Meet Victoria Mayfield, CNM

We are pleased to introduce you to Victoria Mayfield, 

the Birth Center's newest midwife.

Welcome Victoria! We are so glad you are here!

What inspired you to become a midwife?
I was born at home, as were all of my siblings. This meant that I grew up thinking it was normal for all women to have natural labor and for babies to be born at home. Also, the midwife who delivered me was also my dance teacher (from ages 2-16), so needless to say I thought she had the best life ever. Dancer by day and baby catcher by night. What could be better!?

As I grew up, my eyes widened to the "real world" and I was sure that I'd go to medical school. Being a doctor would be most fitting for my math and sciency brain, and my type-A personality. Again, what could be better!? Well, what was better was one day waking up to realize that the perfect melding between my, for lack of a better term, "hippie," "birth is normal" upbringing and my motivation to work in healthcare was nurse-midwifery. I fundamentally believe that the foundation to a healthy life begins in the womb, and even for some women, it can begin with a pregnancy. I also have seen that healthy communities are rooted in healthy birth. This has inspired me, as these principles have inspired me to be where I am today, doing what I love to do!

Can you tell us a bit about your own family? 
My long-term partner and I do not have any kids yet, but we do have a cat baby. I tell him all the time that I love that cat more than I ever thought I could ever love a non-human... It gets me daydreaming about how insanely wonderful it will feel to one day love a human child more than I ever imagined was possible! Some day....

Otherwise, my family is big and wonderful. I have 3 full siblings: a sister who is a super smart fish biologist, a brother who is a bearded brewer for Ordnance Brewing (check them out!), and a younger sister (and best friend) who works with at-risk high schoolers and is an amazing runner (winner of this year's Eugene Marathon!). My mom and little brother live in Ashland. He is 10, and was born when I was in high school (did I give away my age?). Ezra is wonderful and one of the best "mistakes" to happen to our family; he's this amazing little mini-adult. Having a newborn in the house when my siblings and I were at such a formative age served as good birth control, but it also made me fall even more in love with small humans! All my siblings were all at his birth. My Dad is a FNP who is currently living on the Oregon Coast.

What are your favorite things about providing care at the Birth Center?
I LOVE meeting families, and especially the families that have a rich history with the midwives in this practice. It's wonderful and special to be at births where a sibling who was born into the same space or to another midwife is present. It's humbling to feel that I have walked into this place that is a fixture in so many people's lives, and to feel welcomed and embraced. This place is a family in its own right. I also LOVE being with women who face labor with bravery and determination, and being with women who hold on to keeping birth sacred and normal. I am constantly in awe of a woman's strength!

What can you share with us that we may not already know?
I'm a knitter and quilter. My preferred project is baby hats! I make them all the time to have on hand to give away! I've been running my whole life; I'm mostly into ultra-distance trail running. This summer I have two 50k's planned. A fun bragging right I have is that I was team captain of our state championship cross country team in high school. I went to Willamette University and studied Exercise Science, so that may be considered my area of interest in pregnancy. Shortly after, I attended OHSU for my BSN and Masters of Nursing, Nurse-Midwifery. Prior to working in this field, I worked at Crater Lake clearing and building trails for the Park Service for 6 seasons!

Welcome January 2015 Babies!

Welcome to all the babies born with the PeaceHealth midwives in January! 

We are so glad you are all a part of the Birth Center family and would love 
to see your photos and hear your stories!

Welcome Anne Richards, CNM, to the Birth Center!

We are pleased to introduce you to Anne Richards, 

the Birth Center's newest midwife.

Welcome Anne! We are so glad you are here!

How long have you been working at the Birth Center?

            I am the newest midwife at the Birth Center, having joined the team just about six months ago, in late June. I graduated from Vanderbilt University’s midwifery program in December 2013, but was living in Eugene prior to attending graduate school in Nashville, so I already knew about the practice. Every day I feel so lucky to have been asked to join this incredible group; everyone at the Birth Center has welcomed me with open arms and taken me under their (awesomely knowledgeable and supportive) wings – I am so very grateful for that!

Tell us a little about your path to the Birth Center.

