Supporting Bonnie. Induced labor with no pain meds. ( It can be done.)

I was running off the beach in the rain with both of my boys when my phone rang; it was Bonnie, my client who was 37 weeks pregnant. I quickly loaded my kids and all our beach gear into the car and called her back.

She was unexpectedly going to be induced this evening. We talked over all the details of an induction; we discussed what to pack, what medications they would use, and what the night may look. I assured Bonnie that her plan of not using pain medication was still possible and that even though she would have to stay on the monitor, we could still use all the coping techniques and laboring positions we had discussed in our prenatal meetings. I would join her whenever she needed me.

Around 6am the next morning I woke up to my phone ringing “I’m having contractions. The Cervidil put me into labor. Can you join us?”. I was excited. Cervidil, which is used to soften and thin the cervix usually doesn’t cause contractions, but when it does it’s a great sign. I woke my boys up to get them ready to go to my sisters “A ladies having a baby and I have to go help her”; my 5 year old son surprised me by replying “ Did she wake up in the night with the contractions ?” “Yes Liam she did.”

Bonnie was smiling sitting on the birth ball when I got there. She was radiant. As the day progressed the unique language of her birth presented itself; she wore her running sneakers the whole time and snacked on watermelon, she swayed leaning over the bed as I used a heating pad on her back, we counted through contractions and her body opened. She dug down deep staying connected and rooted to her body and her baby.

Bonnie never wavered and never asked for pain medication. She entered her labor land and stayed there. When it was time to push her baby out she followed her instincts. She was supported by a midwife who never told her to hold her breath or to push with all her might. The midwife simply told her “ Do what feels right” and in under an hour beautiful baby Riley was in her powerful mommas arms.