Butterfly Kisses

I believe in total transparancy in my work and I believe as such it is my responsibility to share the statistics of my clients with you.

Bradley Clients Stats

Percentage of vaginal births 82%

Of these percentage of with no analgesia or anesthesia dring labor 86%

Percentage of vaginal births that were inductions/augmentations 19%

Percentage of cesarean births 18%

Percentage of cesarean births that were inductions/augmentations 75%

Total of successful VBACs following a trial of labor 75%

Assisted delivery 0%

Total of successful VBA2Cs following a trial of labor 100%

Doula statistics for 2011

Percentage of vaginal births 100%

Of these percentage of with no analgesia or anesthesia during labor 75%

Percentage of inductions/augmentations 18%

Percentage of cesarean births 0%

Total of successful VBACs following a trial of labor 100%

Assisted delivery 12%

Total of successful VBA2Cs following a trial of labor 100%

Fun facts about Doula babies

54% girls

Biggest baby 10 pounds 7 oz

Smallest baby 5 pounds 3 oz

One baby with short NICU stay

Babies born at Bergen Mercy, UNMC, Bellevue Medical and Home Births

One of the neatest things about this pregnancy has been to be on the 'other-side'. Even though I've been pregnant twice before, this time has been really special. It has taught me things that will make me a much better doula and childbirth educator and given me tricks to make me a much better pregnant lady :).

During my journey I've been reminded that as much as I don't frequent ultrasounds these are very difficult to resist, eating 60-80 grams of protein is really difficult, knee-chest position is really difficult at 38 weeks pregnant (and it makes your knees go numb!), telling your health care provider you don't want a test can be really hard to do (even when they support that decision 100%). I could go on and on but I am just so thankful for these lessons!

As I get closer and closer to my birthing time I can't help but think about how blessed and excited I am. I know so many women out there look forward to labor as a means to an end, but I am so very delighted to experience the joy, challenge and anticipation that is childbirth. I however am so looking forward to tapping into the strength of the 33 women whose hands I have held during their birthing times. It is what gives me so much excitement. I remember Drea and her calm disposition after hours upon hours of pushing. Jessica who had weeks and weeks of prodromal labor only to finally have labor start with her water breaking! Megan who labored for three days, never losing her hope and power. Katie who tuned into herself and trusted her body to know exactly what it was doing. I could go on and on and on. Every woman I have stood beside has given me such a gift. I have had the joy of seeing how beautiful labor can be. How strong women can be. How loving partners can be. And how snuggly those babies can be.

Over the last few weeks I have also had my friends giving me empowerment. We had my mother's blessingway a few weeks back. It is a celebration to help give the mom good energy, thoughts and blessings heading into her birthing time. It was my first time having one and it was so beautiful. My friends Jodi and Alicia hosted it and really did a wonderful job of making it symbolic. They gave me bricks to symbolize where the women before me had stood. They put together a tree with their fingerprints on it to remind me of their support during the labor and a bead birthing necklace to give me strength during the birth. Jodi dropped off the necklace last night and sitting there holding it I felt this overwhelming sense of calm and peace. I just know with all of these strong amazing women along my side there is no doubt that I will have an amazing birthing experience.

With my last birth I wanted to keep my laboring a secret. What if I failed at my natural childbirth or even worse my VBAC attempt? I didn't want anyone part of the process except my husband by my side. This time I plan to let my wonderful inner circle of friends in on the secret. Knowing they are out there thinking of me, supporting me, loving me will give me the strength to move mountain.

Baby, I am ready whenever you are!

When Heather Ramsey, CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife) called me a few weeks ago with her news I didn't even believe it at first. She had given her 90 day notice to the University of Nebraska system and was teaming up with one of my personal favorite doctors to open a birth center here in my own city, Bellevue Nebraska. It seemed like a dream. Just a few months back I had been telling one of my doula clients and friends that it would be my biggest dream come true if Heather and this doctor went into business together.

I quickly checked my calendar and saw it was not indeed April Fools Day and the more I talked to her, the more I started to believe her! It was set to open sometime in 2011, if all went well, summer time! We talked for quite some time about various ideas and my excitement just grew and grew.