            It seems everyone in my life knew I was supposed to be a midwife before I did! I have always been fascinated with pregnancy and birth, but I honestly didn’t think I could transform that passion into my life’s work. My Dad is a journalist, my Mom is a business consultant, my brother is pursuing a career in film; being an obstetrics care provider simply wasn’t on my radar growing up. That said, my brother is eight years younger than I am and I vividly recall nearly everything about my Mom’s pregnancy with him; I was desperate to attend my Mom’s prenatal appointments and literally begged her to allow me to be present at the birth (my parents deemed me too young). I was ravenous for information related to pregnancy, labor, and delivery, even in the second grade.

            I received my undergraduate degree in nutrition from UC Berkeley in 2007. For several years following graduation, I worked in the field of clinical dietetics at a San Francisco Bay Area hospital. At every opportunity, I found myself trying to get under the service of the Registered Dietitian assigned to the hospital’s antepartum unit; she spent her days working with pregnant women who were hospitalized for gestational diabetes, hypertension, etc. She is the one who told me, “I think you’re meant to work in labor and delivery.” So, on her urging, I trained and then volunteered as a doula for several years at a San Francisco county hospital. Witnessing that first birth was it for me – I never again contemplated another field. I was lucky enough to support women whose labors and births were overwhelmingly attended by the hospital’s Certified Nurse-Midwives and the Student Nurse-Midwives of UCSF; working with them made me realize that I wanted – and needed – to become a midwife.

           

What do you enjoy most about working at the Birth Center?

            Everything! For one, the opportunity to attend both out-of-hospital and in-hospital births is an incredible (and rare) blessing; it’s amazing that our practice can also offer that choice to our patients. Additionally, I love that I get to work with women and families who specifically seek out midwifery care; at the practices with which I trained as a Student Nurse-Midwife, low-risk patients were automatically assigned to the midwives and higher-risk patients were automatically assigned to the obstetricians, which wasn’t always ideal. At the Birth Center and in this community in general, there is so much respect for and trust in the training that midwives have and our expertise in managing healthy, low-risk pregnancies and deliveries. I am so appreciative of that respect and trust.

What is one thing about you that might surprise people?

            As a fairly new Certified Nurse-Midwife, everything in my life seems to be focused on midwifery right now! Possibly it would surprise people that I am a newlywed? My husband and I just got married in September. We together moved to Oregon from California for his job four years ago, but soon thereafter endured a long-distance relationship while I attended midwifery school in Nashville. He’s an air traffic controller, so we both work varied schedules. When he’s not directing airplanes and I’m not catching babies, we indulge in one of our truest passions – delicious food and drink. We have loved together experiencing Eugene’s burgeoning restaurant scene! We also make the trek to Portland more often that I would like to admit simply to indulge our many culinary cravings.

Welcome December 2014 Babies!

Welcome to all the babies born with the PeaceHealth midwives in December! 

We are so glad you are all a part of the Birth Center family and would love 
to see your photos and hear your stories!

Amber's Beautiful "En Caul" Birth

Signs and Wonders: Zoe's Birth Story

by Amber

Outside, a shadow was creeping over the face of the moon. Peering out the bathroom window, I hoped to catch a glimpse of it but quickly gave up my search, figuring that the clouds of the Pacific Northwest were once again eclipsing my view of this lunar phenomenon.

Inside, weariness was creeping over the face of this forty-and-a-half-week-pregnant-lady. Trudging back to bed with the false hope of sleeping comfortably before the next inevitable bathroom break, I tried to release everything that was clouding my mind – worries, frustration, fear – eclipsing my view of the never-changing, faithful God of Creation.

Blood moon. The language adopted to describe the orange glow over the moon intrigues me. There is nothing mysterious about it – just the sun, moon, and earth following their natural course – and yet for me it is the language of promise and a sign of remembrance (see Acts 2). A reminder that Jesus is establishing His Kingdom on earth, and that His desire is to pour His Spirit out on us and on our sons and our daughters. A reminder that He is with us and that He is faithful.

It is a reminder that I seem to stay in need of, especially when life with three little girls, homeschool, and a part-time job gets so crowded that it seems difficult to breathe, much less take deep breaths of Life.

