Apr 23, 2019 | Breast feeding, Doula Attended, Grief, Guilt, Pitocin, Planned Pregnancy, Second birth, Twins
I would like to begin by saying that I have planned and thought about being a mom for a long time. When I was 7 years old I met my friend from Taiwan named Emily and I wanted to have a daughter named Emily. We ended up having identical twins, Emily and Emma. This is...
Apr 2, 2019 | Breast feeding, Doula Attended, Epidural, Exhaustion, First Birth, Hospital Birth, Long Labor, Midwife Attended, Pain, Partner Attended, Pitocin, Vaginal Birth
Arista’s birth started slowly on a Tuesday morning with some bloody show. I woke my husband up at 6:00am to tell him, “I’m in labor. You may want to finish your dissertation now.” He got up fast, got dizzy, and went straight to work. After a day of baking and light...
Jul 30, 2018 | Doula Attended, Empowered, Fast labor, Hospital Birth, Pain, Partner Attended, Spiritual, Vaginal Birth, Yoga
On the morning of Friday, June 22nd, my husband left for his one early shift of the week at around 1:30am. He hugged and kissed me before he left per usual. I drifted in/out of sleep as always, anticipating getting up for work in just a few short hours. At 2 am, I...
Jul 23, 2018 | Doula Attended, Epidural, Hospital Birth, Long Labor, Pain, Partner Attended, Pitocin, Preeclampsia, Spiritual, Vaginal Birth
At our 35-week prenatal appointment, my husband, Shaun, and I were not looking forward to the long wait time at the doctor’s office. The pregnancy had been relatively uneventful. The highlights of the pregnancy had been the ultrasounds, from the first trimester one...
Mar 14, 2018 | Breast feeding, Doula Attended, Empowered, First Birth, Hospital Birth, Ring of Fire, Spiritual, Vaginal Birth
On Thursday, July 20th I sat in my office at work looking around feeling super anxious and ready for Giselle to be here. I was 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant. I had contractions come and go but they would always subside. I was staying super active. I was taking the...
Oct 4, 2017 | Doula Attended, Empowered, Vaginal Birth
My first birth fell far from the natural ideal I had imagined. I was in my early 20s and in a rocky marriage to a chronically sick husband. At 37 weeks, after being plagued by a misbehaving gallbladder throughout the pregnancy, I was told we needed to induce for a...