Milena's Labour - Part 2 - The Birthing Suite

The castor oil finally cleared from Milena’s system around the time we transferred to the birthing suite and her contractions were becoming much more manageable for her. They remained 2-8 minutes apart, but Milena was finally beginning to relax during the contractions, allowing her uterus to do the work uninhibited.

We started our time off in the suite with a shower (I was fully clothed) before going into the tub because the shower water wasn’t heating up. The tub was very comforting for Milena. The water relieved some of the weight she was feeling and the warmth was soothing for her.

I poured water over her back and belly (depending on how she was sitting) and we breathed through contractions together. The chiropractor at some point in the tub and worked on Milena’s back and hips – very cool.

 Milena took the contractions like a champ. She remained calm and focused and took direction well the entire time. She was vocal and made a low droning sound with each contraction. I enjoyed this as I could gauge how she was handling the contraction by how low her drone was. When the sound was low and relaxed, she was relaxed. When it was higher and forced, she wasn’t. When it was low and forced she was trying her hardest to relax. When Milena was relaxed the sound was so soothing - it relaxed all of us.

There were times that she would forget to take nice deep breaths in and I would have to remind her and make loud sucking in noises so that she would match my breaths in – which she did incredibly. She was amazing! Seriously. She would be droning high and I would quietly as her to deepen it and she would instantly do it. I would remind her to take a deep breath in for baby and she would. I was so impressed with her.

 When the bath water cooled off we headed to the bed so she could get some much needed rest. The contractions only let up slightly when she was lying down, but she managed to get a bit of rest between them.
Milena was feeling a lot of back pressure so one of us pushed in a strong downward motion against her lower back with each contraction. She sometimes wanted this coupled with another one of us pushing in at the hips and one of us obviously needed to be near her face talking softly to her.

We spent a lot of the day rocking together. She would have her arms around my neck and I would push on her lower back and we would sway back and forth breathing and chanting together. It was such an honor and a privilege to be there supporting her. So incredible.

Sam had been on duty for the previous two days of pre-labour/early labour so he was exhausted and needing sleep. I was impressed that he took the time to take care of himself. I know it was hard for him because he wanted to support Milena, but he needed to be there later for her so he did sleep. She was relieved and relaxed more knowing that he was taking care of himself.

The midwife came back to examine Milena at some point and found that she was 5 cm and 90% effaced. This was so encouraging for Milena as progress was now visible. We jumped in the shower together (I now had my bathing suit on) and laboured in there for a long while. Milena sat on the birthing ball and I held the shower head over her back between contractions. During contractions, she would remain sitting, but would wrap her arms around my neck and rock with me. I tried desperately to maintain good posture, but to no avail. I alternated squatting in front of her and bending down at the waist during contractions.

Milena did a wonderful job remaining mobile and upright as much as possible. She felt good despite the contractions and was determined to do everything she could to help her baby. She prayed throughout her labour and asked me to pray for specific things at times. During some contractions she would ask me to explain exactly what was happening in her body. She remained focused on baby and on why things were happening and she never once complained. Not once. And she never said she couldn’t do it. She was so brave.

At around 9pm Milena was checked again and found to be 8 cm dilated, but baby’s head was not descending so the midwife said it would be advisable to break Milena’s water. The midwife was able to stretch the cervix the last two cm so breaking the water may allow the baby’s head to come down and push the last two cm out of the way.

There was meconium in the amniotic fluid so the midwife advised a transfer to the hospital. This was disappointing, but Milena and Sam knew it was best for the baby so we packed up to leave yet again.