Full Circle Midwifery

Birth Report

Parents Names: Breanna & Andrew Kulikowski

Baby’s Name and birthday: Brinley Louise Nov 3, 2014

 This baby was your first baby and your first home birth.

 Address: 511 E Main Fremont, MI 49412

Why did you choose to have your baby at home?

We choose to have our baby at home because we really wanted an all natural birth experience, we felt that it would be more stressful in a hospital and that we might be more pressured into doing things that we didn’t really want to do.

Describe your labor and birth.

On Nov 2 it all started like a normal day, we got up I went to church, Andrew went to work, and I would occasionally get a strong contraction but I didn’t think it was anything. I went shopping with my mom in Muskegon for the afternoon and I continued to get some contractions but they were pretty irregular for the most part. Then after I got back home they started to become more consistent, every 15 minutes or so but I still didn’t think anything of it. About 5pm I noticed they were coming closer together and stronger and I decided to start writing them down so I could keep track of them. They were about 5-10 minutes apart. About 6pm I had some bloody show and I started to wonder if I should call Andrew home from work, but I decided to wait a little longer. At 7pm they were every 5 minutes apart while sitting or about 2-3 minutes while walking. I texted Andrew and let him know everything. However he was in Grand Rapids at the time but he started to head home. He also called Patrice at about 7:30pm and let her know that I was in labor but to just wait a little longer before coming. By the time he got home it was just before 9pm and the contractions were still about 3 minutes apart when sitting down. We called Patrice again and let her know that we were ready for her to come. She arrived about 10pm and I just laid on the couch with Andrew while Patrice started setting everything up. At 11pm the contractions were getting to be really strong and I started getting some back pain along with it. Barb and Jen showed up some time around midnight and it was about that time that I decided I wanted to go into the bedroom because I was starting to feel like I wanted to push. Patrice checked my cervix and I was about 8-9cm dilated and contractions were coming about every 2 minutes. When she checked my cervix about 10 minutes later I was 9-9+ cm dilated. During the next contractions Patrice held the cervix hoping that it would open just a little bit more for the baby to be born, I also tried some other positions trying to make progress. About 1:15am I was 10cm dilated and just before 1:30am my water broke and I was so excited! I could feel the baby’s head moving and they put a warm compress on me to help with the pain. Jen was also getting cold wash cloths for my head. At about 2am the baby’s head started to come out and they told me to just blow through the contractions. I was also getting really bad left leg cramps so Jen would help rub my leg to try to get those to go away. At 2:10am the baby was full crown and then at 2:14am our baby girl, Brinley Louise was born!

What was your favorite part of your baby’s birth?

My favorite part of Brinley’s birth was when I got to see her for the first time, when they laid her on my stomach and I got to hold her and see her was by far the most amazing part.

What would you do differently if you had another baby? Next time I will probably call Andrew home from work a little earlier, even though we were texting during the whole day there was times where he would get a transfer and he would be gone to Baldwin, Reed City or Grand Rapids and I was worried that he wouldn’t make it back in time.

How can we improve our services?

You are perfect! I wouldn’t change a thing about how the delivery went and I can’t wait to do it again!