Briggs Grey’s Birth Story

Briggs Grey

41 weeks

December 12, 2021, 12:40pm

7 lbs 12 oz, 21 inches long

Knowing my daughter arrived at 42 weeks of gestation helped me have immense peace surrounding my son’s birth and also provided me the assurance to trust my body and the timing for spontaneous labor. At each of my prenatal appointments, my provider and I talked through trusting my body. And with the understanding that I went all the way to 42 weeks with my daughter, she prepared me that it would be a likely scenario with my son.

On Friday afternoon, December 10th, I began having very trackable contractions. They were apparent, but I was still able to cope, talk through them, and keep going about my day. I remember thinking to myself that I needed to get some laundry done and clean my house so that once we got home from the hospital, we were all caught up on housework. I did just that, cuddled my daughter a little extra, and rested as much as I could. Contractions continued throughout the night and into Saturday, though they were still manageable. I had also slowly been losing my mucus plug the week leading up to this, so I knew my body was preparing and headed in the right direction.

As Saturday continued, the contractions began to intensify - still very manageable, but getting stronger and closer together averaging around 5-8 minutes apart. We had plans to go walk through a local park to see Christmas lights with my family as one final Hoorah before we went to the hospital. We planned to leave my daughter with my parents that night because we knew we were going to be heading to the hospital soon and wanted to try to get as much sleep as possible. Well…that didn’t quite happen.

We returned home from dropping my daughter off at my parent's house and began packing our last-minute items to bring to the hospital. I showered and continued to take breaks as needed through my contractions. I had such a supernatural peace about the whole situation. I never felt panicked and I sensed the Holy Spirit walking with me through it all. As contractions grew closer together and intensified, I felt my vaginal discharge and mucus increasing. From midnight until 2am, I spent most of the time doing figure 8’s on the birthing ball and bouncing to remain comfortable. When my contractions stayed consistently 3-5 minutes apart, we finally decided it was time to head to the hospital. We arrived at triage around 3am where they monitored contractions, checked my dilation, and swabbed my discharge to be sure it was not amniotic fluid. At that time, I was dilated to 5cm and quite honestly, I felt a bit defeated after so many hours of contracting. With my daughter, things moved more quickly and I arrived at the hospital already dilated to 7 cm. I knew things were still progressing though as the contractions remained intense and frequent.

Once the swab came back, the triage nurses informed me that the fluid was in fact amniotic fluid and not just cervical mucus. I was shocked, as this had been going on for days. They advised that we needed to get an ultrasound done to monitor my fluid levels because my son’s heart rate was not remaining stable. The purpose and goal of this ultrasound was to determine whether or not they needed to provide any means of induction to get things moving quicker, or if we could continue to let things go at the current pace without intervening. The ultrasound concluded that my fluid levels were dangerously low and my son’s hand also had a tight grip on his umbilical cord. His heart rate drops had been from the low fluid levels as well as the compression happening in-utero on the umbilical cord, meaning we were on some sort of timetable. They admitted us around 5:30am, got us set up in delivery room 12, and my husband and I rested a bit after being up all night - I was able to close my eyes in between contractions.

At 8 am, the provider on call came in to determine our next steps. Because of our situation, they informed me that another cervical check would be necessary to determine how far along I had come since I had been in triage. I consented, knowing that having an idea of how far along I was could be important for me and my baby. At this check, I had dilated to 6.5 cm. There was pressure to get the baby out as he was continuing to have multiple heart rate drops. The doctor suggested starting me on Pitocin to get things moving more quickly - Honestly, I was very hesitant. I didn’t want any sort of augmentation. She agreed to let me try other methods first and that Pitocin could be our last resort. The next 2 hours were spent trying nipple stimulation as well as different labor positions to optimize my pelvis and encourage dilation. The peanut ball and birthing ball were my best friends! I had every desire to get into warm water to cope with contractions, but the staff informed me that the water heater had broken for the entire hospital and they were working as quickly as possible to get it repaired.

Following another cervical check at 10am, they determined I had dilated 1 more cm, putting me at 7.5 cm. They explained to us that things were starting to get serious and we needed to get him out at a quicker pace. I felt discouraged because of how quickly my first labor moved. Why was this one so different? At that point, I agreed to receive the smallest dose of Pitocin they could give me. I still had immense peace throughout the entire thing and trusted my doctor’s advice simply because I was confident they knew what my desires were for this birth. It turned out that one tiny unit of pitocin was all my body needed. After 30 minutes, I was in full-blown transition. I had two nurses in there helping me utilize several different birthing positions from Spinning Babies and I still attribute my transition period moving so quickly to the Side-Lying Release Position. It was HARD but helped my body in incredible ways!

At noon, my body began spontaneously pushing. My body rode each wave and I surrendered. I practiced verbal exercises and deep moaning and the more I relaxed my body and mind, the less intense it all felt. Just like in my birth with my daughter, the total surrender is what made all the difference. After 40 minutes of pushing, my son was in my arms and it was SURREAL. He was safe. He was healthy. He was crying. Everything I could have ever dreamed.

Because of my history with uterine inversion, and the high chances of it happening again, it was vital that we utilized delayed cord clamping and waited for the placenta to be delivered completely on its own - which is just what my provider did. I remember her holding the cord up to show me that it was completely white and done pulsing before having it cut. My placenta was delivered naturally and on its own after about 10 minutes and then my husband proudly cut the cord. My son latched and nursed with no pain and we entered the most blissful golden hour.

I remember weeping with him in my arms, just thinking about how redemptive this birth felt for me - how the Lord so intricately protected my son and I. And how it was such a dream delivery with amazing staff support. The best part having my husband right by my side. I thank God every day that this was my son’s journey into the world and that He chose me to be his mama.