Transition or Prodromal Labor?

I had two finals yesterday and a paper still do. I'm working 20 of the next 26 hours. I haven't done laundry in two weeks. I couldn't tell you what's in my refrigerator or the last time I swept the floors. If I'm playing my cards right I should be done with school in August. I still have 45 babies to "deliver" and God knows how many more clinical hours I need to make up. Sometimes I feel like I'm not going to make it, I'm never going to finish. I don't know how I've gotten this far but if it's any indication of my perseverance- I'll eventually be on the other side of this tunnel where there is light.

Circumvallate Placenta

Here is a video of an amazingly unique placenta from a birth I was at this week. While I was inspecting the placenta after the birth I noticed that it was a circumvallate placenta . The baby was fine and had 9/10 apgars.

HBA3C

It's a new year and I'm back in midwifery school. Working full time hasn't allowed for me to be as active in my clinical experience as normal but I wanted to share this awesome birth I was at last night.

My midwife called me around 10:30 Thursday night and asked if I was available to assist her at a birth she was at. In my infinite wisdom I had agreed to work a double so I could be off on Friday to go to a fundraiser for our upcoming trip to the Dominican Republic so I wasn't going to be out of the hospital until 7am. At 7am sharp I got a call from my midwife asking me to go labor sit a mama who was in labor because the mama she was with was pushing.

When I arrived to the house it was clear that the mom was in early labor so I encouraged her to sleep. Around noon the midwife came over and checked her at the mothers request. She was still around 2 cm. We both left so the mom could rest and spend some time with her husband. Around 8 pm I received the call, the mom was 8 cm and "rockin' and rollin'".

Back at the house for the birth, the mom was amazing. She was laboring in the tub in the living room handling it like a champ. Around 9:30 pm she started to feel pushy, and was bearing down with her contractions, listening to her body. At 10:06 pm a beautiful baby girl was born in the water into her mothers arms, 9 lb 1 oz, 20 inches long.

Every birth is beautiful but this birth was especially so because it was her first vaginal birth after three cesarean sections. Does every trial of labor for a VBAC mom end in a vaginal birth? No, but every mom deserves a chance to allow their bodies and their babies to choose their birth route. My hope is for every mom, VBACer or not, to be given the space to have a gentle birth and to have their choices respected. I'm so glad I got to be witness of this awesome birth! ROCK ON VBACers, ROCK ON!