Ep. 435 Jackie Amézquita: After Birth

Key quotes

“But as the hours and the contractions were getting stronger and stronger I decided that I was going to take it. So I could rest and have some sleep because I had like pretty much by that is like Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday like four nights of not being able to sleep. I think on Thursday and Friday I was able to take naps in between but on Saturday and Sunday I wasn't able to sleep at all.”

“Yeah and I was like okay so what is next? What are we supposed to do now? And you know I was kind of like gone right? It was a very vulnerable place where I was too and in my mind and with all the pain that I was like feeling I was not really like a hundred percent present in that moment.”

“And this whole time I was just like talking to the baby like you know I'm ready you're ready we're doing this work together but yeah it was just a marathon it was really intense.”

“very focused in what I was doing one of the nurses was kind of like coaching me through the pushing and I was working through the contractions and I was able to push my baby”

“so you can prepare yourself for everything but at the end when you're in those moments that's when you have to make the decisions and I think I made the decisions knowing and moving alone according to like the possibilities you know I made the choice of having a home birth”

Related episodes

• Ep. 434 Jackie Amézquita: Before Birth
• Ep. 441 Twins with Marianna Burelli
• Ep. 443 Jessica Zadeh: After Birth
• Ep. 442 Jessica Zadeh: Before Birth

Transcript

AI-generated transcript with speaker labels — may contain errors, especially names and medical terms. Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC appears in blue; Jackie Amézquita in orange.

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Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [0:36] Welcome to the Informed Pregnancy and Parenting podcast. I'm your host, pregnancy-focused chiropractor Dr. Elliott Berlin. My guest today is a remarkable artist, an incredible human, and a brand new mama, Jackie Amazgita. Last time we spoke, Jackie was just about to give birth, and she shared her plans for birth, and today we have the privilege of hearing about how the journey actually went. Jackie, welcome back to the podcast.

Jackie Amézquita [1:01] Thank you. Thank you for having me.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [1:03] It's an honor to have you and to spend a little time with you again. I got to see you so much during the pregnancy. Now your baby has stolen all of the thunder, all of the attention. I'm all by myself, but it's for a good cause. I wanted to just recap quite a journey you had before the baby came. Initially, you had thought about having a home birth inspired by your family tradition, and then you had some health concerns, so you switched to a hospital birth with the ovarian cyst and the fibroids early in the pregnancy, and then as you got closer, the health concerns were resolved, and you decided to go back to your original plan, and then last time we spoke to you, you were getting very, very close to going into labor.

[1:46] How was the end of your pregnancy and the beginning of your birth?

Jackie Amézquita [1:51] We had to make a U-turn. We had to make a U-turn right at the end of my pregnancy. We wanted to have a home birth, and so, you know, we went pretty much with that plan in mind after we got the okay from the hospital, and I was super excited. My partner also was excited about that, but we ended up having the baby in the hospital. Did something change before labor started? Yeah, yeah. So it was a long labor, so it was pretty much almost a week. My mucus plug, I lost it on a Wednesday, and then after that, I started having this period pains or very mild cramping, and I was like, oh, okay, so this might be the start, right? And then after that, pain started increasing, increasing, increasing, but I was like, okay,

[2:41] so I think I can handle this, but I think I'm in labor. Then by probably midnight, I woke up my partner, and I was like, hey, this is increasing. I think I'm having contractions, and the pain is just a little more intense and intense. You need to wake up. So he stayed up with me that night. We stayed up. We went into the living room, and we were just doing kind of like walking around and just resting at the same time, eating food, and in the morning, we called up Cordula to just let her know that contractions have started.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [3:15] What is this in relation to your due date?

Jackie Amézquita [3:17] So it was actually the day after, because my due date was on Wednesday, on July 10th, so it was like July 11th.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [3:24] So you started feeling cramping and mucus plug loss on Wednesday?

Jackie Amézquita [3:29] On Wednesday.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [3:30] Things picked up overnight?

Jackie Amézquita [3:32] Right.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [3:33] Woke up your partner, and now it's Thursday day after your due date. Dula's on alert?

Jackie Amézquita [3:38] Yes.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [3:39] Yeah, it feels like labor. Is it intense?

