Latest / MyMaine Birth / 5. MyMaine Birth Brandi's Cesarean Birth Story at 31 weeks gestation in Portland, Maine

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5. MyMaine Birth Brandi's Cesarean Birth Story at 31 weeks gestation in Portland, Maine · MyMaine Birth

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: I'm Angela and I'm a certified birth photographer, experienced doula, childbirth educator and your host here on the my Maine Birth podcast.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: This is a space where we share the real-life stories of families and their unique birth experiences in the beautiful state of Maine, from our state's biggest hospitals to birth center births and home births.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: Every birth story deserves to be heard and celebrated.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: Whether you're a soon-to-be mom, a seasoned mother or simply interested in the world of birth, these episodes are for you.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Welcome to episode five of the my Main Birth podcast.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: Today's birth story guest is Brandy, and she is here to share all about the birth of her daughter, which was an emergency cesarean that was performed at 31 weeks gestation at Maine Medical Center in Portland.
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: Hi, brandy, welcome to my Maine Birth.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: Hello.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: So to get started, can you tell me a little bit about you and your family?
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: We live in Gardner, maine central area, and it's myself, my husband, my daughter Harper and my brother TJ he's 18.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: He's a senior in high school and my bonus son, gunnar.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: All right, so can you tell me about when you found out you were pregnant and a little bit about the type of care that you chose to receive?
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely so I found out that I was pregnant.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: Actually, I had a dream before I even took a pregnancy test.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: I had a dream that I was going to have a little girl and in the dream it was just so vivid.
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: I could see her face, her features.
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: I was holding her and I woke up and I looked at my husband and I said I'm pregnant.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: So I took a pregnancy test and it was positive and so from there I decided to receive care from my midwife.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: So I went to Midcoast Midwives and I definitely wanted to go that route for more holistic type treatment rather than a regular OBGYN.
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: They were great.
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: At Midcoast I went actually weekly not at first.
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: I started going weekly due to to having there had some concerns with me having high blood pressure, so I started going weekly towards, I'd say probably my was the end of my second trimester.
• 2:37
  Speaker 3: I was doing weekly appointments and blood drawns because because they were monitoring my blood pressure and also Harper was measuring small, so we were also doing ultrasounds during every visit as well.
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: So the care was great and, looking back, I would definitely do a different route with just kind of what I know now, but for being a first time mom and what I didn't know, it was the level of care that I thought that I deserved.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: So I would say, around 31 weeks I went in for just a routine appointment and while I was there my midwife had some concerns that Harper's heartbeat sounded irregular.
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: So she suggested that I be put on a heart monitor for Harper.
• 3:43
  Speaker 3: I be put on a heart monitor for Harper.
• 3:51
  Speaker 3: So I was transferred to the regular hospital and monitored for a couple hours just to make sure that everything was okay.
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: While I was there, they were constantly checking my blood pressure and it was very high.
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: I think, looking back, I was just really sort of stressed of hoping and thinking, praying, that everything was OK with my little one.
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: So, yes, my blood pressure was really high and that caused a lot of concern for the midwives for midwives so they decided at that time because they could not lower it, to give me a corticosteroid shot in order to develop Harper's lungs.
• 4:40
  Speaker 3: Typically, the shot is given if they have concern that the child is going to be born prematurely.
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: So when asked about the shot, they're like oh, it's fine, it's just precaution, we don't have any concerns, it's not going to harm her, you know.
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: Just, it's just precaution in case she does come early.
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: So at this point I'm very concerned.
• 4:59
  Speaker 3: I'm only 31 weeks pregnant, I don't have anything ready at home and yeah, so my husband and I are just patiently waiting and they can't get my blood pressure down.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: So the next thing I know I'm being transferred to Maine Medical Center in Portland.
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: So this was at 31 weeks.
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: I was transferred because they weren't able to control my blood pressure and then they also had some concerns with Harper's heartbeat being irregular.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: So I was transferred and I spent three days in the hospital.
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: They did give me medication for my blood pressure.
• 5:50
  Speaker 3: They were able to get that under control.
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: They were able to monitor Harper.
• 5:55
  Speaker 3: She was doing great.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: I thought I was going to be released on day three.
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: So my husband left for work and they surgeon came in and said we need to prep you for a C-section and I was taken back.
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: I thought I was going home.
• 6:17
  Speaker 3: I had I didn't even know how to respond, really Uh so uh.
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: I called my husband upset and I was like I need you to get back.
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: We're going to have a baby.
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: They have to prep me for a C-section.
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: So the reason that they told me that they were prepping me for a C-section is because they had the fetal monitor on me and overnight Harper had very low fetal movement, so they felt that she was in distress and needed to complete a emergency C-section.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: So this was first thing in the morning, so this was probably around eight in the morning.
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so first thing when I woke up that was what I woke up to.
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: My husband, like I said, had already left for work and I thought I was being released that day.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: My blood pressure was under control, they had controlled it with medication and yeah.
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: So they didn't really give me an option.
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: I had a ton of questions, I, and I felt like the surgeon didn't really give me any other options.
• 7:21
  Speaker 3: I was just a C-section or your child could be in danger.
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: So, being a first time mom, I was like okay, my husband was able to get back in time as they were rolling me into the OR, as they were rolling me into the OR, and so at 31 weeks six days, harper was born around 9.44 am.
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: She weighed two pounds eight ounces and she was immediately put on oxygen and sent to the NICU.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: So during that time, because I had an epidural, I was not able to see her for the first two hours until I was able to regain control from the numbness.
