as a rock and it didn't hurt, but it of course was uncomfortable and nearing the end it just felt like every two seconds my stomach was tightening and tightening. So that was really challenging. I was able to stay active during my pregnancy and I think that was really helpful. I did yoga and Pilates and things of that nature, so I think that helped me feel as good as I could. I will say my hips hurt a lot at nighttime, which I know that's common. I had some morning sickness, mainly when I'd brush my teeth in the morning, but other than that I really feel as though I did really well during my pregnancy.
Angela: 11:37
So how was the whole feeling with your care from the midwives versus like an OB?
Emily: 11:42
Yeah, I had worked with this midwife in the hospital so we had that relationship already and you know I felt very comfortable with her and the nurse there. I was friends with her also, so it really took the stress away going to my appointments. I was never stressed and you know the midwife, she would let me voice any concerns and she'd hear me out and very respectful care and I personally I love midwifery care. That's I'm so glad that we chose that route. We actually never had considered going the OB route. I know that's great for some people but for us we were so happy to go the midwifery route.
Angela: 12:18
So now tell me about sort of the last final days of your pregnancy leading up to your birth.
Emily: 12:26
Yeah, so I did a lot of prep. At the end I don't know if I was going a little overboard, but I just wanted to make sure I had all of the tools on board that I could. So I gave up caffeine during my pregnancy, which I only would do a cup of black tea a day, but I gave that up. So I was excited to reintroduce red raspberry leaf tea. I did that once a day in the morning and it tasted like black tea to me, so that was nice. So I would say probably about 35 weeks I can't remember I was doing a cup of red raspberry leaf tea a day. They say that can help tone your uterus. I feel like at that point though, with my uterus contracting every two seconds, it was probably pretty toned. I also did some dates. I did five dates a day to try to prep there. We did also have a doula At Holly number seven we went to a birth class and we had looked around for a doula.
Emily: 13:23
My midwife had really suggested to go that route and we just we couldn't find anybody that was available. I think it must've been a busy summer. And then we went to this Holly number seven birth class and we met Leanne and she's like I'm a doula. And then we're like, do you want to be our doula? And, um, it worked out. And she, she was like, sure, let's do it. And we met with her and so we had a lot of support from her throughout those last couple of weeks where she was checking in and, you know, we would go for a walk and talk about our intentions.
Emily: 13:55
And I would say one thing that was interesting was at the end of my pregnancy I just kind of wanted to be, I don't want to say left alone, but I just felt this feeling of you just wanted to be home and kind of retreat. I'm not sure, but the last week I just you know, you have that nesting and you're cleaning like a crazy woman. And I did get sick, though, that last couple of days of my pregnancy, with an awful cold. My throat hurt, I was stuffed up and, which was interesting because it then distracted me from having when am I going to go into labor? And instead it made me think, okay, I want to keep this baby in a little bit longer so I can be feeling better.
Emily: 14:34
Of course, that's not how it happened. About three days into me being sick with my cold. I went into labor. But that was interesting because I hear so many moms at the end where they're just like when is it going to happen? When is it going to happen? And I never got to that point because I don't know. I just never got to that point, which was nice. I wasn't fixated on the date, or I was ready but hopeful to have recovered from my cold. But that just wasn't the plan.
Angela: 15:02
Yeah, a lot of times if you get an infection or a stomach bug or a cold at the very end of your pregnancy, a lot of women kind of just that puts them sort of into labor and I love that Leanne was your doula. Oh my gosh, it was actually episode one of the podcast.
Emily: 15:19
That's how I found your podcast actually.
Angela: 15:21
Oh my gosh. So yeah, now tell me about when your labor started to really pick up.