Jackie Amézquita [3:42] It was intense, but I can still handle it. And we don't need the doula to come. We can just do this on our own. We told our midwife what's happening, so that way she was aware of where we were during that time in labor.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [3:58] So at this point, no U-turn. You're planning to progress on labor and have your baby.

Jackie Amézquita [4:03] Yeah, yeah. So we were like, okay, great. So we're just like, this is where we are. So contractions started becoming closer, and so we were like, oh, okay, it's getting closer. They were every 15, 20 minutes, and the intensity was a little bit more than what I was experiencing the night before. So I felt, okay, we're getting closer. But I remember that that night, the intensity of the contractions were higher than the night before. So I was like, oh, we're getting closer, right? So it's another day. But we went into Friday, and I was still having contractions, getting closer, but not every three minutes, one minute, a minute and a half.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [4:49] Were you able to sleep at all on Thursday night?

Jackie Amézquita [4:51] No, I wasn't able to sleep at all on Wednesday, Thursday, or even Friday.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [4:56] Okay, so then Friday, I'm not 100% sure what you're saying. On Friday, they were getting closer together now?

Jackie Amézquita [5:03] Closer together.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [5:04] Like every, sometimes two minutes?

Jackie Amézquita [5:06] No, like every five minutes. Like let's say every five minutes, yeah.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [5:10] So every five minutes, that's still pretty intense for no sleep and being at it for that long. And had the doula or midwife come by yet at all?

Jackie Amézquita [5:19] No, not yet, not yet. We were like, okay, we can still do this, but the midwife said that she was going to come and stop by and just check on me and see where I was. And we called our doula if she could come and, you know, support us, because the contractions were just getting closer together and the pain was really strong. And my partner was getting really tired.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [5:41] And this is Friday?

Jackie Amézquita [5:42] And this is Friday, yeah.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [5:44] But your water's still intact?

Jackie Amézquita [5:46] My water wasn't still intact, yeah.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [5:48] All right, so they come over?

Jackie Amézquita [5:50] So yeah, so we asked our doula if she could join us on Saturday, because I felt like, okay, we can still handle this even though like contractions were getting closer. And this was like, we didn't know what to expect in terms of like how long we were going to go for, right? I thought, okay, the longest you can go can be like three days, right? So I can be in labor for like three days. So our midwife came and check on us. She asked me if I wanted to do a cervical exam or if I, you know, just wanted to wait and see where I was going to get that night. And my water was like still intact. So we decided to just continue and wait for all doula to arrive in the morning,

[6:35] because the pain was like getting really intense. And I was still having contractions say like every five or like 10 minutes, but they were not like a minute long yet. So they were like 30 seconds, 40 seconds, but every like 10 minutes. So they were not regular.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [6:51] Hmm. After all that time.

Jackie Amézquita [6:53] Yep.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [6:54] You know, I'm trying to picture just even being someone supporting you, I would be toast by now.

Jackie Amézquita [7:00] Yeah. Yeah. My partner was really tired and I was also concerned about how very little sleep I was able to get in not having like strength to push the baby. I was trying to, you know, hydrate and drink plenty of different fluids. I decided to also go in the shower as the contractions were getting more intense and trying to find some relief and like different like positions and places in my home.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [7:33] Was the shower helpful at all?

Jackie Amézquita [7:35] Yeah, the shower was really helpful. It felt nice. Yeah, it felt nice. I didn't want to get out.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [7:41] You guys took a birthing class together and you know, you prepared for potentially unmedicated birth. Are there things from the class that were helpful?

Jackie Amézquita [7:48] I think like the information of knowing that at the beginning of labor, before we were in active labor, I was supposed to be resting. So I could potentially use all that energy that I was storing in my body, could be used for like, you know, the long stretch of the active labor. Also, how to interview a midwife or a doula. What kind of like snacks should I be having during the time in labor?

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [8:17] That's the most important. What kind of snacks did you have?

Jackie Amézquita [8:20] I had lots of like protein snacks, peanut butter bars, cheese, like slices of cheese, and like little stuff, small stuff that I could digest, salami.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [8:32] One of the things I love about attending home birth in those years was the spread of food. It's always like a nice spread at a home birth.

