Elias' Birth Story

At almost a week old, already, Elias is already bringing our family so much joy with his sleepy, peaceful little existence. I'll come across Benedict just snuggling him in my bed, Jerome nuzzling him with little kisses, and Ignatius will abruptly ask to hug him and loves to touch his fuzzy head.

I am in awe of the perfect creation of a new person, and am just trying to soak him in as much as I possibly can.

As promised, and as I have done for the other three boys, I wanted to share Elias' birth story here.

Different Right from the Beginning

For the first time, when I called my midwife to ask her if she would be able to take me into care this pregnancy, she was unable to as she was on holidays. What followed was a few months of great anxiety for me, as I resubmitted a form in the Alberta midwives database and waited to hear back.

The idea of not being in the care of a midwife, especially in the care of the midwife I had grown so fond of, was extremely difficult for me to wrap my head around. I really struggled, but tried to submit to God and to His will, trusting that, even in this stressful situation, He was working for my good, even if I did not end up having a midwife this time around.



Blessedly, at around the halfway point of my pregnancy, I received word from the midwife who works as a partner with my regular midwife, that she was able to take me into care. In the end it became very clear to me that this was exactly as God intended, and the care I received with this midwife was exactly what Elias needed to come into the world as peacefully as he did.

Preparing for a Natural Breech Birth

I had a strong inclination that this baby was positioned differently than my others based on his movement, and this was confirmed when I was around thirty-three weeks pregnant. I did all kinds of exercises and tried all the tricks to turn him (like playing a recording of me singing to the underside of my belly, which would make my sleepy baby perk right up) but in the end, he was snug in his upright position.

With Elias being breech, we had to make a few special dispensations in the birth plan. One of which was to birth in hospital. In Alberta, midwives have privileges to manage births at specific hospitals without intervention from other health professionals, and this is always an option.

However, in the case of breech babies, as soon as the birth is located at a hospital, it usually requires a transfer of care. In the weeks leading up to my labor, my midwife sent me for ultrasound to confirm the position of my baby and his general size, and we had a lot of conversations about what was to be expected with a breech birth.

Elias was frank breech, which means his feet were up by his head, and his cord was in a safe position for me to attempt vaginal birth. All of this, added to the fact that I had already had three babies vaginally and without any complications made me what my midwife referred to as the perfect candidate to attempt vaginal breech birth. There was never a time she seemed to doubt I would be capable of delivering this way, naturally, if I so choose, and I know this is part of the reason I was able to go into my birth so confidently.

We chose to birth at a smaller hospital, and received special permission from the obstetrician at that hospital for my midwife to manage my birth, even though it was to be an in-hospital breech.

Thankfully, he agreed.

Birthing without Fear

I think there are a few ways to prepare for birth in general, and I definitely feel this was a factor in my uncomplicated breech birth. Most of all, I have found it to be extremely important to labour without fear, without allowing my body to stress.

As I enter labour, I try to embrace each contraction, knowing that it is serving a purpose, and allowing it to do what it is meant to do without fighting against it at all.

In the case of my breech birth, I went in with my questions answered, having done enough research to know what I wanted to focus on - staying positive and connecting with my baby, listening to what he needed me to do to help him, and using gravity to help him get into an optimal position.

Because there is no fear or stress, I know I am more relaxed, more attuned with my natural instincts, and more able to maintain my composure.

I read Ina May's Guide to Childbirth in this pregnancy which I think will be a pregnancy tradition from now on, as well, as it gave me a few ideas for managing labour pain (like shaking the apple, the idea that bouncing helps with large pain) and confirmed my mindset.

Timeline of Elias' Birth

On the Friday and Saturday leading up to when Elias did make his appearance, I was experiencing really mild prodromal labor. In an attempt to trust my body, and the contractions that had persisted so regularly for two days (something I have had difficulty doing in absolutely every other one of my labours, especially Ignatius') we called Tharin's parents and dropped the boys off with them after supper on Saturday.

Tharin and I headed into the city from the acreage where we are currently staying, an hour away from where we intended to give birth. Timing my contractions, they were ten minutes apart and still very mild, for the duration of the drive. We decided to go for a walk when we arrived at my parent's condo in the city, but the contractions were much more intense and right on top of each other, similar to how they were when I was in labor with Ignatius, so I decided to head back to my parents to watch a movie, rest, and see how my body responded.