Emily: 15:27
Yeah, so you know we had a normal night. I went to bed and I my husband leaves for work at about three in the morning, it's maybe even earlier, truly and after he left I just felt a little uncomfortable and I went to the bathroom and I saw that I was spotting and it felt like kind of strong period cramps, and I didn't want to think too much of it, but I went back, laid in bed and I continued every morning, I don't know five minutes kind of cramping, and I feel like I was almost desensitized by my stomach contracting, since I had been doing that for so many weeks. And so I called. I called Lance, my husband, and I said he was still on his way to work. And I was like I'm not trying to, you know, I'm not certain, but today might be the day. And what was interesting was he said that he could tell today was going to be the day, because he always comes and gives me a kiss and a hug, goodbye. And he said I seemed very like guarded, I was almost in like a fetal position and it's almost like, naturally, you're kind of going within, I suppose. And so I thought that was funny, that he sensed something was up almost before I even knew something was. So I told him, I said, well, don't come home yet, because you know, I know this could be, this could be days, truly. So he kind of, you know, got set up at work and he had a feeling he's like I can't focus, I'm coming home. So he got home at about five and I had stayed in bed and, you know, the contractions continued and I tried to get some breakfast into me, which of course, that's the last thing you really feel like doing, and you know, there was kind of silly, but we were.
Emily: 17:18
He had the little contraction app and he was monitoring how frequent the contractions were. I think it just kind of gave us something to do. And you know, I took a shower and they were coming on about every four minutes, sometimes every three minutes, and I felt fine. Though, you know, and I had said it would be, maybe when I'm in early labor I'll watch an encouraging movie. I was like let's watch the Secret, and I hadn't watched that in years, but I just thought, you know, that could be kind of fun to watch, something about how our intentions create our reality and whatnot. So I took my shower, I came out, I tried to turn that on, and it just was so overstimulating I was like no, no, let's turn this off. I probably at that point should have known I was moving faster than I had thought.
Emily: 18:10
So then we called the hospital at about maybe seven just to give him a heads up. So I had been contracting every three minutes and I didn't feel ready to go to the hospital at all though. But I called and let them know, and that was not the best phone call. It's interesting how our bodies you know my contractions almost stopped when I made that phone call, and you know they directed me to call my provider and it's like no, the office isn't even open. You know, I'm calling to let you know I'll probably be coming in today. And then they had also told us that the first tub was down, which I was really disappointed about that, because I, you know I had seen women labor in the tub and how wonderful of a tool that is. So that kind of put me off a little bit.
Emily: 18:59
And after that phone call was like I don't want to go to the hospital, I just want to stay at home for a while. And you know we of course that was not our plan, but we stayed home for a while longer and I continue to contract about every three minutes. I did listen to some hypnobirthing, which was really helpful, and I had also made a birth playlist on Spotify and I think that was my best tool for the birth and I was listening to that and you know, we were all smiles and chatting and all was well and we eventually decided let's just make this transition to the hospital, because you know we had a half hour drive and but I I really wasn't in much pain, but do you know, our midwife had suggested contracting every three minutes for an hour lasting a minute long. You know, you might want to start thinking about going in. I had been contracting every three minutes for a couple hours at that point. So we got into the car. I was kind of on my hands and knees trying to figure out what position would be the most comfortable. Again, it was interesting because once you leave your safe bubble of being home, I felt as though my contractions started to slow down a little bit, you know, and the car ride was okay, but not comfortable.
Emily: 20:24
I continue to listen to the hypnobirthing and you know the positive affirmations and get to the hospital. One funny thing is, someone had suggested for my husband to bring a blow up mattress be comfortable at night. So we didn't have a pump. We had like a large pump at home in the shop and so we pumped up this mattress that was in the back of my vehicle. So it was just. We decided to keep that into the car to make sure. Are we actually going to be admitted?