Was I ready for a fourth?! No, I decided. No, I was not. Three weeks previous, my midwife told me that all signs pointed to her coming “at any time”. And yet here I was past-due, my body already half-way to the magical 10 centimeters and nary a sign of “real labor”.  Body and mind apparently concurred.

This was my “high-risk” pregnancy: advanced maternal age (a whopping 35 with healthily low blood pressure), gestational diabetes (with such a tightly controlled diet that my blood sugars were as low as – if not lower than! – “normal” women If you are diagnosed with gestational diabetes – and even if you aren’t – I strongly recommend Trim Healthy Mama, and high levels of group b strep bacteria. Even though the mere diagnosis of gestational diabetes meant that this baby had to born at the hospital instead of the birthing center, we laughed about the first two conditions making me “high-risk”.

I was not, however, at peace regarding the group b strep. It was talked of nonchalantly enough. A “normal” bacteria that occasionally increases in number. Can only be transmitted to baby after water has broken. Higher risk the longer water has been broken. Risk reduced to practically nothing with penicillin IV 4 hours before birth.

Except I have really short labors. No four hour warnings here! And even the use of penicillin comes with its own risks. I fleetingly prayed that the Lord would show me what to do, and oh, could You just make it so that my water doesn’t break until after she is born? That would be really cool. Thanks!

Read the rest of Zoe's incredible birth story at Amber's blog here

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Did you have your baby with the Peace Health midwives? 

We would love to hear your story too!

Welcome November 2014 Babies!

Welcome to all the babies born with the PeaceHealth midwives in November! 

We are so glad you are all a part of the Birth Center family and would love 
to see your photos and hear your stories!

Jenna's Beautiful Birth Center Birth

David's Birth Story

by Jenna

For weeks and and weeks prior to the birth, I'd been having prodromal labor... meaning that I was having some really uncomfortable contractions that never escalated into real labor. They were uncomfortable enough to make me extremely grumpy, though.

Thankfully it was on and off instead of constant. So there were plenty of days in those last few weeks wherein I hardly noticed what my uterus was doing, thank goodness. And then there were the days where my uterus was a complete and utter jerk.

A week ago, I got my membranes swept at my checkup with the midwife. That means she stuck her fingers into my cervix (that's the entrance to the uterus, located at the top of the vagina) and then manually separated the bag of waters from the cervix. It feels really, really crampy. But, seriously, compared to the discomfort my uterus had been inflicting on me for a while, it wasn't that bad.

In theory, sweeping the membranes is supposed to stimulate prostaglandin release, and thus encourage the cervix to soften and dilate, and therefore encourage labor to start. At this point, I was 3-4 centimeters dilated and 50% effaced. Emily, the midwife in clinic that day, thought I'd go into labor quite soon and even told the on-call midwives to expect my call at any time.

Only... jerkface uterus was against this idea, and besides cramping like a monster all of that day, nothing happened. The uterus wasn't too mean to me for the rest of the week. I was supposed to go get my membranes swept again on my due date, but this didn't pan out because a midwife had called in sick and things were hectic.

So I went in to see the midwife in the morning yesterday, a little frustrated that I had made it several days past my due date, especially when I really wanted to have the baby in the birth center. (I would be required to give birth in the hospital after 41 weeks, which was only a few days away.) Oh, and not to mention that I was having pretty much every pregnancy symptom in the book on top of the disgusting nausea and vomiting.

The midwife (Emily again) swept my membranes for the second time. This time, I was 4-5 centimeters dilated and 100% effaced. In the words of my sister-in-law, I was walking around with the door half-open. (Ha.) Emily also mentioned that my bag of waters was "bulging" and that she was afraid that she'd accidentally break it.

I went home and, within a few hours, my uterus got grumpy again. Soon I was having contractions every five minutes apart or so. At this point, I would still label this prodromal labor, but I guess it's hard to say. I say it's prodromal because, although they were really, really uncomfortable and annoying, they were still the kid brother contractions I'd been having for weeks, not really real ones. That said, they were kid brother contractions with an attitude, and I thought they might escalate into real labor, so I summoned James home. This was mostly necessary because I was getting really grumpy with Amelia, who was magically headbutting me in the uterus every single time I had a contraction, and jumping all over me, and... well, if you're having contractions (even the kid brother kind), this is not welcome attention. I swear the kid had a spidey sense, or something.

