Birth Story : Frank | Jacksonville Birth Photographer
What an incredible day and beautiful story! This third-time mama is a doula herself, and the look on her face when she finally got to hold her baby boy is one for the books! Kahla had an amazing birth team, which included her husband, Michael, her 9-year old daughter (mini-doula), her mom, her sister, mother-in-law, sister-in-law, her doula, Danae (Jacksonville Birth Services), her nurse, April & her midwife, Cindy (Full Circle Women’s Care).
Getting to know this family was so much fun and I’m so glad I got to be part of this story! So many words come to mind when I think of this day… grace, strength, beauty, love, trust, endurance, joy. See the sweet story of little Frankie’s birth in the words and images that follow!
In Kahla’s words:
Let’s start at the 27 week mark when I found out I was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. As a Birth Doula myself and someone who likes to think they can have total control over everything, the diagnosis of gestational diabetes completely rocked my world! How could I, a birth advocate for healthy pregnancy, and someone who opts for a more natural approach to labor and delivery have gestational diabetes? This was my 3rd child and I never had any prior history of it. It just wasn’t fair! I was angry, upset, and all of the above. I saw my “birth plan” completely fly out the window. I remember calling Michael, my mom, and my doula, and was a bit hysterical. Of course my amazing doula, Danae, always knows exactly what to say and how to say it to calm me down and reel me back in. She said, for one, this WILL NOT wreck your birth plan, maybe this is a way for God to teach you more about this diagnosis so that you can be more supportive and knowledgeable for your future doula clients. It completely stopped me in my tracks. She was so right, I had never really taken the time to learn about Gestational Diabetes or took the time with past clients who had this diagnosis to help support and coach them through it. So I put my big girl panties on, checked my sugars FOUR times a day and rocked my gestational diabetes. I managed to control my diet throughout my entire pregnancy and never once took an ounce of medication, and I have to say, it wasn’t that bad. I was just trying to “control” everything; however, God has a funny way of showing you that HE is in control and we are only passing through...
OK, now on to the fun part...I made a commitment that I would work both of my jobs (marketing (day job) and my clothing boutique) up until the day I went into labor. Well, I did just that. I worked up until November 13th and started having irregular contractions that night, called and told my sister she better start driving to Jax and that it could be anytime. So she drove in and got to my parents a little after 1 AM on the 14th. Contractions subsided about 3AM on the 14th and I was able to get some rest. I woke up and took Faith to school, and Graysen and I headed to my parents’ to see my sister.
As soon as I got there, I was standing in the driveway talking to my mom, and at 8:30am my water broke. Third baby and my water has never spontaneously ruptured before labor actually began. Again, I started freaking out that I was not in control. As a doula, I knew that PROM (pre-labor rupture of membranes) (AKA, water breaking before actual labor/consistent contractions begin) can potentially lead to a looooong labor and may require interventions to get things moving along. I tried not to let it be known that I was worried and feared what was to come. After my water broke, I was not having many contractions, and when I did I would get one and then wouldn’t have another one for an hour. I showered and told myself I was going to continue through my day and see what happens. Breakfast, chiropractic adjustment at the amazing Revolution Chiropractic, a walk at the park, a walk at the mall and then back home for a nap.
At about 2:30 pm my doula recommended that I call my doctor’s office to see if I could go in and get checked and swept to kinda gauge our next steps since I had been ruptured going on 6 hours with very few contractions (which can be totally normal but I was being crazy). They scheduled me to come in at 3:40 pm and get checked and swept. I was a good 5-6 cm dilated! Say what?! However, baby was in a funky position so they advised me to go ahead and check into the hospital so Midwife Cindy could check me and get a feel for what our next steps would be.
Once she checked, the baby had resolved his funky position, but was still relatively high so my amazing doula and I got right to position changes... contractions started coming but were ALL over the place and not consistent at all. She checked again about 4 hours later and I had only progressed a centimeter. Fear began to take over and I got extremely emotional (again, another scenario out of my control). I prayed and begged God to help me get it together and stay focused on the end goal. As soon as I was done praying the song, “While I’m Waiting” by John Roller comes on from my birth play list. The words rang so clear and came at such the perfect time...
I'm waiting
I'm waiting on You, Lord
And I am hopeful
I'm waiting on You, Lord
Though it is painful
But patiently, I will wait
I will move ahead, bold and confident
Taking every step in obedience
While I'm waiting
I will serve You
While I'm waiting
I will worship
While I'm waiting
I will not faint
I'll be running the race
Even while I wait
Between that song, and my doula continuing to encourage me, it gave me just the pep I needed to gather my emotions and work through my fears and no matter the outcome, if my “birth plan” did not go as I intended, it was OK and not my fault.
After finding out no progress was really made and I had been ruptured close to 13 hours at this point, my midwife gave me a few options. She said “you look perfect, baby looks perfect-if you want to keep on and we will see if your body kicks into active labor in the next few hours, you are welcome to, or we can give you a whiff of Pitocin and see if your body just needs a little jump start to kick into gear.” I decided to give my body another 2 hours to see if it would do its thing and then if not, told myself I would start Pitocin at only 1 (the lowest dose) if no change happened. Two hours came and went and no change happened.
We started Pitocin, and let’s just say SOMETIMES interventions are OK. That’s all my body needed. I went up to 2 on the Pitocin and things got crazy fast. And within 2 hours I was COMPLETE and ready to birth my baby in the position I had always desired.
I birthed my baby standing up and completely unmedicated. It was HARD, but so worth it as every ounce of discomfort (us doulas don’t like the PAIN word) left my body as soon as that sweet baby boy entered this world. It was an amazing, surreal feeling! I pulled my sweet boy up and big sister shouted the gender and cheers rang out throughout the room! Daddy said, “I knew it!”
I can’t even begin to tell you how happy I am to have finally been able to experience my own personal Full Circle birth. As a doula, I have attended many with them supporting my clients, which is why I decided to switch my care over to them this pregnancy. My experience throughout my ENTIRE pregnancy journey has been nothing short of amazing. Midwife, Cindy thank you for making all my birth dreams come true and for never doubting my bodies ability to bring my baby into this world. To the rest of the Full Circle team, THANK YOU for giving women a voice and allowing them to birth without fear, safely and the way their hearts desire. You are all Rock Stars! To my ENTIRE birth team, My amazing husband, my momma, my sister, my sweet Faith, Danae, and my amazing birth photographer, THANK YOU! I couldn’t have done it without each and everyone of you! I love you all! Although, it is bittersweet to be wrapping up my own personal birth journey, because everyone knows, I love birthing babies, my family is COMPLETE! I will live vicariously through my clients and continue to support mamas through their birth journey! Bring on the babies!