Emily: 20:53
We got to the hospital and I just felt as though they didn't really believe that I was in labor because I was talking normal, I was quiet, and um, we get in and this is a new birth unit from when I used to work there, so it's a little different from what I had remembered. And we get there and you know the nurse I, I wasn't familiar with this nurse and, um, she suggested for me to go pee and put this belly band on and put this gown on and she's going to start an IV. And it was like no, that's not how we're going to do it. I said I'm going to keep this on and actually I'd like to decline an IV and I would like to have intermittent monitoring, so I'd rather not put the belly band on, I think. I think she was like okay, you know she, she was receptive, but I think they still weren't really sure if I was going to be sticking around or not. So I got in, you know they.
Emily: 21:52
They checked on baby with we did a little NST and I felt as though I should have brought my birth plan or written out a birth plan, but I don't know why I didn't do that. But then she was also training a new nurse and listing off all of the pain medication options and was showing me how to hunch over for an epidural and I was trying to be respectful but I was like I used to be a labor and delivery nurse. I know these things. I let her go on for a couple minutes and I also let her know I'd really like to avoid these things actually, and you know we. She was like OK and that that went well.
Emily: 22:27
They checked on baby, he looked good, and then the midwife, unfortunately, was someone I had never met. So that was that was really disappointing. My midwife was away for her child's birthday, so I feel as though that kind of made me put my guards up a little bit. She seemed very nice and she checked me and I was six centimeters and I forgot to mention also, when I was at home, my water broke, but it was just a little, a little break, it wasn't, wasn't anything crazy. So they did an antishare before to make sure did my water actually break? She checked me, I was six centimeters, and at that point though, in order to feel my cervix, she really had to, you know, get in there and my, my full water broke, just, you know, a huge pop, and she's like oh, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean for that to happen, I didn't mind, because it had already. You know what I mean, I was already leaking, and the amnesia came back positive, that my water had broke at home. But this was a different, a different, a different like sensation. It was an actual pop and, you know, and honestly, after that they really gave me space. So Leanne had arrived probably around that time. She arrived after they had checked me.
Emily: 23:40
I had my husband at the bedside, of course, and they just kind of let me be, which is what I wanted, and so we chose a hospital birth, but we wanted it to feel, I suppose, as little intervention as possible. My midwife teases me that I probably should have gone to home birth, but here we are, this is what we did for our first baby and, you know, at that point we just kind of we listened to my birth music playlist, which was honestly wonderful. That was so helpful. I would just sway with each contraction and my husband would squeeze my hips and I thought I would want, you know, to use the birth tub, which, as I said, was not an option anymore. My midwife, she called the hospital, like what can we do about this? She really was trying to advocate for me, but I actually never felt the need to use water. Of course the nurse mentioned I could get in the shower, but I just I never needed it, I never wanted to go and get wet. I just, I don't know, I don't think that would have been very comfortable personally in the moment.
Emily: 24:46
And what was funny, they really couldn't read me. They kept saying we can't read you because I was just, I went really inward, I was very silent. What's interesting is I had showed my, I had, you know, demonstrated to my husband the noises that happen when you are reached transition and he, you know so, he was expecting the noises that happen when you are reached transition and he, you know so, he was expecting these howls to come out of me. Of course that's not always the case, but I feel like more case than more. More times than not you can tell if a woman's transitioning, but I really wasn't watching the time and we were just peaceful and quiet and they'd come in every 30 minutes and take a quick listen to baby's heartbeat to make sure he was doing well. And he was doing fantastic.
Emily: 25:30
And I think the interesting thing is, with my background of having been a labor and delivery nurse, I had seen such a variety of labors that I also think that education is so important. So I knew these sensations were normal. I wasn't scared at all. You know, my my legs started to shake and you could tell my husband's like what is that? And it's like that's normal. And in between contractions we were laughing and talking and I don't know it was. It was wonderful, I suppose, at that point. And then the midwife she's like I can tell you're 10 centimeters. She. She's like I don't even have to check you, I can just tell.