Over the next few weeks I became more and more excited and it was so difficult to quell it! I wanted to shout this wonderful news from the roof tops! I managed to somehow keep it under wraps until after I met with Heather again today.

We met to discuss many things, including bringing Brio Birth classes into her facility. We also talked about the variety of support groups that I can lead there as a counselor and birth professional as well as some really big plans for down the road as the business grows and grows. I left the meeting feeling like I was on the top of the world and am just so excited for the women and babies of Nebraska and Eastern Iowa. Finally we have a birth center of our own!!

Would you like a sneak peak of the new Birth Center's Website? It is still a work in progress but it has a great deal of basic information on it! http://bellevuebirthcenter.webs.com/

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words...

June was a stressful month for us. We were supposed to move (and then had paperwork problems) we had the boys' second birthday and their birthday parties and then we had Becca's due date all wrapped together. Becca's due date came on the 23rd of June...and went. Over the next 13 days I analyzed every 'sign' I got that I was in labor. Sadly these were few and far between. On our anniversary June 27 I had contractions that were close together and steady for several hours but eventually they puttered out. I even lost my mucous plug but nothing else. For the next week I did lots of visualizations, 'Come out baby' from hypnobabies, red raspberry leaf tea. We tried sex, pineapple and spicey foods. The only thing I didn't try was castor oil since I felt pitocin was better than castor oil! I would have contractions off and on but nothing really steady or close together until July 4th. That night I had pretty consistent contractions until 3 am, but eventually they once again puttered out and I went to bed. On Sunday July 5th I had contractions pretty much all day but only about 2-3 an hour. Around 3:30 or so in the afternoon they started to get more and more regular however it wasn't until around 10ish that things started to really pick up. It was then that I started to realize this really might happen. Dave was going to go to sleep but I was in enough discomfort that I asked him to stay awake. I took a bath but it really didn't help much. I ate, drank, walked around and tried (unsuccessfully) to sleep. Nothing was helping. Between eleven and twelve I took to lying in bed while Dave just rubbed my lower back. I would say 80-90% of my pain was in this tiny spot in my lower back. Nothing made it feel better but Dave made it bearable. He was the most amazing coach ever! Every contraction hurt so much. They were right on top of eachother with only 2-3 minutes apart. It felt like non-stop pain. He kept massaging and talking to me and assuring me that I could in fact do this. He believed in me long after I stopped believing in myself. Around midnight I started my 'obsession' with the toilet as David later called it. I felt like I had this horrid diarrhea. I was also so nauseous. I never threw up but man I thought I was going to. Sitting on the toilet felt good. It was also during this time I felt like I needed a break from everyone. I was in such intense, never ending pain that I thought to myself there was no way I could make it any longer. I was still convinced these contractions were just going to fizz out like the others had. I thought there was no possible way that I could do this anymore. I even tried to figure out how I could get medication without having to leave the house since I was in too much pain to even do that! Around one I decided that it was time to go to the hospital. Not because I thought it was time for us to go, but because I figured with the intensity of my back labor pains that perhaps I could get some sterile saline injections to help. David, knowing my plan was to stay home as long as possible (and knowing my 'secret' plan to plead with him for drugs) discouraged us from leaving, however I put my foot down so he called his mom to watch the boys and she showed up about 1:30. We left immediately. On the way we called our doula to meet us at the hospital and the midwife's answering service to page her. I somehow wobbled to the car and we made the 20 minute or so drive. It took us forever to get into the building. Since it was after hours it was nearly impossible to get it! Once in the contractions were about a minute apart so we found a wheelchair since that was the only way we could make any time! I still had to stop for every contraction! We got to the L&D floor around 2:30. It took them forever to check us in. They finally took us back to triage. They asked a bunch of questions but I just ignored them and let David answer. He was still doing such a great job of supporting me! He would still massage my lower back for every contraction and continued to praise me the whole time. Once we got to triage they were asking if I wanted an epidural. Everything inside of me was screaming YES but somehow I found the strength to say no. She asked me to rate my pain, I said about an 8...she