Jackie Amézquita [8:40] Yeah, we were trying just to have like stuff that I was able to eat, that it was not going to be that heavy, but I still was going to take, you know, these vitamins and all this like protein to have energy.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [8:52] Yeah, exactly. Give you sustenance to power you through. So Saturday, still nothing doing, really. So Saturday, still nothing doing, really.

Jackie Amézquita [9:01] No, no, no, no, no.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [9:02] So you sound like a car that's in neutral and somebody's stepping on the gas

Jackie Amézquita [9:07] and it's revving up and making all this noise, but not going anywhere. Yeah, I was like, for sure. The baby's going to be born Saturday, right? Like it's been going pretty much since Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. I was like, no, no, no, the baby's not going to go more than Saturday. The latest like Sunday, but I don't think we're going to get there. I was like Saturday. Ordulla arrived early in the morning. She showed us like some techniques of how to hold my hips. So how Julio can put like pressure on my hips and support me during the moments of contractions. And that was so relieving. I was like, why didn't we call Ordulla before? Why were we doing all this by ourselves?

[9:50] And like some other like different positions and using the reboso to how to like, you know, shake the apples. And I was like, oh, like, this feels so good. Like I'm having like such a relief that now I just want to do a lot to like be supporting me that I don't want my partner to be supporting me because, you know, she is doing this amazing job on helping me going through the contractions. And also Julio can have a break.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [10:13] Yeah. Oh, you have a fresh support when he wakes up.

Jackie Amézquita [10:17] Yes, exactly. And that's how, you know, we started pretty much taking turns where the doula was with me for a period of time. And then Julio was taking a break. And then she was, you know, supporting me. And then, you know, they were backing up each other so I could always have someone with me during those painful contractions. And in the morning, they were kind of like going a little bit easy, not that strong, like afternoon. Like they started like going like crazy, insane, like strong. And I felt like I was like splitting in half.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [10:56] Oh, in your back?

Jackie Amézquita [10:58] Yeah, yeah.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [10:59] Oh, that's the worst.

Jackie Amézquita [11:01] And then on my back, but I also was feeling that on my legs and my hips and just trying to go again in the shower to get a little bit more of relief.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [11:12] Yeah. This is still Saturday?

Jackie Amézquita [11:14] This is still Saturday.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [11:15] It's hard to keep track here. Okay. Still Saturday, but it sounds like you came into Saturday night, still going, maybe even going stronger.

Jackie Amézquita [11:24] Yeah, yeah. So that day, the midwife came over and we talked about like having a cervical exam. But she also mentioned that because of how the duration of my contractions and the time, she thought that I was like probably dilated like six to seven centimeters and that I was like getting really close to delivering the baby. And of course I got like excited, right? Like I was like, okay, so I'm pulling through the pain. We're still medicated. I can do this. And like it was pretty much like moving my body around as much as I could, like doing all these yoga poses. Child pose was the best for me. I was able to have some relief on my hips. But as soon as I was like coming up again,

[12:15] like the contractions were just like hitting me stronger.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [12:18] Wait, so did you decide not to do the cervical check?

Jackie Amézquita [12:21] I decided not to do the cervical check because my midwife mentioned that she thought I was already dilated seven centimeters. So I was like, okay, let's avoid, you know, the intrusiveness in my head, right? Of the cervical check in this moment. You think I'm this far along in labor. So I was like, okay, we're getting closer.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [12:42] Yeah, maybe not. I think it's an appropriate time. Let's take a little break because I need one just to rest up from what's happening here in the story. And then when we come back, we'll find out what happens next. We'll be right back.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [13:07] Welcome back. We're talking to Jackie Ameskita. So your quick home birth has now turned into Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, still laboring pretty hard, unmedicated, finding lots of different things that help you feel better for bits of time. Like a shower, child's pose, double hip squeezes. I probably didn't say that right.

Jackie Amézquita [13:31] You did.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [13:32] Oh, thanks. Not nearly as beautifully as you say. And the midwife is like, okay, your body's signs are telling me things are progressing. You're probably getting there. So you keep going. Now it's Saturday afternoon evening.

