Kristina’s Birth Center Birth

Working as a pediatric and prenatal chiropractor, I knew the importance of caring for my body before, during, and after pregnancy to give my future child the best health!

When I started wanting to try to get pregnant, I first made an appointment with a great functional medicine doctor. She helped walk me through blood and genetic results, in conjunction with my health history. We formulated a plan to improve my diet, use the best supplements, and improve my overall health, prior to conception.

I also had a history of really painful periods, so I continued getting adjusted at least weekly by a Webster certified Chiropractor and added in monthly Mayan Abdominal Massage. After a few months, I felt like my body was in the best place for conception.

I was blessed to quickly get pregnant. Despite some previous reproductive system challenges and 2 cardiac procedures, my pregnancy progressed very well. I immediately called the local birthing center midwives when I found out I was pregnant, and they offered great support and care all the way through my pregnancy. I was lucky to have no challenges pop up.

Knowing I wanted an unmedicated delivery, I elected to hire a doula that had Spinning Babies® training. After meeting with 14 different doulas at a “Doula Speed Dating” night, I selected a great one! She was Spinning Babies® trained and also trained in Evidence Based Birth®. I knew she would help educate me on anything I didn’t understand, and be able to support me through labor!

I selected a package from the doula that included 6 prenatal visits, so we could know her well and be sure ALL questions were discussed prior to labor. I also took the natural birthing class at the birth center and “troubleshooting for breastfeeding moms” class with a local IBCLC. I didn’t feel like I could prepare myself too much.

Wanting to be there for my patients, many of which were pregnant, I decided I was going to work as long as I could. Some days I was really sore after adjusting a lot of people, and many nights I was having contractions. I admit now I should have cut back my hours much sooner than I did.

But, our bodies are smart, and at 38.5 weeks I went to work on a Monday morning having a lot of contractions. Our doula suggested going through the Spinning Babies® 3 Sisters of Balance, and if contractions increased then go home and rest. My husband came up to work and we did the 3 Sisters.

It felt to me that the contractions were getting more intense. By this time I already had patients in for their appointments. I let the staff know I needed to go home and the other doctor stepped in to adjust my patients.

I went home and tried to rest, per my doula. She came over a few hours later and walked me through several Abdominal Lift and Tucks, made sure I was eating and hydrating, let my husband rest, and continued giving ideas to reposition baby. She could tell baby wasn’t optimally aligned.

After 12 or so hours of contractions, we went to the birth center only to hear that I was not dilating… shoot! This wasn’t labor. My body had just been working hard to get baby into position. I was told to go home, take a Benadryl, and sleep.

After about 5 more hours the contractions subsided. I decided then, that my body was telling me to rest. I announced that I was taking the next weeks off until baby arrived.

I scheduled adjustments every other day, Mayan abdominal massage and regular massage each that week, acupuncture daily, and spent a lot of time resting and walking. I was finally doing what my body had been asking me to do. I contracted a lot that week and spent most evenings on all fours working through contractions.

One week later, I began having consistent, strong contractions that could not be relaxed through around 11pm on 3/24/19. Rich was up with me and from having several rounds of contractions prior to this, including 17 straight hours the Monday before, we knew exactly what to do. We worked on stretching, I hung out on all fours, bounced on a birth ball, did Spinning Babies® exercises, laid across the birth ball and tried resting, all of which gave no relief or change in the contractions. They were every 2-3 minutes lasting 90 seconds.

Around 1:30am it was cool and dewy out and I decided I needed to walk the block. I headed out in my blue hooded dress and flip flops - thank goodness all the neighbors were asleep. My husband walked along and stood with me during each contraction, waiting for it to pass.

Contractions continued once we got back inside. My husband slept for a few hours while I tried to rest and manage contractions quietly next to him.

By 4:30am I couldn’t manage in the bed anymore. I got in the hot shower to try to cope and asked Rich to call our doula. I had began having to verbally count through the contractions to help manage the discomfort. The doula let us know she was on her way.

