Ali V. | Midwifery care, gestational diabetes, breech baby, and an unplanned c-section.

In this episode the host of Moony Birth Stories, Ali from Saskatoon, shares her own pregnancy and birth story of her first baby Jackson. She shares about her positive pregnancy experience with gestational diabetes. Her plan and preparation for a home birth under midwifery care. Then at almost 38 weeks, her water broke and labour followed slowly. Ali transferred to the hospital after labouring at home where they discovered that baby was breech and so she then went in for a c-section. Ali also shares more about her postpartum experience. 

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Transcript

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 Hi everyone and welcome back to Moony Birth Stories. Today's a bit of a different episode because I am solo, which means I'm finally sitting down to record my own birth stories. On today's episode, you're gonna be hearing about my first pregnancy and birth story with my son Jackson. So my name is Ali. I am married to my husband Matt, and we have two children, Jackson, who is almost three, and Charlotte, who is 14 months.

I am also a doula and I host this podcast. I became a doula before I had children of my own, so I went into my pregnancy with a lot of knowledge about what I wanted for my own birth. However, going through it myself has definitely taught me a lot more than what I knew in the beginning of my journey as a doula.

My husband and I were married in July of 2022, and we had always known that we wanted children. So right after our wedding we started trying and we were very thankful to conceive on our first month. I felt very excited and nervous and just all of the things you feel as a first time mom. So immediately after taking the test, I told my husband and then.

I called the midwives here in Saskatchewan. It is incredibly difficult to get on with the midwives, and I knew that's what I wanted for my care provider. So I immediately called them and then I had a pretty uneventful first trimester I did have a subor hemorrhage, which I did have a little bit of bleeding, which was a little bit scary at the time, but everything was completely fine.

I didn't have any. Huge negative symptoms. I was a little bit nauseous, a little bit tired, but thankfully felt pretty good throughout my first trimester. Definitely felt a lot better throughout my second trimester, and then it wasn't until I was 18 weeks that I got the call from the midwives that I was going to be on with their care, and I met my midwife.

She was absolutely lovely and I was very thankful. That I got on with them. And then once I did, it became the question of do I wanna have a hospital birth or a home birth? And I had been unsure of what I wanted. It, so it really wasn't until a few weeks in that I had decided that I wanted to plan for a home birth.

And so immediately, all throughout my pregnancy, although I had known a lot. Being a doula and attending birth. Before my own pregnancy, I did still lots of reading, lots of listening to podcasts, and just diving deep on more education. Throughout my pregnancy. I was seeing a chiropractor and doing massage and exercising, doing all of the things to help prepare my body and just to keep my body as.

Feeling as good as I could. But like I said, I didn't have too many discomforts throughout my pregnancy, which I was very thankful for. And then at 28 weeks, I took my gestational diabetes screening and I honestly didn't think too much of it. I went in for the appointment. Didn't really think anything would come of it.

And then when I got my results back, my blood sugars were elevated, which means I had to go back for the longer fasted test. And then that test also came back elevated, which means I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. And at that time it felt very defeating. I felt that I was a healthy person, which in hindsight I know that.

That doesn't mean anything. Like you can have gestational diabetes and it doesn't mean anything that you did, but at the time it felt very big because I didn't know what that meant for my birth. Like it could mean I couldn't plan for home birth. It could mean that I was transferred out of the midwives care.

And so at the time it did feel like a really big deal. And then after meeting with my midwife, she told me that as long as I stayed diet controlled, which means I didn't need to be put on any medications, I was able to stay with the midwives. And I was also able to continue to plan for a home birth, which I felt better after talking with her and knowing that I could still continue on with the plan as long as my blood sugars remained within the normal range.

And so I. Did everything that I could to make sure I was eating well and eating to control my blood sugars and exercising, drinking water, doing all of the things. And I was very thankful that I was able to stay diet controlled throughout all of my pregnancy. And then other than that, yeah, I had a pretty, I don't wanna say easy pregnancy, but a very positive pregnancy.

