My good friend offered to be my doula. My husband and I decided to take her up on her offer. Josh, my husband, loved the idea of having someone help him shoulder the pressure of supporting me. A few weeks before my due date she came over for her prenatal appointment, she asked about my birth plan. Unlike with my first birth, I had no set plan. I had learned that labor doesn’t always follow a plan. Instead of making a plan with back-up plans (which is what I would recommend), I just decided I would take the process one choice at a time. I wasn’t in love with the doctor I had but had fought so much with my insurance that I didn’t think it was necessary to change physicians. Looking back, I wish I would have thought more about the doctor I had. She is the only thing I would change about Kylie’s birth.
I was a week late and Kylie was measuring small with the doctors prompting, I went in for an induction. An induction in when you go into the hospital and labor is started through a medical procedure. I spoke with my doula and doctor and decided to induce with pitocin. My doula was great, she met me at the hospital. She was there while we signed in and waited for the process to start. I had hoped to have labor start natural. When that didn’t happen my doula helped me still feel like I had decisions to make. The hospital didn’t have say over my birth, I still had control. We talked to the nurse about slowly giving me pitocin, allowing my body to adapt to the contraction pain much like it would during natural labor. If contractions were progressing they would hold off on upping the dose. This made a huge difference! All though labor was induced it felt very natural. I slept for the first few hours, watched movies, walked the room, and did a lot of sitting on the birth ball.
When the doctor demanded to break my water, my doula and nurse reminded me that this was only the doctor’s recommendation and that I could still say “NO”. Which I did. My water broke as Kylie crowned. This kept her head shape nice and round plus the bag of water can ease some of the pain. As the room bustled with nurses, lights and too much motion preparing for the doctor, I stared at my friend, my doula. I focused on her breathing and breathed with her. The doctor came in yelling which was the worst part of the whole experience. I was so thrown by the influx of stress that I felt frozen. My doula must of recognized the look of shock on my face. She called my name and gentle told me to push. After Kylie’s birth she said, “Look at your husband. You did it. She is here.” I took a moment to look at Josh. His eyes filled with tears. My doula encouraged me to be present in that moment and soak it in. That was the best part. During my first birth, I was so exhausted. Once she was out, I just wanted to sleep. But this time I felt alive and aware. Kylie’s birth wasn’t perfect but it was pretty close.
Radiant Birth Services 