"A Brighter Birth taught us how to listen to our bodies and do what feels natural during birth. Melanie did a wonderful job of teaching us to "do life" and not critique every little pain I was having. We followed this mantra and I ended up at work, ignoring my contractions for hours. I didn't even believe my husband when he said we needed to pack our bag for the hospital! This class really gave me the confidence I needed to have an unmedicated birth and to follow our birth plan." 

-Erin Wolf, former student and Mama to Logan James

Birth Story of Ada Laine Armstrong

Born July 20, 2008 at 8:43 PM

8 lbs 1 oz, 20 1/2 inches long

We switched from an OB at St Mary’s to a midwife at St Francis at 30 weeks. Since we were late in switching, we had only met with Leslie. On Friday, I had my 40 week appointment with Nicole, since Leslie was out of town that week. When she checked me, she said, “Well, you’re still at 1 cm (I had been 1 cm, 50% effaced at the prior week’s visit) but now you’re 80-90% effaced, 0 station. Actually, I have no idea how your cervix is still closed” to which Will replies, “Will she make it through Batman?” Nicole says, “Yeah, she’ll make it through Batman”.

Saturday night we went to Jen’s 30^th birthday party where Will was playing upright bass in his rockabilly band, Hamburger James. I had been having some minor Braxton Hicks coupled with a few deep menstrual like cramps all week, but they were extremely irregular. The band didn’t start playing until 9:30 pm, I stayed for the first 1/2 hour of the set, then got a ride home from Heather. Heather was nervous about dropping me off alone- I confidently assured her, “I’m not having this baby tonight….”

That night, I never fell asleep as my cramps became contractions. Will gets home around 11:30 pm, gets a 1/2 hr of sleep in before being awoken by me taking a bath. He instantly knew “it was on”. Of course, I hadn’t packed- I was so sure she was going to be fashionably late. Will was running around, in between my contractions, packing our bags. We labored at home and I had the textbook purging of my system several times - out of both ends. We were trying to wait until 6 am to call Sara, our doula. But we decided to call at 4:30 am after we had been timing the contractions and they were coming at 5 minutes, lasting 60 seconds in duration. Sara got to the house around 5:30 am, we stayed for another hour, trying to get me hydrated and some protein in my belly. Boy, was I not prepared for the nausea. I’d have a really big contraction, get through it just fine with the breathing (thanks to yoga, Leslie!) but then the nausea and vomiting came and stayed until the next contraction started-ugh.

As dawn was breaking, we left for the long drive to St Francis, which included getting stopped by a train- double ugh! We walked in the back door. I remember having to stop in the lobby for a couple of contractions, and laughing because of the echo I made. I was quite vocally loud; Will later said that I sounded like our bad ass cat in a fight. My throat was sore for days afterwards.

We checked in, I was at 4-5 cm, 100% effaced, 0 station. I immediately got in the tub, which was relaxing. At this point the contractions were painful, but manageable. The most irritating thing was the nausea and vomiting. Nicole became concerned and around 10:30 am, I had IV fluids and anti nausea medication. Will, Sara and I at first were not okay with this, but Nicole convinced us that it would be a good thing, and it turned out later- it was. At St Francis, they used a detachable lock so I could still be mobile and still get in the tub.

Around noon, I get checked again and am only at 6 cm. So more changing of positions; the ball, squats, walking, on all fours then back to the tub. Also, it turned out that Miss Ada had decided to look around; she had been in perfect position all this time (pretty much the last 1/2 of the pregnancy) but now she decided to turn her head ever so slightly to the right, which made her disengage. Which now meant doing these crazy trash can lunges (one leg jacked up really high on a trash can) with Will and Sara, while Will attempted some coaxing massage of my uterus to get Ada to turn her head back into position.

Its 4pm, the contractions are getting stronger, beginning to get unmanageable, and the anti-nausea meds are wearing off so I’m sick again and again. My chanting has deepened and changed from “uhhh, uhhh, uhhh to HO, HO, HO and WHOA, WHOA, WHOA”. We check again and now I’m 8-9 cm, I think, “thank god, this will be over soon.”

Not so fast, chica!

Nicole is curious as to why my water hasn’t broken yet, she checks and can see the bulging bag, we discuss and decide its best to go ahead and break the waters. Nicole takes the hook thingy and is moving it around and around, they still won’t break- she tries for a really long time to get them to break, and comments that its one of the toughest membranes she’s EVER seen. (Damn that Raspberry Tea!) Turns out that wasn’t such a good idea after all, as the water bag was what was pushing my cervix open. I regressed back to a 7-8, and felt utterly deflated and depressed. And I can feel the baby and each contraction even more intensely than before.

