Pregnant during covid and wanted a midwife but was afraid of the unknown. Stuck with the OBGYN she’d been seeing and had a hospital birth. She went into labor not knowing what to expect and found “early labor” to be much more painful than she expected. When she got to the hospital she was already 6cm dilated and the OB suggested breaking her bag of waters. Although she was hesitant to this she agree due to her doctor’s encouragement of how well she was doing. Unfortunately the water breaking caused labor to stall and she needed pitocin and an epidural.
For her second birth she had moved to Texas and planned a homebirth with a midwife. She struggled to find a midwife in a new town and lacked family support but found a great midwife through instagram! Her prenatal care was amazing especially from a nutrition standpoint. Even with a Group B strep diagnosis she found a lot of support from her team but was still really nervous about birth after her first experience of labor stalling and knowing this time she wouldn’t have an epidural. It ended up being a fast birth lasting less than an hour. She went on to have another homebirth with the same midwife for her 3rd baby.
This time she was confident in her decisions around birth but life was hectic with a recent move to a smaller apartment. The continuity of care and comfort she found from using the same midwife was really key to her confidence. Towards the end of her pregnancy, her body started reminding her of what was to come but she had a lot of misleading symptoms that led her to believe she would go into labor “any minute”. After 2 very predictable pregnancies, she definitely felt like this one was the “wild card”. Eventually she woke up in the middle of the night with a sharp cramp-like pain which was the beginning of labor.
She tried to ignore the cramps initially but eventually realized it was active labor when she couldn’t ignore the contractions through a meeting for work. From there things started to pick up quickly and her midwife arrived an hour later. Again, being surrounded by a familiar birth team provided so much mental support and comfort and Kinaya burst into tears with gratitude when they arrived. She labored in the shower for several hours and eventually had the urge to push and had a very hard time with the “ring of fire” stage of pushing. The baby was born about 6 hours after her midwife arrived. Unfortunately her baby ended up getting RSV and they had a short NICU stay but her midwives continued to support her postpartum and they are all doing well now.
Kinaya Pettiford Bio
Kinaya lives in Dallas, TX and has three children. She runs a bookkeeping business for female entrepreneurs and works with lots of birth workers. You can connect with her on IG @lodwar.bookkeeping.
Resources
In the DFW area: Brittany from Nascence Midwifery and Swiss Avenue Birth
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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