After James had been home for an hour or so, we decided to go on a walk since the contractions, still every five minutes, had not intensified. We walked outside, and decided the sun was too assaultive, and jumped into the car instead. We headed over to Target and walked there instead. For hours.

Sure, the contractions sucked... But I'd done labor before, and I was under no impression that anything was actually happening with them. They'd been going on for four hours now, every five minutes, and I hadn't had any worthy of the name mama bear... all kid brothers. All of them.

Frustrated, I called the midwife on call (Patricia). Her advice was to go home and take a warm shower/bath, which would do either one of two things: 1) kick real labor into gear, or 2) relax my uterus into a non-labor stupor. It did the latter, which very nearly crushed all of James' hopes and dreams. Seriously, he was more depressed than I was. Patricia had me eat a good dinner, drink lots of water, and go to bed on time, warning me that she suspected real labor would probably start in the night some time.

I had some contractions later in the night before bed, but again, these were all kid brothers. I managed to sleep through them. When I did wake up multiple times in the night, it wasn't the contractions that woke me, it was the full bladder.

Until about 4:30 am, that is. Bam. Contraction! I was suddenly awake. And oh, this wasn't a kid brother. So I pulled out my phone to time the suckers (I hate timing contractions... hate, hate, hate it), and after about three of them, five minutes apart, hurting like the dickens... I determined this was real labor and called the midwife around 4:45 am.

It was Hilary at this point... and her on-call shift ended at 6am. She thought I probably had some time before I'd need to show up at the birth center, and told me just to plan on meeting Patricia (the midwife who'd be on call starting at 6am) there... at 6am. Like... over an hour later. Of course, she said, call back if you really think you need to get there sooner, but I think you'll be fine.

I agreed to this plan at first, thinking it was probably sensible enough. I got into a warm bath, hoping that this'd soothe the pain somewhat, but...

I ended up calling Hilary back at like 5:20am to tell her I needed to go to the birth center before 6am. My contractions were three minutes apart. Oh, and they sucked. All I could think of is that these contractions sucked so bad, and boy, did I not want to be confined in the passenger seat of the car while trying to deal with one. Seriously. That plan was a no-go. Car ride now, not later. (We also called our friend Cassie to come, because we needed someone to watch Amelia at the birth center while James was helping me out.)

Poor Hilary reluctantly met us at the birth center at about 5:45am once I insisted that I really couldn't wait until 6am. I think I was right. Once we got there, I started to get very nauseous. (For the people who don't know, this is a sign that I am almost fully dilated and that the pushing stage is about to happen. I.e. labor is almost over.) We had to wait a few minutes for Hilary to show up, and during that time, I was madly pacing through contractions and keeping an eye out in the landscape for a suitable place to vomit. Because I might have to.

We got inside. I stripped immediately. Well, immediately after a contraction, anyway. I found a toilet. Baby was low. As in, really low. Pushing poop out low. My rectum felt squished, probably because it was. It was like... like... there was a baby's skull pushing down on my butthole from the inside. Kind of like that. Only this was secondary to feeling like my entire pelvic bone was trying to come out. Basically, lots and lots and lots of pressure in the nether regions.

Hilary checked baby's heart rate and my cervix as soon as I let her. Baby was fine. My cervix was 9 centimeters dilated, so she warned me that I'd probably want to start pushing any time now. "Has your water broken?" "No." At this point, Patricia showed up and took over. Anne (a midwife-in-training) showed up, too...

I got in the bath, only to discover that James had failed miserably at making sure the water was warm. It was pretty chilly. Too chilly for the baby, so I wasn't going to be allowed to give birth in the tub, and the water wasn't all that effective at relieving the pain. I supposed that was okay, because my only specific plan for the birth was to do whatever I felt like, but I was pretty annoyed. Not gonna lie. Annoyed.

