From the WBWC Blog:

Month: January 2019

Mahri’s Birth

By Leeanna Brickhouse My early labor, active labor, and delivery were not easy. As this was my first pregnancy, I didn’t really know what to expect so I stayed as strong as I could for my son, my husband, and myself. My 37th week mark, I lost my plug. The few days after that, my Braxton Hicks contractions worsened, and the only way I could cope was to be in fetal position or pacing back and forth. My husband and I hadn’t slept in four days until finally, Wednesday night at 11:30 pm, my water broke. We packed our belongings and went to the center. My midwives were there ready to comfort me and prepare me for my son’s arrival. I was 4 centimeters dilated when I got there and in an immense amount of pain. My midwives then helped me out with some relief so I could sleep. By the time I woke up, I was 9 centimeters! He was definitely coming! My original plan was to have a natural water birth, but Baby Mahri had other plans. My son’s head wasn’t positioned correctly so my midwives did as much as they could until they couldn’t anymore. My son’s life meant more to me than the wishes I had, and my midwives reminded me of that because my mind was all over the place. After being at the center for 12 hours, we then went to UNC hospital where it took 3 hours for my son to come. An hour and a half of that was the pushing. Rebeca and my husband delivered my son at 2:18 pm on July 12th; he weighed 6 pounds and 4.5 ounces. After seeing my baby boy, nothing else mattered. Not the needles, the pain, the obnoxious nurses and doctors, none of that. My baby was born, and I was one happy mama. Thank you WBWC.❤

MILC Moment

In the new year, we wanted to share some stories of breastfeeding from our MILC mamas. Just like birth stories, every breastfeeding story is a little different, with its own challenges and triumphs. We believe sharing these stories helps normalize breastfeeding – all of breastfeeding, including the hard parts! A big thanks to Morgan for kicking off our series with her honesty and beautiful writing. By Morgan Taylor Callahan December 26, 2017: After 19 months of trying to conceive, 39 LONG weeks of pregnancy, extreme pregnancy anxiety resulting in full body rashes and itching, and 12 hours of labor, our sweet Saoirse Kate had finally arrived. Saoirse was born with her cord wrapped around her neck and meconium in her fluid. She spent her first 15 minutes (the longest 15 minutes of my life) across the hospital room with the respiratory/NICU team before she was deemed fit for me to hold. A nurse helped her latch onto my breast, and it was… the start of a painful, challenging, frustrating experience that would take months and months to feel normal, let alone natural. Saoirse immediately began sucking vigorously – you could hear her across the room. “Good, this is good,” I thought, as my toes curled in pain and I fought the urge to rip her from my body and back away from her in horror. “Is this supposed to hurt?” I asked, knowing from my breastfeeding class with Rebecca a few months earlier that it probably wasn’t supposed to hurt quite this badly. But I was a first time mom, and no one in my family had ever breastfed before, so my knowledge of breastfeeding was conceptual at best. After about one minute of this excruciating first session, I stuck my pinky in the corner of her mouth like I learned in class to adjust her latch. I was horrified to discover a quarter sized bruise on my nipple. The nurse noticed, too, and said we should try the other breast. Five minutes later, I was sporting matching bruises on both nipples with bleeding to top it off. Our first visit with the hospital lactation consultant made me feel somewhat better, but didn’t actually improve anything. I asked several times if Saoirse had a tongue tie. I knew that there was something wrong. “No, she’s got a strong suck, she’s doing great, here’s a nipple shield to protect your nipples … Read More

New Arrivals

*Lachlan John Reynolds – November 7 – 10 lbs., 4 oz. *Anna Kathleen Elton – November 18 – 8 lbs., 10 oz. Brynna Marie Helm – December 7 – 7 lbs., 5 oz. *Eliora Ruth Vernon – December 9 – 6 lbs., 7.5 oz. *Angelo Winston Warren – December 10 – 9 lbs., 2 oz. Joseph Sebastian Dunn – December 14 – 9 lbs., 6 oz. Julianne Tirtza Leiss – December 14 – 6 lbs,. 11.5 oz. *Cassian Roberts Riley – December 18 – 7 lbs., 1 oz. William Gabriel Campo-Savage – December 23 – 9 lbs., 6 oz. Elijah James Tuck –December 26 – 8 lbs., 5.5 oz. Tilden Zephyr Chernicoff – December 29 – 8 lbs., 6 oz. *pictured above December Stats Total babies born: 31 Biggest baby: 10 lbs., 5 oz. Smallest baby: 6 lbs., 1 oz. To be included in this celebratory list, please email Missy at missy@ncbirthcenter.org with your baby’s birth announcement information that includes their name, date of birth, and birth weight as well as a photo, if available.If you would like to send us your birth story, we are happy to include that in a future newsletter! Also, if you have a printed birth announcement to share, we’d love to have a copy to add to our bulletin board in the clinic!