asked how intense I have ever had pain without taking medication, I told her 'we passed that about three hours ago'. So the brand new fresh outta med school resident wanted to check me for dilation. I made them wait out a contraction and let her go ahead. She took forever feeling around (okay like a minute but it felt like forever since I only had a minute between contractions) then the chief resident wanted to check me also. I told them to wait til after the contraction. Once he was able to check they were shocked (as was I) to find I was between a 7-8. I was so relieved to find out all that pain had been worth it! I could DO this! I didn't need drugs I could handle this! So they paged the midwife and took me to the room. They were telling me how I would be able to use the whirlpool or walk the halls and such (I kept thinking to myself, ummm I am a VBAC I don't think I am allowed to do any of that) but I decided to keep that all to myself! The nurse wanted me to lie on the bed so they could get some baseline measurements and to get my heplock in. For some reason or another the chief resident checked me again and said something about my bulging bag of water. It was about 30 seconds later that I had another contraction and my bad BURST. It was shocking to me just how obvious it was when that happened. Things started moving much faster then. They checked and saw that there was meconium in the fluid so the nurse called down to the NICU to have their staff come up for deep suctioning. The nurse was sounding kind of panicky. She kept telling them to hurry because this baby was coming! I remember thinking: It is?? AWESOME! I am almost done. My doula and my husband were both so encouraging during this time. The nurse told me to let her know if I was feeling 'pushy' so I said okay and then with the next contraction I said "Oh...I'm feeling pushy" that's when things moved into crazy high gear. There was so much movement around me they asked me to stop pushing and I totaly ignored them. They got the chief resident and the other resident gal in the room and made sure I was completely dilated. They were trying to break down the bed and I just kept pushing along with the next contraction. The nurse was paging the NICU staff to report to my room stat to be ready for suctioning. With contraction number three they told me I could start pushing. I pushed throughout that one and her head was almost all the way out. It burned so much but I kept trying to relax as much as I could. To be honest I was feeling kind of panicky. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I felt out of control, my body was just acting instictively without worry or care to what I mentally was contributing. Since everything was happening so fast and because of the meconium they wouldn't let Dave catch the baby or to cut the cord. So he stayed by my side while my doula rubbed my cramped foot. Next contraction came and I pushed with everything I had. I squeeze Dave's hand so hard. He told me 'you are doing it!!' and all of a sudden I felt it! The head came through, I took a deep breath and out came her body. She was all covered in green meconium...they cut the cord and handed her off to get suctioned. Dave went with her. They wanted to start pitocin since I was bleeding 'too much'. I asked if it was necessary (yes) could it wait til after I started nursing (no) did they have to do my stiches at the same time (yes). They then put in an IV for fluids (not really sue why they did that, I started to argue with them about it but decided to pick my battles and let it go). Then Dave carried Becca back in and handed her to me so I could nurse her. It had been a short few minutes but it seemed like forever. It felt so great to nurse my daughter. She took to it so fast. During this time I learned I had a second degree tear that they were stitching up. Eventually it got quiet in the room They checked out the baby mostly while she was in my arms. I refused the eye goop and vit K shot. I asked them to save the placenta (there was a pregnant pause with that question) but they did so. At some point they weighed her 8 pounds 4 ounces. 20.5 inches long. Her apgars were 8 and 9 due to color. It was around then that the midwife showed up and was very apologetic. The call center never called her when we had left the house. They didn't call until we were checked into our room (a little after three) which didn't give much time for her to get across town since she was born at 3:17! I really hate that she wasn't there. I think had she been there Dave could have caught, we could have avoided pit and the unnecessary IV, but in the end it didn't matter. Our baby girl came into this world nearly two weeks late but in a blaze once she decided it was time to get here!

“You want to hire a do-what-a?” I still remember my husband rolling his eyes at me the first time I mentioned hiring a doula. He thought I was crazy and the topic was tabled for a few weeks. Then we began taking our childbirth classes. There was a doula in the class with us working on her certification. She explained what a doula did and I talked my reluctant husband into adding this third person into our equation.