I elected to stay in the water for a time, though, because of the buoyancy. I started to basically bob up and down with each contraction, because that's what my body felt like doing. I suppose this was getting baby down into the birth canal. In the meantime I was still annoyed at the cold water. Oh well.

Patricia and Anne kept saying things like, "Wow. She is so calm and focused!" between the contractions. I'm not sure what I would have called it. Focused, I guess. Calm...? I might have been. I think there should be a different word for it. I don't know what it is. I felt very primal though. Maybe that's it.

I was bobbing up and down for a contraction in the tub, when... SKIDOOSH. (Not the Wuxi finger hold!) "My water just broke." It felt like there was Diet Coke up there and someone had dropped some Mentos in. Only it was exploding out my hoo-ha. (Pleasant? Uhhh... not really...) Followed immediately by a baby's head.

And that's when I stood up and somehow got out of the tub. I'm not sure who I used to get out. James, Patricia, or Anne... or all of the above, maybe. In any case, I got out of the tub, and sat promptly on the birthing stool. And at this point the pressure in the nether regions got really bad, that and the stinging. Oh, the stinging!

The stinging is the stretching of the... everything. The perineum and everything around it. We could feel David's head when I got out of the tub. It was so squished that it was super wrinkly. (The midwife later told me one dad asked if that was baby's brains when the same thing happened with his baby. Nope. Just very squished head.) Someone commented that he didn't have much hair. I said "can't" here, I think. I was trying to say that "I can't tell if that's baby's head or just me", but talking was impossible. The stinging felt like I was ripping in half, right down the middle. I have some important bits right down the middle. I was worried about them.

I got fed up with the birthing stool, and waddled kind of spread-eagled over to the bed, because I had this idea that side-lying would be comfortable for me. Only as soon as I laid on my side, I realized... No, no way. Not the side. So I turned onto my back, slightly propped up, and with my legs wide...

And then I really, really, really had to push. I'd kind of been pushing before, but now I pushed. And I vaguely remembered that screaming helps with pain management. So I let out some mighty screams. Best pain management technique ever. It really did help. It also really helped to keep in mind that David was practically almost out.

With a mighty scream, I got his head out. And also, a lot of amniotic fluid. I don't remember if he made any sounds at this point. I wouldn't have realized that he was partly out had the midwives not told me. With another mighty scream, and a lot of my body urging me to just get that sucker out, I got the rest of him out in a giant gush of fluid. James was fortunate not to get splashed.

And then I felt much better. It was 6:39am, about an hour after we'd arrived, and about two hours after labor had started.

They put him on my belly, and he started talking and complaining about his exit immediately. Seriously, really cute baby noises. He sounded like the cute baby dragon or baby dinosaur noises you hear on cartoons and movies.

And then...

[You can read more about Jenna and David's adventures at the Birth Center here]

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Did you have your baby with the Peace Health midwives? 

We would love to hear your story too!

Welcome October 2014 Babies!

Welcome to all the babies born with the PeaceHealth midwives in October! 

We are so glad you are all a part of the Birth Center family and would love to see your photos and hear your stories!

Lissa's Beautiful Hospital Birth

Elisabeth's birth story
by Lissa

Photo by Deborah Louie
www.facebook.com/theTwistedEyePhotography

I researched the options for the safest and most fulfilling way of giving birth.  I decided a midwife at a birth center was what I wanted. I wanted skin-to-skin time, no drugs, breastfeeding only and no stress of a hospital. As my pregnancy came to an end, I was at 41 weeks and still had not gone into labor.  After discussion with my midwife and husband, we decided to begin induction.  That night found me in a hospital, exactly the place I wanted to avoid.  I personally hate hospitals.

After monitoring the baby, we were unable to proceed as we had originally counseled with the midwife.  Instead, my induction plan required an IV catheter, which was also a hated and dreaded affair.  Placing the catheter fulfilled all my negative expectations as I had difficult veins.  A restless night later, there was still very little contractions and I was not in labor.  Another induction technique was used and failed.  Finally, we decided to induce with pitocin.  It was 24 hours since checking into the hospital and 10pm at night that the pitocin was started.  I think I was able to rest an hour before the contractions began coming too strong.  Waking up my husband to help with counter pressure, I began a night I will never forget yet find details hard to remember.