Emily: 26:08
Because I then started to kind of have little grunts like I couldn't really help it. It was almost, as you know, I was pushing and so I was like okay, this, is this happening. So we got to the hospital at 11 in the afternoon and then at three o'clock I was um, I was fully dilated and we did a couple of contractions of me just grunting a little, you know just kind of pushing a little, and then we made our way to the bed and um, then, when the pushing phase started, that's when things kind of changed, I guess I still felt in control. Pain was really not bad personally. It just took a long time pushing. We did hands and knees, we did side lying, we did tug of war. This little guy just was not coming out and you know they're continuing to monitor his heart rate and the problem was I was contracting at that point about every seven minutes. So I would push with my contraction and then it's almost like all that progress would go away because my contractions were so infrequent.
Emily: 27:24
And this is where things you know went a little not the way I wanted, I suppose, where, again, I had never met the midwife before and she had started to mention that I might be high risk for hemorrhage because of my contraction pattern. She really wanted to start some Pitocin and you know I just didn't, I didn't want to. So a lot of my labor, my eyes were shut and I was just kind of in my own little world and we kind of laughed after because I would ignore the midwife when she would mention Pitocin. But you know, after about two hours of pushing, she kept mentioning the concern of hemorrhaging due to my uterus getting tired from this contraction pattern, and I felt as though we had exhausted a lot of physicians. And I also did feel a little disappointed, though, because I felt like she wanted the pushing phase to go faster and when in reality, that's normal for a first-time mom to be pushing that long.
Emily: 28:23
I wasn't watching the clock, so I didn't know how long it was and I didn't feel like I needed to tap out. I didn't feel like I couldn't do it. I I trusted that I was going to do it, but, um, you know, the timeframe as to how long it would take, I wasn't sure about, and eventually, you know my my doula also stepped in and tried to advocate for me to try some more positions. So we really we did try to push it off for as long as we could, and also, at that point I still didn't have an IV. So we did end up agreeing to the Pitocin and you know my overall goal was to go unmedicated, without pain intervention. I suppose I did not plan for Pitocin, but I feel like sometimes in labor you have to change your plan. So they ended up placing an IV last minute and started the Pitocin and we continued the pushing game and that just kept going and going.
Emily: 29:18
And one thing that again was disappointing was the midwife was making some comments that you know the hemorrhage comment and then she was saying that the baby might be a little too big for my frame. My frame might be a little too small to birth this baby and she's, you know. She then asked me when my last ultrasound was and if his hand was up near his face, and I knew she was asking that. She wanted to know if it was a compound hand and that's why it was so difficult to push him out if the hand was up by his face. She asked me if I was an athlete, which I'm definitely not an athlete, but she said like my tissue was really tight and not in a good way to be able to birth this baby. It just was.
Emily: 29:59
A couple times I just felt a little frustrated by the dialogue. I just wanted her to reply and you know, at one point when she made that comment about maybe this is a big baby, and throughout my pregnancy I had an affirmation of you know, my baby is the perfect size for my body, or my body is made to birth this baby, and I almost, like recited that back to her. But I just told myself, emily, just stop, you know, and I did my best to ignore the dialogue, but it just wasn't very encouraging. But throughout this I had the end and my husband and my mom actually was in the room also at this time. She was very quiet in the corner as I had reflected, and then things got stressful again and there was meconium in the fluid and you know. Next thing, I know there's more people in the room and I feel as though I kept my eyes shut for so long.
Emily: 30:59
I really wasn't too aware of I could talk in between pushing, but because we had to wait for so many minutes in between and then they got worried that we were having a shoulder dystocia, so I just felt like, oh my goodness, you know, my labor and delivery mind is just thinking that every worst case scenario right now is being considered. So they ended up calling the pediatrician in and I had to really turn my nurse brain off because it wasn't helpful. I hear him grabbing this stool preparing to, you know, potentially have to dislodge his shoulder and my husband had no idea what was going on. He, he could sense the room though things were getting stressful and I think they were really fearful of his, this baby coming out and I could just, every time I was pushing I couldn't really tell if he was coming down. And the midwife the one thing I did appreciate was she said for one push, my husband was like I see his head and she's like you need to continue to talk to her like that because she trusts you and she doesn't trust me. That was the most effective push right there. So you, you know he had to kind of step in coaching me and that was really helpful because it's like why was no one telling me that we can see the head? That's kind of that's helpful information.