Jackie Amézquita [13:47] Yes. So I was like, okay. So we're here with this is Saturday. We're about to go into Sunday. Probably baby is going to be born at night because that's when contractions are getting harder. And we pretty much go into Sunday and no sleep again Saturday night. No sleep again Saturday night. So Julio was able to sleep that night and he was still supporting me until like midnight. And then the doula took over. So she was there supporting me from midnight until 6 AM. And then Julio woke up and then she was able to take a little break and then he was able to take over. But I had like zero sleep that night. I was like exhausted.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [14:30] I can't imagine the combination of not sleeping and working so hard many days in a row now. Even with the salami and cheese.

Jackie Amézquita [14:38] Nope, it was not doing it.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [14:39] Not enough. Okay. So what happens on Sunday?

Jackie Amézquita [14:43] So on Sunday like things still the same. I'm getting a little more let's say maybe not concerned but I was a little like wondering like for how long this is going to go. And you know it's been since Wednesday. Now it's Sunday. Baby has to be born today. My midwife suggested on Saturday that I could take like two Benadryl and like chamomile to kind of like allow my body to rest for some time. So I can be like rested and ready to push you know the next day. But I opted to not take that because she also mentioned that I could get a little bit like drowsy. And I was like no I want to be you know bullying myself and feeling all these contractions and be aware of my body.

[15:34] And so I opted for not taking that on Saturday. But as the hours and the contractions were getting stronger and stronger I decided that I was going to take it. So I could rest and have some sleep because I had like pretty much by that is like Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday like four nights of not being able to sleep. I think on Thursday and Friday I was able to take naps in between but on Saturday and Sunday I wasn't able to sleep at all.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [16:06] Okay. So what options do you have?

Jackie Amézquita [16:10] So it was that and just pretty much wait and see what will happen. And so for that I think my midwife came around 7 p.m. on Sunday night and I decided to take the two Benadryl and the chamomile tea around 10 p.m. And I was like okay I'm ready to rest and with some pillows and I'm going to do it in my bed because it's the place where I feel most comfortable at home. And that was just insane. I don't even remember how much in pain I was but I just remember that my body just took on this ride of like a roller coaster of contractions that I couldn't even keep track of. And that was pretty much the doula and my partner getting ready because we thought okay so we're here.

[17:05] She called my midwife and I think she heard like the sounds that I was making and she thought okay you know she's ready like we're coming over. And during that time I wasn't like really aware of like what was happening in the room. I was like literally like gone. I just remember having my midwife by my side like kind of talking to me and you know coming back from this unknown place that I was and you know telling me that we were ready and this was on Sunday night.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [17:39] Right okay is that when I got a phone call?

Jackie Amézquita [17:42] That's when you got a phone call yep. Okay and by the way I think we had an appointment scheduled for like Tuesday or Wednesday.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [17:53] We had an appointment scheduled for Thursday. And then you had been having contractions Wednesday and you're like you know I'm going to stay close to home this baby must be coming. So I was very surprised on Sunday to get a message from your doula saying so Jackie Stone labor maybe you can come over. I don't even remember exactly what it was but I had had my own like 24 hour marathon of something. It wasn't birth related and I was just not even sure I could get there safely.

Jackie Amézquita [18:26] No I hear you.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [18:27] Be helpful once I got there and it broke my heart because I would do anything to help you. But I was very surprised that you were still in labor on Sunday at home. So is there some point where they sort of check you and get a sense?

Jackie Amézquita [18:39] Yeah it was on Sunday. It was exactly on Sunday when they checked me and so my midwife was like okay so I need to perform like a cervical check to see where you are so we know how far along things are and you know how we move forward. So she performed my cervical exam and then she asked me do you want to know how far you are or do you want to wait? And I was like of course like I want to know right? And I was like okay we're probably eight or nine and I was like shocked when I heard that I was four centimeters.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [19:11] Oh wow that's like getting kicked in the gut.

Jackie Amézquita [19:14] Yes and then she mentioned that during the cervical check she mentioned the baby's head the position of the baby was not the correct one that she was asyncletic.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [19:23] Oh not lined up with the runway.