The contractions came each time harder than the last.  I attempted to ride them like waves as the birthing class explained.  It is much easier said than done, however with the encouragement of my mom, husband and labor nurse I found a rhythm.  I remember finally releasing and giving into the whims of my body in the blessed jacuzzi, better termed the "aqua-dural".  At that moment, I had no other recollection beyond my contractions but the intense pain dulled and I felt I could indeed do this!

After awhile I opted to have my water broken as I was getting exhausted and was ready for the end.  My cervix was very slow to dilate.  I was only at 7cm when the midwife broke my bulging sac.  The rest seems a blur as I attempted not to push but often could not override my body. Finally, only dilated to 9cm, the midwife said it was safe to push.  I have never felt so relieved! Ten minutes later, there was a baby girl laying on my stomach.  She wasn't breathing.  I remember thinking she was so slimy, followed by asking over and over if anyone could tell if she was breathing.  I didn't want to panic, but I was worried and no one was responding to me as all focus was directed to my non-breathing child.  The midwife had her cord cut and Elisabeth whisked away to be resuscitated in record time.  Laying in bed getting sutured, I would get reports from nurses that Elisabeth was intubated (a breathing tube placed so they could breathe for her), then sent to the NICU, and finally extubated and crying.

A pediatrician came and gave us the report of her status and instructed us that we would not be able to hold our baby for 3 days as she would be in a cooling therapy with intravenous feeding to avoid brain damage. (She took 7 minutes to begin breathing on her own during her resuscitation.)  I went home without a baby recognizing my entire birth plan had been tossed out the window with the exception of being able to labor without drugs.

Three days later, I held my baby girl for the first time and began breastfeeding that day.  I have never felt such a rush of pure joy.  It was a trying and exhausting 5 days total of being in the NICU for Elisabeth and for us but we got through it with the support of God, family, and the wonderful staff.  It has only solidified the pure joy of giving life to a wonderful baby who thankfully is completely healthy.  It was an experience I would never give up thanks to my midwife and birth-center support prior to and during my labor.

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Did you have your baby with the Peace Health midwives? 

We would love to hear your story too!

Hannah's Beautiful Hospital Birth

Thank you to blogger hmv for sharing the story of her daughter's birth at Riverbend with the Peace Health midwives. You can read more about Hannah at her blog: "The Lighthearted Life of hmv"

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My Birth Story
by Hannah

My birth story has been hard to write.  The experience of giving birth was many things I expected -joyous, exciting, intense- and many things I did not -emotionally draining and even traumatic.  Many people told me that you cannot predict what your birth will be like and to expect some changes in the plan.  But that kind of advice doesn't really help prepare you, and I guess that's the point.

As many of you know, I prepared for a birth without medication using a technique of self-hypnosis.  We took an intensive birth preparation class called HypnoBabies, which I really liked.  Essentially, the class teaches you how to use deep relaxation, similar to meditation, to "turn off" your body when you need to and to focus on relaxing through the contractions.  Many women who used this technique said that they had pain-free births, and on average, women have shorter labors and fewer complications.  It was also a really nice way to prepare for birth because Jake and I would do practice exercises together that help you let go of fear and just relax.  Can't complain about that.  The actual reality of the birth experience was a little different.  But we'll get to that.

Ultimately, I wanted a healthy birth without interventions so that baby and I would be as safe and healthy as possible.  I think it's a common misconception that women who want a natural birth are martyring themselves for some heroic purpose.  I'm not anti-drugs; I love Advil and I've never gotten a prescription that I didn't fill immediately.  But I researched all-things birth for a long time and decided that the best thing I could do for me and the baby would be to use what nature gave me and avoid interventions.  Epidurals and pain meds are not 100% safe for mom or baby, they often lead to more and more interventions, and I have a close friend who recently endured one of the worse epidural-related complications...so I was motivated.

But on to the story.  Stories are better with pictures, so here we go...

My sister Amy Lou getting my birth hair ready.

My water broke at 8am on Wednesday, August 10th.  I had an appointment that morning at 8:30am at the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center.  I'd been getting all my prenatal care there, and I highly recommend it.

