Victoria Midwifery Care - Deanna Wildeman, Registered Midwife

Birth Stories

Anita ~ Astra ~ Beth ~ Elizabeth ~ Heather ~ Jane ~ Jennifer
Jessica ~ Josie ~ Kristine ~ Marlene ~ Melanie ~ Shannan

MARLEE W

We had decided before we were married to wait for 10 years before we started thinking about having children. My husband John and I were young when we got married and we wanted to indulge ourselves before we got around to sharing with a child. On our tenth wedding anniversary we stopped all birth control but told no-one in the family about it. Everyone had given up hope that we would ever have children. It took us 7 months.

We broke the news to my parents in the middle of a very busy restaurant on a Friday night - that way Mom was less likely to scream out loud and get hysterical. We had a great dinner and sprang the news to them as dessert! Boy - were they surprised! As a matter of fact - my Mom had just told someone that day that she figured we had decided not to have any children. It was nice to be able to surprise her.

Baby Alex Next came deciding between my MD and a midwife. My MD is a baby doctor and just recently stopped doing the delivery of babies. That made my decision a lot easier. I'm not sure what I would have done if he were still delivering. I had established a wonderful relationship with my doctor. I asked around to women in the natural health field (I'm a huge supporter of Natural Health!) to see if anyone could recommend a midwife to me. I was referred to a group midwifery practice. They explained that they worked on a dual care system and that I would be seen by 2 different midwives throughout my pregnancy. I wasn't comfortable with this so asked if they could suggest someone that did solo care and was given Deanna's name.

After I had Deanna's name - I was calling her from my office at work and one of the gentlemen that I work with overheard me talking to her. He explained that he and his wife had recently had Deanna as a midwife for their delivery and so ... I knew all about her before we met for the first time. At our first meeting - after speaking to Deanna for about 10 minutes - we knew that we were going to go with her. I come from a large family and there have been lots of babies born into it throughout the years but I had never gotten too close to babies and knew next to nothing about what to expect and what was going to happen to me throughout the pregnancy. I was about to get educated let me tell you!

As we were getting closer to delivery time - I was completely ready. At least for the event not how it would change everything later. Every question I had - Deanna had an answer for. She heard me talk at the beginning about "absolutely NO EPIDURAL!!" and slowly made me realize that sometimes there is a time and a place for it. She talked us through every aspect of the labour process and talked about the different techniques involved and gave us videos to watch to help us get ready. By the time we went to our pre-natal classes - they were just going over everything that Deanna already told us about. We had a great sense about what we were going to face and how Deanna was going to be there to help us. I felt confident!

I had packed our bags for the hospital 2 weeks before we were due. I don't believe in leaving anything to the last minute. The only thing that wasn't in the bags was the freezies - they were in the freezer getting frozen to have during the delivery. We were due on Dec 8th. On the evening of Dec 2nd as I was preparing a roast beef and yorkshire pudding dinner for my husband's birthday I noticed a little more discharge than normal. I wasn't worried as the discharge levels came and went over the last month - sometimes nothing and sometimes a little more. Figuring that it was nothing to be concerned about I went about the business of getting dinner prepared for my husband and his sister. The next day was my appointment with Deanna. I went in and everything started as usual and I mentioned that there was a little more discharge than I normally had and she then decided to check out the discharge to see if it was amniotic fluid. It was! That meant that things were a go. We were checking for the baby's heartbeat and she was having a hard time telling the difference between baby's and mine so we were told to meet her at the hospital to undergo a stress test. Well - I thought something was wrong with the baby so MY stress went straight through the roof. By the time I was admitted my blood pressure was way too high to be let out so it was an overnight stay at the hospital until I had the baby. That didn't help my blood pressure or stress any, as I'm not too overly fond of hospitals in the first place.

