Brittany's Birth Story
"It felt like a dream come true to have her in my arms."
Brittany Pickerel, BSN, RN, and a Midwife Center nurse shares her birth story from July 2024:
Towards the end of this pregnancy I was super crampy and uncomfortable. The hot June weather probably contributed to that! At 39 weeks after a night shift I was feeling pretty ready to meet my baby so with a little nudge from the midwife on I did a membrane sweep. For the next day or so I felt more cramping and had some spotting but nothing significant. A couple days later I decided to try another sweep and the midwife (Aya) gave me some other ideas to gently help things along- EPO, sex, nipple stim. I felt significantly more uncomfortable the day after that sweep and that night (7/1) I started having some mild contractions. They started around 11pm and were irregular all night. They would sometimes be 20 minutes apart and others times an hour or so. I just tried to sleep as much as I could because I knew I could have a long day ahead! When I got up in the morning I took a walk hoping the contractions would pick up but they actually ended up spacing out more. I begrudgingly told Matt to go to work for the morning. I continued to rest as much as I could for the morning and was disappointed that things had slowed down.
After walking around in the yard with the kids for a while contractions started to feel more intense but were still irregular. Matt got home around 1 and asked what I was thinking and I told him I thought things would pick up again overnight and that I just wanted to rest. He took care of our kids while I tried to lay down for a bit. Contractions were about every 10-12 minutes at that point but were strong enough that I didn’t want to talk through them. Around 3 I decided to walk outside and things quickly picked up. I told Matt I would be ready to go soon and he started to get things in motion for us to get ready to leave. Around 3:30 I asked him to take our kids to my mom’s house and I got in the shower. I spoke with the midwife (Nia) and said we’d be on our way soon. Contractions were every 4-6 minutes at this point, long, and I was breathing or lightly toning through them. After about 10 minutes in the shower, I decided I should be ready to go when Matt got home and dragged myself out of the shower (the hot water was feeling so good and it was hard to convince myself to leave that for the car).
Matt got home around 4 and we got right in the car. Traffic was bad and I was having a really hard time sitting down for contractions. I ended up turning around and holding onto the headrest during contractions. Matt put on the birth playlist I had made and was saying nice words to encourage me while he tried to get us there safely- “you are so strong,” “you’re doing an amazing job,” “we are almost there." The whole time I was looking at our ETA and calculating in my mind how many more contractions I’d have in the car. Going through the Liberty tubes I felt a distinct clunk in my pelvis that felt like baby dropping lower. After that I started to feel a lot of pressure with contractions and was grunting some.
Finally, we arrived at TMC! It was around 5pm and we were greeted by Emily who got us settled into the meadow room. She listened to the baby while annetra got vital signs. Emily said “you get to meet your baby today!” and I responded “I really really hope it’s today." Emily then checked my cervix and told me I was 9cm. I was super relieved to hear that and also felt a gush. It turns out my water had broken during the cervical exam. Things were really happening now! I said, “now I’m definitely going to be pushing,” to which Emily agreed. We decided that there wouldn’t be time to get antibiotics for GBS at that time.
Emily and Nia switched out and Alaina (the nurse) had arrived at this point. I started out pushing in hands and knees using the CUB. I was not feeling super productive in this position and also was starting to get nervous because I had pushed for a while with my previous births and I was hoping to not do that again. Nia noticed I was more upright every time I had a contraction so she asked if I wanted to try squatting. I had never pushed in that position but figured it was worth a try! I immediately felt like I was pushing more effectively. I would pull on Matt’s hands and brace my shins on the bed.
Everyone was really encouraging. I started to feel that intense pressure and had a moment where I started to freak out a little bit. I said “I’m scared. I don’t want to push,” and Nia said (with love) “Brittany, you know what you need to do." That helped me to refocus and very shortly after I felt her crowning. I was able to push slowly and her head came out with a couple more pushes. Nia encouraged me to breathe and wait until the next contraction to push again. I could see the excitement on Matt’s face that it was happening! With a couple more pushes her body was born and I felt so happy and relieved. She was born 7/2/24 at 5:57pm after about 20 minutes of pushing. I got to look back behind and see that we had a baby girl. She was covered in vernix, bigger than we expected, and just so so cute. We were so excited and shed a few happy tears. Nia passed her through my legs so that I could hold her and it felt like a dream come true to have her in my arms.
I am forever grateful that I found this special place and that I now get to work here as well.
Delivery of the placenta was uneventful and Nia checked to see if a repair was needed (nope 🎉). A few of the midwives stopped in to meet Lucy (Emily, Annetra, Jessie). Our postpartum stay was quiet and relaxed. Lucy did a great job figuring out breastfeeding and we just studied her little face and got a little rest before heading home.
I feel sooo lucky to have had a smooth, empowering, and healthy birth!
Throughout two pregnancies, births, and postpartum I have received care at The Midwife Center. I have felt so cared for, respected, empowered, and heard throughout all of these experiences. I have so much appreciation for the teams that have helped bring my babies into the world safely. I am forever grateful that I found this special place and that I now get to work here as well.
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