Unfortunately, when I looked down to see that water was spilling out of me, I also saw that it was not clear.  I yelled to Jake in the kitchen, "I think my water just broke."  He came in and was a little confused too - to be honest, it kind of looked like I was just losing control of my bladder.  But I wasn't.  The discoloration was due to meconium in the water, which is the baby's first poo and is supposed to happen after they're born (ick).  It can be a sign of fetal distress ... or it can just happen because you are 6 days overdue (my situation).


Click here to read the rest of the story


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Did you have your baby with the Peace Health midwives?

We would love to hear your story too!

One Birth, Many Stories: Jeni's Beautiful C-Section Birth

One birth, many stories
By Jeni 

When I talk to people about the birth of my son, many hear the story and remark, “Wow, it’s almost like you had two birth experiences—one natural birth and one c-section birth!” I often make a joke about how others should be jealous of my two-for-one bargain birth. And indeed, it’s true: some days it feels like that, two totally different birth experiences. But as I’ve thought back on the birth over the past two years and tried and tried again to write Jack’s birth story, I realized that it is (of course) one birth—one event—but many, many ways of telling the story. And all of them are true.

The short version.

I went into labor almost two weeks early, and my back labor continued over the course of 26 hours. After pushing for over four hours at the birth center when the baby wouldn’t turn, the contractions slowed. We transferred to the hospital for medicine to speed up the contractions. This didn’t work, and we decided to have a c-section birth. Our son Jackson Gale was born, beautiful and healthy.

The middle of the night version.

Did I push hard enough? Maybe I didn’t push hard enough. Did I go on enough walks? Maybe I should have walked more. We didn’t have a doula. Should we have had a doula? An epidural? A birth tub at home?

The advice from a friend whose natural birth I envied and to whom I needed to confess my natural birth shame version.

I did what I needed to do for my baby. I am an amazing mom. I will get rid of that guilt right away: it isn’t serving me. I am an amazing mom!

The version after hearing from another friend who had a c-section and described the procedure as making her feel powerful, like Athena being ripped from Zeus’s head:

I am a birth warrior! I AM MYTH EMBODIED!

The “don’t tell the birth story to my friends who are pregnant, it will infect them with bad luck and Ina May says not to listen to bad birth stories so be quiet” version.

“Oh, it’s fine. It didn’t go as planned, but we were so grateful Jack is happy and healthy! How are you feeling?”

The probably true (right?) version.

We had our best shot possible at a natural birth, which is what we wanted: we prepared well, had no complications during pregnancy, and went into the experience without fear. And we were given great care; we felt that our needs were respected and we were never bullied or pressured into procedures we didn’t want. It’s just that this birth required different tools and didn’t end the way we had planned.

The version from the surgical notes obtained from the midwives (excerpted).

The baby’s position was occiput posterior. After external maternal expulsion efforts were unsuccessful, the patient consented to a caesarean section.

The long long long version, so I don’t forget.

Click here to read the full story of Jack's birth 

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 Did you have your baby with the Peace Health midwives?
We would love to hear your story too!

Miriam Rosenberg, CNM joins the Nurse Midwifery Birth Center

Friends of the Birth Center is pleased to welcome and introduce the Birth Center's newest staff member:

Midwife Miriam Rosenberg joined the PeaceHealth Nurse Midwifery Birth Center in 2011.

Originally from Washington, DC, Miriam received her bachelor's degree in nursing and master's degree in midwifery from Oregon Health & Sciences University.  Prior to becoming a nurse-midwife, she worked as a doula at San Francisco General Hospital and at a birth center in Chiapas, Mexico.  She is fluent in Spanish. Outside of work, Miriam enjoys cooking, hiking, and pottery.

Be sure to come to the Birth Center's second annual birthday party on May 5 from 2 - 4 pm. You might have the opportunity to meet Miriam. You will definitely have the opportunity to re-connect with Birth Center midwives, lactation staff, nurses and staff and families. And, of course, to eat a Divine Cupcake treat..... See you there. 

Spread the word via Facebook invite:

https://www.facebook.com/events/199072760201256/