I worked up until I was 35 weeks, so I am employed at the Children's Hospital as a doula, and yeah, so I kept working until I was 35 weeks there, and then I went off and I was preparing my home and again, preparing my body, just exercising, stretching that end of pregnancy is honestly my favorite time.

Like when you are just. So excited and anticipating when will birth happen? You are. I was just going for walks and I had my son in April of 2023, and so it was the spring weather was coming and I just remember that being a very exciting and positive time in my life. So up until the point of labor starting, I had not felt any signs of labor.

And then when I was 37 weeks and five days, I woke up. I think it was around four 30 in the morning and I had felt like a little period cramp type thing. And I thought that's different. And then it wasn't until I would think it was like another, like 15 minutes and then I felt another one, and then again, another 10 or 15 minutes went by and I felt another one.

And I was like, okay. This is something. And so then I told myself, just go back to sleep. It was like five in the morning. I need to get more sleep. And then I rolled over in bed to try and shut my eyes for a little bit longer and all I feel is warmth, feel my legs. And I was like, oh my gosh. This is wa this is my water breaking.

And so I got up, I went to the bathroom and it just continued to gush and come out. And I was like, and then I was so funny what our brains do. And I'm like, no, this isn't it. This can't be it. I, this isn't happening. And because I was also early, 37 weeks, five days, I was the first time mom. I was like, no way is this happening.

And then I go and I wake up my husband and I was like, my water just broke. And he's just okay, should I go to work? And I'm just like, I don't know. Because my husband, he works away. So when he, if he was going to work, he would be away and not able to come home very easily. And so I was just like I think this could be hours or days. And I was like, I I, I don't know. And then eventually  more water kept coming and I was like, okay, you should stay home. And we had a midwife appointment scheduled for that morning and I was like, go to that appointment. See, make sure that this is my water and we'll just see what goes from there.

So we woke up, we got outta bed. I started bouncing on my ball. We were just watching some TV and contractions. Were still coming at that like 10 to 15 minute mark, but they were very mild, like very mild period cramps. And then, so we got up, we went to that midwife appointment, and at that point I was wearing a diaper.

I was like, my water had definitely broke. We went in, I told my midwife that this is for sure, and she, we still did the swab and she was like, it immediately turned, I think it turned like black and she's yeah, your water broke. And then she just told me to go home, go about your day and call me in 24 hours if nothing has happened.

And so that's what we did. We just went about our day. We actually went to go pick up a. Cake from Crave, because that was the one thing that I wanted after I had a baby. Because keep in mind, I have gestational diabetes. I have not indulged. And so I told my husband, I want a big cake to eat after I give birth to this baby.

So we went to Crave, we picked up a cake, and then I actually called my chiropractor and asked if I, she could get me in that day. And so she was able to, I went for an adjustment and then we went home. We set up the birth pool. I think we went for a walk. I remember I did the mile circuit and this was middle of the day that I did the mile circuit.

And I remember at this point my contractions becoming very uncomfortable. Like I remember I could not lay down through doing that mile circuit. Yeah. So I just continued to sit on my ball sway just going about my day, going through contractions. And then it was around five 30 that I had called our doula.

So I had a she's a doula slash birth photographer, and so I had called her, just let her know what was going on, and then my contractions were coming, started to come like four to five minutes apart, and my husband's do. When do we call the midwife? And I was just like, no, it's not time yet. And then I remember a very intense contraction happening and I immediately said, call her now.

And so he did. They came and I actually wanted minimal cervical checks. So when she came, she didn't check me or anything. She just just. Did listen to the baby, did blood pressure, all those other checks. And at that point she had me doing different positions. I think we did like sideline and sideline release, forward leaning, inversion, things like that.

And then I, we went for a little walk around my house. Then it was, I think it was around like nine o'clock where my midwife and doula were like, okay, we're going to head home. You're doing good. Just labor here. And again, my contractions, I think were coming like four to five minutes apart and I felt a little bit discouraged.

