The Birth Story

A miracle occurred when Sequoia Grace Barretto presented herself to the world in the wee hours of December 27th, 2008. The contractions began early that afternoon as her mama and daddy were walking in the overcrowded mall. They were so anxious for her to arrive; they were like small children impatiently anticipating Santa's descent down the chimney the night before Christmas. When the contractions began, they continued to walk but this time with big smiles spread across their faces. And although they weren't quite sure what to do next, they decided to eat a Quidoba burrito and then head to the comfort of their own Ann Arbor home. By 5 PM, Sequoia's mama continued to have regular contractions, although she imagined them to be small Braxton-Hicks-like contractions. She didn't want to get too excited for only Sequoia knew if tonight was the night, or not. Her and Sequoia's daddy then shared a hot bath and practiced natural laboring techniques that they had learned in their birth class. Mama also made use of her big blue pilotes ball by bouncing up and down, talking softly to the small one still inside of her. By 7 PM, her husband began timing the length between and duration of the contractions. They were elated to learn that they were consistently 5 minutes apart, about 30 seconds in length. As they played Cribbage (Sequoia's mama always outplayed her daddy), the tightening of the uterus got more intense. Daddy learned to begin the timer when mama said, "okay, here's one"; she would then walk around and then say "done" when daddy was to stop the timer. Now they were 40 to 50 seconds long, 3 to 4 minutes apart. Next they downloaded and watched the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" on the Internet. By the end of the movie, mama was no longer able to talk, or even walk, through the contractions. Instead, she used her arms to push against the wall and sway her hips to the beat of some far-off African drum. She swayed and pushed for 60 seconds, and then would resume her laughs and excitement with her husband until the next wave of contractions arrived. By midnight, her husband, along with her sister and mama, persuaded her that the time had arrived where the car must be packed and the two of them must travel to the birth center. They checked into Triage at 1:03 AM. Contractions got more intense (just in time!), and mama continued to welcome these contractions. She was now confident that she was to introduce her daughter to the world very soon. Between contractions, both her and daddy smiled in excitement and anticipation. The world was glorious, and mama marveled and was in awe at this birthing process. In Triage, the midwife monitored the baby with an electronic fetal monitor (EMF) for 20 minutes and assessed her mama's cervix, which she found 5 centimters dilated. Between contractions, Sequoia's daddy led her mama down the hallway to the room where they were to give birth. Once in the room, Sequoia's daddy ran her mama a hot bath in the big birthing tub. Mama tore her clothes off and jumped into the tub before the next big wave of contractions hit. She preferred silence during these moments, and the midwife and nurse were very respectful of this. Her husband helped her to her hands and knees in the tub, and rubbed her back to the beat of her sways during each contraction. According to mama, they were alone with only one another and the baby. They were two, in the process of becoming three. Silence, and then pushing. After a few waves of contractions, a new type of sensation was suddenly felt by Sequoia's mama. At this point, she just knew this baby was coming, and she even said so to her midwife, but the midwife assured her that she was still early in the labor process and that mama "wouldn't be smiling between contractions" when the time of crowning was nearer. With mama's persistence that the "baby was going to come fast", the midwife offered to assess mama again in the tub and was surprised to find mama 8-9 centimeters dilated (daddy was surprised too!). Mama felt such joy at hearing that, and then her and daddy went back to work in laborland. Mama had two images that she focused on during the contractions. First, she imagined she was pushing with all of the other thousands of women in the world that were pushing at that exact moment. They were all pushing the babies out together, in unison, and using one another for strength and support. Second, Sequoia's mama imagined that her uterus was a flower, that it was blossoming and opening up with each contraction, that the flower was working with mama and baby to let nature take it natural course. With these visions, the pain of childbirth was worthwhile and productive for both her and daddy. And then the urge to "push". Push. Push. "Oh, this is a different sensation", thought mama and explained this to daddy so he could be part of the childbirth too. She held one finger up when she was contracting, and two fingers up when she was pushing, and she did this so daddy would be with her. One finger, then two fingers. And again. She needed daddy, and he was there. Just before the pushing got more prolonged, she decided to move to the birthing bed so she could welcome her daughter to her chest after birth. Once on the bed, on her hands and knees again, she continued to allow her uterus to contract, and to push when the urge arose. She swayed her hips back and forth, back and forth, back and forth to the tempo of daddy's rubs and whispers, and noise finally came out of her mouth. She knew the meeting between mama, daddy and baby was close, so close now. And with a few more pushes and grunts, Sequoia's daddy announced the crowning of her head. Push again. And instant relief and gratitude was felt on the part of mama. But the relief didn't last long because she felt the midwife continue to work down there. The baby's head was enjoying its first view of the world, but her body was still inside her mama. She later learned that mama had given birth to a baby who had her hand and elbow up by her head. Plus, as Sequoia was descending down the birth canal, her umbilical cord became twice wrapped around her neck. The midwife adjusted and rotated Sequoia's body, and unwrapped the umbilical cord, before the rest of her body joined her head in the world. The official time of her birth was 3:15 AM, only 2 and a quarter hours after arriving at the hospital! Quickly the umbilical cord was clamped and Sequoia was whisked off to the warmer to have her breathing reinstated and mucus suctioned. Daddy stayed by mama during this time (he understood the severity of the situation because he had witnessed what had happened - mama didn't realize the severity) and patiently they waited to have Sequoia brought to them. And then the joyous reunion, the tears, the joy, the overwhelming beauty. Instant love. Love. Love. Mama, daddy and baby together at last. A perfect birth story. A perfect baby-child. A perfect night. Sequoia Grace Barretto. Born at 3:15 AM on December 27th, 2008. 6 pounds, 8 ounces. 21 inches long.