“There is a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong.” ~ Laura Stavoe Harm
My job allows me to see women when they are at their most vulnerable moments, and their most powerful. Veronica is absolutely a powerful and strong woman. She brought her baby into this world with beauty, strength, and determination. I met Veronica and Chad a couple of months ago while they were looking for support for the birth of their second child. I loved them both immediately! Chad had me cracking up, and was making bad jokes from the moment I met him. We got along GREAT since I also like telling bad jokes. Veronica said they needed a doula mostly for Chad, which turned out to be completely true. That guy didn't even know his way around a rebozo! (Insert bad doula humor) During our first meetings we talked about how I could best support them both, and we also discussed fears and concerns. Veronica had some complications early in her pregnancy so of course she had concerns for her baby and her birth. We discussed those concerns, and talked about how her body had grown this perfectly healthy baby despite complications, and that her body wouldn't fail her now. Veronica was scheduled to be induced due to those medical concerns. I joined her and Chad at the hospital around 8:30am for her induction. They had already started Veronica on pitocin before I arrived, and she was ready to get things moving. She wanted to walk, walk, walk, and walk we did! We spent the first couple of hours chatting, walking, and joking. Veronica's provider came to check in on her, and wanted to see if she had made any progress. Her Dr. talked about breaking Veronica's bag of water to help move things along. We discussed risks and benefits of breaking her water at that point. Veronica decided she wasn't ready, and let her Dr. know her wishes. After her check we were informed that she had already made great progress with only a few hours of pitocin and light contractions. Almost immediately after Veronica got up out of bed her contractions started coming very quickly and much stronger. She felt like walking some more so we kept going. Only now we were stopping to work through each contraction. Eventually Veronica felt like she couldn't keep walking through her contractions so we returned to her room. I suggested we try to get in the shower to offer some additional comfort. The shower was relaxing and helping Veronica, but she needed an abdominal lift during each contraction to be able to work through them. That meant I got to hop in the shower with her while Chad continued to spray warm water on her back. After about an hour in the shower Veronica said she was starting to feel a lot of pressure. Her provider was back to check on her, and Veronica said she was really starting to feel more pressure at that point. He checked her and she was dilated to 9.5cm. No time to change out of my wet clothes! Veronica's provider offered to break her water, and she began to push. I reminded her to keep pushing with her body's natural urges. After about 30 minutes of pushing Veronica welcomed her sweet baby boy into her arms at 2:49pm. After only 4 hours of active labor, and 8 hours from the start of her induction. Seeing a mother meet her baby for the first time never gets old. A moment met with so much anticipation, so much excitement, and so much love. This meeting was especially sweet. Veronica had of course been concerned about the health and safety of Graham, and now here he was. Healthy, crying, perfect, and pink. The worry melted away and was replaced with so much love and joy. I always feel honored to be invited in to witness these extraordinary moments. I get to see all those first moments, the way a husband looks at his wife misty eye'd while she's bringing his child into this world, and watching a family's love grow. Thank you Veronica and Chad for allowing me to be a part of your birth story.
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