Doula and third-time mama’s super-fast hospital birth

The story of doula and third-time mama, Ann Morris’ super-fast, unmedicated hospital birth to her daughter, Magnolia Jubilee, after Ann’s waters broke at 39 weeks pregnant and active labour took a couple of days to start.

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Where did you give birth? Hospital

Top things you did to prepare for a positive birth

Mindset work. Creating a birth plan and ensuring my husband and I were on the same page. Staying active during pregnancy as much as I could.

What tools/support did you use during birth?

Breathwork, movement, water (shower), chiropractic care and mindset.

Ann’s birth story

Early labour

At 39+1 weeks pregnant, after lying down in bed after spending the day helping a doula client and Christmas carolling, Ann felt something strange happening. “I all of a sudden felt a very foreign sensation - my water bag breaking with a big, uncontrollable gush,” she says.

She immediately asked her husband, DeeMo, if the water was clear and odourless. “Which thankfully, it was,” she says. “I noted the time in my phone, 11:30pm, and suggested that we begin making final preparations in the event I started having contractions overnight.”

Ann says she hadn’t completely finalised packing her hospital bags yet (“ a rookie mistake as a doula, I know,” she says) so they immediately started packing these and doing things to prepare like prepping the baby’s car seat for the ride home from the hospital and sorting out childcare for their other kids.

“I barely slept at all that night,” Ann says. “I think the excitement of my water breaking raised my adrenaline and I never could turn my brain completely off after that. I think I was also in shock that my water broke before my contractions began, and I was trying to process what that could potentially mean for me and my labour and birth.” With Ann’s other two boys, her waters broke during active labour, near transition, so she wasn’t expecting to experience a pre-labour rupture of membranes (waters breaking) for the birth of her third child. “ I always say that birth is all about surrendering to the process - as so much of it is out of our control - so I tried to do just that,” she says.

The next morning, Ann started to feel crampy and began to lose her mucus plug, which she was happy to see. “Things were obviously happening, albeit ever so slowly,” she says. “We asked my mom, who lives in Florida, if she could change her flight and come that same day instead of her previously scheduled flight that was set to arrive four days later - and thankfully, she was. I cancelled all my plans that day, as I really felt as though I needed to turn inward and focus on preparing my heart and mind for my impending labour and birth.”

Ann says she then started having very mild contractions on and off, mostly when she was standing. She went for a walk in her hilly neighbourhood while her husband went to pick up her mum from the airport. “While walking, I found comfort in listening to others birth stories and to my hypnobirthing tracks,” Ann says.

When Saturday evening came, 24 hours had passed since her waters had broken. “I reached out to a friend of mine who is a midwife-in-training to ask for her insights,” Ann says. “My friend shared an infographic about ruptured membranes (broken waters) with me, which I found to be extremely helpful - it empowered me to take ownership of my health and the health of our baby.”

With 24 hour passing still no signs of active labour in sight, Ann says she started tracking her temperature every four hours, taking a high dose of vitamin C, and monitoring her baby’s movements, while continuing to keep an eye on the colour and odour of her “continually leaking waters”. “I did so because I know that the longer your waters have been released, the more prone you are to developing an infection. I felt confident that my body and my baby knew what they were doing, and just needed a little bit more time.”

She says another night went by with still no signs of active labour. “While at church the next day, I continued to have inconsistent contractions that I was starting to have to breathe through. I continued to check my temperature every four hours, take a high dose of vitamin C, and monitor baby’s movements while doing the miles circuit, squats and forward leaning inversions.”

Ann decided to reach out to a chiropractor as she’d heard chiropractic adjustment may be able to help. “The chiropractor arrived around 6:00pm,“ she says. “She began to adjust my hips first and immediately discovered that my right hip was completely out of alignment. The chiropractor adjusted my hips, my spine, my neck, and then began to do reflexology on my feet.”

Within 10 minutes of the chiropractor leaving, Ann’s contractions started getting stronger and closer together. “It was around 7:15pm, which is when our boys normally wind down for bed. I went upstairs to our bathroom and intuitively knew things were progressing quickly. I am always drawn to water during my labours, so I got in the shower to help me cope while my husband, DeeMo, quickly finished putting everything we needed in the car.”

