Empowering Hospital Birth with Epidural + Unknown Marginal Cord Insertion with Placental Delivery Complication
Labor began on Sunday, the contractions intensified and after over an hour of constant contractions, Jeannette and her husband began their journey to the hospital. Jeannette worked in triage for seven hours before being formally admitted to labor and delivery. This would be the hardest part of the birth for Jeannette as those contractions intensified and she had to stay in a hospital bed in a small room without a mobile monitor she could wear to monitor both the contractions and the baby’s heartbeat to roam freely. Handling bed-bound contractions is hard and intense. Jeannette is determined to handle them using all her learned coping skills. Once he was wide open near a 4, he was finally formally accepted. She used hydrotherapy, aromatherapy, breathing exercises, meditation, and visualization techniques during labor with her husband as her birth support partner. She struggled to thrive after nearly 16 hours of labor. At this point, he felt discouraged and tired. At the 16th hour, she consented to the epidural, hoping to have it successfully placed despite having a lower lumbar scoliosis diagnosis. The epidural was successfully placed and after agreeing to break her water and pitocin support, she progressed to full withdrawal and dilation after about 2 hours and then began to push. She pushed for 40 minutes and soon welcomed her son Lucas Cole into the world, weighing 7 lb 15 oz and 20 inches long on Tuesday evening, February 28th, 2023. The “second birth ” or birth of her placenta was traumatic for Jeannette as it resulted in post delivery placental abruption due to undiagnosed insertion of the marginal cord. The midwife and nursing staff worked hard to collect and collect all of her placenta to ensure that none would remain and cause further complications or surgery. The placental vein was abnormally thin and looped as opposed to being centered in a strong vein, despite this miss, Lucas grew healthy throughout the pregnancy and was born without any complications. Jeannette shares her story in hopes of raising awareness of often overlooked placental abnormalities in pregnancy such as marginal cord insertion and their effects on pregnancy and birth.
Jeannette Chase Bio
Jeannette is a first time mom living in Virginia Beach, Virginia with her high school sweetheart now husband, Hudson, and their 11 month old baby boy, Lucas. They love living near the beach and being outdoors together as a family. Jeannette works in the public school system and provides speech-language therapy to children and Hudson is a geospatial engineer. Jeannette has a private instagram you can reach her at jeannette.m.chase.
Resources
- Mother May’s Guide to Childbirth: Part of the Birth Story
- Meditation Mama on Spotify for pregnancy, postpartum, motherhood, etc.
- The Birth Hour Podcast: Immerse yourself in Uplifting Birth stories, get familiar with things you want to know or worry about.
- Online childbirth and breastfeeding courses: Enjoy Health Education.
- Local IBCLC for breastfeeding support.
Aeroflow Breastpumps
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