Emily: 32:20
And, needless to say, once the meconium arrived and we had the pediatrician in the room, I knew that it really was crunch time and so I had been very quiet with my pushes I think maybe a little too reserved throughout pushing and at that point I just gave it my all and I grunted and grunted and made some noise for the first time and after about pushes he finally came out and it was just like the whole room you could tell was like oh my goodness. So we didn't really know where that was turning and it wasn't a shoulder dystocia. He was a six pound, 6.5 ounce baby. He was not a big baby. My body was made to birth him and you know so. Then he we had planned for delayed forward clamping Again, though I didn't really bring a birth plan or anything but I believe it's midwife on board with that, but I think they were concerned for his well-being and they, you know, immediately, immediately, had Lance kind of clamp the cord and you know everyone's coming and rushing over and I think they were worried because he was a little bit blue.
Emily: 33:28
But I was again very determined that my baby's staying on my chest. So I just kept saying he's okay, he's okay and he was okay and he, he came, he came around and he you know they were respectful and kept him on me and I was grateful for that. But he was turning around and he was crying it. It just took him a second and it's funny because Leanne took some photos for us and there's a photo right after he came out and you can see me checking his tone. You know I just the nurse brain you can't really turn off. I'm grabbing his hand to see his tone.
Emily: 34:03
And you know, when it started to calm down they gave us some space. He was a little grunty so I was worried that that was going to lead to some interventions. But we just did skin to skin and got him nursing and you know he he recovered great and you know it was quiet. You know we laughed afterwards because it was so many people in the room which I really wasn't even aware of who was in the room at that point. I didn't even care, I just wanted my baby, I wouldn't say. And then it was just quiet, it was just us and we were at this point it was six o'clock, so a little after six, so it was three hours of pushing and that was, hands down, the hardest part of it. It was not terribly painful, it it's just. I don't know. I needed to find some inner strength, I suppose to to get him out but you never really felt like anything was wrong.
Angela: 34:54
It was just sort of everything else that was going around like he seems like you were calm, but it wasn't fitting everyone else's timeline around you, yeah, yeah, and I did feel calm the whole time and I just I, I don't know I trusted it was going to be okay.
Emily: 35:11
I wasn't really looking around the room where I I guess there were some eyes where people were getting stressed, uh, and I knew those last couple minutes that things were getting a little hairy, so it was time to to get him out. But but, yeah, I I remained calm and I was surprised because with labor and delivery you can see a lot of things and you can go worst case scenario. But I really I don't know, when you're the patient, you kind of can't go worst case scenario. You're, there's nowhere you can go other than make it through, I suppose.
Angela: 35:44
Yeah, yeah, that's so true. So now that was your sort of like immediate postpartum.
Emily: 35:52
Yeah, I also forgot to mention that. They then thought that I had hemorrhaged and because I passed a large clot, and then they, you know, gave me some medications, and I did not hemorrhage, I was fine, and so I had Pitocin throughout the night and we laugh about it now, though, but I ended up removing my own IV. I was like the worst patient I knew the night nurse. She's like why did you do that, emily? I would have taken it out for you. I was like I don't know. We're done so.
