The Birth of Baby Keagan- A Colorado Springs Hospital Birth
I met LaToya in February to discuss being her doula for the birth of her first baby. We clicked right away and she decided to go forward with hiring me for her birth. She was due late May and her husband was going to be gone during the birth of their baby due to the military. I joked with my husband after our consult that I thought she would go into labor on Mother’s day. We went through all of her prenatals and during our last meeting on May 12 she mentioned that she had been crampy and uncomfortable and was so ready for her baby. I told her it would be soon and I was so excited for her.
May 13th at around 8:30pm I was sitting on my brother’s bed and pulled up my barometric pressure app curious because Mother’s day was almost over and I said, “Oh my gosh, I bet a mom is going to go into labor tonight” and before I could even show him my phone to explain what I was talking about I got a call from LaToya to let me know her water had just broken. After a few minutes on the phone we decided it would be best if she tried to rest for a little bit and let her body do what it needed. I got my daughter ready for bed and headed to bed myself.
At about 10:30 I got the call saying that she wanted me to come now. I headed to her house and when I walked in I saw her doing exactly what she felt was best for her body. I rubbed her back and hips and helped her stay relaxed through each contraction. Around 1 am she started showing signs of even more progress so I helped her pack her hospital bag and get ready to go and we drove 5 minutes to the hospital. She was about 4cm when we got there. We got all checked in and comfortable in the room and continued working as a team to keep labor going. Things were getting obviously intense for her but she was working so hard to get through all of it.
At around 5 am she asked for an epidural and the anesthesiologist came in at about 5:30 to administer it. It took about an hour to get it placed correctly so she sat on the edge of the bed leaning over me while I sat on a step stool supporting her. We worked through each contraction together, staying focused on staying still for the anesthesiologist and breathing through each. At around 6:45 it fully set in and she was checked for dilation. She was about 8cm now. For the next hour, she rolled from one side to the other every 30 minutes to keep her body progressing. At 8am she was checked again and was fully dilated and feeling pressure. The doctor came in and at 8:19am on May 14th she birthed a beautiful baby boy into the world. He weighed 7lbs4oz. I stayed with her for about 3 hours postpartum to help with breastfeeding, take photos, and make sure she was comfortable.