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: I was able to feel my legs and everything.
• 8:18
  Speaker 3: So the first two hours numbness, I was able to feel my legs and everything.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: So the first two hours I wasn't able to see her, wasn't able to hold her or anything like that.
• 8:27
  Speaker 3: So my husband spent that first critical moments in the NICU with her, which was really hard.
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: Looking back, I didn't get to have that skin to skin contact with her immediately after birth and, with her being so small, skin-to-skin was pretty vital to her development.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: So for the next couple of hours I sat in the recovery room and then I was able to be wheeled down to the NICU to see her and she was so tiny, like I said, two pounds, eight ounces in her little incubator, all these heart monitors and wires and all the things that you see with NICU babies.
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: But she was able to be off of oxygen within 24 hours because her lungs were fully developed and she was breathing on her own.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: She actually came out crying when she was born.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: So she was just really small.
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: I asked the surgeon you know, why do you think like I had to have an emergency C-section?
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: Why, you know, was she?
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: Why did she have low fetal movement?
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: Why was she not responding?
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: And she said that her umbilical cord was wrapped around her neck, which, doing research later, that's actually pretty common and not a concern for emergency C-section.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: So, knowing what I know now, I definitely wouldn't go the route of allopathic medical midwife.
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: I know that, moving forward, if I do decide to conceive, I would love to have a physiological birth and be in control and have that empowerment because I did not to conceive.
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: I would love to have a physiological birth and be in control and have that empowerment, because I did not feel like I had that with Harper's birth.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: It felt very much like a medical intervention that didn't need to happen.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: And she's great, she's almost five now but I wish I knew I know now because things would have been much, much different.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: Oh.
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: So how long was Harper in the NICU for, and were you able to have skin to skin with her?
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: So.
• 10:49
  Speaker 3: She was in the NICU for about a month and the staff there was great about skin to skin.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: Actually they, with myself and my husband, they really encouraged it for her development so we were able to hold her skin to skin really anytime we needed to, and so they were really really great about allowing us to have that connection with them.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: Were you able to breastfeed or did you choose to go that route?
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so we attempted to.
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: Because she was so small she was only.
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: She actually got down to two pounds.
• 11:26
  Speaker 3: Breastfeeding was difficult.
• 11:29
  Speaker 3: She would get very tired in between.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: So for a while I was just exclusively pumping, and so she was able to receive breast milk.
• 11:39
  Speaker 3: She just wasn't able to breastfeed right away.
• 11:42
  Speaker 3: She was never able to fully latch.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: So for the first year I exclusively pumped, and then I used donor breast milk until she was two and a half.
• 11:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it was not easy.
• 12:01
  Speaker 2: Okay, are there any resources you would like to share or anything else you'd like to add?
• 12:07
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I would just encourage mothers to do their own research and really knowing how the body works and what physiological birth is is really empowering.
• 12:21
  Speaker 3: Since that I have done a ton of research, even down to researching the steroid shot that was given to me by my midwives.
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: Research shows that that shot actually causes low fetal movement.
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: So it was interesting to do that research and see that that was one of the side effects that resulted in me having to have an emergency C-section.
• 12:51
  Speaker 3: So I do feel empowering yourself and having the knowledge will actually be so empowering for you as a mom.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: And so you know, if I had known these things I could have advocated for myself, because I feel like I wasn't able to do that because I didn't know.
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: So you know, if I were to have a home birth and have to be transferred to the hospital, I know now what I want and what I don't want and how I can explain that to the doctors, explain that to the nurses.
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: So really just being knowledgeable and being sure of what you want in your birth and what your dream birth is, because it is possible, and I am I'm grateful for the experience that I had with Harper, because I don't think I would have been on this journey to to figure out what my dream birth was if I hadn't had this experience.
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: All right, so you also have a fitness company.
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: Can you share with me a little bit about that?
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so my husband and I own North Beach Sports Performance.
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: It's in Augusta, maine, and so our focus is to introduce athletes middle school and high school athletes to strength training.
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: My husband is a veteran former Army and he has a passion for coaching and a passion for strength training.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: So he's a basketball coach at the University of Maine at Augusta.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: He's the assistant coach there and he's been training athletes now for the last five years years and we really focus on building that strength aspect that is so important for athletes to improve their performance, whatever sport they're playing.
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: And even if you know we don't play sports like, our big thing is just being active and getting kiddos in the gym and building that confidence.
• 14:56
  Speaker 2: So what is the best way for people to get a hold of you?
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: You can find our business page at Northby Sports on Instagram or Northby Sports Performance on Facebook, and also you can find my Instagram at mainlyfitness on Instagram.
• 15:16
  Speaker 2: All right, I will link all of your information in the show notes so people can get ahold of you, and thank you so much, brandy, for sharing your story today.
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much for having me.
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: Before you go, I just want to remind you I have a ton of resources for pregnancy and birth.
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: If you're pregnant, whether you're a first-time mom or if this is your fifth baby, I want you to check out the show notes, because I have some free trainings and free downloads that you can sign up for, as well as the link to access my Labor of Love, a comprehensive, self-paced online childbirth education course.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: I created this course specifically for moms who don't want to be told what to do, regardless of where you're birthing or who you're birthing with, and I'd honestly love to teach you everything that I know so that you can prepare for an autonomous birth experience and prepare to step into your role as the leader of your birth journey.
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: So click to the show notes, check out all of those links and, if you ever have any questions, feel free to DM me at my main birth over on Instagram.