About 6am, she arrived at our home. We did a few rounds of Spinning Babies® together, and tried to eat and drink constantly to build up my reserves. My husband provided me with a buffet of options - most of which stayed on the dresser and became a self serve snack for our dog later on when we were at the birthing center.

At 9:24am I called the midwife and decided to go in to get checked. I spent the car ride there hunched over the back seat and counted through contractions verbally and quite loudly. I am sure Rich got tired of hearing me count!

Upon arrival, the doula was there to help us in. I walked into the birth center slowly, bracing myself on a wheel chair and counting more quietly through contractions. We saw the midwife, who reported I was only about 1cm dilated but the cervix was soft and thin, which had not been the case the Monday before when I labored for 17 hours before being checked.

She wanted me to go home and labor longer there. She said we were definitely having this baby, maybe in a few hours or maybe in a few days. I told my husband as we left that I didn’t want to go home. I didn’t feel comfortable.

At 10:56am I called and asked to get adjusted due to concerns over baby’s positioning because of the contractions that were not getting closer and slow progression. I was able to get in promptly and was not far from the birth center.

Afterwards, I still did not want to go home and Rich had brought this up to the doula while I got adjusted. The contractions were just as strong so we decided to go back to the birth center. I again walked in, bracing myself on a wheel chair. We saw the same midwife again and I was now 2-3cm dilated.

I expressed I felt uncomfortable going home because the car rides were so difficult for me, so we decided I would stay. We ended up in the “fall” room, which was decorated with shades of orange.

Once we got in there I wanted to get into the warm water. First I got in the garden tub and my husband put pressure on acupressure points we had learned in our natural birthing class. He felt like he was going to break my hand, but I encouraged strong pressure. Meanwhile, the doula helped me focus on counting through the contractions. I continually asked for “support” when a contraction would start, and the doula and Rich would jump into action.

After awhile, the doula suggested we try the 3 Sisters again. We started with the Side-Lying Release, then Shake the Apple Tree and Rebozo Sifting.

I needed to go to the bathroom and after that I decided I wanted to be in the shower for awhile. I spent a lot of time bouncing on the birth ball in the shower with my husband spraying hot water on my back, applying pressure to acupressure points, and me vocalizing through my contractions, which continued to be every 2-3 minutes for about 90 seconds. The doula was sure to keep both Rich and I fed and hydrated, even helping to shovel food into our mouths while we were in the shower.

Upon checking, I was about 3-4cm dilated and my water had still not broken, but was bulging and creating a lot of pressure. I could easily feel the bulging bag of water with my finger. However, it remained intact for a long time and I was not able to rupture it myself with my fingernail. I still had not had any leaking fluids or blood.

After awhile, Danica’s heart rate increased and the midwife wanted me to get out of the hot water for awhile. The hot water gave me so much relief that I was disappointed by this suggestion but reluctantly, after using the bathroom again and seeing small bits of mucous plug starting to release, we moved to laboring between the bed, hanging on Rich, and being supported by the doula.

Shortly after, a new nurse came on shift and suggested I either go walk for an hour OR lay down with the peanut ball for an hour to help me progress. Walking sounded horrendous. I selected the peanut ball option and laid on my left side, quietly breathing through contractions while my husband supported me from the back and the doula took a much needed break. Rich even got a little rest. His snoring highly annoyed me. Wouldn’t it be nice to sleep?

After about 90 minutes and contractions that were increasingly hard to manage, we switched to my right side for an hour. Once I became too uncomfortable there, they checked me again and I was about 8cm dilated. Thank GOODNESS.

From here we got back in the shower to bounce for awhile. Rich stepped away to grab some coffee and just then, in the shower, my water broke. I felt what seemed like a cork (my mucous plug) fly across the shower and then a huge gush. The doula looked and only saw clear fluid - a good sign.

The contractions got stronger and I felt a gush of fluid with each one as I would squat down. What a weird sensation.