Next morning I noticed contractions starting. Little infrequent ones and not very regular. By about 1pm - I had a large discharge of fluid. I was on antibiotics at this point as I had started to lose fluid 24 hours before being admitted to the hospital and that was needed to keep the baby safe. By 3pm I noticed that the contractions were consistent and regular about 4 to 5 minutes apart. I called Deanna and she came into the hospital and said that I was making a good start of it. The Obstetrician on call had talked to me the night before about inducing the baby and I was against that. I wanted to have this the old fashioned way - the way nature intended it to happen not with medical or drug intervention. Deanna said that scared me into starting labour - who knows .... she may have something there!

At 9pm we - as in my whole support team ... Mom, Dad, John and both midwives (Deanna and a student midwife) - moved over to Labour and Delivery. My husband called his sister and left a message for her to get after work to tell her what was going on and to come on up if she wanted to. Once we were in the labour and delivery room Deanna checked me for the first time and found me to be about 1 - 2 cm dilated. I'm not sure what happened after that but things got very busy very quickly. I was told that after the exam Deanna couldn't get a good heart rate on the baby and she alerted the medical staff of the situation. I had my two midwives, at least three nurses and the doctor on call in the room. The Obstetrician then explained to me that the baby's heart rate had slowed down considerably and if it didn't pick up that I was going in for an emergency C-section in a couple of minutes. Deanna decided to put a heart rate monitor on the baby's head to get an accurate monitoring and found during this second exam that I had gone up to 3cm dilated in 2 minutes and that the heart rate scare was probably a combination of a strong contraction and me rolling around at the same time. After that scare everything settled down into normal and it was off to the races!

By 11pm - my husband John and I were walking the long hallway. Up and down .... up and down. That helped to relieve the pain in the back from being in bed too long. As things started getting more intense Deanna was there - talking me through each pain and helping me focus. She has a way of talking to you that allows you to block out all other sounds in the room and focus on just what she is saying. It was mesmerizing. She said the same thing at every contraction and said it in a quiet, controlled voice. It was probably the reason I could go so long before having to finally have an epidural. It was decided that the contractions had stalled and I wasn't going to have the strength to push without one so at 3:30 am on Dec 5th we called for an epidural. Deanna simply said to me - "It's that time!" I was in complete agreement by that point and had just been thinking to myself that I was going to have to ask for one. Kind of weird how that worked.

After receiving the epidural everything went pretty quick from there. By 4:30 I was feeling some major pressure in my backside. Everyone kept telling me that I had to try and get a few minutes of rest as Deanna went off to get some sleep. By 5:15 I was having to breathe through the pressure as all I wanted to do was push. The nurses got Deanna and she came back and examined me at 6:15am and told me that I was fully "delighted". I thought that said it all. I was ready to have this baby.

Pushing was so easy with an epidural. There was no pain at all just the unbelievable need to PUSH!! I starting pushing at 6:15am and at 7:59 I looked at the clock and saw the second hand hit 12 high and thought to myself that I was having this baby before 8am! I pushed three more times during that minute and Alex made his appearance at precisely 8am on the dot! It was a rather moving experience. It was sunrise at that precise time and the sun was just coming up over the building that we could see out of the sage delivery room's window. My Mom and Dad were weeping ... well Mom was anyways - Dad was just a little teary eyed! My sister-in-law had to find a seat and sit down quickly or else! I have a feeling she was very close to passing out. She was a trooper up until that point though! My husband sat back and watched the whole affair a little mind-boggled I imagine. We had our son. Alex Douglas Fyfe Wilson - named after both of our fathers - Douglas - and a family middle name that goes to the first-born grandson of the Wilson family - Fyfe. A fine Scottish set of names if I do say so myself.

I can tell you that my experience with Deanna was wonderful. I have recommended her to several people that I know are pregnant or are looking into getting pregnant. I highly recommend using a midwife for pregnancy. The care that you receive is 1000 times more personal and more comforting. After all - these people specialize in birth and pregnancy - they are the pros. When asked directly after Alex was born - I mean about a minute or two later - if I would do it again, I had only one word ....... "Absolutely!"

Our many thanks go to Deanna for everything she meant to us through this pregnancy. God bless you for being the person that you are and for doing the job that you do.

Marlee Wilson
Victoria, BC

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