Fast forward to birthing day. Our doula was amazing. She got the call around 1:30 am and was at the hospital before I was checked into my labor room. She supported my husband and I both. She made she he was taken care of so that he could provide support for me. She was another source of information for us and could be someone to remind us of what we learned in our childbirth classes as well as what our desires were. During pushing she helped to support my body physically as well as massaging out some horrible tension in my foot turning my contractions. When Becca was born they feared she had some meconium in her lungs so baby girl and my husband went into the next room for deep suctioning. If it weren’t for my doula I would have been left alone with some doctors and nurses I had never met before (my midwife hadn’t been paged until it was too late). During that time I was having some repair work done and couldn’t go with her. I was afraid for my daughter and sad that she wasn’t with me. This is where my doula really shined. She was right there, explaining everything that was going on. She helped me to find the strength to advocate for myself when I was too tired to remember my original desires. I know for certain that if we hadn’t hired a doula I would have had a very different birth experience.

After Becca was born I became a childbirth educator and eventually a doula myself. I often find a misconception in the public about what exactly a doula is and what she does for a laboring mother. I wanted to take a moment and explain this.

A doula is a textbook of information, a loving set of hands, an unwavering cheerleader, a sympathetic ear, a guide, an advocate, an expert in relaxation, really a walking heart that happens to have hands.

In your labor you need your ‘people’. The ones you know are the just to support you. They don’t have to worry about arbitrary rules, getting sued or time limits. They don’t have other patients to attend to. You are their only concern and their shift doesn’t end. Their only goal is for you to have the best possible birth experience for you and your baby. Within this goes without saying we want mom and baby to be as healthy as they can be.

So who are the best people to surround yourself with? You need to have people who care about you, are invested into your birth and who support your goals for your best birth. If you desire a natural birth having someone constantly telling you that you look like you are in so much pain and you need medication is not helpful. You need to have people who know your goals, support them, and will do everything in their power to help you achieve them.

This is where a doula comes in. One of the biggest misconceptions about doulas is that they are only for people wanting a natural childbirth. This is not true. While people desiring a natural childbirth are a big part of the client population they are by far not the only ones! It can be a long time between labor starting and the point at which an epidural can be administered depending on your situation! In other cases you may have wanted an epidural but there is a situation preventing one (low platelet level, not enough time) or maybe it just didn’t work! Having an expert in pain management techniques can be key. It can also be very hard to effectively push when medicated and a doula can help physically support you in a variety of pushing positions as well as offer alternative suggestions on ways in which you can push to move baby more effectively.

Another confusing point about doulas is how they are different from a certified nurse midwife. A midwife is your primary healthcare provider, you see her for all your medical needs. She will see you once a month for your prenatal care, she can write prescriptions for morning sickness medications as needed and with your nurse, handles all the clinical aspects of your birth. If there is a tear she will stitch it. She can also order an epidural or pitocin as you wish. Simply because you choose a midwife doesn’t mean you are locked into a natural childbirth. They see many women who desire a more medicalized approach.

A doula doesn’t do clinical tasks. She will not check your blood pressure, she will not check your cervix and she will not monitor fetal heart tones. She instead tells you what typical readings mean. She can assist you with managing the difficulty of a contraction while a blood pressure cuff is squeezing your arm. She can explain to you about cervical dilation, what a particular number means in relation to childbirth and more importantly what it doesn’t mean. She can help with positioning and hold the monitor in place so that the doctor or midwife can get an accurate reading and you don’t have to be tied to the bed. She can work with your healthcare provider to discover their goals for certain procedures and how they mesh with your desires and often times find middle ground. It has often been joked that doulas are so skilled at the art of careful negotiations that given the chance they could solve the war in the Middle East!

A lot of people fear that hiring a doula would be ‘weird’ or that they would replace your partner. This just isn’t true. It is a lot less weird having someone there for you who knows your goals and desires than it is to have some nurse you’ve never met before. It is not weird in the slightest when you get to know your doula in the same way that you get to know your healthcare provider. In fact most people report feeling more comfortable birthing in front of their doula because they knew she truly understood birth and she supported them without pause the entire time. As for replacing your partner, this would be impossible. There is never going to be a doula who knows you as well or loves you as much as your partner does. Period. A skilled doula knows how to support your partner in their goal of supporting you. It is not about replacing, it’s about enhancing.