Emily: 36:21
What I feel is, though, labor was and I don't mean to take away from anyone else's experience, but labor was easier than I anticipated. Pushing was a lot harder than I had thought, but postpartum, the recovery was so much more than I had thought I expected, doing an unmedicated vaginal delivery, you know, you see women pop right up and they're doing well, and I felt like I was hit by a train. The photos of me are almost unrecognizable. I was just so swollen and I even needed help like walking to the bathroom. I think that the pushing phase for three hours may have contributed to it, but we ended up leaving the hospital at the 24-hour mark. May have contributed to it, but we ended up leaving the hospital at the 24 hour mark, which that was the whole, the whole thing. It took a while for them to do the 24 hour testing for our baby. My husband was like let's leave, let's just leave. I'm like we, we can't do that. So we waited and waited and we didn't leave the hospital until about 9 30 at night. But we were like we are leaving, we're done. And so we didn't get home until 10 o'clock at night and I'm not sure why I sat in the front, but I did, and you know it was pitch dark so we couldn't even see our son in the back. So that was a stressful ride home.
Emily: 37:40
But I was in a lot of pain and again I was a little stubborn, I didn't want to take anything. In a lot of pain and again I was a little stubborn, I didn't want to take anything, but I even needed help, like lifting my leg into the car. I had a lot of tailbone pain for weeks and the front of my pelvis just felt like it had been almost like ripped in two. Did you have tearing from the? And I had a second degree tear and a lot of a and um. It just it was a painful recovery, honestly, um, it took quite a few weeks to be feeling. You know, even just standing up was felt like I don't know. It just did not feel comfortable. Of course, you just you do it and you make the best of it, but I was, I didn't expect that to be as it was and, um, so, yeah, we got home, we were so overjoyed and so you know, I didn't really mention that part. Of course, we were so grateful once our son was born and all was well and it was such a bonding experience for my husband and I and he was so supportive throughout the labor, which you know was wonderful.
Emily: 38:49
And as soon as I had had Lawson his name is Lawson he was favoring one breast right in the hospital he was only kind of wanting to nurse on the left breast and on the right breast I'd have to hold him in a football position in order to nurse him on that side, and that continued and he just didn't want that breast, and then that led to a much less production on that side. We eventually a couple weeks and realized that he was having troubles turning his head to the left, like right after birth truly, and so that was something I didn't anticipate. So we did end up having to. We saw a chiropractor for him right here in Blue Hill, which was wonderful, and that we're still seeing her and he's able to turn his head both ways and nurse both on both sides, which is wonderful. But those first couple of nights were really challenging and my milk didn't. Nights were really challenging and my milk didn't. It took like days for my milk to come in.
Emily: 39:55
Now, as I said, I was sick through with my labor, which was interesting. I could breathe fine throughout labor, but right after I had him it was like it came right back. I couldn't breathe out of my nose in the hospital. I don't know if being sick affected my milk coming in, but it took days and we had a follow-up appointment and the little guy lost like almost 12% of his body weight, which I know they don't want to see more than 10% and I knew he had a good latch and it just was so stressful. I was familiar with breastfeeding. I had all the tools that I felt that I needed, but my milk just didn't really want to come in. So then with that he looked jaundiced, he was yellow and you know the pediatrician was like do you guys want to be readmitted to the hospital. It's like, absolutely not.
Emily: 40:41
And then, you know, there was a big push for us to supplement with formula and I just kind of felt like the loss of and I don't know. I didn't know what to do. So I tried pumping and syringe fed him that and they ended up packing us home with some formula because I think they were worried about my milk supply. But then there's the concern if I'm feeding him formula then we're not stimulating the breast to have the milk come in. So that's a challenge there. So we avoided the formula.
Emily: 41:11
And then one night he was just screaming his head off.
Emily: 41:14
You know this must've been day three and I pumped and nothing came out and I just felt so defeated and I didn't know what to do.
Emily: 41:22
So we did supplement him with one bottle of formula and then he slept so peacefully and I was just like, oh my gosh, it just showed us. You know the start of parenthood you're having to make decisions that maybe you didn't think you'd make. And then it just like, oh my gosh, it just showed us. You know the start of parenthood You're having to make decisions that maybe you didn't think you'd make. And then it's like did I make the right decision, and but that was that. Finally, my milk came in and, you know, he was able to gain weight and with my job I have an infant scale. Often we go and we visit moms and we weigh their babies, and so otherwise they would have been having me come to the doctor's office, you know, every other day to weigh him. So I was so happy to be able to do that at home and the last thing you want to do is pack your baby up and go to the doctor's office.