“My waves were every three-four minutes and they were intense. When DeeMo finished, I told him if we had any chance of making it to the hospital before the baby was born we’d better leave immediately - even though everything in me wanted to stay right where I was. He wholeheartedly agreed and helped me get dressed. I was beginning to have a hard time coping at this point, as I was clearly in transition” Ann adds: “PSA to anyone still reading this: I don’t recommend going through transition in the car!”

Transferring to the hospital

Ann says her plan for the birth was to have a water birth at one of the only hospitals in her area that offer water births as an option, which was about 40 minutes away from where she lived. “When I got in the front seat of the car, I knelt backwards and remained in that upright position the whole ride,“ says. “It was the only position that felt good.”

About two minutes into the drive, Ann  says she was beginning to have to the urge to push, which she had to fight hard to resist, and was feeling rectal pressure with every contraction. “I told DeeMo ‘There is no way we are going to make it to the hospital. We need to go to a closer one!”) So we shifted our plans. The drive was like something out of a movie: I was moaning through the waves while DeeMo drove with one hand on the steering wheel and one hand on my back to support me and ensure I didn’t fall backwards. I was so grateful we got there quickly.”

Arriving at hospital

When they arrived at hospital, Ann told her husband to run inside and tell staff that his wife was involuntarily pushing so they could get assistance quickly. “He ran inside the double doors and within mere seconds, a number of nurses came to me with a wheelchair to help me get inside quickly.

“We got into a labour and delivery room and, of course, I was asked a million questions about my pregnancy and health history while simultaneously trying to navigate transition contractions. I was honestly surprised by how level-headed I was in the moment, as there was a heck of a lot going on in me and around me.”

Ann says: “The only position that felt good was being upright at this point, so I moaned through a few more contractions while standing. The Certified Nurse Midwife on call looked over my birth plan and told me what a great job I was doing. Another nurse asked if I wanted to take off my pants because she knew birth was imminent.”

Pushing stage

Ann says: “Suddenly, I knew my baby was coming. The rectal pressure was so intense, and I began to feel that very familiar sensation I had felt twice before: that of her head beginning to crown. I had initially wanted to catch the baby, or possibly DeeMo if I couldn’t, but, when the actual moment came, it was all I could do to say aloud: ‘can someone catch the baby?’ Thankfully, Daneille, my amazing midwife, quickly sprang into action and caught our baby mida-ir at 8:33pm.” Ann says: “It had been 18 minutes from the time we arrived at the hospital to the time the baby was born!”

After birth

Ann says as she moved to sit on the edge of the bed to hold her baby, DeeMo, her husband thought he saw baby ‘boy parts’ and said “it’s a boy!”

Ann says, “I asked the midwife “can we just double check?” and she helped me lift and shift Magnolia’s body and leg. She said, “that doesn’t look like a boy to me…” to which I responded, “that doesn’t look like a boy to me either!”  Cue the sobs!”

Ann says, “that was quite possibly one of the most incredible moments of my life. Whenever anyone would ask about my thoughts about whether we were expecting a boy or a girl - I would always tell them, “I’ve basically convinced myself that it’s a boy, but if it’s a girl, it’ll be the shock of my life.” And then, when that moment actually came, to say I was shocked is an understatement! I could hardly believe it. We have a daughter!”

Ann says, “after a few minutes of sitting on the side of the bed, just revelling in Magnolia’s sweetness, Daneille recommended I lay down to birth the placenta and do skin to skin. There were thankfully no complications with the placenta, and Daneille waited until the cord turned white before suggesting DeeMo cut it. She then did a routine perineal inspection and discovered that I only had a small laceration and did not need any stitches.”

Ann says she had very specific things on my birth plan that she did not want and one of the main things was to not have a heplock placed upon admission, as well as Pitocin after the birth. “Daneille monitored my blood loss closely and decided that I did not need Pitocin based off of the amount of blood loss I had experienced. Magnolia did skin-to-skin with my husband for a bit while I got up to go to the restroom.”

Ann says, “although my birth this third time around went NOTHING like I had expected it to, I can genuinely say now, in hindsight, that I wouldn’t change a thing about it. I cannot say enough good things about the care we received at the hospital. Every nurse and care provider we encountered was extremely pleasant, helpful, and considerate of my wishes.”

Ann is a birth and postpartum doula in Lawrenceville, Georgia, USA. You can find out more on her website https://www.annmorris-doula.com/