At one point, when checking the baby’s heartbeat (she was so strong through the eternally long 18 hour labor) Will says to Nicole, “ Did the baby just bark at you?” To which Sara replies, “Tucker, Jr? Will says, “He’s in BIG trouble!” I laughed and laughed.

Its around 6 pm and I was entering that dark, dark place in time where I just thought I couldn’t do it. I had not really used any words since about 10 am that morning but now the words were flying out:“ I can’t do this, I can’t do this, I can’t do this” to which my awesome team of Sara, Will & Nicole, keep telling me, “Yes, you can, you can, you can.”

The pain is unbearable now. I’m utterly exhausted, dehydrated, still nauseous AND I’m not progressing at all. Nicole says its time to discuss “my pain management options” a shot that will make my head loopy, but the pain is still there or an epidural which takes away the pain but your head’s still in it. We discuss and in between my contractions, coupled with the relentless nausea/vomiting, I give in. Defeated and crying, I call for the epidural. Will is telling me, “It doesn’t matter, you did your best. At the end of the day, you still get your baby- it doesn’t matter how.” The epidural cart gets wheeled in to my left, where Sara happens to be, right in front of the cart. Before it can be administered, they decide I need another round of fluids because of all the vomiting. I get the fluids, and get the immensely cold, shaky shivers. All the while Sara, Will & Nicole are talking me through the contractions which are coming fast, on top of one another. Nicole asks if I feel like pushing, I say, “Yes, I want this baby OUT! So I push- really hard- and Nicole says, “UH- whatever you did, just do it again because you just pushed your cervix open 1 cm with that one contraction.” I’m still screaming, “I can’t do this”, to which Sara keeps replying: “Yes, you can”. It becomes our mantra- over and over again. In my head, something clicked. I am still not sure what made me shift gears; but all along during the pregnancy, I had always said it was black and white- there’s no grey- either you go for the epidural or you don’t. I had worked so hard all day to get to this point, I didn’t want all that work to be for nothing. Will word's from earlier in the day also surfaced in my head; “What sorority of women do you want to be in? The ones who copped out and think you can’t do this without drugs or the strong ones who know you can do this?” Sara’s head was in the crystal clear foreground, the epidural cart in the fuzzy background. Turns out a human being can be so much more powerful than some stupid cart that you didn’t want anyway. I push my cervix open from a 7-8 to 10 within a matter of a few contractions. They wheel the epidural cart away- much to the nurses and anesthesiologist’s dismay and start bringing all the baby carts into the room. Nicole says, “They don’t do that unless there’s a baby on the way.” I reach down and feel her head and the combination of seeing the baby carts, the fluids, Sara, Nicole & Will all are so powerful and energizing that I push her out in less than 45 minutes. Sara talks me through the crowning and the ring of fire. I feel like the baby’s coming out of the wrong place and like I am ripping in half. At one point I say, “Holy Smoke- its coming out of my bottom”. I’ve NEVER said “Holy Smoke” in my life!

The best part of all was that she took her time coming out and I hear Nicole say, “Kim, reach down and get your baby.” I pulled her out of me and immediately placed her on my chest. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world.

Ada Laine greeted the world fist first on her due date. Nicole was able to manipulate Ada’s hand out skillfully out with her hands. She latched on within 15 minutes of being born and nursed for 30 minutes on the left side, 20 minutes on the right. My labor was the most physically exhausting thing I’ve ever done yet the most mentally empowering. My husband had said “At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter how you get your baby”. Here I am at the end of the day, and as it turns out, it DID matter to me. I have a baby in my arms and a great sense of accomplishment.

The Players

Jason, Wonderful Husband

Gina Bass, Incredible Doula

Patience Salgado, Loving Photographer and KindnessGirl

Nicole Carson, Encouraging Midwife

Lisa and Michelle, Tolerable Labor and Delivery Nurses

Me, New Mom

Tuesday morning, Jason and I went to Whole Foods for our 5th “last grocery shopping trip before the baby comes”. I had to use the bathroom as soon as we got there, of course. After I used the bathroom, I noticed something at the bottom of the toilet. I wasn’t sure if it was from me! I hadn’t felt it, so I just wasn’t sure. It looked like a pink jelly fish the size of a golf ball. I left the bathroom and told Jason, “I think I just lost my mucus plug”. After discussing the details and neither of us really being sure, Jason wisely told me I needed to pay closer attention to these things now We went on about our shopping trip and our day, knowing our time was approaching.