We all know that the best weight loss programs are the ones where you have a solid source of support. The best fitness regimens are supplemented by a professional trainer/couch. In almost everything we want to do in life it is only enhanced with good support. This is even more so on the most important event of your life the birth of your child.

No matter what your idea is when you envision your childbirth a doula only can strengthen it.

Do you think that if you were to wake up tomorrow and someone offered you 20 million dollars to start a marathon that day and you had to finish it but there was no time limit could you do it? It might not be pretty, but most of us could manage to finish that darn thing even if it took us a month. Now contrast this to someone who has been carefully preparing for this same marathon. They have been eating and training with the marathon in mind for months. They have prepared physically, emotionally and mentally. While the marathon is still hard work they are able to accomplish it with significantly more ease and grace (and typically in much shorter times!)

How does this relate to labor and delivery? Childbirth is a marathon and of course you can simply show up on your baby’s birthday and know that eventually that baby will come out one way or another. However if you thoroughly prepare and train for it you will complete it with much more ease and grace (and once again typically in much shorter times!)

Do any of you remember the Seinfeld episode where George talks about how he does a ‘leave behind’ to arrange for a woman to see him three times “What's the difference? You know they way I work. I'm like a commercial jingle. First it's a little irritating, then you hear it a few times, you’re hummin’ it in the shower, by the third date it's (sings) "Cos-tan-za!"” Preparing yourself mentally is a little like this. If you do not have faith in your ability to confidently birth your child it is just short of impossible to do this in most cases. Attitudes and habits take weeks of reinforcement to change. Often times I have students who are so self confident and assured in their abilities during the early weeks of class. Then about halfway through the week they need a pep talk about it since other influences in their life have caused them to question their innate ability. By the end of the class my students are no longer doubting themselves, they are secure in the knowledge that their body was made to do this and that they will have their best birth!

An important aspect of a childbirth class is information. That’s what you are going there for in the first place. There are a lot of things out there to wade through in terms of understanding childbirth in America. We have a lot of arbitrary rules out there that originally intended to provide for safer outcomes in childbirth however much research doesn’t support these routine protocols. In 12 weeks I barely scratch the surface of these issues and still expect my couples to do outside readings and homework. I cannot even begin to fathom how someone is able to cover even a fraction of the relevant material in a class that isn’t even half as long.

Another key component of a childbirth class is the introduction of techniques and time to practice them. In a twelve-week series you are given an entire toolbox of ideas of how to manage your labor and exactly how to use them. Then you are given time in class to practice them so you can feel confident that you are using them in a way that will maximize the benefits your receive from them. Many couples report this time in class is the only time they find to truly focus on these activities in their busy lives.

In order to have your best birth you need to be in your optimal physical condition. Obviously pregnancy isn’t the time to try to lose weight or start an intensive exercise routine however you do want to be in your best condition in order to stay low risk and to have an easier labor and delivery. This includes eating a balanced diet and adding moderate exercises including pelvic rocking, light squatting and something for overall fitness like walking or swimming. Building physical strength and stamina takes time and we want to encourage you over the course of twelve weeks to be in your optimal health.

The biggest reason behind 12 weeks of classes is that it works. Statistical analysis done by the American Academy of Husband Coached Childbirth shows us that couples who completed a full and continuous 12 weeks of classes were significantly more likely to have an unmedicated birth. The fewer the weeks of class the higher the rate of medication. You deserve your best chance at your best birth. Do not settle for less!

