Anya + Aaron’s Birth Story
Our birth story starts in week 8 of San Diego's stay-at-home order, a scenario we couldn't have even imagined a few months earlier. At 37w4d, I was pleasantly surprised to go into labor early with our second daughter.
Around 10:00 pm on a Thursday, my husband, Aaron, and I were in our living room, relaxing and watching TV. I felt what seemed like a balloon popping inside me and a sudden gush of fluid. This continued for several more minutes and after confirming that my water broke with Dara, Aaron and I discussed what our plan would be. I had the goal of a successful VBAC and wanted to try and do what I could to get that achieved. Due to this goal and current Covid-19 hospital protocols, we planned to stay and labor at home as long as we could. Contractions started fairly soon after my water broke and intensified quickly. With our 5-year-old asleep in the next room, I calmly labored while packing up the final items for the hospital. Aaron massaged my lower back each time the shooting pain started and I would find myself breathing heavily through clenched teeth until it passed. My ability to talk or even think dissipated and all I could do was breath through the pain, each time telling myself to keep going. By 1:00 am we called my in-laws to come pick up our daughter. She happily bounced into our bathroom while I was taking one of several warm showers and said she couldn't wait to meet her sister. I said goodbye and told her how much I loved her.
After 5.5 hours of intense laboring at home, and no idea of how close I was to having this baby, I decided I needed help with the pain. Dara had kept in close contact with me throughout the night and by 3:30 am, we agreed it was time to head to the hospital. We arrived to a quiet and seemingly empty hospital, getting our temperature checked at the entrance (face masks on too). I was checked in at the nurse triage station and found out I was 4 cm dilated and about 80% effaced. I immediately said I wanted an epidural, however that wouldn't come for another few hours. After moving to our laboring room I had a rapid Covid test (I was negative) and eagerly waited for some respite from the pain. Once I had the epidural, Aaron and I were able to rest. I had some water and chicken broth and closed my eyes for the first time in what seemed like days. By 10:00 am, a mere 12 hours after my water broke, our midwife confirmed I was at 10 cm and we would start pushing soon. The nurse helped me practice breathing patterns and quite quickly we were ready to start pushing.
The room was very calm, only with a midwife, nurse, baby nurse, a student and my husband. Even with faces covered by masks, I could see the positive smiles from everyone in the room, which felt very motivating. I was so incredibly excited and happy that I was achieving my goal and actually having this baby vaginally! My daughter had made her way very low down so it only took 5 big pushes in about 15 minutes and she was born. I credit this swift delivery to the exercises learned from Joyful Roots Doulas (especially the belly sifting) and laboring without intervention for as long as I could.
Our beautiful daughter was quiet as she landed on my belly, locking onto my fingers soon after. The pure joy was immediate and intense - she was here! I only met with Joy and Dara through email, zoom and texts due to Covid-19 but each step of the way I felt supported. I cannot thank Joyful Roots Doulas enough for contributing to my immensely positive birth experience.