Jackie Amézquita [19:26] Oh shoot well I guess that makes sense with all those contractions not really progressing me.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [19:32] Right. Oh wow I'm sorry I mean even how the story ends by now but that moment must have been so devastating.

Jackie Amézquita [19:40] Yeah and I was like okay so what is next? What are we supposed to do now? And you know I was kind of like gone right? It was a very vulnerable place where I was too and in my mind and with all the pain that I was like feeling I was not really like a hundred percent present in that moment. So I was trying to trust my team on what was the best decision to do and so she asked me like how do you feel? And I was like oh I don't know how do I feel. You know after hearing this honestly I'm just riding this wave of contractions right now and I don't even know what that means you know. And on top of hearing that I was four centimeters dilated and that the baby's was asyncletic and she explained me

[20:27] that in her experience like she had like babies coming up with you know like a little head cone but that goes away and I was like oh no so here we go into this cascade of interventions that you know I was trying to avoid to have if you know the birth doesn't go like with any bumps on the road.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [20:51] Yeah but at the same token we talked about in the previous episode that you were open to switching to hospital birth if you needed it and that you had a plan for that.

Jackie Amézquita [21:01] Right yeah so we were seeing at the hospital like my whole pregnancy and yeah so we made the last two weeks pretty much before birth the change of going through a home birth that was something that I really wanted to do but we were also like okay if we had to switch to the hospital. But at the same time it was kind of like a hard decision to make in that moment when I wasn't sure you know what was happening next and it was not a decision that I could make or I didn't have to make at that moment because I could see how things were going to progress in the morning and where I was. So I was like okay wait maybe if I get adjusted and my body is like prepared for this

[21:42] things can just start like speeding up right. And this whole time I was just like talking to the baby like you know I'm ready you're ready we're doing this work together but yeah it was just a marathon it was really intense.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [21:57] It's hard to get a sense of whether you're in your head or not in your head. I agree. Are the memories from this point now looking back are they clear or blurry?

Jackie Amézquita [22:10] There's a few ones that are blurry but there's like other ones that are like really clear. I felt like also my team was getting really tired it was already Monday morning and I was like holding into the idea of still having a home birth but also like thinking okay we might have to switch to a hospital birth. My midwife came back again on Monday to do another cervical exam to see where I was and that was around like 4 p.m.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [22:41] Oh wow so late and I mean not early Monday morning.

Jackie Amézquita [22:44] Yeah and so I was still four centimeters late and then she said like you probably are four and a half and I was like whoa no like it's been more than you know 12 hours and I'm still almost there the same.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [22:58] Yeah you're almost in the same place but that's 12 hours but also five days.

Jackie Amézquita [23:04] Exactly so I was exhausted and then I was just trying to decide if I should like stay home or go to the hospital but at the same time because I was doing all these yoga poses and all these movements that I felt like my tailbone was not like aligned and our midwife referred a chiropractor to us who was able to come over to the house and that was like around 9 p.m. on Monday night and by that I was just like okay no like let's get the bags ready to go to the hospital because I don't think I can do it anymore.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [23:40] Did the chiropractor end up coming?

Jackie Amézquita [23:43] Yes.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [23:43] What did they do?

Jackie Amézquita [23:45] She pretty much like adjusted my back. It was like the same routine that we do when I was there with you and I told her about the baby being asyncletic. I didn't have the amazing massage that I get with you by the way. It was just adjustments yes and then like probably like 10 to 15 minutes after she left that was around maybe 11 p.m. almost midnight on Monday night like the contractions just started like coming one after another one after another which I had experiencing before because I was having contractions that were like three minutes long.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [24:28] Wow to not really have a break

Jackie Amézquita [24:31] and how do you relax into a three-minute surge at that point? I was just trying to be in child post. I found that to be the most comfortable position for me just child post but every time I was like coming out of child post the contractions were like getting stronger and stronger and stronger and stronger.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [24:51] You tell people sometimes you know they expect your labor to take a good 24 hours on the first one and like 24 hours that's forever and I'm just thinking it's Monday night and you went into labor on Wednesday or you started having surges on Wednesday. Okay so it's late Monday night what happens next?