As I progressed, the midwife came in and checked baby’s heart rate, which sounded great. She encouraged me to get into the tub. We waddled over to the tub. I was getting an intense urge to push with contractions now and it was very uncomfortable.

The doula squared over the tub to do some hip pressures and asked me not to move or she might fall in. As soon as she started I couldn’t help but shoot my body forward. I admittedly did not even notice if she fell in.

Then, the midwife checked me and I still had an anterior lip on the cervix so I was encouraged to labor on all fours in the tub. This only intensified the contractions. I told the doula “I don’t know how I am going to do this” and she assured me I did know how and I was already doing it. I wanted to give up but I knew I was close to meeting my daughter.

At one point the contraction hit so strong that I bit into my husband’s arm and dug my nails into his knuckle. He had a nice bruise to remember the occasion and loves telling this part of the birth story. I have heard about it numerous times.

Thankfully, I had mentally blocked the words “I can’t” from my vocabulary for this day. I was really wondering if I could do this, but did not want to give up. So I settled on, “I don’t know how I am going to do this.”

Thankfully, I soon could feel Danica’s head full of hair with my finger. This made the very very intense contractions and pressure more bearable only because I knew she was so close to being born. The doula saw Danica starting to crown so she sent for the midwife. After about 25 hours of contractions, it was time to push.

The doula, Rich, the midwife, and the nurse helped me out of the tub onto the floor right next to it. They suggested the bed, but I couldn’t move that far. I was exhausted after being in labor for so long at this time.

I laid on my back propped with pillows and began pushing during contractions. I pushed around 10 times. It was very uncomfortable, but hearing my husband cheer me on and comment on how much hair she had as she started to crown was so encouraging.

As she continued to descend, she paused for a bit with her eyebrows out, and was raising her eyebrows at us - sounds like Rich! I asked to see and the midwife took a photo so I could see her. With another big push, Danica was born at 12:47am on 3/26/19! She had fluid in her nose and mouth that was quickly suctioned out, we patted her a few times, and on came the crying!

The nurses, midwife, doula, and Rich helped me, with Danica in my arms, over to the bed for the golden hour, while I got stitches. What a great distraction from that to get to snuggle with my daughter, and share in the excitement with Rich. He was in awe!

Danica soon expressed her love by pooping all over me and her. I didn’t even care. We cuddled, established the breast crawl, and then laid skin to skin as the grandparents were invited in to meet her around 3am! I hadn’t been sure if I would want them present for labor and Rich was in charge of communicating, so they waited in the lobby. They were just as in love as we were!! During the grandparent visit, Danica graciously showed her love again by peeing on me.

Mom and Dad cuddled in bed with Danica all morning. The next day, all of Danica’s grandparents came to visit again, as well as her aunts and uncles. The first family member to hold her was aunt Jessica. She loved visitors, but would cry during hand offs for about 30 seconds. We stayed that evening and the next morning she had all of her newborn testing and then we headed home around 9am on 3/27/19.

We had a short 3 day stay in the NICU days 2-5 of life, due to jaundice. It was very very scary as Danica’s numbers climbed above 20, but I insisted on breast milk only, with the support of our pediatrician, and was able to sustain her at breast plus pumped milk. While in the NICU, I had trouble with both my legs and around my sutures from the tears swelling badly. It was very very uncomfortable, but the nurses kept ice available for me to us. After lots of worry, tons of pumping, icing, compression stockings, no sleep for mom, bili blanket, lights, and spot light, we got to go home.

After birth, my encapsulated placenta, frequent chiropractic adjustments, massage, pelvic floor physical therapy, and great family support helped me heal quickly and establish a great breastfeeding relationship with Danica, that is still going at 2.5 years old.

I want to give my sincerest thanks to all of those that supported me during labor, delivery, pregnancy, and postpartum. I couldn’t have done it without my wonderful team!

Check out the SPINNING BABIES HOME PAGE to learn many of the movements Kristina used during labor!