It was a cold, icy night in late January 2004.  We finally made it to Potomac Hospital around 8:00pm after a slow drive in the ice and a quick trip by KFC’s drive-thru.  My labor contractions had started around 3:00 that afternoon.  At 5:00pm my water broke and then I knew for sure that our baby was coming. I called my husband to come back home and started to get my bags packed in our van. 

As we did for our first birth experience with our little Noah, now 3 years old, my husband and I studied, talked, read, practiced relaxation techniques, we did all we could including taking the Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth classes in order to have a natural birth.  We were trying to avoid all medication and have little or no intervention if possible.  We had discussed our plans in depth with Dr. Adler and all the midwives throughout the pregnancy so that everyone would be on the same page.  Dr. Adler has always been very supportive of natural childbirth. With my firstborn I had endured a 21-hour labor from the time with water broke so we were certainly ready for a long night this time too.

After my water broke I called the to let the midwife on call know that I was in labor and to our absolute delight - Rita -Marie answered the call. We were so excited and she was also very happy to be the one that would help us birth our second child! During our prenatal appointments Rita-Marie was always very supportive of our plans to have a natural labor. She was always a breath of fresh air.

We took our time that night to get to the hospital (not that we really had a choice since there was ice on the ground) so that we would have less of a chance of being put on their clock. We knew that hospitals in general like to put a time restriction on labors. They generally don’t let you birth for as long as it takes rather they give you a time frame and if you happen to exceed that time frame they start talking about induction and that type of thing. So, after being admitted to the hospital (not such a great experience I’m sorry to say) I got all settled in the birthing room. By that time the contractions were already strong enough that I could barely walk or talk.  In just a few hours the contractions became unbearably strong and I knew that our baby would be born soon. The nurse and Rita-Marie encouraged me to get up and take a shower.  I did not feel like moving from that bed at all even though I knew that being upright and moving would help.  And actually I seemed to have forgotten that it was after a shower that I became completely dilated and was ready to start pushing with my firstborn.

So, I finally agreed and walked a few steps to go to the bathroom. While I was sitting on the “potty” before I could get into the shower, I had a super strong contraction and my body started pushing uncontrollably.  I had my husband let Rita- Marie know that my body was already pushing the baby out and they checked me to see how dilated I was.  This was the first time I had been checked internally that night since when you birth naturally I believe there really is no need to be checked since you will be letting your body go at its’ own pace. When they checked me they said I was 10cm. dilated and ready to push but that something felt unusual.  I was helped back to the bed so that they could check me in more detail and that is when Rita Marie and all of us found out that our little baby Sofia was coming “butt” first.

What a shocker! During all of our prenatal appointments the baby’s head was face down. Well, either ways, baby was breech now and my body was still pushing it out. Since apparently a breech position automatically means a C-Section, Dr. Adler had to be called in.  So much for having a natural birth, I thought in fright! The nurse gave me some kind of drug to stop or slow down the contractions so that baby would wait for Dr. Adler to get to the hospital. When he got there he quickly explained our options. He didn’t just come in to do a C-Section. He remembered very well that we were hoping to birth without drugs. He tried his best to turn the baby by pushing down on my stomach but it wasn’t working. He then explained in great detail that knowing that Noah had been 7lbs.11oz. and I birthed naturally without any problems we might be able to birth vaginally even though she was breech since she seemed to be small enough.  Still, we all understood that in the case that the birth did not go as hoped we would have to do the C-Section.

Let’s go, let’s try! My husband and I said with great expectation. They gave me the epidural just to be ready for a C-Section if needed and then I was wheeled into the OR. After only pushing three times, at 11:35pm our precious baby was born. A healthy, beautiful girl weighing 6lbs. 3oz. We did it!  In my unimaginable state of complete joy and while I was holding our baby in my arms Dr. Adler walked up to me with a big smile on his face. His next words I will never forget. He said to me “do you know how many doctors would have let you try to birth a breech baby vaginally?” I looked at him and he motioned ZERO with his hand.

There were no words that could truly express my admiration for him as a doctor. He really went against the stream, for me. He made a decision based on me as a person and not as just another pregnant woman as many other doctors do.  I really believe that if I would have had any other doctor they would have automatically said “breech, C-Section and that’s that”. You know, when a woman is under the unimaginable pains of birthing and her doctor says that a C-Section should be done I think just about every woman in the world would say “okay, just do it because I cannot bare this pain any longer”. There would be no discussion or anything of the sort. For Dr. Adler to have given us the chance to birth a breech baby vaginally makes him a pioneer.  He was very honest regarding the chance that perhaps I would still have to go through a C-Section but he believed it was safe for us to try vaginally and we did it.

I  have 3 pregnant girlfriends and out of 3, 2 have had a C-Section. The third hasn’t given birth yet! Thank you Dr. Adler and Rita-Marie for a truly magical birth experience. My first child’s birth was equally beautiful. That time Sharon was the midwife who helped me birth, also at Potomac Hospital, and everyone including the nurses there were supportive of me having a natural birth. They didn’t rush me or tell me that if I didn’t hurry up and give birth they would have to induce me or anything like that. I couldn’t be more proud of you guys and of me since I’m a star now for having birthed a breech baby vaginally; I always tell my story to people and will always be so thankful to have Dr. Adler and the midwives at the practice as my obstetricians. Here's a recent picture of our little Sofia Isabella. She is now almost 15 months old. She is an amazing little girl!

Mariel Berrios-Riebe
Stafford, VA

Our image was sculpted by:
imagesculptor.com