Wednesday, April 1, I was on a cleaning frenzy at my house, as I had been on for about 4 weeks. Bedding, baseboards, microwave, refrigerator, cabinets, everything. About 1:30 that afternoon, I had my first contraction. It felt like a menstrual cramp but lasted a little longer. I decided to ignore it. I noticed them here and there. They were just barely annoying but I knew these were different . I also knew they may stop and be nothing so I went about my day. My friend Jenn visited around 3:00 and we talked about recent birth stories I’d heard. Jason got home around 5:00 and we headed to Five Guys. At this point I decided to start paying attention to how far apart they were just to see if they were going to stick around and if they were getting closer together. They were about 10 – 15 minutes apart. Later that evening, about 7:00, I told Jason what had been going on. I really didn’t want to alert him if it was nothing. We stayed up until about 11:00 that night watching fights. At 11, he suggested we go to bed and get some rest in case anything happened in the middle of the night. I was excited, but I agreed. I knew I would need my rest. I got about 4 hours of sleep as soon as we hit the bed. After that, I was up about every hour or 2 hours with mild contractions. Although I was anxious and excited, I slept in between.

Thursday morning, we were up and out of the house by 8:00. We had been talking about going to Baker’s Crust for breakfast (crepes in particular ) before the baby came, so we thought this would be a perfect day and most likely our last chance. We ran around all day. We went to Ulta and Southern States and Starbucks and I don’t even remember where else! I was having contractions all day, but we were just “living life”. Finally, late afternoon, we headed back home. Around 5:00 we noticed my contractions were getting closer together so we decided to loosely start timing them. We made another trip out to Sergio’s to pick up dinner then back home. My contractions were about 6 minutes apart at this point and getting stronger, so we decided to call Gina. We talked about what had been going on for the last day or so and she told me to call her back at 8:30 and give her an update, or call her before then if we felt like we needed her. By about 8:00 my contractions were between 4 and 5 minutes apart so we decided I should probably call her. After a brief discussion, we decided it was time for her to come to our house. We also decided to call our midwife at this time. Leslie Fehan is actually my midwife, but Nicole Carson is her partner midwife and throughout the end of our pregnancy we had begun to see both of them in the event Leslie was unavailable when I went into labor. Nicole happened to be on call that night so I told her what was happening. I had also noticed I had not felt the baby move much all day and it was a small concern for me. She told me to lie on my left side for 1 hour and count 10 movements. As the hour went on, Gina arrived at our home. I counted 10 movements and we felt relieved. Gina suggested many things for me to do during my labor at home. I used the birthing ball, took a bath, used heat and cool compresses. We watched Grease and Fresh Prince of Bel Air. As the night went on, my contractions stayed about 4 minutes apart but got more intense. We decided it was an okay time to make out transition to the hospital.

We got to the hospital at about 1:30 in the morning. Nicole called ahead and let them know we were on the way (Gina called Nicole to let her know). We got settled into our room and began laboring there. When Nicole arrived, she checked me for dialation. I remember Gina leaning over me at this moment and saying, “no matter what we find out now, remember you have done a lot of hard work and you’re doing a great job”. I thought that was really important. I was 6 centimeters dilated, 100% effaced. I was fine with that. Nicole went to take a nap while we labored. Again, I used the ball and different positions to help with my comfort level. Gina had all these fragrances that I loved. Jason was there, touching me, beside me, behind me, encouraging me, the entire time.