Yeah, I felt a little bit discouraged at this point 'cause I was just very excited for things to be happening. And then nothing. Was really happening, but yet the contractions were picking up and were painful. But I did, I ended up getting in the birth pool. It was just me and my husband. We were there and I think I labored all night from 11 until three in the morning in the birth pool.

And I just remember having my birth playlist going on in the background. My husband was there. He was trying to get some rest because we were exhausted at this point, and I think it was five in the morning. We called my midwife back. She checked me and she said I was three centimeters, but she said I was stretchy to a five.

And again, I felt very defeated in this moment. And so she presented me with my options, which were to continuing to go on as we are to, or to go into the hospital and I could get like a shot of morphine, but we have to do that in the hospital. Or she said we could go to the hospital, get an epidural, and then start Pitocin.

And truthfully, I didn't love any of those options. I just wanted labor to progress and it just wasn't, or it didn't feel like it was. And so my husband and I chatted about our options and so we did decide to go into the hospital because again, we were both exhausted. I just, I was feeling defeated at this point.

And so the drive over was. Wasn't great. It wasn't fun, but we did it and we, I got my epidural, which was honestly a big fear of mine. I am very afraid of needles, but I did it and it honestly wasn't as bad as I had made it out to be. And then, so once the epidural was done, they started the Pitocin, they hooked me up to the monitors, and then I was finally able to get some rest.

I had a little, I think I had a little bite of like cheese and crackers. My husband was resting on the couch. I was resting. I think I was in hands and knees position, but I was still able to just relax and relax my body, and it felt really good at that time. And then. We were just trying to switch me positions often.

And then I got up to go to the bathroom. I had peed and then I had wiped and it was like black meconium and I was like, oh, this isn't great. So then my husband went and got her midwife, told her what we saw, and then this is when she told me that. She was pretty certain that our baby was breech. And at this point I was like, huh?

What? What do you mean? And so I guess at that check in the morning, she had suspected that baby's position was off. And then once it was. She saw that just like thick black meconium, she knew that it was just like baby's butt was perfectly lined up with my cervix and just let it go. And then, so we, they called the OB to come in and check me and confirm that baby was breach.

And so they did that confirmed that baby was breach. And then they gave me my options of. Either a C-section or it was a we could go for a vaginal delivery, but there was, it wasn't given, that option wasn't given to me very confidently by the ob and because I also had gestational diabetes, they were worried about baby size, and I also didn't get a third trimester ultrasound.

And so there were, yeah, it was just a lot of oh, we don't know baby size. We don't know if whatever. And so with that, my husband and I did decide that we did want to go in for a C-section because again, we were exhausted and I just, I didn't feel like I had it in me anymore to continue for a vaginal delivery.

And so at this point I, I felt a little bit scared that we were gonna go in for C-section, but I also felt relief. Relief that this was going to be over and relief that there was a reason why labor wasn't progressing the way that it was. I also forgot to mention that this was a lot of back labor, like all throughout the night.

It was just like intense back labor. And so that kind of, I thought, okay, that's like baby is obviously in a weird position and I just thought baby was posterior, not that baby was breech. So yeah, I, I honestly just felt a lot of relief and so they started prepping me for the OR and again, there was just a lot of excitement in the room.

Like it didn't feel like a negative thing or like scary, it just felt very. Positive and that we were going to meet our baby and the end is near. And so yeah, we got my husband suited up in his scrubs. We got me all ready for the OR and then we walked over and we went in. So I was very thankful. 'cause there was the ob, my midwife came in for the C-section and then my birth photographer was also allowed to come in for the C-section.

So I have very beautiful pictures of this birth. Yeah, the C-section. It was okay. I felt a lot of tugging and just, it was very uncomfortable and it felt like they were like pushing on my ribs. But then within a few minutes, my son Jackson was born and he was, yeah, like he was folded in half in there, bummed down and just, yeah.

And a small bummed down baby. And we were very thankful to enjoy a few minutes or I don't even know how long it was of Jackson on my chest as they were closing me up. And then we were taken to the recovery room. I started breastfeeding immediately. My midwife, thankfully, was very hands-on and was able to help me with breastfeeding.

