Luca's birth story...

I'm so so glad that Alex and I had Rachelle, our doula, with us during pregnancy and labor/delivery! Her help and guidance was SO valuable, words cannot describe (that's a whole other post). She doesn't say it below but SHE was the reason that I was able to get out of bed and deal with the contractions and progress labor. She got me in the shower, in the tub, and was such a great support. I think Alex was just as happy to have her because I think he was in shock most of the day. Shock that I was in so much pain, shock that we were going to have a baby, etc. And apparently I was in shock all day too because the birth story that I wrote skips half of what Rachelle recorded! I also exaggerated the length of labor just a little maybe=) I remember it being more like 5 hours when it looks like I was only having contractions (without the epidural) for about 3hrs! Wow! But you know, I would do it all over in a heartbeat. I have no regrets, just a few things that I would watch out for next time. I hope that I will be more aware next time...when you're in labor, you feel like the world is spinning around you and you have no idea what is going on. I was so focused on myself and being in the moment that I truly didn't remember half of what REALLY went on! I'm so glad for all that Rachelle has done for us and it's just like icing on the cake that she was able to write us such a great birth story for Luca. I've had the story for a while but chose to wait to read it until now. What a nice surprise! Thanks Rachelle!

Birth Story of Luca Franken:

I had the immense privilege of assisting Brittany and Alex throughout their entire pregnancy and attending them during their labor and birth of their baby. We talked a lot about the natural labor process and going past the due date, and Brittany not wanting to be induced. All of those ideas changed however, when at 35 weeks Brittany had a complication of pregnancy. She was diagnosed with Cholestasis, and had to make the choice of whether to continue with the pregnancy or be induced for the baby’s safety. After many blood tests and NSTs and biophysical profiles, weighing the benefits and risks, and many nights of worry, Brittany and Alex decided to go ahead with an induction on January 23^rd. Britt was already dilated one centimeter which worked in her favor of the induction being successful.

I joined them at the hospital the night before just to check up on them- made sure they had all their questions answered, made sure they were emotionally ready for their birth journey the next day. I left and awaited their phone call for when to join them again. When at 8am I discovered I still hadn’t received a call, I talked to Brittany and she said that Dr. Soper hadn’t arrived yet, but that they were going to start pitocin at 9am. She also reported that she had hyperstimulated through the night and was given terbutiline to relax her uterus. When I arrived just after 9am, Dr. Soper had already been in and checked her. Brittany was 2cm and Dr. Soper broke her water without much conversation regarding it. When I entered the room, I could tell Brittany was already having contractions that were getting hard to work through. Alex arrived shortly after I did, returning from walking the dogs that morning.

After being in bed trying to cope with the contractions so they could get a good tracing on the baby and contraction pattern, Brittany decided to get up and try the shower for more relief. While she was in the shower, I ran the tub so that she would have it filled for her when the shower wasn’t working for her as well. Brittany was working really hard through her contractions, and they were right on top of each other – no breaks in between. The tub helped bring her to a more relaxed state, and she was coping as well as she could. Labor was hard work on pitocin. And even harder was the fact that she didn’t have a restful night, so she was tired too. She was shaking and showing signs of being further into labor, and was starting to consider an epidural. I suggested that she get out and get checked before she made any decisions so that she and Alex would have the best information available before making a choice. It took a long time to get from tub to bed- every time she would start to walk, another contraction would come.


When she finally was able to get to the bed to be checked at 11:45, the nurse (Anne-Mette) said that she was 4-5cm, 80% effaced, and the baby was at a 0 station. That was amazing work that Brittany did, and was a great predictor of a vaginal birth. The baby had come down really low, and at this point an epidural would probably not slow down her labor. The epidural was placed at 12pm and Brittany was able to finally relax. Dr. Soper inserted the pressure catheter to better gauge the contraction pattern she was having so they would know whether to up the pitocin or not. Brittany’s blood pressure got very low from the epidural, and the baby’s heart rate dropped in response. The anesthesiologist came in to give her something to bring her blood pressure and baby’s heart rate up. Brittany felt like her heart was beating hard, from the medication. But it worked, and her blood pressure went up and so did the baby’s heart rate.

At 2:30, Brittany was having some pressure so she was checked and her cervix was found to be at 8cm and the baby had come down to a +1 position. Great progress! More pressure continued, and she was checked again at 3:20 and she just had a “lip” left. Ten minutes later the lip resolved (she was fully dilated) and Brittany started pushing. She got the hang of pushing right off the bat and worked really hard at it. Just under an hour later, at 4:27, a little baby entered the world and they could finally see for themselves that they had a boy! He was 6lbs10oz and Brittany had no tearing. It was an awesome moment to see Brittany and Alex’s faces when they looked at their son for the first time.

Congratulations Brittany and Alex on your amazing journey to your firstborn. May you be blessed with many more!

Much love to all three of you!

Rachelle, your doula