At my next check, I was at 8 centimeters. I felt like things were moving along perfectly. At some point, Patience got there. Her smiling face was encouragement in itself. I labored for hours; overnight into early morning. Things started to slow. I noticed the contractions were less intense and farther apart. Nicole decided we needed to break my water. She said my water bag was bulging, not allowing the baby’s head to open the cervix up. We agreed and she broke my water. For the next couple of hours I did squats and danced with Jason in an effort to get the baby to come down. Things did not seem to be progressing. She checked me again. I had reverted to 6 centimeters and my cervix was swollen. {At some point during this stage, she also wanted me to rest, which I did for about an hour. I’m not really sure where this fits in} Not only had I reverted, my water bag had not broken on the initial try. The bag had wrapped back over the baby’s head, creating another bag. She broke my water a second time. This time it hurt. She then said she wanted to talk to us. She suggested an IV bag of fluids because I had gone on so long and was obviously exhausted and perhaps dehydrated. She also wanted to add a small dose of Pitocin. As soon as I heard those words I knew it was not what we wanted. We told her we wanted a minute in the bathroom with Gina. I got in the shower and Gina used the shower head to spray warm water on my belly and my back while we discussed it. My concern was, obviously, Pitocin brings on some nasty contractions and I knew I did not want an epidural and was afraid the contractions were already so strong, I questioned if I could do it. Gina assured me I could do it. Nicole stepped into the bathroom and we asked her what would happen if we didn’t do the Pitocin. She told us she did not think my body would be able to progress without the Pitocin and she did not think I would have the energy to push when that time came without the IV bag of fluids. After this conversation, we agreed to the IV bag and the Pitocin. I got back in the bed to rest and wait for the IV. I lay on my left side. I started to cry. I knew this is not what I wanted. I was frustrated and scared. I was exhausted and helpless. Then a couple of important things happened. Jason leaned over me, noticing that I had started to cry. He told me how great I was doing. He told me we could do this. He told me I was doing it and he knew I could do it. It was an obstacle but we would overcome it. He then told me that upon my last check, Nicole had revealed to them that my pelvis was narrow. It was taking a really long time for the baby’s head to mold and come down. But the good news was that the baby’s heartbeat was great and he was safe. And soon we would have our little baby boy. We just needed to get through this set back. I sat up and looked at the board on the wall. It once said, “You are strong. You can do this.” It now said, “You are strong. You can do this. You can do even this”. Then, the nurse came in with the IV’s. She blew the veins in both my arms. Jason and I looked at each other and almost at the same time said, ‘We are not supposed to be doing this. This is not what we want.’ The nurse left and said she would have someone else come in. Gina and Patience said they were going to leave and give us some time alone. It was just me and Jason. We decided immediately we needed to change our decision. Jason noticed my contractions were getting stronger and closer. When the second nurse came in, we told her we changed our minds. We were not going to get the Pitocin and we wanted to be left alone. We labored alone in that room for about the next half hour. My contractions got stronger and stronger. And my giant, strong husband encouraged me through each one. Everyone seemed to come back to the room at the same time. We told them we were not getting the Pitocin and wanted to see Nicole again. When she returned we asked her if she could check me one more time. I could tell she was reluctant, but she did what we asked. At this check, I was 7 centimeters and the swelling in my cervix had gone down! We were so excited! A new energy entered the room! We agreed to do one bag of fluids to counteract my dehydration and prepare for pushing. I labored in transition for hours. I couldn’t even make it to the bathroom without having to get on the floor and bear down through a contraction. Jason and Gina applied counter pressure and did whatever I needed them to do to ease my pains. These contractions were strong and fierce. I knew my baby was coming. At my next check I was fully dilated with a small lip. Nicole removed the lip manually with her fingers. Everyone was helping me. I was grunting through every contraction. I was ready to push. I reached down and I could touch my baby’s head. I started pushing on the birthing stool. I knew this is where I wanted to deliver. I moved to the bed, on my back, on my left side, on my right side, on my back again. Pushing, pushing. Grunting. Moaning. Screaming. Mantras. Open. Open. I moved back onto the stool. Jason was behind me. I would lay back on him in between every contraction. I got about 4 pushes every contraction, sometimes a weak 5th one. It was hard work, but I knew he was coming. Nicole was squatted down in front of me, the two nurses on my left, Gina and Patience on my right. I pushed for almost 3 hours. Finally, Nicole broke my trance. She said, “There is a doctor outside the door right now. If you can’t push your baby out in the next few pushes, I’m going to have to let her in. I don’t want to let her in. I don’t know what will happen if I let her in.” I pushed and pushed with everything in my body. His head crowned. Everyone slowed me, “don’t push, don’t push” as I naturally stretched with his head. Then ok, “push your baby out”. I pushed again with everything I had and birthed my baby’s head. Then his shoulders. Then Nicole said, “Reach down and get your baby” and I reached down and put my hands under his arms and pulled him the rest of the way out. I lay back on Jason and our baby boy looked right into both of our eyes. He rested on my chest as they suctioned him and jiggled him. He made a huge pout and then a roaring cry! He was here! Our baby boy was finally here!

Jaxon Koi Brown was born on April 3 at 4:15PM. He weighed 6 lbs. 13 oz. and was 18 ¾ perfect inches long.