Yeah, a lot of the checks were done with baby on my chest. Oh, one thing. When I was, they moved Matt and Baby over to the recovery room and Matt started doing skin to skin with Baby there as they just finished up with me in the or. And then as soon as I was brought over to Recovery Room, I was able to do so much skin to skin with Jackson.

And it was honestly a very beautiful moment. And yeah I did really love that time. And then, yeah, Jackson was six pounds, two ounces. So then after recovery we were taken to our room and then my husband. We did have a like small bag packed, but I'll be honest, I did not think we were going to the hospital, so I didn't pack a very good bag.

In hindsight, I wish I would've packed better like an emergency hospital bag, but my husband did leave to go pack us a bit more things that we needed from home, and he also went and picked up my cake. And I was so excited to enjoy that cake. And so my husband left. It was just me and Jackson, and I felt so nauseous, so sick, and so I rang my car, call Bell, the nurse came in and I was like, I need a bucket, because I still couldn't move.

Like I was stuck to the bed at this point. And so the nurse immediately grabbed me a bucket, and as soon as she did, I threw up. I threw up and I felt so nauseous and just didn't feel good. And then by the, when Matt came back, I was like, I can't eat anything. I just feel so sick, and so I wasn't even able to enjoy my cake that day.

But yeah, then recovery after that was, it was pretty good. Like I, for having a c-section, I did feel pretty good. Jackson. Latched pretty good. I did have some colostrum that I was able to give him in hospi in the hospital because they were also monitoring his blood sugars because I had gestational diabetes.

And so I was thankful to have that colostrum. And then, yeah, honestly the first night was easier than the second night. That second night, Jackson. Oh, he was he was up a lot. And again I couldn't move. Very well after the C-section, I couldn't sleep very well. So yeah, it was really tough. And then we got home and I was very thankful that a couple of our friends went to our house and they like took apart the birth pool.

They cleaned it up and so I went home to a clean house and. I was very thankful for that because I don't know how I would've felt going home and just seeing the birth pool where I thought I would be having my baby. And it, there, there still was a lot of emotions. And I just, in that moment I felt just sadness that I wouldn't, didn't have the birth that I had thought.

So then once we were home, the midwife came to check up on us at three days, one week, two weeks. And then after that you go in for your appointments. So it was so nice not to having to pack up my baby and go into a doctor's office. So yeah, very happy to have the midwives care for postpartum. I, my son did have a tongue and lip tie, which we did have revised.

Oh gosh, it was, I think around his one month mark, and thankfully it didn't impact breastfeeding too much, so then after it was done, we had no issues from there. My supply was abundant, and those first two weeks were very tough emotionally. Like I, I feel like I have had a very hard time adjusting into my life as a mother.

It was not what I had expected it to be. And again, I was so excited to be a mom and that's all I had ever wanted. And then when it was happening, I felt like this was not what I had signed up for. I just I'm not cut out to be a mom like I. Can't be relied upon every single second of every single day.

This is too much. Sleep was the thing that we struggled with. My son wasn't a great sleeper for his first year of life, and it led to a lot of anxiety. I just felt that I would try so hard to get him to sleep, and I was like, sleep is so important. He needs to be sleeping right now. He needs to go for a nap.

And in hindsight, I can see. That was some postpartum anxiety, and it wasn't until the four or five month mark that I could see that I was experienced postpartum anxiety, and so I was trying to get out on walks and just trying to do anything that resembled my normal life. And so doing those things did help.

And I would get out to mom groups, which really helped. And I thankfully had a lot of good support from my husband. Yeah. But yeah, it was really tough emotionally. I eventually did settle into my role as a mom and did start to enjoy motherhood and would get out with Jackson a lot to, yeah, different mom groups, go to the library, go shopping, just, yeah, I really got to enjoy him after that.

And then at nine months things must have been going very well because that is the point where my husband and I decided. Maybe we should go for a second. And yeah, that's where this birth story ends, and if you stick around for next week, then you can hear about the pregnancy and birth story of my daughter Charlotte.

So thank you for listening and I hope you enjoyed hearing my story.