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Aubrie Autumn Allan
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Aubrie Autumn Allan
9:48 pm Nov. 6, 2003; 8 lb. 12 oz; 22 inches; Ephraim, UT USA.
Sterling and Cheri Allan are proud to announce the birth of their third child.
 Cheri's mother pours warm water over her back end, while Cheri leans on Sterling. |
 Here comes the gloved hand to check dilation. Older brother, Christian, looks on. |
 Cheri blows air to help get past urge to push as dilation completes. Midwife Cassandra Westra coaching. |
|
 Grandma Susan Carter, baby, and Christian. |
 Sterling with his new baby. |
'gotcha covered.
 Holding neck straight while midwife lifts her up for newborn testing Proof that all babies look like Mr. Magoo. |
 First diaper. |
Next Morning
Christian and Emilee Dote on their new little sister.
One of 1,000 faces that she pulls.
Look at that hair!
This is how near-4-year-old Christian described the events of last night when our neighbor friend does play group with him came:
"There was water, mommy cried, and a baby came out!!!!"
This he said while opening and closing his hands, with big eyes, and a very loud voice. Very theatrical.
Well, we did it. We had a new little girl on Thursday, Nov. 6, at 9:48 pm. We told you it was going to be a girl! (Okay, we had a 50-50 chance of being right.) Almost a harmonic concordance baby (Nov.8), but close enough to claim a cool time to be born with six planets lined up, and a complete lunar eclipse. Her due date was Nov. 8 (conceived on Valentines day).
Weighing in at eight pounds twelve ounces, she was nearly twice as heavy as Christian when he was born four years ago, and he came just three days shy of his due date (Cheri's b-day). You can see why we thought for sure this baby was actually a month ahead of our original due date. It's big -- for us. We've been expecting this baby "any time now" for over a month!
Now she's here, and we're all happy.
Probably the least happy is Emilee, who now senses that she is no longer the youngest and spoildest.
The labor was much easier with this baby than with Emilee, and especially Christian.
Cheri began regular contractions ~13 minutes apart beginning around 1:44 am Nov. 3, and continued through the night. They were pretty hard contractions, keeping us from sleeping through them. With the Bradley method of husband assisted (coached) childbirth, I talk Cheri through each contraction, being there for her to squeeze, and reminding her to relax, and giving her ideas of other things to think about to take her mind off the pain.
The contractions let up some during the day, and our concerns were confirmed about the posterior position of the baby, when we visited Karen Everitt, one of our assistant midwives. She and Cassandra Westra, our primary midwife, recommended that Cheri take a hot bath, then take some Possatella (sp?), a homeopathic remedy that is supposed to encourage the baby to get into better position, and for Cheri to then get into the "knee-chest" position for 15 minutes, and to talk to the baby to encourage it to move.
knee-chest position
Cheri added to that a request to the baby's angels that they tell the baby how it is to move in a way it will understand.
We followed these instructions and then laid down for a nap, grateful for the prayers of family members, knowing that if the baby did not move, it could significantly increase the length and difficulty of the labor.
We were able to get about 40 -70 minutes of a good nap, with just three or four contractions in-between.
Cheri awoke with a movement in her belly and a guess that the baby had moved back into good position because of the way it felt now.
We went to Karen's place again, and she confirmed that the baby was now in the preferred position. Because of the size of the baby, and its inclination to get out of good position, Karen recommended that Cheri not do any reclining, but that she stand up or lean forward if anything, to keep the baby out front.
By the time we returned home ten minutes later, Cheri began having contractions just 2-3 minutes apart, with every other one being very hard.
Susan Carter, Cheri's mom, was at our place fixing dinner for us. She covered for me a couple of times when I was on the phone contacting various people relevant to the labor.
We called Cassandra (around 6:30 pm), and she began making preparations to arrive, along with the two assistant midwifes, Melissa Boreman being the other.
Because of Karen's recommendation, we decided against transition laboring and birthing in our bath tub, because that would require reclining backward.
By the time Cassandra arrived, Cheri was moving closer to transition labor, dilated to 5 cm.
We began setting up Cassandra's portable birthing tub (AquaDoula ?), hooking a new garden hose to our nearby laundry room spigot (Cheri's clear thinking when I couldn't get the adaptor to fit to the sink in our bathroom).
Cheri was shaking by the time we had the tub nearly ready to go. Getting in the warm water immediately soothed her and relieved the shaking.
To keep her in the forward position, I knelt on my hands and knees, and Cheri leaned over on top of me.
Since the water was only about 8 inches deep, I recommended that someone pour the warm water over Cheri's back end to help relieve the pain. Susan did that for most of the time. Cheri said that helped a great deal.
