798| Epidural Hospital Birth with Midwives During Covid – Christi Silano [rebroadcast]

At 39 years old, Christi was happy to find out she was pregnant for the second time. This pregnancy was more challenging than her first in terms of routine discomforts, but thankfully there were no serious complications. She received a big surprise, however, when, in her third trimester, she was diagnosed with gestational diabetes. She decided to use the diagnosis as a wake up call to be more intentional about healthy eating and daily exercise. She was a little over a month into working on her diabetes plan when she got an even bigger surprise—her water broke at 36 weeks and 5 days!

She had planned for a medicated hospital birth, just like her first, so it was very exciting when, a few hours later, she and her husband found themselves in labor and delivery discussing her options with the midwife.  She advocated for waiting to see if contractions would intensify on their own, but after ten hours without any progression, she agreed to augmentation with IV medication as well as her first cervical exam which showed she was 3 cm dilated.  Shortly after starting the medication her contractions began to intensify and gradually got stronger as the medication was increased.

After about seven hours, she received an epidural right around the time the contractions started coming very quickly. Once the nurse did a second cervical check, the midwife was immediately called back to the hospital. At 5am—24 hours and 30 minutes—after her water broke, she delivered a healthy late preterm baby girl weighing 6 lb 10 oz at 36 weeks, 6 days gestation.  In the first 72 hours of life, her baby struggled with weight loss, rising bilirubin levels and insufficient intake, along with a diagnosis of ABO incompatibility so they returned to the hospital for phototherapy to treat the jaundice. The therapy worked wonderfully and she was able to take her baby home for good after less than 24 hours in the hospital. 

Christi Silano Bio

Christi has been married to Anthony Silano for fourteen years. They spent the first ten years of their marriage living in Hawaii and happily working, studying and traveling. In 2017 they landed in California and began their new adventure: raising a family. They have two daughters, Naomi, age three and Leona, two months. They live with their adopted dog, Dez, in Santa Rosa, California where Christi works as a nurse practitioner specializing in geriatrics. In her spare time she relaxes by baking, Bible study and jogging. She can be reached at csilano9@gmail.com.

Resources

Milkies by Fairhaven Health

This episode is sponsored by Milkies by Fairhaven Health. Milkies is a line of thoughtfully designed products for moms, by moms, to help support you in your breastfeeding journey. Products include breast milk collection and storage, like the award winning Milk-Saver, supplements, teas, nursing pads and much more! Milkies is generously offering 15% off all Milkies products with the code BirthHour15 at www.fairhavenhealth.com.