Birth #4

Yesterday was an exciting day for me, I completed my final qualifying birth for my Doula certification. i have some paperwork still to do before i can submit but the births and birthing hours are complete, so excited!!!! so how did Birth 4 go you ask? well it was an interesting, exciting, and keep me on my toes birth…..

My client had notified me last week she was being monitored for high blood pressure, on thursday she went in for her third check and they decided to go ahead and induce labor, i told her to keep me updated and let me know when either she was ready or when she reached a steady pattern of contractions (which is what they look for with pitocin) She said no problem! I check in the remainder of the evening but there wasn’t much change. At midnight they decided to go ahead and take her off the pitocin and let her sleep for the night. at 6am the started back up. i called around 10 to check in and her husband assured me she was doing well and that she would call me when she woke up. about an hour later he called me saying her contractions were getting pretty uncomfortable and regular. I said no problem i was on my way. I arrived at the hospital about 11:45 she had jsut been checked and was only at a 3 with 80% effacement. She said she wasn’t in any pain but one of the contractions had woken her from her sleep, the nurse kept saying “when you get an epidural” and they were talking about possibly giving her some medication that she didn’t want, all of which was scarying her ( hence the reason she called me). So we sat for a few hours in bed (she wasn’t allowed out of bed) We did manage to sneak in a shower so she could stand for a while and try to relax. When she exclaimed oh my! What we ask? she said the baby just dropped i felt her! we said good that’s great, she stood a little longer than she was suppose to and eventually the nurse came in to fix her monitors and get her back into bed. a few hours later She stood up again to try and stretch but of course in came the nurse to get her back in bed, while she was laying there talking to the nurse she said she felt a pop, the nurse told her it was probably gas not her water and left the room. a few minutes later she said i think it might have been my water i feel a little fluid, i said no problem and got the nurse, who checked her, she confirmed her water had in fact broke, and that she was now dialted to a 4. About 20min later the nurse came in to try and convince her to have an internal monitor (she was getting tired of adjusting the monitors everytime mom changed position) Mom asked for a few minutes and to speak with the midwife. the Midwife arrived around 3:30 (1/2hour after mom’s water broke) She came in and discussed options to make mom more comfortable as the contractions were getting pretty unberable for mom who was stuck laying flat on her back (not a good position for labor, and definatly a hard one for baby) the midwife said let me check you its been a while (40min) we’ll see where your at and go from there. (we all that mom was probably pretty close to down given the looks on her face). Midwife checked.. still at a 4 and no other effacment progress. the midwife said it will probably be a while, so mom decided to try nubane first to take the edge off. at 4pm the nubane was given to mom. about 10 min later mom said her contractions were pretty uncomfortable, she didn’t want one but she said maybe i should get the epidural if its gonna be a while. i asked if the pain had stayed the same since before the nubane or increased since the nubane. she said it had increased. I said how bout this, lets go another 10 min and have the nurse check you, if you’ve made no progress than take the epidural. But considering that baby #1 went from a 4 to pushing in an hour, and we were now coming up an hour, Mom, Dad, Grandma, and i were all hoping that her body would act that same, so mom agreed with my plan we figured that would give her an hour and if no change than this baby had its own plan, if a change, well than baby would be here soon and she could wait it out. i don’t think 5 min passed and mom said “oh here we go again” I assured her she was doing good when all the sudden i realized her face was not the expression of a women in labor but of a women pushing, i flew up out of the room and down the hall, grabbed the nurse who looked at me like no way mom is pushing. she came in and told mom not to push she was gonna check, sure enough baby had crowned! the midwife came running in moments later and in 3 pushes there was baby! 

it was an amazing birth, non of us expected baby that quick, i had even texted my back up to come and break me after the midwife had said it would be a while. It was a wonderful birth and one that really showed how amazing God and birth really are and how unpredictable it all is!

Anxiously Awaiting

With months passed since the last time i waited in the hospital for a baby to born i forgot how nerve racking it is to wait for the call from mommy and daddy saying we are in labor! only this time is different. the last 4 phone calls i received were friends telling me we are headed to the hospital with my response being i’ll be in the waiting room! and off i ran to sit for the rest of the day or night until the baby was born and i got to go in and see my new little Sergent nephew or niece. but today is different. today i anxiously await my first client calling me to say that she is in labor. she called me to ask a question earlier and now i realize that labor is near for her, nearer than i realized til today. and so i wait, nervous for that phone call that says come to my house i am in labor. i know my instincts will kick in but i am still nervous that i am not prepared to support her, after all this is my first time being a doula! but i am also excited, excited to help a women have the labor that she desires!  and so i wait!

Doula Training

It has been an exciting last couple of days and now that i have 24hours to recoup i am ready to blog. starting Friday i began my Doula training workshop. its 3 intense days, jammed packed of the ins and outs of doulaing.

We started out Friday with an intro to childbirth class where we learned about the basics of having a baby (yes i have given birth but this covers all kinds of stuff). Then Saturday and Sunday was all on how to Doula. it was awesome! we learned about everything from interventions to acupressure points to induce labor, we learned massage techniques and laboring positions. we watched some incredible births including a twins unmedicated vaginal birth with the first baby being breech. it was incredible!!!!!

