No Horror Stories Here

Any friends or people I'd talked to in the past who had had a baby, always felt the need to share their 'horror' stories, but particularly when I was pregnant, it's like people felt the need to share any and all details of how horrible and painful and terrible their deliveries were. Well, as you can imagine, that only added to my already anxiety-level fears of having a baby.

I spent the first 4 1/2 months truly dreading the labor process. I wanted the baby, but not the delivery. And then as my pregnancy became trying and high-risk, I wasn't sure I wanted anything except the baby to come out by the snap of my fingers! Well lo and behold, I happened to be visiting a friends website on Myspace that I'd come across and I hadn't seen her in several years (though we go to the same church and sing in the same choir!). I happened to read about her new business that she was doing and checked out the website that she posted for everyone to read. Turns out, she had been working as a Doula and she also did private, in-home birth education. I'd never heard of a Doula before, so I sent her a quick message asking some questions about birth and delivery and agreed to meet up with her to talk more in-depth about birth education. I knew Greg would not be comfortable in a group setting at the hospital practicing 'breathing' techniques and we both wanted to learn more than just breathing, but learn about the pros & cons of different birth choices, birthing positions, and pain management that wasn't drug induced. At any rate, we ended up working with her for the full services of education and Doula.

Her goal was for us to have the best possible birth experience that we could have and leave the hospital feeling like we had no regrets about ANY decision that was made. I honestly cannot say that I had a terrible or dreadful experience during any time of my labor and delivery - and I did it all naturally with no drugs of any kind. And I honestly don't even think it hurt that bad, It was more hard work than anything, but that's normal! And had I not had the abnormal uterus & brith canal, there wouldn't have been any surgery afterwards - that's how smooth it all truly went!

Our Doula worked with us as our advocate, coach, and friend. She spent the months leading up to delivery educating us on all the pros and cons of drugs and of not using drugs, continually reminding and reassuring of all the symptoms during labor were normal and that I could do it, she educated us on laboring positions, techniques, and relaxation, she encouraged me throughout the entire labor either by phone or at our house and then at the hospital, she was able to help Greg coach and encourage me and free him up to be what he needed to be - my husband, she stayed through for my surgery afterwards, and met with me postpartum.

Now don't get me wrong. I don't condone or think it's wrong to use drugs for pain management, but we didn't want to have to use it if we didn't need to. And she would've been just as supportive and done all the same things if we had chosen to use all the pain killers there were. Point is - she was there to encourage and advocate on our behalf and to make sure that we walked out of their happy about our birthing experience.

If we ever decide to have a 2nd child, you better believe we will use a Doula again. I can't imagine any woman not having one.

It was a great birth experience and I truly have no horror stories to share or compare!