Neriyah's Birth Story

Months of preparation finally became real on the morning of October 2, 2009. Nyokabi had a restful night and was ready for the day. After Morning Prayer with Jonathan, she decided to call Baby Depot to check on the special delivery of a hutch that she ordered for the nursery. After being on the phone with them for 15 minutes and not getting anywhere she started to get frustrated when she felt her first contraction. She knew right away that labor had started so she ran to tell Jonathan that her contracts had started at 10:56AM. After experiencing irregular contraction for about 30 minutes Jonathan calls Persis, their doula, to let her know today was possibly the day. Nyokabi told her that she saw part of the mucous plug and the contractions were not in any real pattern yet. However, 20 minutes later, Jonathan calls Persis again to let her know Nyokabi has a heavy show off blood. At this point Nyokabi starts to worry so Persis decides to come to the house just in case the labor was going fast.


Persis arrives at 12:23pm. Nyokabi answers the door with a beautiful smile and a big hug. She is excited this may be the day and wonders what she should do next. Persis suggests she continue her normal day. Jonathan makes lunch while Nyokabi finishes up her last day at of work while sitting on her birth ball. We all watch “7 pounds” with Will Smith. Nyokabi rocks with each contraction and stays hydrated as she finishes up her last day before maternity leave. She was determined to finish a project and get paid for her last day of work before her leave. After lunch Jonathan runs an errand and Nyokabi has a craving for pancakes and decides to make them as she continues to breath and rock through her contractions. Nyokabi starts to wonder how long will labor last and Persis reminds her of the marathon analogy for labor so she tries not the think about the time. The contractions are getting stronger, but Nyokabi stays positive and laughing.

At 4:00pm Nyokabi goes upstairs to take a bath for relaxation and her contractions starts to slow down significantly. So she gets out of the tub and stays upstairs for the remainder of the night in her room where she rotates between the rocking chair and the bed. Nyokabi even manages to take short naps in between the contractions. Persis stays near by in the upstairs sitting room as Jonathan prepares the home for the Sabbath. At 9 pm Persis suggest they all rest for the evening so Jonathan sets up the guest bedroom downstairs. Nyokabi continues to remain quiet in her room with contractions in a somewhat consistent pattern. Jonathan stays close to the room but continues to occupy his time around the house. At 10:00pm Jonathan reports the contractions are no longer in a pattern and Nyokabi is complaining of back pain. Persis suggests she get in knee-chest position to help ease the pressure on her back. At 11:00pm with the back pain still present, Persis reminds Jonathan to rub her back. Nyokabi’s contractions gets intense and she feels like she has to vomit. Within 30 minutes Nyokabi can no longer be consoled and suddenly she is at a loss for words and can not communicate what she wants other than wanting to go to the hospital. She does not want to be touched, talked to, or questioned as she is now unable to express herself through the intense contractions. Persis suggest she get in the bath while Jonathan gets the car ready for them to leave for the hospital. Nyokabi’s contractions are now coming very close together and as soon as she gets in the tub Nyokabi could no longer resist the urge to push. Persis works to calm her down and quickly gets her out of the tub and bathroom but Nyokabi is still pushing because she can not control the urge. Persis yells for Jonathan to move quickly and starts to refill the tub just in case the baby’s head crowns. Luckily the decent of the baby is slowed and they are able to get downstairs and in the car quickly.

They pull out of the driveway at 12:21am. Persis advises Jonathan that he needs to get to the hospital as fast as possible so he drives nearly 85mph while breaking several traffic laws to get there before the baby starts crowning. The hospital was only 4 miles away but the drive seemed like an eternity to Nyokabi. She continues having contractions and pushing in the car as she squeezes and bites Jonathan’s arm to help her deal with the discomfort. Jonathan calls Nyokabi’s obstetrician (Gwinnett OB/GYN) to let them know that she was in labor and was starting to push. He got an answering service and left a message for them to call him back.

They arrive at 12:30am and Jonathan drives frantically to the entrance of Emory Eastside Medical Women’s Center. Monique, a postpartum nurse, was outside saying goodbye to her daughter when Jonathan pulled into the women’s center. As they approached the entrance, Nyokabi yells to Monique “hit the blue button!!” This is to let the labor and delivery department know it was a “cold blue” emergency. She hit the blue button and quickly brought a wheelchair as the labor and delivery nurses arrived prepared to assist with the delivery. Jonathan lets Nyokabi out of the car to the care of the nurses while he went to park the car when he gets a call from Dr. Traci Johnson (the OB on call for Gwinnett OB/GYN). Dr. Johnson starts to ask Jonathan questions to find out the status of Nyokabi’s labor. Jonathan tells Dr. Johnson that Nyokabi is pushing but Dr. Johnson did not seem convinced as this was her first baby and her water had not broken yet so she informs Jonathan that she will be there shortly. By then Nyokabi was wheeled to the birthing room and within minutes where the nurse confirmed she was fully dilated and the baby was crowning. So the nurse called for the birthing team to come in and assist with the delivery. When another nurse decided to check Nyokabi her water suddenly broke without notice at that point Dr. Johnson arrived to assist as Nyokabi continued to push. Dr. Johnson says to Jonathan, “Wow I guess you knew what you were talking about!”

Once Nyokabi was flat on her back she was told to push and at 12:39am on October 3rd, after 4 pushes Neriyah was welcomed into her new world. Nyokabi feels an immediate feeling of calmness come over her and says to everyone, “I can’t believe I did it!” She was able to accomplish her goal of having a natural childbirth.