Genevieve's Birth Story

For this blog, I wanted to talk about the birth story of my oldest child, Genevieve. I have to kids and if it were up to me, I would have had a home birth for the both of them. With my daughter, I wanted to deliver at a birth center, but that did not happen as some things cape up and we ended up delivering her at a hospital.

Before getting pregnant with Genevieve, I started pediatric course work in chiropractic and pre and post-partum because I wanted to be well-versed in it. It was not something I specialized in prior to wanting to get pregnant. So, when we decided to get pregnant, I looked into such area for my own sake because they don’t go into it a ton in school.

Prior to that, I did not treat babies unless it was muscle work or something like that because it was vastly different treating adults and babies. I do not adjust infants and kids the same way I adjust adults. The pressure I use to adjust infants is the pressure of the finger that might bruise a tomato – super light and gentle.

In the journey learning about pediatric course work in chiropractic, I also got into yoga and exercise classes because I wanted to learn how to be able to work out while pregnant the right way without having all these crazy restrictions. I had a very active yoga practice with lots of arm balances and head stands so some of the restrictions when exercising while pregnant did not make sense to me. That is how I found Birthfit. It was started by a chiropractor and they draw a lot from the principles of Dynamic Neuromuscular Stabilization (DNS). That is a rehabilitation technique used mostly by physiotherapists and sometimes chiropractors, physical therapists, and athletic trainers. Birthfit was actually my first introduction to DNS and I loved the concept behind it because it made a lot of sense and it talked about a ton about breath and breathing. This tied perfectly with all the yoga I’ve been doing and teaching for a long time now.

Birthfit also gravitates more towards heavy lifting and CrossFit so it ties with how we can still lift heavy and do all these things while pregnant safely and effectively. During my pregnancy with Genevieve I stayed active and did more of baby DNS exercises because I wanted a more natural birth. You can check my other blogs regarding why I did not choose to have an epidural during delivery and all those things. Further, my main goal why I chose the more natural way was I wanted to have the least amount of recovery time as I had to get right back into the office and I had to take her with me in the office so I needed to be as active as possible safely.

Working With My First Midwife

During my pregnancy with Genevieve, I worked with a nurse midwife who started her own birth center in Youngstown, Ohio. We visited the birth center and my husband, who wanted me to give birth at a hospital, was pleasantly surprised. It was near a hospital so that if anything happens you get transferred really quickly. We also went to a regular OB-GYN office that the nurse midwife worked at so that if anything happened and we needed to do a C-section, she would have done the procedure for me. She was also willing to deliver a breach baby in case Genevieve was.

Why I Had To Give Birth At A Hospital

Never in a million years did I imagine I was going to give birth at a hospital. I was super active, I also had an intern from my old chiropractic school at my office who had taken Webster technique, which is a pelvic balancing technique, and I was getting adjusted regularly. It was working out perfectly and I had an annoyingly easy pregnancy. I never even got to that uncomfortable point in pregnancy although my daughter was 12 days late. A day before I went into labor, I still went to the office treating patients.

However, two weeks before Genevieve’s due date, we went in for our normal appointment with my nurse midwife and she told us she has some bad news. She said the birth center was going to be closing because they were unsure that the maternity ward was going to remain open at the hospital that was closed.

They gave me the option to still deliver with the midwife who we’ve been working with at a hospital or transfer all my records to a midwife center in Pittsburgh. My daughter was born in December and it’s a good thing we didn’t transfer to Pittsburgh because the day I went into labor, there was a blizzard.

We then went with the option of giving birth at a hospital. We checked out this fancy hospital, which my husband really loved, and another that was old and aesthetically not super pleasing. We chose the second hospital because there were less restrictions. I think the anxiety that I had regarding switching on my birthing options made Genevieve even later than she might have been.

Finding Another Midwife To Help With Labor, Delivery

By chance, when I got the news about having to give birth at hospital, I went to a yoga class and the teacher knew what happened. One of the people in that class, a woman who was beside me, told me she is a lay midwife. Although she does not do this often, she offered to go to my house and assist me with laboring.

My fear was, as a first time mom, I might go into labor early and the people at the hospital might keep me and force me to do Pitocin. Another fear was if I was not able to handle the contractions, I might need an epidural. So, having my lay midwife at home was God-sent.

