Waterbirth

I had a woman who had a waterbirth recently...to bad I missed it! What happened was...

The woman came in having ruptured her membranes. The nurse naturally felt the need to check her (she was not in labor at this point) and she was 1-2/50/-2. This multip was planning natural childbirth and had done it before so the plan was just to have her chill until labor kicked in. In the wee hours of the morning, I get a call from the nurse who says she is looking more active. So I come on in to procide labor support and keep an eye on things. I check her...she's 2/70/-2. *sigh* Not at all what I expected because based on how she looked she was looking like she ought to have been at least 5 or 6 cms. But sometimes this is just a sign that the labor is getting ready to go fast.

So I go back to sleep...I got some great sleep with my pager going off less than hourly :p

About 4 hours after I checked her, I roll my butt out of the recliner and head to her room. She looked pretty uncomfortable, was reporting some back labor. My thinking was that the baby might be OP and that's why the labor seemed to be taking a bit. So I ask her if she wants to get in the tub and of course, she does. Doesn't mention feeling pressure to me at all. I go off the floor for coffee. They call me on my cell phone to let me know she is delivering in the tub as we speak. Crap. I missed it....grrr. But the patient was thrilled and all was well!

I'm on call all this weekend...I have seen a lot of term patients the past couple days, stripped some membranes of those who wanted that, andf am expecting to catch 20 babies or so! Ok, so that might be overstating things a bit. But I heard from women that three husbands are predicting Saturday. Another's co-workers said this weekend sometime. Another one, I checked and think she will go by this weekend. So this ought to be interesting! Will keep you all posted.