News Anchor Assists Wife's Accidental Home Birth
Over at The Daily Beast newsman Jim Sciutto tells the story of his wife Gloria’s accidental home birth and it’s pretty amazing. She expected a longer ramp up to actual pushing part; something more like her first labor. But this time her contractions went from ten minutes apart to incredibly close before she knew what was going on:
“‘Strip the sheets! I’m not having this baby on our white wedding linen!’ Of course I stripped the sheets, while simultaneously dialing 999, the British equivalent of 911. We assured each other we could do this on our own, but we both knew we’d love to have help.”
I love that she thought of the sheets!! Who says women in labor are not aware of what’s going on?
Gloria had given birth vaginally without medication before, so in many ways she knew what to expect. But it can be really overwhelming when it all happens so fast and you have no one with you. Unassisted birth is not something I advocate, but thankfully this story has a very happy (and fast) ending. Paramedics showed up just in the nick of time and then afterwards told Gloria she needn’t come to the hospital. They were all just healthy as can be.
My second labor happened fast as well. I thought I had just begun, when my midwife informed me that I was “already pushing.” Moments later Sylvia was in my arms. I’m not saying it was easy. That hour and forty five minutes was one hell of a ride.
I am always harping on about staying home in early labor but for subsequent labors, keep a close eye on early labor, it can move a lot faster than in first births. Or it can last just as long but go by unnoticed. I’d probably been in early labor for days before my rapid-fire birth; I’d had warm-up contractions sporadically and lots of pressure and mild cramping.
In any event, this story is pretty amazing to read and has a wonderful theme throughout:
“After our first son was born, I told my wife that childbirth should erase any man’s doubt about which is the stronger sex. This experience, well, has me bowing down to her and all mothers—plus the dispatcher and medics from the London Ambulance Service for their impeccable timing.”
Read the whole thing here.
photo: storyvillegirl/flickr
Erin, I did the same exact thing when my son was born 5 years ago. I too had been with my ob for several years (not 11, but petlny of annual well woman appointments), and she too scared the sh*t out of me when I only had about two months to go. I switched to a midwife practice and had a really wonderful experience. I had a hospital birth (they did have a birth center also), and actually had an epidural after being induced and laboring for about 6 hours. My son was born an hour after I had the epidural (I felt like the induction caused me to be unable to predict the pain couldn’t count out the minutes/seconds between contractions, etc. the epidural allowed my body to relax and progress. It worked for me, but everyone is different and needs different things. I digress). I just wanted to say you’re not alone. You made the best choice for your situation right now. Everything is going to be fine. And you look beautiful. After my situation with the ob, and then my fantastic experience with midwives, my whole philosophy is that I would much rather be treated medically by a nurse practitioner, midwife, etc than a doc. There is just a level of practicality that comes from the nurses that the doctors lost somewhere along the way. I’m sure that’s not true in every case, but so far so good for me.