Sudbury Doula Services

Today we are sharing Kate's story. Kate is a birth doula and a birth photographer in Pittsburgh. If she had to choose one word to describe her birth it would be : Relief. https://www.pittsburghbornphotography.com//i-had-a-baby-in Pittsburgh Born Birth Photography & Doula Services

#Birthtember Day:3 Today we share @Alexis Benowitz's story. One word she would use to describe her birth: "Empowering" Graham Louis Coleman Benowitz Birth Story...Continue reading

#Birthtember : Day 2 Today we share Gurby's Photography story! If she were to use one word to describe her birth it would be " Magical" "Our Home birth story ... I started noticing sharp back pains early Wednesday morning, later that night I started to realize I was having contractions and they became timeable around 8:40pm ranging from 5-20 minutes apart. These continues to go on all night and started spacing out more by morning so we went and made an appointment with a chiropractor to try and speed labor along! Shortly after coming home from that appointment around 4 I lost my mucus plug and contractions started picking back up again. Later that night I finally decided it was time to call Bryce and have her head our way. I was exhausted and in pain and just ready for it to be over but with the love and support from everyone and them saying my affirmations to me I pulled through like the warrior I am! And finally at 12:22pm we welcomed our sweet sweet Lil Pancake caught by her grandma We got skin to skin time while I rested a bit and waited for the placenta to come out, while everyone came to meet her individually. My cord was pretty short so once the placenta was detached we got her all cleaned up and got the photo I wanted. I tied her cord and her daddy got to cut it we got her weight, height, and foot prints and then we were finally able to get her bundled and warm and let her daddy be the first to hold her (Asside from me and Bryce). Then everyone else got to hold her before everyone headed home. It was exhausting and everyone was tired but it was the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it. Everyone cried when she came" Don’t be afraid of birth, yes it hurts but as soon as that baby is here you don’t remember any of it anyways

#Birthtember Day: 5 Today we share @Alyssa Morrell's story! In one word she describes her birth experience as empowering. "Amelia Ann Morrell, born August 12th at 1046am, 6lbs 10oz and pure perfection ... Tuesday night on August 11th I woke up to contractions around 10pm and I couldn't get comfortable or fall back asleep. I had timed them for 2 hours and contractions were 8-10 minutes apart. I labored in the living room on the exercise ball for a few hours, got in the tub from 0330-0430 then took a cold shower til 0500. Labored downstairs some more while watching Netflix. My doula got to the house around 0930 and I had been in the tub for a while before she got there. She stayed about 20 minutes before we decided we needed to leave for the birthing center. We raced to Dar a Luz around 10am.. took 15 minutes to get there. I had 2 contractions on the toilet while the tub was being filled. The after the second contraction in the tub I could feel her sliding back in and was so distraught! I said "Did she SERIOUSLY slide back in?!" By the third contraction she came flying out! My water never broke until she came out of me 12 hours and 46 minutes of labor from start to finish Everything about my labor and birth went exactly how I wanted/envisioned...it was the postpartum hemorrhage that sent me to the hospital that threw me through a loop! The fundal massage & digging out my placenta was worse than pushing my baby girl out. My placenta was stubborn and coming out in chunks. Once the midwife and RN said I would need an ambulance & to be transferred, I had a complete meltdown because I knew I'd have to leave my baby. I ended up losing 2 liters of blood and spent 11.5 hours in the hospital until I recovered after having a blood transfusion. Before the transfusion I was sedated and had the rest of my placenta dug/suctioned out of me The staff at Dar a Luz took such good care of Amelia and my husband for the 4 hours they stayed there until they met me at the hospital. I'm also thankful for my doula because she followed the ambulance to the hospital and stayed with me throughout the entire procedure and a few hours afterwards. It was a traumatic event in the moment, and a story I will never forget.. but we are getting into the swing of things as a family of 3. I am so proud of myself for having gone through a natural labor as a first time mom because that was such a huge goal for me!" Her additional advice: I would give is to educate yourself on your options regarding interventions. When/if they happen, you'll be prepared on how to handle it.

