“From the time we arrived at the hospital to baby's delivery was only four hours. I'm glad I was able to labor so much from the comfort of my own home without any pressure of intervention.”
Gretchen came to Connection Cafe Chiropractic at the beginning of her third trimester during her first pregnancy. Not only did she want to prepare her body for birth, she had done her research and wanted to giver herself the best chances of having a natural birth.
“There had been concern from the OB that baby was going to be large, especially a large head. The OB had wanted to schedule a C-section, but I refused, as I had read enough evidence supporting the fact that mothers can birth babies with large heads. Plus, I had been seeing Dr. Derrell 2-3 times per week for adjustments since week 28, so I felt confident that my pelvis was doing what it needed to do, baby was positioned perfectly, and we could do this! I was pretty committed to a medicine and intervention-free birth, except in case of emergency.”
With her main goal being an intervention-free, vaginal birth, Gretchen felt confident that by seeking chiropractic at Connection Cafe that her body would be ready to do what it needed to do! While many women start to feel the aches and pains when they get to their last trimester, Gretchen was up and moving, feeling just fine! 38 weeks and 6 days into her pregnancy, just as she was sitting down to eat a meal with her husband, her water broke.
“I know I was supposed to call the hospital and go straight there when my water broke, but I was concerned about the 24 our time limit to deliver. I really wanted to avoid a C-section if possible. Reading up on water breaking and discussing it with my doula...I decided I would wait until noon the following day, and then go to the hospital regardless.”
Gretchen labored in the comfort of her own home throughout the night into the next day. By the time her contractions began getting stronger and occurring about every 3 minutes, Gretchen and her husband and doula headed to the hospital.
“When the midwife checked, I was 6 cm dilated and nearly completely effaced. So we definitely accomplished a lot of labor at home. And my labor went quickly since from the time early labor began to the moment the baby arrived was only 9 hours! For 95% of the time, in spite of the difficulty of transition, everything was super smooth.”
As Baby F was making his way earth side, his shoulder got caught on Gretchen's pelvic bone. After using specific positions to give the pelvis the most amount of room, Baby F had arrived weighing in at a healthy 9.5 lbs!
“When Baby F was finally out, he was pretty blue and his head was really cone-shaped from being in the birth canal so long. The pediatricians wanted to check him out right away, but I had noted in my birth plan that I wanted to delay cord clamping for at least two minutes, and sure enough as the rest of the umbilical cord blood pulsed into Baby F, he started pinking up really well.”
“A lot of my friends had difficult recoveries, but mine was really easy. Nurses couldn't believe how easily I was up and moving around within hours after delivery. I never had any crazy pain or issues. I think one of the benefits of an all-natural birth is fast recovery.”
With a background in education, Gretchen was sure to do her research when it came to preparing herself for the birth she wanted. She prepared her body and more importantly she trusted her body that it was capable to do exactly what it was designed to do!
“I attribute my mobility in the last trimester to working with Dr. Derrell at Connection Cafe that summer. I was even able to tile and grout our new floors in week 36! Dr. Derrell really helped prevent any lower back or hip pain. I feel so lucky to live near Connection Cafe and to have had the support from Dr. Derrell and Dr. Morgan during my pregnancy and as a first-time mom! ”