All of this happened around midnight, and once the movie was over, aside from the odd strong contraction, my body had pretty well relaxed. We took this opportunity to rest, until around three o'clock when I woke up with more mild contractions and we decided to go for another walk.

It was a beautiful, warm night, and I think I'll always treasure these hours of waiting, and listening with Tharin in the quiet, still hours of the morning, just the two of us. Again, the walking produced sharp, consistent contractions, which my midwife told me were the result of a cranky uterus. We went back to my parent's condo to rest again.

7:30 AM I woke up and noticed my contractions were starting to form a regular pattern. After timing a few, I told my midwife I thought they felt different, and we decided to head into the hospital. In my previous labours, I may have opted to stay home and continue resting and labouring on my own until things had picked up, but because I wanted to be sure to have the pool set up and make sure the baby was being monitored, we headed in at this time.

This ended up being the most difficult part of my labour. I have been spoiled with labours that are very quick once things start happening, and sitting in the hospital for five hours while things did not really seem to progress was extremely hard for me. Mostly because I am not very fond of having so much attention on me.

However, slower labour is a characteristic of breech labour, and one I had tried to prepare myself for.

12:40 PM At this time my midwife checked me for the first time, and at six centimeters dilated, I got into the pool for the first time. My contractions were still consistently six minutes apart, and while they were becoming stronger, the long breaks in between each one made them feel very manageable.

I think it was around this time that I started really praying for God to guide me through the process of labouring this breech baby, and as I sat in the pool before things became too intense, I tried to surrender any remaining fear or doubt I had retained throughout the pregnancy with not being ready for our fourth, with our uncertain life situation, with having another boy when I had been so sure he was a daughter.

1:30 PM In my reading, I had come across a fair amount of information supporting the use of gravity in helping breech babies engage and keep from becoming stuck in an unsatisfactory position, and as it really felt like labour was stalling, I decided to go for a walk with Tharin. We ended up going out in this beautiful prayer garden, me in a bathing suit and robe, and just really enjoying the warm, balmy weather, while my contractions rolled in stronger.

We discussed having my waters broken if things had not progressed once we got back to the room, and asked my midwife her opinion when we returned.

2:40 PM My midwife checked me again, and two hours after she had initially checked me, I had progressed only very slightly, so we agreed that it was a good time to break my waters. Within the hour, my contractions grew in strength, but still afforded me a good few minutes of relief in between each one.

Knowing what labouring without a pool is like, I was so grateful for the pool this time around, and felt totally capable of managing the pain of my contractions for two reasons. First of all, there is a hydrotherapy to labouring in water that just really relieves the pain and helps distribute it. Secondly, I find it so much easier to listen to the instincts of my body and labour in whatever position feels natural and necessary as I work through contractions. Being able to trust my body to respond to contractions and be in whatever position felt natural was a huge blessing, and I think, a huge component for helping Elias' birth progress as it did.

As each contraction took hold, I would breathe and pray Hail Mary's, one after another, until the pressure subsided. Even though this was the most painful part of labour, I was grateful to know it was progressing, that my baby would soon be arriving, and I felt so peaceful, quite literally bathed in prayer.

4:10 PM My sister Emilie arrived just as my contractions were really picking up, bringing her own two week old baby with her. As my body transitioned, and I had to internalize myself, my sister told me she took over prayer Hail Mary's through my contractions.

5:00 PM The feeling of pressure came, and with it, an intense gratefulness, knowing that it would all be over soon. My midwife had told me to allow my body to ease the baby, bum first, into the world without doing any pushing myself, and he did. I definitely lost my composure when he was bum out, his legs still tucked in, and he started trying to wriggle his feet out. Once they had popped out, however, he came shooting the rest of the way out, and there he was, my vernix covered boy.

5:40 PM Elias was placed in my arms, and it became immediately obvious why he had been breech - his cord was barely long enough for me to hold him above the water while we waited for my placenta. Here he finally was, Elias Sebastian, a healthy six pounds three ounces, eighteen and three quarter inches little peanut.

Without even the need for suction, which most breech babies need because their chests are not squeezed in the same way, he cried lustily right away, and brought both Tharin and I to tears of gratitude and relief as I don't think either of us have ever experienced.

To read my other birth stories go here for Jerome's | here for Benedict's | here for Ignatius' | and read why I believe midwifery care is so compatible with Montessori here.

Thank you for reading! If you are interested in following along with Ignatius' journey, and our daily adventures, follow us on Instagram where I post daily. 



God bless,
Olivia Fischer