Most women think the third trimester is the longest. Some women hope they even make it that far for the health of their babies. Our client was one of those women.
My doula friend Dani texted her shock that her client’s water had broken. The client, Mandee, was only 32 weeks along in her pregnancy, and this was the earliest she had gone into labor. Dani and I texted back and forth in a flurry about if things were ok and if Mandee truly was in labor.
Mandee also happened to be a previous client of mine who hired me for her 5th birth, but I ended up just barely missing it because the birth went so fast! It was such a disappointment. I made it up to her by taking newborn and family pictures for her, but I had always felt bad that I missed her birth.
So with my evening stretched before me and the kids all in bed, I thought that maybe I should have Dani ask her client if she wanted me there to take pictures. What better way to spend the evening! Dani asked and the answer was yes! So I grabbed my gear and headed to Provo, to Utah Valley Hospital. Dani texted me updates while I was en route, and I panicked thinking that this would be a repeat of last time all over again.
Imagine my relief when I got to the client’s room and she was happily still pregnant, laboring quite easily without additional medication. She was even doing her hair and makeup between contractions!
At that time, she was in transition and she finished her makeup just as the contractions were getting more difficult to work through without serious concentration. With Dani’s suggestion, she turned over on her bed and worked through each contraction with Dani giving hip squeezes. Eventually Dani gave her a hair comb to hold as another comfort measure. The pain from holding the comb would hopefully distract and detract from the pain of the contractions.
Dr. Jason Morris came in and talked with our client and asked if he could check her cervix. She complied, and he checked while she stayed in the position kneeling on her bed. That was awesome thing number one about this doctor. He had no issue checking her in a position like that.
We found out she was complete and they started talking about moving her to the OR. As she was 32 weeks, her baby would go immediately to the NICU, which was closest to the OR. Sadly, I would not be able to join, but Dani was so I gave her my camera after fixing the settings for the brightness of the OR.
Then I waited. I waited for over an hour, with little to no updates. Finally, nurses came past the room and told me baby had been born and they were just waiting for the placenta to be delivered. I found out that baby came out quickly, but the placenta took just over an hour for delivery.
There’s awesome thing number two about that doctor – he waited patiently for the placenta to come and didn’t panic at it’s delay. Our client barely bled and recovered quite quickly. Dr. Morris even gave her a tour of her placenta and urged her to touch it. Ok, by now we were about ready to crown him an honorary midwife. His care and attentiveness greatly mimicked midwifery and showed a priority for mother-led care. He’s got my recommendation!
Our client and Dani returned to the room and updated me on what happened while we looked at the pictures Dani took. They were so precious! Our client’s little premie was just under 4 lbs of cuteness. My client asked me to stay a little longer to go to the NICU with her so I could take pictures. Of course I said I would. We finally got there and marveled at the beauty that was there. She was just as perfect as could be and only needed a bit of breathing help with the CPAP machine.
I finally left for home feeling fulfilled and so very happy that I decided to ask to take pictures. My client was so happy too!