Jackie Amézquita [25:09] So I decide to pretty much call a friend and ask her if she could pick us up so we could go to the hospital because by that time my partner wasn't even able to drive and my doula was not even you know in the position to be driving too so I was like I think we need extra support here and I am ready to go to the hospital.

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [25:31] Okay that means we should probably take a break and when we come back we'll find out what happens next. Welcome back we're talking to superhero Jackie Amesquita. I don't even know how you got this far I mean women in general are so powerful and so able to reach deep inside and do things like this but this is extraordinary above and beyond and you had said you were open to the switch if you needed to the switch back to the hospital and it sounds like that's where you're headed at this point late Monday night.

Jackie Amézquita [26:17] Yeah yeah so you know I called this friend she came and picked us up and I had pretty much like a diaper bag with baby stuff ready and I have like a bag with me just in case you know we needed a switch but I didn't have everything in there so I just asked my doula if she could put some of my clothes in the bag and I told my partner that I had this friend coming over to take us to the hospital and those moments were like really intense like I had no sleep pretty much Hulu had no sleep in her doula had no sleep so it was just like what is like the best decision to make right now so I had to you know put myself together in those moments and like try to make these calls and be like hey like it's

[27:00] time please come and take us to the hospital and they were here like within like 30 minutes I will say 40 minutes okay in the big picture that's quick yeah in the big picture but to me that was forever right I get it yeah I was like where are you why are you taking so long and then the ride to the hospital was just insane it was like 15 20 minutes okay yeah you're in close to the car now yeah in the car with the bumps and the turns and yes it was child's pose no nothing so I was just you know like there just screaming my lungs out and yeah by that moment I was like please I need an epidural okay I mean who wouldn't at this point we're able to get it quickly we got to the hospital so when we got to the hospital

[27:52] they took us in right away because you know we were seen there before and we explained them that we were like laboring in a home that I was like four centimeters dilated oh wait you know what I forgot to tell you the part of my water oh where did it break that was on Monday after all this intense pain I totally missed the water so it was on Monday around 5 p.m and that's also when the pain started like intensifying oh that makes sense mm-hmm yeah was it a big gush it was a big gush yeah where were you I was standing in my living room okay and I was like whoa okay this is my water for sure okay so at the hospital were you able to get the epidural quickly I actually got the epidural around 2 a.m.

[28:38] okay not terribly long not terrible long and did it work right away yes it did I was able

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [28:44] to take a nap I was like did you fall asleep immediately I was able to rest yes and not immediately but I was able to take a rest okay and what else did they do at the hospital did they do their own check I mean I'm sure the monitoring the baby now constantly they put me on

Jackie Amézquita [29:04] the you know the contraction monitor and also on the monitor to hear baby because you know my water broke so I was like wearing this diaper right so they check in to see if it was you know my water the one that really broke and so they discovered that I had like macronium and so and then there was another thing but the baby is strong right the heart rate looks good yes the heart rate was strong everything was okay that I was gonna get like the epidural they put me in a room I had the epidural I was able to rest and they kept you know checking in every like 30 minutes to see how the baby and I was and about like an hour after I got the epidural

[29:48] contractions stop and so yeah so they were like okay so your contractions have like stopped and I pretty much like stopped feeling them too and so they were like okay so we're gonna give you pitocin right to get it going again to get it going again and I was like okay so this is one of like something that I didn't want to get but also I understand that I need this in order to continue with progressing labor where it especially must be on their clock now with the water broken exactly so they were able to regulate my contractions after three to four hours so by this it was already Tuesday right and almost a week almost a week and so we had the midwives at the at the hospital coming in and checking on me and so they introduced

[30:37] themselves I was not in pain so it was like really nice but I was kind of like gone because I was out of it with you know all this like long stretch of days having all these contractions and she suggested to do a cervical check so we could see how dilated I was I was like okay here we go maybe it's gonna be like a six or seven and we'll see how far along I am and then she performed the cervical check and then I was 10 centimeters dilated

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [31:11] oh another surprise only this time a nice one I felt a kick in the gut last time and now I feel a little euphoric