Some information taken from www.bradleybirth.com

What a beautiful and amazing baby girl you are. You are also so very very lucky to have a mom and dad who love you so very much.. I met your parents about 3 months before you were born and I wanted to tell you just how much your parents loved you before they even laid eyes on you. They did a lot of things to make sure you had the very best start in life. You were a little trickster as the time came closer and closer. You gave your parents a few tough times. They even went to the hospital because your mommy was bleeding and thought something might be wrong. The midwife couldn’t find anything wrong and suggested to your parents that since you were so close to your arrival date anyway that they could start labor with a pill the your mom and dad had learned about in class. Your mom and dad were so smart and strong. Although they were so very excited to meet you they held strong and told the midwife they wanted to wait until you decided it was time. This was hard for them to do, but they just knew it was in your best interest so they did it. Your mom and dad went home and tried to rest. For several days you would start contractions, making it tough for your parents to rest, but you still weren’t ready to really getlabor going yet.  Eventually things started to progress and your mommy and daddy decided it was time to head to the hospital. They were so tired! Shortly after they arrived they discovered that Kate, one of their favorite midwives was going to be working with them. What great news that was. Your mommy was having a great deal of back labor pain. Once Kate checked things out they quickly learned that you were ‘occiput posterior’ which meant your face was looking out  instead of looking at your mom’s spine. What this meant was a great deal of back pain during labor for your mom as well as a harder journey for you to get where you needed to be. The midwife suggested some ideas for your mom and dad to use to get you to turn. She suggested they go on the hospital staircase taking two stairs at a time, leaning into a deep lunge giving you room to turn the way you needed to turn. They went back to the room to rest for a bit.Your mom received sterile water injections to help relieve some of the pain.What an amazing difference this made! Your mom was finally able to rest for a short while. It was during this time your dad let me know what was going on and I was so excited to come up and assist your mom and dad as they worked together  to bring you to this world. When I first came in your mom was resting. When shewould have a contraction your dad would work with her through them. It was truly amazing to see how well they would work together. Your mom relaxing and breathing while your dad would massage and put counter pressure on her body.After a while your mom decided it was time to get to work again. We went back to the stairs. Your mom worked so hard at this! Your dad was also just amazing with his endless amounts of encouragement and support. Your mom would climb from the fourth floor to the eighth over and over again. I lost track of time during this phase, but I know she was at this for quite a long time. We went back to the room for your mom to get back on the birthing ball. Your dad was so kind and so loving to her during this. He would insist she drink some water or eat a small snack at every chance he got. They brought some energy drinks from home and these seemed to really help them both stay energetic and focused.Your mom would sit on the birthing ball, rotating her hips trying so very hard to get you to move into the right position and when a contraction would come she would complete melt against your dad. He was able to be her strength when she needed it the most.  Eventually Kate came to see if your mom had any luck getting you to move around. At this point you had moved a little but were still in the OP position. Your mom had some slight changed to her cervix, but not as much as the midwife had hoped for.Kate then decided to order some calcium to help rejuvenate the exhausted muscles. The days without sleep were really taking their toll. Then Kate came out into the stairs with us and goodness did she have your mom and dad working hard. Those contractions started to come one on top of another. Your mom was asight to behold. Your dad would hold her in his arms and they would slowly dance during the contractions. Softly moving together, working to bring you down a little lower with each one. The love your parents have for each other and for you was so strong that day; one couldn’t help but be moved by it. Time ticked on and eventually it was time for your mom to be checked again. It wasat this time Kate gently advised your mom and dad that it was time to start ani ntervention. Your parents were so educated about birth that this scared them.They knew that anytime you do something artificial in labor that there is a risk involved, however your mom’s energy clock was really starting to wind down. She was working so very hard the eventually her body was going to stop working and demand a rest. It was clear to your parents that something needed to change in order for you to be born. Your parents made a very informed choice to begin pitocin, a drug to make contractions stronger. One of the downsides of this medication is that it makes contractions significantly stronger and more painful. Most moms who are put on pitocin end up taking pain medication. Not your mom. She knew that it was so important not to have an epidural. She knew that it was risky for her labor and for your birth and despite the intensity of the pain, she knew how to handle it. It is in this moment that your parents bond truly took my breath away. Without a doubt your dad was such a source of support and love for your mom as she rode the waves of the contractions. It was just amazing. Your mom was on the pitocin for several hours working with the contractions, fighting her way to you. At one point Kate checked and you had moved! You were finally facing the right way! All that hard work your mom and dad had done was worth it.