The midwives kept cold washcloths on Cheri's neck.
As the full dilation approached, Cheri began having a very strong urge to push, but the midwives had her breath through those and not push as she was not yet fully dilated. Cheri says that is probably the hardest part of her labor -- not pushing when the urge is so strong. It seems to take more energy to not push than to push.
When we were ready to push, we got into a squatting position. I held Cheri from behind to help support her. Though it seemed like a long time, pushing only took 9 minutes. The shoulders were as hard to push out as the head.
Alas, out came a calm looking baby, slightly purple in the face, with a nice pinkish red hue to the body. We hardly had time to note the sex, say "hi," the baby opening her eyes and looking around and up at both of us, when the placenta (extraordinarily large) began coming with the very next contraction. Two more pushes and it was out. Shortly after that, the baby let out her first healthy holler.
She's already got a personality showing in the way she cries. Rather than crying with each exhale, just lets out one cry, and lets that suffice. She does the same thing when she wants to nurse. It's so loud it kind of startles you. Then as quick as it came, it's over.
The midwives let me cut the cord. And with that, the baby was now on its own support systems. The midwives' check of the baby's systems and appearance all gave normal to high scores.
Christian and Emilee were in the room with us pretty much the whole time from 6:30 pm until the first midwife headed home after the birth. We were playing chase and tickle, then I would stop to help Cheri through a contraction, then off we would go again. At first I was trying to get them to be quiet, but Cheri said it helped distract her.
While we were laboring in the birthing tub, Emilee would come up and pat me on the head while I was on my hands and knees with Cheri leaning on top of me. Christian watched everything with intense interest -- beginning yesterday evening when we were doing the knee-chest position, and he was looking to see if the baby was coming out yet.
They did not ever seem afraid or alarmed, though their mom was moaning during the transition contractions and pushing. They seemed to understand that it was not a dangerous situation, but a natural part of childbirth.
While we were yet in transition, Susan's husband, Ren, came and offered to take Christian with him to get a video to watch. By the time they came back, we were very close to pushing. Ren was telling Christian that he was going to start the video ("Finding Nemo"). Christian hollered down the stairs, "No, I don't want to watch the video." Watching his sister be born was far more interesting. Ren ended up watching the video by himself.
As Cassandra was helping us clean things up, I poked my head out of the bathroom where I was putting the garden hose away, and commented, "I was just thinking about the arrogance of medical doctors in the birthing process. Just think how much they would charge us by the hour if they were to spend as much time with us as you have, on even this, the most smooth of labors (not to mention the previous labors with our two other children, that were far more involved). The would probably charge $500 or $1000 per hour of their time thus spent. Yet the statistics are far in favor of midwifery as the most safe way to have a baby in general."
The U.S. ranks 28th in the world for infant and mother mortality in childbirth. And the U.S. has nearly highest rate of medical intervention in childbirth. The two nations with the safest ratings both lean heavily on midwifery in childbirth.
Cassandra charges $650.00 for her services. That includes all of the prenatal check-ups, the birth, the attendants, and the follow-up check-ups.
As we were packing up Cassandra's tub, and I reflected on how much it must have cost her, as well as the tank of oxygen she had there with her, along with all the herbal and homeopathic tinctures she had, and other supplies, I said to her, "I'm guessing that by the time you pay for these things, you are not making much money doing midwifery, but that it is more a labor of love."
She confirmed that this was the case.
I wish to express my deep gratitude to her and her assistants, and all those selfless midwives out there, for whom childbirth is a miracle, not a medical emergency.
I also wish to express admiration for my wife and her strength, not just in bringing a child into the world, but taking care of herself so well during pregnancy, and taking care of the children so well once they are born. She is a wonderful mother.
Cassandra left at around 2:00 am. With how much the baby was wanting to nurse, I thought for sure she would keep us up most the night, but by 3:00 am, she and we were asleep, and she slept for five hours.
Christian woke us up at 8:00 am, he was so excited to see the baby again, though he had gone to bed at around midnight the night before.
Emilee was not so excited. I went to get here, as she was kind of yawning in bed, and laid her down next to the baby. She closed her eyes and pretended to still be trying to sleep. Then Christian said, "I want some Cheerios," and Emilee immediately perked up, jumped out of bed to go eat. She did warm up to the baby -- her keen competition -- later on.
And so we commenced day two.
Christian summed it up a little faster than I did: "There was water, mommy cried, and a baby came out!!!!"
-- Sterling
Page posted by SDA Nov. 7, 2003
Last updated 12/01/2003
visits since Nov. 8, 2003
