Higdon's welcome baby Graham Thomas on 8/23/19 in a beautiful natural hospital birth
My Birth Story:
First of all I have to say if it weren’t for Christine Ghali and Tara Hoverson that I hired for my Doula care no question I would be going through C-Section recovery right now. I don’t have a crystal ball but I’m 99% sure they saved me from going through that. Every birth is different so if you do have to go through that as long as your baby is healthy it’s worth it, but I wanted to avoid surgery as much as possible, and I’m guessing if you’re reading this you do too.
Wednesday August 21st (my due date) I got acupuncture and by that night I was having contractions on and off. I could tell that my labor was starting, but with my first baby I hadn’t been through normal contractions so I wasn’t positive. In the middle of the night (so early Thursday morning) my water broke. There was a small gush and then leaking all morning, still no consistent contractions and very little to no pain. I was just experiencing some intense Braxton Hicks.
By Thursday afternoon I was freaking out a little bit because they tell you to go into the hospital right away if your water breaks since there’s a 2% chance of infection after 24 hours of no labor. I texted Tara asking what I should do. She said consider staying home, told me what signs of infection can look like and helped me weigh the benefits of staying home vs heading in. If I went in, they would likely start me on Pitocin. By Thursday night no signs of contractions and I’m still freaking out totally in my head because I don’t want to hurt my baby.
Again, Tara assured me she’s seen this many times before and it can be totally normal.
I figured she knew better than I did so I stayed home. By Friday morning I still hadn’t had any contractions that were consistent and I told Tara I was going into the hospital that afternoon if I didn’t feel anything.
She texted me “I’m coming over!”
She came over around 11 AM to help me with some spinning babies positioning, made sure the lights were low and I was out of my head, pumping to get nipple stimulation, walking, etc. and also a tablespoon of castor oil. Holy cow! By 2 o'clock I was having the most intense contractions of my life that were consistently about 2-3 minutes apart and it was time to go to the hospital!
We got to the hospital and I was 7 cm dilated! “No drugs for you” the nurse said! I used the midwives through Lee Physician Group and I have to give Miranda Marcus a huge shout out. If you are pregnant, USE HER! She stayed with me in the delivery room the entire time (in a hospital that’s super uncommon) and she let me push standing up!
We got to the hospital around 3PM, and by 5 PM that day we had a beautiful, 8 lb 6 oz baby boy! He was perfect. Baby Graham Thomas, born 8/23/19.
Written by Jessica Higdon, mother of Sabrina and Graham
Midwife: Miranda Marcus
Doula: Tara Hoverson
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