Jackie Amézquita [31:20] yes so I was just super excited you know for a moment I thought okay we're gonna go into a c-section and that's where you're headed yeah yeah and she said like if you are ready to push we can go now or you can take a break you can take a nap and I can come back in a couple of hours and you know you can start pushing and I was like okay I take option two I'm gonna take a nap I'm gonna rest and then you know I'll be ready to push so did you get a good nap and did Julio nap yes I think Julio had a nap from midnight until 6 a.m he fell asleep on the couch because he was exhausted oh he's gonna need to say a car after and then he woke up around 6 a.m and then that's when I you know broke the

[32:12] news to him like hey like I got the epidural but contractions like stopped so I got into pitosing and then so I started explaining him well what's going on and then he was wide awake by then so I got to nap how long did you rest before pushing uh I think it was like about two hours two hours and a half that's nice yeah yeah it was and then did you feel strong pushing uh I did I did you know they give you like this button where you can like kind of like press in if you want to get more medication more of the epidural in but I was still feeling the contractions I think that was something that I wanted to experience and work with my body out of curiosity when they checked you did they feel like oh now the baby's lined up better

[33:03] the baby was lined up better oh okay great so how was pushing it was a beautiful moment I was very focused in what I was doing one of the nurses was kind of like coaching me through the pushing and I was working through the contractions and I was able to push my baby

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [33:21] in like 51 minutes oh wow it tingles now it's so beautiful because always even when I'm at a birth like that moment that triumph you know when you've done it is always a big moment I'm usually like teary-eyed but the more intense you know the effort to get there the work that you put into to get there it's just even a bigger payoff at the end like just the triumph is huge well congratulations on that I do have a million questions about everything from what it felt like to finally meet your baby for the first time to the immediate post-birth care the golden hour postpartum motherhood but we only have a couple of minutes left so I'm gonna ask two questions one looking back and now having had a little time to process

[34:10] is there anything you would have done differently I only ask that because I think that sometimes you go through birth and it could be a different version of the same question you go through birth and you learn things that you couldn't have learned without going through birth so are there things that you learn that you couldn't have learned and would you do anything

Jackie Amézquita [34:27] differently I think like you just said it like you can try to you know be ready for either or but you never know how things are going to go in that moment so it's pretty much going into those moments and like going through them and learning and making decisions about what's the best thing to do when you're in those moments I think we try to do as much as we could to prepare for having one a home birth do a hospital birth right like took the birthing classes nursing classes going to acupuncture doing you know adjustments and chiropractor so you can prepare yourself for everything but at the end when you're in those moments that's when you have to make the decisions and I think I made the decisions knowing and moving

[35:16] alone according to like the possibilities you know I made the choice of having a home birth right at the end of my pregnancy I was thinking okay we're gonna do a hospital but I did it like after you know having an okay and knowing that that was possible but then there were other complications at the end that we were not prepared for because that's something that I didn't know but it sounds like you rolled with the punches very

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [35:40] well yes sounds like you were flexible and malleable and had support and had strength from the inside and when things weren't going how you envisioned you were able to think through you were able to find ways to calm your mind and calm your body and progress the journey

Jackie Amézquita [35:57] forward yeah yeah I try to like mentally just you know prepare myself for the intensity of what labor could be I also surrounded myself by other women who had children and you know we talk about their experience especially my aunt who had five children also try to call for the strength of all the women in my family and ask them to be there with me in those moments and that way I felt that I was not alone that I have like all this powerful lineage of women that have given birth before me that's a lot that's happened to yeah

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [36:39] my last question is has this experience in motherhood changed your art at all

Jackie Amézquita [36:46] that is interesting because I feel that I will continue making the same work that I will be making but I think there will be maybe some changes added to the work but I still don't know what those changes are I think those are going to happen when I am in the process of

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [37:07] making that makes sense Jackie I think you're very inspirational and strong and powerful and I'm inspired by you and I'm grateful to you for coming to share your story both before and after before we go where can we find you in your beautiful art online I have a website

Jackie Amézquita [37:28] that is at www.jackieamesquita.com or also I'm an Instagram at Jackie Amesquita

Dr. Elliot Berlin, DC [37:36] that's making it easy on us Jackie Amesquita thank you so much again for joining me and at home thanks for listening to the informed pregnancy podcast for more pregnancy and parenting information just like this visit us online at informedpregnancy.com

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