Short Cord, Long Expectation

Whew, Chile!

I’ma try to keep this brief but don’t hold me to it!

I met this mama on a doula-client matching site.

We exchanged a few messages and then exchanged numbers and talked on the phone.

We talked for a good while and we hit it off well.

We agreed to work together and it took off.

We go through the prenatal visits and all that other jazz.

We joked and played a lot- even her husband too!

Quick Aside: One of the nurses was telling him he should take his shirt off and do skin to skin In the OR but she said it in a very flirtatious manner.

I told him “Look, we not giving these folks no free show! You collect that money up front before you show anything, clear?” 😂😂😂

That’s truly the type of relationship that was built.

Back to birth day.

Her water breaks around 4am but only mild contractions.

She’s instructed to go to the hospital and she delays a bit because she still felt fine.

The sun comes up and she carries on with her normal routine and then heads to the hospital.

Water rupture is confirmed, still mild contractions, 70% effaced, minimal dilation.

We do ALL the things to get that cervix open and it would not budge.

Baby would not budge either.

Those decelarations were getting real nasty and I was internally anxious.

Her doctor was cool but her nurse was amazing!

She showed us the strip from when she first came into the hospital up until that point.

Baby was fine until she wasn’t.

Cesarean is the call because baby’s decelarations are getting uncomfortable for all of us at this point.

My mind kept thinking “There must be a short cord or cord compression.”

The strip didn’t quite look like compression but the short cord idea wasn’t leaving me alone.

She goes back to the OR, I go to the waiting area.

I honestly hate when that happens because the wait is SO long and I hate being separated from my mamas.

But I get back to her FINALLY and we joke and laugh and I’m watching her monitors and everything.

I held the baby for a little bit and then we went to her postpartum room.

I stayed a bit and then took her placenta home.

I got started immediately because I wanted to see what this cord looked like.

It was such a short cord and it confirmed my suspicion that it was short.

When an umbilical cord is short it delays the second stage of labor tremendously so that truly explains why she was not progressing in dilation.

The reason this birth hurts differently is because this mama was aiming for a VBAC and it didn’t happen.

She did nothing wrong; she honestly did everything right.

But that cord. That short cord and those decels.

They messed with the long expectation of a VBAC.

I think we all had that long expectation and it was dashed.

I can honestly say that I don’t think anything could’ve been done to yield a different outcome because a short cord is something we just can’t fix.

To My Homegirl: Thank you for allowing me on this journey with you and your family! You’re a truly beautiful soul and I wouldn’t trade the time spent with you for anything in the world. You have been a light on some gloomy days and a needed laugh all the time. Keep shining, boo. Keep on shining!

Love you real big,

Aeryka 💜🤍🩵