Enjoy Brianna’s beautiful birth story, as written by Brianna and photographed by Annica. Brianna’s experience throughout pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum inspired her to become a birth doula with Sprout and Blossom.

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 10TH

I was 40 weeks and 1 day. I’ve been having contractions off and on for 2 days including throughout the night. My doula, Annica and I have been in contact but because there wasn’t any consistency to the frequency or intensity of my contractions, I was thinking our sweet girl was not coming anytime soon. I was still working at the hospital as a Nurse Technician, which means I was on my feet for the majority of my 12 hour shifts.

I sent Annica a text when I got home, to tell her that contractions were picking up in intensity and require more focus. I told her that I was feeling mentally and physically exhausted from pre labor and taking over eleven thousand steps at work that day. She encouraged me to eat, drink lots of water, and suggested some hypnobirthing audios to help me relax and get some rest.

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 11TH

I was able to get a little rest in between the contractions the night before and I saw my bloody show this morning. Because I was 40+2, my provider wanted me to go in for a Non-Stress Test (NST) to make sure our sweet girl was still doing well. Everything went well at the NST and my husband, Wes and I returned home where my contractions became more intense. I am scheduled to work again this afternoon, but I decided to call in because labor started to overwhelm me.

I texted Annica around 3:30pm asking for tricks to help with back labor because I was really struggling with the pain. She called me to get more information and encouraged me. I started crying and told her that I don’t know how I am supposed to keep going if I was already feeling so overwhelmed. Annica reminded me that I can do it and that giving into the contractions allows my hormones to work with me.

Annica suggested The Miles Circuit, a series of positions to encourage our sweet girl to rotate in my pelvis so that the back of her head is facing toward my belly. I went through the circuit and then followed my intuition to transition into the bathroom with a pillow. I sat backwards on the toilet with the pillow on the back of the toilet to rest between contractions. I sat in the dark bathroom, eyes closed, on the toilet for the next few hours. I felt myself giving in to the contractions. I would sway, rock, and vocalize through each contraction and then find calmness in-between.

Just before 8pm, I felt a bulge coming down and reached to feel it because the sensation was different than with my mucus plug passing. It felt like a balloon. I poked it gently, it burst. I felt a surge of energy come over me as I realized that all of those contractions were actually doing something. I yelled to Wes, in the other room, “Babe? My water just broke.” I spoke to Annica again on the phone and told her that I wanted to wait at home a little while to continue to labor, if I did not feel the baby move, we would head into the hospital. We called our parents, my mom planned to join us at the hospital, and his parents agreed to watch our fur baby while we are gone.

Some time passed and I did not feel any movement, so we decided to start heading into the hospital. By the time we got out of the house, my waters had gushed 3 more times, and contractions were getting a lot stronger. Minutes away from the hospital, our sweet girl started moving again which put me at peace. We arrived at OB triage and Annica did the same minutes later. I had my first cervical check; 6cm dilated, -1 station, and 90% effaced. Contractions were coming every 3-4 minutes and I began to feel nauseous. After a few minutes, we were on our way to the natural birth room.

I got into the tub to labor and felt my first urge to push. I had another cervical check where the nurse felt a slight cervical lip. I continued to feel that urge, and realized that it took more effort not to push than to give into it. Music played from a playlist I made and the bathroom was lit by twinkly lights Annica brought. I changed positions within the tub every few contractions while Wes used a cold washcloth on my back, chest, neck, and forehead. Some time went by and I decided to check our progress by feeling for the baby’s head. I felt hair. It gave me another surge of energy as I realized that she was getting closer to being in my arms. I moved to labor on the toilet and checked our progress a couple more times, each time feeling her get lower and lower.

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12TH

Just after midnight, I felt it was time to get the nurse and the doctor. I moved to the bed and decided I wanted to push on my side and use a mirror. At 12:14am, I could see the baby’s beginning to crown. I pushed hard knowing that she was almost here.

Harmony is born!

Our baby, Harmony Annalise Trammell, was born at 12:24am on Saturday, September 12th. The doctor brought Harmony next to me, and Wes and I watched her as she took in the new world around her. Wes cut the cord after delayed cord clamping. The doctor delivered my placenta and I felt a large gush. I checked the doctor’s face and did not see any concern. I then put Harmony on my chest while the doctor did repairs. After a few minutes, Harmony latched for the first time and it was the most incredible feeling. After nursing on each side and eating my first meal, chicken tenders and fries, I was ready to get cleaned up and allow Harmony to get her examination.

As I was in the bathroom getting cleaned up, I asked my mom to join me for some help. Once we were done, I stood to go back into the room, and felt dizzy. My mom pulled me closer to her to offer support while I walked, and before I could take a step I said, “No, I feel really dizzy.” My mom called the nurse into the bathroom with us. The nurse helped me sit down on the toilet and soon after my eyes rolled back and I lost consciousness. The next thing I remember, I could hear several voices yelling my name and I regained consciousness in the arms of one of the nurses as she held me off of the floor by my arms. The nurses helped me get back onto the toilet and once I had gotten some strength back, they helped me back to bed by wheelchair. I searched the room, and saw Wes doing skin to skin with Harmony, panic was on his face. My mom joined me on the bed as I got covered in warm blankets, got my blood pressure taken repeatedly, got an IV placed, and blood drawn to determine if I would need a transfusion. My blood pressures were very low and my face was still pale. My blue pads were weighed and the nurses determined that I lost over a liter of blood. As I got the IV fluids, I began to feel better and started to regain my color.

Once I was ready for transfer, we moved to the recovery room where my mom was able to stay the night with us. By the next morning I was feeling a lot better and was taken off of fall risk precautions. Harmony and I struggled with nursing on one side so I worked with lactation consultations during our stay. We spent two nights at the hospital and went home on Sunday, September 13th where Harmony got to meet grandparents, aunts, uncles, a cousin, and our puppy.

I am extremely grateful for the support I felt from my husband, doula Annica, and my mom. They each played an intricate role in my labor, birth, and postpartum journey. To say that I felt empowered from Harmony’s birth is an understatement. I was able to trust my body to do something that it had never done before. It was beautiful to see that my body already knew what my mind did not.

It was my journey, and the journeys of so many others, that made me want to become a doula. To help give families an incredible story of how their family grew.