#Birthtember Day 1 Today we are sharing Amanda St. John's story! "My birth story:... I gave birth to my beautiful boy on June 22nd,2020. We had a planned home waterbirth with midwives and my doula, just as we did with my first born. However, covid had different plans. It was requested that I have only one person present during birth and that my daughter be elsewhere. So I was faced with finding care for my daughter during this pandemic and choosing between my husband and my doula. My prenatal appointments got shorter the closer to DD that I got and my husband was not able to accompany me. The midwives were more than happy to allow me to call him each time, so he could still hear our babes heartbeat on the Doppler. When the day came, things moved quickly! My midwife barely arrived to my home in time to catch my son. My husband had been fully preparing to deliver him had the midwife not made it in time. It was a wonderful birth experience, but it is a shame that I could not have both my doula and husband present for support. Post partum was the biggest change for me. We had our home visit and baby boy was doing great. Going forward I was offered in house visits for the typical 6 weeks, but phone checks were preferred if you had no concerns. So we went with the phone checks for the reminder of the pp care period. I truly miss the in person interaction of midwifery care during this time. I feel covid robbed me of that and my doula care during birth. I was left with a feeling of lack of celebration in my son's arrival. Family could not gather, we could not travel to visit, and it left a hole. I was full of excitement and love for my new boy and I wanted people to share in that with me. As an extrovert, it was very difficult to accept that was not going to happen. I am happy to have a healthy baby boy, and that is what's most important." Additional note: I love sharing my story as someone who views myself as weak and very pain intolerant I went into my first birth just fully trusting. I am not good with pain, but I did not want medical interventions unless necessary. I often reminded myself that we are literally created for this. Women have been birthing since the beginning of humanity. If they can do it, I can try! I really just gave in to nature and trusted that my body would know what to do and any pain would be temporary. I'm so proud of my birth stories and I like to share for new moms who are afraid. It's ok to be afraid, but you can trust yourself to be able to do it if you truly want!

#Birthtember Day: 4 Today we are sharing @Erica brooke Harris' birth story! In one word she would describe her birth as cadence. She shares: I gave birth to our 3rd baby on April 18th which was really at the height of the pandemic and shutdown here in my state (North Carolina). ...Continue reading

#Birthtember Day:3 Today we share @Alexis Benowitz's story. One word she would use to describe her birth: "Empowering" Graham Louis Coleman Benowitz Birth Story...Continue reading

#Birthtember : Day 2 Today we share Gurby's Photography story! If she were to use one word to describe her birth it would be " Magical" "Our Home birth story ... I started noticing sharp back pains early Wednesday morning, later that night I started to realize I was having contractions and they became timeable around 8:40pm ranging from 5-20 minutes apart. These continues to go on all night and started spacing out more by morning so we went and made an appointment with a chiropractor to try and speed labor along! Shortly after coming home from that appointment around 4 I lost my mucus plug and contractions started picking back up again. Later that night I finally decided it was time to call Bryce and have her head our way. I was exhausted and in pain and just ready for it to be over but with the love and support from everyone and them saying my affirmations to me I pulled through like the warrior I am! And finally at 12:22pm we welcomed our sweet sweet Lil Pancake caught by her grandma We got skin to skin time while I rested a bit and waited for the placenta to come out, while everyone came to meet her individually. My cord was pretty short so once the placenta was detached we got her all cleaned up and got the photo I wanted. I tied her cord and her daddy got to cut it we got her weight, height, and foot prints and then we were finally able to get her bundled and warm and let her daddy be the first to hold her (Asside from me and Bryce). Then everyone else got to hold her before everyone headed home. It was exhausting and everyone was tired but it was the most beautiful thing I have ever experienced and I wouldn’t change a single thing about it. Everyone cried when she came" Don’t be afraid of birth, yes it hurts but as soon as that baby is here you don’t remember any of it anyways

#Birthtember Day 1 Today we are sharing Amanda St. John's story! "My birth story:... I gave birth to my beautiful boy on June 22nd,2020. We had a planned home waterbirth with midwives and my doula, just as we did with my first born. However, covid had different plans. It was requested that I have only one person present during birth and that my daughter be elsewhere. So I was faced with finding care for my daughter during this pandemic and choosing between my husband and my doula. My prenatal appointments got shorter the closer to DD that I got and my husband was not able to accompany me. The midwives were more than happy to allow me to call him each time, so he could still hear our babes heartbeat on the Doppler. When the day came, things moved quickly! My midwife barely arrived to my home in time to catch my son. My husband had been fully preparing to deliver him had the midwife not made it in time. It was a wonderful birth experience, but it is a shame that I could not have both my doula and husband present for support. Post partum was the biggest change for me. We had our home visit and baby boy was doing great. Going forward I was offered in house visits for the typical 6 weeks, but phone checks were preferred if you had no concerns. So we went with the phone checks for the reminder of the pp care period. I truly miss the in person interaction of midwifery care during this time. I feel covid robbed me of that and my doula care during birth. I was left with a feeling of lack of celebration in my son's arrival. Family could not gather, we could not travel to visit, and it left a hole. I was full of excitement and love for my new boy and I wanted people to share in that with me. As an extrovert, it was very difficult to accept that was not going to happen. I am happy to have a healthy baby boy, and that is what's most important." Additional note: I love sharing my story as someone who views myself as weak and very pain intolerant I went into my first birth just fully trusting. I am not good with pain, but I did not want medical interventions unless necessary. I often reminded myself that we are literally created for this. Women have been birthing since the beginning of humanity. If they can do it, I can try! I really just gave in to nature and trusted that my body would know what to do and any pain would be temporary. I'm so proud of my birth stories and I like to share for new moms who are afraid. It's ok to be afraid, but you can trust yourself to be able to do it if you truly want!