Jonah

All birth is an adventure, this birth story was the most epic of adventure for this family.

After a traumatic c-section with her first birth she knew she wanted something different with this birth. She educated herself, she was almost finished with nursing school and as past paramedic her and her husband knew this would be different. And was it ever!

At 33 weeks her water broke and she took an lovely ambulance ride down to U of M to see what was next plans. When there they decided unless labor started keeping baby in one more week was the best plan. A few false alarms later they finally got to 34 weeks- then the real induction started Wednesday. After a day and half of hard labor the Foley ballon came out and the joy of making it to 4cm and having it out was felt by all. Nitrous oxide was used, and loved by Madi to help get through another day of labor. However the Pitocin was maxed out a few times, and after 2 day of labor Madi opted for an epidural. After another round of Pitocin being maxed out and 3 days of labor and no progress Madi decided to have a c-section.

Shout out to her nurses, they were the most amazing humans ever. I can not thank them enough for all the support for her but also for me. It was a very long 4 days and every time they came back on shift they requested us again and would pick right back up being amazing and helping with anything and all the things needed to keep us sane and safe!

She re-got an epidural placement and IV, and they started the birth. At u of m in ann arbor doulas are allowed back with their clients for the epidural placement and c section to keep supporting and advocating.

They pulled him up over the curtain and they got to see his adorable little face for the first time! However almost as soon as she got to see her son for the first time it wore off and she could feel everything. So they quickly put her under all the way, and me and her partner were escorted out to the NEST area with her son(they knew he would more then likely have to go there to get help with breathing) There was a whole team there to take care of baby and make sure he got the care he needed.

Doctors were talking to dad and i was trying to make sure all moms wishes were still being followed. Dad got to cut the umbilical cord down, she wanted a blood print of the placenta and to make sure dad stayed with baby. Once she was back in recovery dad went to see her, and i stayed with baby, then we switched. I joined her in recovery where she was in an insane amount of pain. Texting update with her partner we switched again and they soon figured out that the post op pain meds that were normally given by one team was missed, because the other team then took over when mom got put to sleep all the way…

I stayed up with baby for a few hours while they got all the pain meds figured out. Then after a few solid days i went home to sleep!!

Recovery and healing was a long hard road with lots of complications, including postpartum pre eclampsia, an infected c section wound, a wound vacuum, antibiotic resentiance, needles to say nursing took a hit from all that. Not to mention a newborn NICU stay for weeks. Plus not to mention they had a 2 year old at home the whole time, lived hours away from the hospital so lots of back and forth for the dad, and not nearly as much time snuggling her two sons as she needed.

The amount of things Madi and Aiden endured to bring this baby into the world, and the work on the healing mentally, physically and emotionally is beyond anything i have ever seen. They are two of the strongest people i have ever met. The love for their little family was so evident every step of the way. Their support for each other and laughter through all the tears was truly the most beautiful!

I am a better doula for having helped them navigate the birth of Jonah, and i am a better person for having known them both!