Collaboration at work

2 Days ago I was asked by one of my midwife colleagues to come to their clients home and assess the mom for a prolonged second stage. The mom had reached that "wall" and could no longer push effectively. After about 4 hours of trying different things in an otherwise healthy, nurturing environment they were talking transport as the standard option. However, now that I am contributing to the out of hospital birthing community we had another choice. I arrived to find the baby doing well and mom leaning on an exhausted but incredibly supportive husband. After talking it over with dad and the amazing team we decided that a vacuum delivery was a good option for them as they did not want to go to the hospital after such heroic efforts at home and for financial reasons. I examined mom and felt the baby to be OA, slightly asynclintic and +2 station. Not much molding or caput. We repositioned to the sofa and with a cooperative baby and a revitalized mom they gave birth by vacuum assisted vaginal delivery to a beautiful baby girl in their living room illuminated by the late afternoon sun. Beautiful relief on parents faces. Birth team, too. It was a great example of combining the skills and knowledge of the midwife-OB-doula in a collaborative effort to give families another choice. Love to Molly, Heather Anne, Kim and the trusting family. Dr. F