When I finally went into what I thought was labor, it was on a Wednesday night at 11 P.M. and I did not even wake up my husband because they did not hurt and were not intense. I took a bath and the contractions still did not hurt very much. I texted my lay midwife, she came over, and confirmed I was in labor. She came over three times that day and finally at 6 P.M., she told me I was 7 centimeters and advised me to go to a hospital.

When we got to the hospital, they don’t want to call my nurse midwife right away and they wanted to check for themselves if I was ready to give birth. It might have been a factor that I was not in so much pain that is why they did not think I was ready to deliver. The first nurse who worked with me was not a normal OB-GYN nurse could not find the right fetal monitor and the vein in my hand. Thankfully, my nurse midwife came, got me the right fetal monitor, and called a different nurse. I was so relieved and thankful to have her there.

I labored from 7 P.M. to 2 A.M. and I’ve read a lot about birth stories through Ina May Gaskin’s books. She is a midwife rockstar and I recommend her book to anyone who is pregnant because I believe it’s important to know about these different birth stories. Giving birth is different for every person so it’s good to see these birth stories to understand that they are normal and not be scared about yours.

From all the continuing education and the research that I’ve done, I knew I wasn’t supposed to push until I couldn’t be pulled back anymore. I think because it was taking so long, they kept asking me if I already had to push. That made me anxious because I thought to myself is there something wrong or is someone not telling me something.

So, my instinct was to be on all fours but the hospital bed was hard to get traction on so I went to get on the ground. However, my nurse midwife said it’s filthy and I had to think of another way to deliver. I ended up delivering with one foot on the ground and one knee up on the bed. I think that’s one thing with an epidural because you won’t be able to move around. I was moving all around all day while waiting for delivery and I did stuff like pelvic rocking and squatting. Your pelvis is this ring that shifts. As the baby is coming out, the baby doesn’t go out straight as it also makes turns. Sometimes, the missing key is to be able to get one leg up so the pelvic shifts slightly to give the baby some more room to navigate those turns. That’s how I felt most comfortable giving birth.

Understand that your pelvis has an in hole and an out hole. The inlet, the top, opens up more when you are on a deep squat. If you are trying to engage the baby, you do the deep squat to open up the opening hole. For the middle part, that is when you do the shift by doing an asymmetrical lunge or having one knee up on the bed. For the end stage, you can almost internally rotate your legs a little and that opens up the out hole. For delivering my daughter, I was even able to assist bringing my daughter out by having these positions.

Another thing to think about is if you are lying on your back and you are scooping your tailbone up, it will not give your baby enough room to come out.

Why It’s Still The Best Hospital Experience

Although Genevieve’s birth story was not what I planned, it is still the best hospital experience. It was easier than I thought it was going to be as I was concerned that choosing to go the non-medicated and non-epidural route is a wrong move. I kept telling myself that I am stronger than this, I was built for this, and that my mom and my grandmom did it this way so I can do it this way, too.

Conclusion

My takeaway from Genevieve’s birth story was it was much better than I thought it was going to be. I am sure it is different for every person depending on the provider that you have. As for the rules for every hospital, it may also vary, but one thing I’m sure of is if you hit a certain level of dilation and you are with a nurse midwife, they have to be in there with you. It was nice and reassuring to have her there at all times. The nurses at the hospital are also familiar with her because she delivers there regularly and they knew if you are one of her patients, you probably have preferences when delivering. They did not question anything and did not have a lot of restrictions, so it was indeed a good experience still.

Partially, it was with the anxiety of being worried that I was supposed to be pushing, that something was wrong, but what I want to impart to you from my experience is you have to trust yourself and know that you aren’t there yet. With my second child, one of my main goals was to trust my body and not push until I was ready to push.

Overall, it was a great experience because daughter was 8 pounds and 6 ounces, had a hundred percentile head, and came out absolutely perfect. I also only had a grade 1 tear with her.

If you have any more questions regarding these tools, you can drop it in the comment section or you send me a message through Facebook or Instagram. I’d be happy to do another podcast about your questions. Also, if you want me to talk about something specific, let me know!

You can also check my TikTok account as I use the platform to educate viewers about movement, chiropractic education, yoga, pregnancy, and more! 

Thank you for listening and see you next week!