It was around this time that your mom hit what we call transition. This is typically the time in labor when moms get really upset, panicked or even ready to give up. Not your mom. She was as cool as can be. She started to feel the urge to push but she wasn’t fully dilated yet so she had to work hard to move past that feeling. She  tried so many different positions to try to get you to keep moving down.There was no relaxing through this labor. Your mom was so hard at work, yet she did it with grace and style. Truly amazing. Your mom kept telling the midwifeit was time to push; yet she wasn’t yet dilated. Finally your mom was almost there. She pushed for a contraction then breathed through the next few. She was quickly able to finish dilating and then it was time! Your dad was doing such a great job of supporting her. He was holding her and loving her while she pushed you down. As you got closer I took your dad’s place at her side and he moved where he would be able to support her, yet be able to help catch you as you emerged. Finally we started to see your head emerging. Here you mom just knocked me over in amazement. You see you crowned for a very long time. Many other moms at this point would have pushed with all her might and hurt herself badly. Not your mom. She had the presence to go slow and easy. She could have demanded the midwife make a cut in order to open the area more, but your mom knew a natural tear was more beneficial. So she was calm, cool and collected and slowly with each push you worked your way out. Your mom pushed for over an hour. She looked in the mirror and saw your head. She was so determined. As exhausted as she was, she held on, working with you to give you the birth that you needed. Then with one last breath your mom pushed you into this world. Your daddy’s hands were the ones there to greetyou, the first person to touch you earth side. Your mom reached down and pulled you up. Your dad had tears in his eyes. It was truly one of the most amazing moments I have ever been a part of. Kate and the nurse worked to help you with your breathing. You however were exhausted after such a journey. You had breathed in a little meconium on your way out. The midwife did a quick APGAR evaluation and found your numbers to be a little on the low side. They paged in a few special nurses and took you to the next room to do some deep suctioning and make sure you were able to breath okay. Your daddy went in with you and took lots of pictures and then came back to tell your mom how wonderful you looked and how great you were doing. Your mom was catching her breath and having some repair work done by the midwife. Your dad came back out and said that the nurses wanted to know your name but your dad thought that your labor team deserved to know it first. They explained the meaning of your name. It was so beautiful. You came back to be with your mom for a few minutes. The nurses wanted to keep you for a couple of hours and your mom and dad really needed to sleep for a bit in order to be ready to be your parents!

Your parents were so excited they were to get to finally see you, touch you, and hold you. Theyare truly looking forward to spending a lifetime with you, teaching you about life and all it has to offer. You are so lucky to have such wonderful parents that love you this much already. You are a blessing to them as well. I wish you nothing but a happy, healthy, prosperous life. I feel honored to have had the opportunity to help your parents prepare for you and to be there on your very first birth day! 

http://wonderfullymadebelliesandbabies.blogspot.com/2010/04/may-is-international-doula-month.html

May is International Doula Month and in honor of it one blogger is running a contest! Check out her link above and enter your doula into the contest!

I had the most amazing experience this weekend. I was lucky enough to attend a conference that featured Ina May Gaskin as one of the speakers. Who is Ina May? Only THE midwife. http://www.inamay.com/ will give you all the background information you need to know. Anyway her books were a huge motivator when I was preparing for my VBAC so getting to actually MEET her and talk to her was like meeting superman as far as I was concerned. I learned so much from her, including the fun little tidbits that did not make it into the books LOL. She reminded us again and again just how normal and peaceful birth could be. She talk about how beautiful a women in labor really is and if something was making a women not look beautiful it was  a clie to her that something needed to be changed. Some sort of energy in the room perhaps, or a different position. Whenever that was changed she talked about how she could then see the beauty again and she knew the woman was ready.

She talked about the importance of a healthy diet in pregnancy and beyond. She talked about the herbs and the foods they would use for optimal health on the Farm. She shared stories of how she didn't realize that brith was 'supposed' to be so difficult and as a result how it just wasn't. Listening to her left me feeling so many different feelings. Outraged that society has placed so many limits on women in childbirth that so many of us don't know what normal birth even is, thankful that so many people out there are sharing their birth stories even when others don't want to hear them helping so many of us to know there is a better way and most importantly I felt inspired. While I will not personally attend 2000 plus births in my lifetime like Ina May and her group, I can positively affect every single person I do work with. How amazing to know at the end of my career how many families I can help.