record of birth

hospital birth

birth positive ™ doulas are available to assist in both home births and deliveries at the hospital. We include a written record of the birth as part of our doula services.

Here is an example of the record of an actual birth hospital birth. You can also read an example of the written record of a home birth. Names have been withheld for the sake of privacy.

Welcoming [baby's name]

On October 30th I received your call that it was time for you to come to London for your induction. Your induction began at 1:30pm when they artificially ruptured your membranes. I arrived soon after and began walking the halls of the hospital with you to try and bring on regular contractions. You began having some slight cramping but still seemed comfortable. I offered you cauliphillum to help regulate and intensify your contractions in the hopes of avoiding oxytocin. This homeopathic, along with the walking, soon got your labour going full force.

At 3:30pm you took a little break from walking and tried side-lying in the bed. [Husband] was rubbing your back and we alternated in applying counter pressure to your lower back. The hot water bottle was placed under your belly for support. Soon this position became too uncomfortable and you opted to keep walking.

When the labour started to become intense your cervix was checked to see how effective the contractions had been. At 4:30pm your cervix was 3 to 4cm dilated. So while some progress had been made you were dilating quite slowly. You then resumed walking.

At 5:15pm, your cervix was re-checked due an increase in "pressure" sensation that you were experiencing. Your cervix was now 4cm dilated and had moved into an anterior position. This was great news! This was certainly the turning point for your labour.

We tried various different positions to try and help you cope with the increasing pain of your contractions. You tried the birthing ball but you seemed to prefer being on your hands and knees and would drop down onto the floor to get into this position every time a contraction began. I suggested that you try leaning over the back of the bed to give your knees a rest and so that [husband] would be able to press on your back more easily. Your lips were very parched from the dryness of the room and the hard work that you were doing. However if I would have known that suggesting some lip balm would have created such a stir I would have thought twice (:

At around 8:00pm I suggested that you try the shower to see if we could provide you with some relief from both the lower back pain and from the muscles of the uterus contracting so hard. After we were able to find a good position for you to rest in, the warm water did seem to help. You stayed in the shower for about 20 minutes.

At 10:30pm it was time to check your progress again. Your body had really been working hard because now you were 6cm dilated and had made the most progress in the least amount of time since your labour had started. I reminded you that you were almost in transition and when you started asking about pain medication, we tried to distract you by continually switching your position. Well this worked because you continued to persevere through your labour and by 12:20am you had reached 7 to 8cm dilated. We talked about how this would most likely be the shortest part of your labour and that soon it would be time to begin pushing. You finished out the rest of the first stage of labour resting over the back on the bed.

You were soon mentioning that the pressure sensation was not easing up in between contractions and when you were re-checked at 12:55am, there was just a lip of cervix left to pull away. This did take some time however, but by 1:30am, you finally reached full dilation.

You began pushing on your hands and knees and the progress you made was amazing. We soon had you move onto your back so that we could help guide you through the pushing stage. You did not need much help! With every push we could see your baby come further down into your pelvis and soon we could see the top of your baby's head. The doctor was called and the nurses started preparing the room for the birth.

Well the slow progress your labour started with was compensated by the speed of this phase. Your baby was born at 1:57am October 31st, 27 minutes after you reached full dilation. It was not long after that we were able to get your new baby girl to the breast. She was a born natural.

Thank you for allowing me to share in such an amazing event. I will remember you all very fondly (every Halloween!).

Lots of love and laughter, your doula

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