First Birth: PROM and marginal cord insertion: Sandra became pregnant at 33 yo in March 2020 . She was planning an unmedicated hospital birth. She sought doula support and took the KYO childbirth course. Her water broke spontaneously at 37w2d but she was in denial, so did not present to OB clinic until >30hrs later. She went to the hospital for labor augmentation. After hours of back labor, she got the epidural and later a small episiotomy. Otherwise things went smoothly and it was an overall very positive experience. Baby had severe IUGR from a marginal cord insertion, which was unexpected given reassuring growth ultrasounds. He was only 4lbs 14oz at 37w4d! He did not require the NICU but Sandra did triple feeding, which was rough. He did great and went from 0.5% at birth to 10-12%. He is now a thriving almost 3 year old.
Second birth: Fast unmedicated hospital birth: Sandra became pregnant again at 35 yo and was again planning an unmedicated hospital birth. She went to 39w2d with her daughter, who is now 8 months. She took the KYO course again and did a lot during pregnancy to be mindful of getting baby in a good position. Labor started spontaneously with mild contractions. Sandra quickly went from “I think I might be in labor” to “we really need to go to the hospital NOW!” There were a tense couple hours when she and her husband could not get anyone to come watch their toddler in the middle of the night. Phone support from their doula and a TENS unit got Sandra through while her husband literally ran around the neighborhood at 3am to find help. When they finally got to the hospital, Sandra was 9.5cm with a bulging bag and had her daughter within 20mins. Total time from first contraction to birth was 4.5hrs! Baby had lip/tongue ties but they were revised quickly and breastfeeding and postpartum were overall much easier.
Sandra Brown Bio
Sandra and her family live in the North Carolina Triangle area with their 3 year old son and 8 month old daughter. Sandra and her husband both work in mental health. Sandra is a two-time student of the Know Your Options childbirth course and a Patreon member. She considers her births very different but equally empowering experiences.
Resources
- Know Your Options Online Childbirth Course, The Birth Hour podcast, The Birth Hour Patreon group
- Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler and the OvaGraph app for fertility charting
- Emerald Doulas based out of Raleigh, NC
- Expecting Better and Crib Sheet by Emily Oster
- Natural Hospital Birth by Cynthia Gabriel
- Count the Kicks app and Instagram account
- Mommy Labor Nurse, The Naked Doula, and The Balanced Boob instagram accounts
- KellyMom.com for breastfeedingBaby Tracker app (especially helpful for tracking feeds, pumping, and diapers early postpartum, but you can also track sleep, medication admin, and a bunch of other things)
- Human Milk 4 Human Babies Facebook group for breastmilk donation (each state has their own chapter)
- Dr. Milk- national Facebook group for breastfeeding physician moms
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