Preeclampsia during COVID, with Melonie Fitch

For her third birth, Melonie Fitch was planning a birth center birth, but when the quarantine began, she and her husband decided to have a home birth instead. All that changed when at 39 weeks and five days, her blood pressure unexpectedly skyrocketed, instantly risking her out of a home birth and causing her to be medically induced for preeclampsia. Check it out.

 

 

What we talked about:

• First birth: unmedicated vaginal birth at the hospital with some postpartum separation
• Second birth: Wanting something less directed, less medical
• Fast birth at a birth center
• Tuning into your partner’s intuition
• Waterbirth all the way!
• Third birth: trying to have a waterbirth, figuring out how to afford it
• “We should buy all the supplies… just in case.”
• 39 weeks: elevated blood pressure, with negative tests for preeclampsia
• A few days later: blood pressure even higher and getting risked out of a home birth
• The rollercoaster of going in for an induction
• The plan: break the waters, move around, get in the tub.
• The reality: test comes back positive for preeclampsia, has to get a magnesium drip.
• Pitocin brings on more grieving
• Epidural? Let’s reach out for help and options
• Getting her confidence back and going into laborland
• Dad catches baby!
• A postpartum still dealing with preeclampsia
• Processing the birth, knowing it will take work
• The silver lining of having her husband home for three weeks

 

 

Resources mentioned and other helpful links*:

• Preeclampsia.org

 

 

Related Birthful episodes:

• Waterbirth, with Barbara Harper
• Preeclampsia, with Eleni Tsigas
• The Induction Process, with Toni Golen
• Birth Finances, with Nate Dallas
• Navigating a Vaginal Birth with HBP and Preeclampsia, with Tara Langsdorf
• HELLP Syndrome, with Melissa Krawecki

 

 

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About Melonie Fitch

Melonie lives in Utah with her loving husband and three beautiful children. She is a professional costume technician and has worked in theaters and at festivals all over her home state. Eventually, Melonie landed at Utah Opera and worked in the costume rentals department for almost 17 years before retiring to be a stay at home mom. She still works a little, running an Etsy shop (Stitches of Mirth) with her friend and fellow costumer and doing the occasional sewing job here and there as time permits. She is passionate about birth and the birthing process, and in another life, she might have been a midwife.

 

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Title music: “Vibe Ace” by Kevin MacLeod, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).

Sponsorship music: “Air Hockey Saloon” by Chris Zabriskie, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).