Peregrina Family

The Birth Story of

Enzo Peregrina

8/15/14

Parents: Mallorie & Mike Peregrina

Told by: April Millar, doula

 

            I was so happy to have met Mallorie and Mike, It seemed as though everything aligned and they ended up in my HypnoBirthing class. We got to know each other pretty well and I was even more pleased when Mallorie asked me to be her doula.

It was Thursday evening August 14^th, we made arrangements to meet up so they could get my birth pool for Mallorie to labor in at home. As I briefly spoke with them I could tell Mallorie knew something was going to happen soon. They were both so excited.

            Sure enough about 9:00PM I got a call from Mallorie telling me she was experiencing contractions. I gave her the advice to go to bed and see if she could sleep between her contractions so she could give her body some energy when she really needed it.

            Mike called me at 3:00AM “Her contractions are about every 2-3 minutes, can you head over?” I got to their house about 4:00AM, exactly the same time Mallorie’s mom was getting there. We walked into a sanctuary. The lights were low, beautiful music was playing, deliciously scented essential oils were diffusing, The birth pool was set up, and Mallorie was right in the center laboring like a goddess. And her sweet little dog, Toby, was protecting her constantly.

We all got in and started to give her support and comfort measures as she labored. It was about 5:00AM when she decided she was ready to go to the hospital. It was a bit of a process to get out the door but we got to the hospital at about 5:45AM. She was 6cm and 80% thin. Her nurse came in and decided to move us to a room with a bathtub since Mallorie was laboring non-medicated.

            Mallorie was incredible!! She labored for hours in many different positions, breathing deeply, relaxing completely, and just overall conquering this labor. At 10AM Mallorie was at an 8cm with a bulgy bag of waters so she and her Dr. decided to artificially rupture her membranes.

Things got more intense for Mallorie, she was so tired from not sleeping all night and having her body work so hard for so long. She was focusing more deeply in her body and tuning the rest of us out. At 10:45ish her Dr. checked her again and found that the babies head was posterior. As Mallorie was in a contraction he tried to push the lip of the cervix that was still there back and turn the babies head to be anterior. Mallorie was un-medicated! She felt everything that he did and it caused her excruciating pain! The sound out of her mouth at that moment made me cry to hear. I wished I could have taken on even just some of what she was feeling. After that her labor became unbearable. It was almost as if she could not get a handle on her contractions and they were more than she had in her to handle at that moment. She asked for an analgesic to take the edge off. It really did nothing but made her a bit irrational. Not to mention because her baby was posterior she was feeling him deep in her back and bottom. “I feel like I am going to split apart!” She kept saying. Unfortunately that was because of his position. She labored for a long time on her hands and knees trying to get him to turn. She also kept saying that she wanted it to be over, that she wanted to go back in time and not be pregnant. It was really rough at this point. At about noon, I could tell this was not normal laboring and Mallorie was severely suffering, I asked if she needed an epidural. It was like she just needed permission. Yes, she didn’t want to experience one more contraction. The anesthesiologist got there and gave her a spinal tap and an epidural. It took the pain right away. The relief on Mallorie was immediate; it was almost like she was coming back from being buried. We got her comfortable so she could rest before she needed to start pushing.

At this point I had a nursing baby who hadn’t eaten for 10 hours so I asked if I could go soothe my baby and hopefully be back before all the action happened. I left at 1:00PM. (Unfortunately I was not able to make it back. My babysitter needed to leave at 3:00 and my husband couldn’t get off work until 3:30. I met him in Orem and was on my way back to Mallorie when I got a text from Mike at about 4:00 telling me Enzo was born. I was stuck in standstill traffic so I just turned around when I could and headed home.)

The remainder of this story is retold from when Mallorie told me how it went: At 2:00PM they had her start pushing. For Two Hours they had her push. Her Dr. said he was getting concerned with how long the baby had been in the birth path and said if he wasn’t born soon he’d have to use forceps or the vacuum. Mallorie asked for 5 more contractions. She also mentioned that it would help if she could feel anything, it was then that the Dr. noticed her epidural was still dripping when it should have been turned off hours ago! They got it turned off, Mallorie started to feel more of her body and in 5 pushes little baby Enzo was born!!!!

The real kicker was as soon as Mallorie started pushing he turned back to be in the anterior position. Speculating, they think the reason he turned posterior in the first place was because he had a really short umbilical cord.

            I was disappointed I wasn’t there but I am so glad I got to be there to help when I was needed. Mallorie truly did an amazing job! I am so impressed with her determination and dedication to her baby. She is a wonderful mama! Little Enzo is adorable!