Angela: 42:05
That's so hard, yeah, especially trying to recover yourself and do everything you know that you need to do for your baby yourself and do everything you know that you need to do for your baby.
Emily: 42:16
Yeah, and so, finally, my milk came in and we, you know, here we are four months in and breastfeeding is going well. So I don't know, though, that was a learning experience, because usually the moms I see their milk has already come in. I didn't, I didn't really anticipate that to be such a such a challenge, but it was nice to reach out to some of my other mom friends and get their support and encouragement. And then also postpartum. You know, at my six week postpartum appointment, you know, I wasn't even. My stitches hadn't even dissolved, so my body was having a tough time, more than I anticipated. So you know they wanted to see me back in two weeks just to check in on me to see how that was Physically.
Emily: 42:58
That was challenging Mentally and emotionally. I felt great, which you know. I'm so thankful for that, because I know that can be a huge challenge postpartum. And I would say one of my big tips is we did a lot of freezer meals, prepped some healthy freezer meals to be able to do up the first couple of weeks, and that was a huge resource for us. Yeah, I'm trying to think I feel like those were the big things. Postpartum my husband had a week off, so that was really. That was really helpful to have him home with us. And then it's that, oh my gosh, I'm on my own once he's back to work, but little challenges. I guess that I didn't anticipate to have postpartum.
Angela: 43:38
Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot, for sure. Yeah, one thing I think that we didn't mention was how did your placenta come?
Emily: 43:47
out. Yeah, that's a good point. The placenta came out fine. It came out very quickly. The one thing that was interesting was they noticed that there was a lobe, an extra lobe to the placenta that didn't have blood flow to it and this midwife had made mention of sometimes that could happen if there was originally a twin or. But I had told her that I had a chemical pregnancy just two weeks before we conceived and she thought that potentially that could have been like part of the placenta from that pregnancy. So that was really interesting to see. But the placenta came out smooth and there was no problems there, which I was happy with that.
Angela: 44:28
Wow, that is really interesting. Yeah, that is really interesting, yeah. So now, if you were to give advice to someone who is expecting, or even new parents, what would be the biggest?
Emily: 44:40
thing that you would say yeah, that is a good question, I think. From my experience I would. I would say you know, prep as much as you can for the postpartum period, but again, that was more challenging for me than the labor, which I do think is often the case. Try to build up some support system. I think of our second day home. My mom brought us some chicken soup. Having people bring you food and being clear with what your intentions are postpartum, I think, is really important, and also probably to give yourself some grace, because sometimes you're making decisions that maybe you didn't intend. I didn't intend to do Pitocin. I didn't intend to give Lawson that one bottle of formula which he's absolutely fine and formula is such a wonderful tool for some babies but I think really finding that flexibility is so important. Yeah, absolutely.
Angela: 45:39
Well, thank you so much for sharing your stories today.
Emily: 45:43
Yeah, you're welcome. Thank you for having me.
Angela: 45:47
And that's the end of another episode of the my Main Birth podcast. Thank you for joining me and listening. I hope that the stories shared here have been inspiring and informative to all of my listeners. If you're looking to capture your own birth story, I highly recommend considering my birth photography services. I'm a professional photographer and I'm very passionate about capturing the raw and emotional moments of the birthing process, and I designed a personalized and intimate photo album, creating a beautiful and lasting memory of one of the most special moments of your life. For more information, head over to mymainphotocom and schedule a call with me. Thanks again for tuning in and I look forward to bringing you more amazing birth stories. Don't forget to subscribe and leave me a review, and I'll see you back here again next week.