Amongst all the stuff we learned we had the opportunity to borrow our instructors books and DVDs over night during our training, so my friend and i borrowed Orgasmic Birth and watched it. we weren’t really sure what to expect but it turned out to be a pretty good movie, and nothing like what you are thinking its about. Ok one more orgasimed during childbirth but that was it the rest of the movie was just amazing women giving amazing natural childbirth and enjoying it! heck there was even a women who gave birth on your deck it was awesome!!!!

ok so that was a lot of excitement and exclamation points!

well training done now back to observing my classes next on the list is to observe a breastfeeding class and then to keep working with my mommys!

Bradly Class

well so far i am loving observing my bradly class, i love all the information and how much it covers, i think it was for sure the best choices of class i could observe in terms of being able to be prepared and of the most benefit to my clients. so far the best part of these classes is that every week we have to submit a sheet with our diet to the instructor so that we can make sure we are eating enough protein. even though i’m observing i am still participating. we are suppose to eat 80-100 grams of protein each day so far i am at half that. guess i have a bit of work ok all you pregnant moms get your protein and do your kegels!

Doula training update….

the week got away and i havent gotten an opportunity to update on my blog, so i had my first meeting with my first client and it went well. she has already reffered me out so i have a meeting with my hopefully second client.

i also ordered and recieved my DONA packet so that i can start getting everything filled out. first on my list after reading is to observe a child birth education course, i choose to observe a Bradley class. On monday i went to my first class and it was great. i love it and i am excited to sit through the next 11 weeks. i think that it will be incredibly beneficial not just in how i can support my clients but also in the future as i have my own children.

well not much else to say on the topic right now except do your kegels!

My first Doula client Meeting

So tomorrow is my first meeting with  my first doula client! AHHHH!!!!! so i am getting ready tonight or atleast trying to. Tyler is working on my business cards and i am working a couple things to give my future client. i am so excited! eventually i am gonna work on a contract for her but for now until i go to my workshop and know what to put in the contract i am going to type up a simple benefits of having a doula and questions for the Doctor. but to share for those of you who don’t know here are the main benefits of having a doula…

Effect on Birth:

Shorter labor, fewer complications and cesareans or need for inductions (cause mom is more relaxed allowing her body to do the work)

Effect on Mother: 

Greater satisfactio with her birth, Less Postpartum depression

Effects on Baby: breastfeed more easily, shorter hospital stay less need for special care nurseries

So if you are thinking of having a baby get a certified doula or at least a doula in training!

My First prospective client…..

i did a little networking this week to see if i could start finding some people to let me get my birthing hours during their labor and i managed to make one great contact who led me to another great contact and i have my first prospective client! YAYYAYAYAYAY! i am going to meet with her next week and discuss more about what she wants and what i can do. YAYAY! now to get crackin on my reading!!!!!!!!!!!!

Doula Training Update

So a little update on my Doula Training, i have finally received all 5 books that i have to read. i have started the breastfeeding book which i love but  of course i am now self-diagnosing or rather self-analyzing Harvey’s latch and sucking technique and wondering if i should schedule a lactation appointment just to be sure his good latch is also a productive latch. i have also started ” The birth Partner” (i like to read more than i can handle at one time) and today i received the dates for my workshop and promptly printed out the registration form which will mail into tomorrow with my deposit. I am super excited to start the process and plan on observing my Bradly class in a couple weeks after we move and are settled. well not much else to report on Doula Training, more soon i’m sure.

Breastfeeding

So my first book to read for Doula training is my breastfeeding book, i have chosen to read, the Ultimate Breastfeeding book of Answers. I decided to start here cause i figured this would be most useful to the stage i am in in motherhood. so far i have learned a lot in this book. it went over the typical positions and how to do that, although i like the way it describes them better than other books i have read, it seemed to be more descriptive and what a proper latch should look like and how your arms should be. it even commented on how your hand should support the baby’s head which i found helpful because i remember leaving light imprints on the side of my son’s face from supporting him and feeling like what the heck am i doing this wrong am i hurting him, turns out i wasn’t hurting him at all and that my hand was properly positioned.  

i have also learned some interesting facts about BM including that depending on the time of day your milk’s vitamins and protein levels vary, which the author than proceed to question which time of day the formula company tries to imitate? 

I planned to breastfeed from the get go for the first year but i have learned in reading this book that while i though winning at the end of the first year was normal, its not typically normal in the rest of the world where babies are naturally weaned somewhere between 2.5 and 7 years. it makes sense though why do we go through all the trouble of learning to breastfeed (admit it its not easy those first 6 weeks- see next paragraph for my thoughts on this) only to wean our babies at 6months and move them onto formal. it seems silly if you think about it why is formula AKA imitation breast-milk decided to be better than breast-milk for the second 6 to 12 months?

now for those of you just starting and are in your first 6 weeks at it, i have a bit of advice keep trying, and get a lactation counselor to help you, and go to a La Leche League meeting. in my experience the first 6 weeks were the absolute hardest, it was difficult to get him going, keeping him awake. there were so many times i wanted to quit. but a good friend told me keep going just make it your goal to get to 6 weeks and it will fall into place, and i’m telling you i got to 6 weeks it fell into place. the only way it will though is if you  have a support system and trained people looking at your latch and hold. 

now for the end of the current tangent and back to the book thus far…..as i read this book i feel compelled to ask the question how long before i decide to wean, and the answer so far is shocking me, so far i want to wait until Harvey is ready whether that is 1 year or 3 years. 

I challenge all of you before you go to formula to really give breastfeeding a chance and for those of you considering weaning give it a second thought. Now i know that there are a few women who can’t breastfeed but most of us can and a lot of women are told they can’t when they can. so keep going trust your instinct and trust your child…….