137 | Birthing Joyfully Through the Unexpected - Beatriz Gutierrez

Birth Stories in Color

A seemingly normal pregnancy was quickly unraveled when Beatriz received the news that she had preeclampsia. She had been managing a plan to birth at home with a hospital-based midwife to support any medical challenges and a homebirth midwife to support the birthing space she wanted. A top of the list item was a midwife that spoke Spanish, as her husband is a monolingual Spanish speaker. Unfortunately, her blood pressure (BP) readings at 36 weeks with the homebirth midwife were too high, causing her to refer Beatriz to the hospital for care. She would no longer be eligible for a homebirth after it was confirmed that protein was present in her urine. Not only did her plan fall apart, but she no longer felt she would have the safety of her home because she was scheduled for an induction at 37 weeks. The homebirth midwife accompanied her and her husband for the induction, and she helped her manage the interventions. She didn't know how much she would need to self-advocate, but things took a turn as her care provider didn't align with her preferences.

The messaging Beatriz had received from people in her circle had focused on a healthy baby arriving safely. Beatriz wanted to uphold the same priority level to how her baby would arrive safely. She went home for a couple of days by signing an AMA (Against Medical Advisement) form. Beatriz saw herself heading towards a surgical birth, and she pushed pause on the induction.

The hospital midwife called a few days later while she happened to be on a call with her therapist at the same time. The hospital midwife told her she was pretending she didn't have preeclampsia but wanted to provide her support. Beatriz asked her what she could provide at that point with her midwife, stating that the call felt like a trap and reminded her she was risking her baby's life. The conversation was hard and Beatriz leaned into her own source as she communicated with her homebirth midwife monitoring her own BP and baby's heart rate at home. When she noticed a rise in her BP, she reported back to the hospital and started the induction over. The conversation of breaking her water came up again, but she refused and stated that she would wait for the next nurse on shift to check her cervix. The new midwife told her that the baby was too high and it would be dangerous to break her waters. Beatriz felt defeated as labor progressed slowly, even flirting with a cesarean just for it to end. But she had the love and support of her husband and sister and would eventually push her daughter out safely. She was no longer having to fight because she accomplished her goal while maintaining herself and the newborn child's health. She was able to have a hospital birth, but on her terms, at her pace, with a birth team that supported her fully. Most of her birth and postpartum team were Latina women who heard her and answered the call.