After an uncomplicated pregnancy, Samara had many days of prodromal labor that lasted well into her 41st week of pregnancy. True labor finally kicked off at 41 weeks and 4 days after a foley balloon placement at the freestanding birth center where she planned to meet her baby boy. Over the next thirty-eight hours, Samara went from laboring at home with her doula to laboring at the birth center in a big, beautiful tub to laboring on all fours in the back of her Mazda 2 Hatchback due to a meconium-related hospital transfer. She was going for an unmedicated, out-of-hospital birth and ended up epiduralized, working with her hospital care team (who were also her coworkers) to pull out all the interventional stops to get her a vaginal delivery. While both she and baby tolerated labor well (the meconium never presented a problem), she still never progressed past 7 centimeters. At the 38th hour, she had a c-section for arrest of dilation.

It’s taken time to process the birth and her feelings have evolved with each passing month. Labor came with its fair share of stress and pain and things did NOT go as planned but overall she’s grateful for the feelings of autonomy she had throughout the experience. She believes that regardless of birth outcome, feeling respected and having autonomy throughout the experience can turn a potentially traumatic birth into an empowering one. She’s incredibly grateful for the care she received both outside and inside the hospital, and she hopes to one day provide that same level of care to her patients as a Certified Nurse-Midwife. 

Samara Laxineta Bio 

Samara is a Labor and Delivery nurse and Master’s student at UCSF where she’s studying to become a Certified Nurse-Midwife and Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner. A once astute conversationalist, Samara now struggles to chat about anything but birth, pregnancy, and her new favorite subject…babies. She welcomes any and all new conversation topics. A lazy cyclist, beer lover, and self-help enthusiast, she lives in San Francisco with her husband Toby, baby boy Ziggy, and two precious cats Sass and Frankie. 

Resources

Expecting Better and Cribsheet by Emily Oster

Good Inside – A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be

Motif Medical

This episode was sponsored by Motif Medical. Motif designs insurance-eligible products for busy moms. With a focus on innovation and empowerment, Motif’s line of breast pumps and maternity compression garments are sophisticated, yet discreet, and made to support mothers as they navigate new motherhood. Discover why moms are reporting more milk in less time with the Luna breast pump, and see how you can get it covered through insurance at motifmedical.com/birthhour

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