Like many birth stories mine did not go as planned. For starters I ended up having preeclampsia which came on very suddenly. Although this was a scary thing to deal with at the time, my doula helped me and my husband immensely through the entire labor and delivery. I’m so thankful we hired her to be at our side through every weird pregnancy question to the exhausting labor and delivery.
Access to her 24/7
After meeting with several doulas and talking with each of them we finally settled on one when I was about 16 weeks pregnant. Hiring her early on meant I had her support through my whole pregnancy. From the moment we hired her, she made it clear that we could contact her at any time. This meant any questions we had we could reach out an ask. I did reach out to her several times throughout my pregnancy, especially times when I was seeing my doctor to give her an update on me and the baby. She helped me identify Braxton Hicks contractions late in the second trimester and gave advice to ease the discomfort.
After my last doctor’s visit where I was advised to go to the hospital, she was one of the first people we called. When we were finally admitted, she met us at the hospital to start the induction process and did not leave until hours after my baby was born, as she was admitted to the NICU.
Education – Birth Class
The agency that we went through offered a birth class that we were encouraged to attend. I’m glad we did. This class was very informative on what exactly happens to your body during labor and delivery. They discussed details like what station and effacement meant in terms of labor progression. They even discussed the mental hurdles of labor and the normalcy of certain reactions to labor progression.
During the class, they had demonstrations of a contraction using a balloon and a ping pong ball, they also had us make a dilated cervix using playdough. It was a pretty fun class! The last thing we learned was comfort techniques or ways that my husband can assist in alleviating pain or discomfort either in labor or day-to-day.
Birth Plan Creation
To create my birth plan our doula came to our house and sat with us for a while to discuss what I had envisioned for labor and delivery. Now, as I said before because I had preeclampsia and had to be induced much of my birth plan could not be followed, but my doula had warned me many times that this was a possibility. In creating my birth plan she kept reminding me about the need to be flexible as things can happen that may be out of our control (i.e. induction due to preeclampsia). Despite this, we created a plan and with her help were able to stick with a number of items on my plan to help progress labor.
Labor and Delivery
Advocating for Me
This is where our doula really shined. From the moment she met us at the hospital she was incredible. As the induction process began, my doctor kept waiting for my water to break and continued to monitor me, however when it had not broken after a certain point they wanted to use an intervention. My doula stepped in and explained further what would be done if I chose the intervention. If I could, I wanted my water to break naturally and she gladly agreed. After another hour and moving me into different positions in bed, finally my water broke.
Reminding me of Flexibility in my Birth Plan
Because of the Pitocin used for the induction, my doula advised early on about the possibility of an epidural. My brith plan was to try to go naturally. However, the Pitocin was hitting me very hard and my contractions were insanely painful. I did opt for an epidural and I’m glad I did!
Comfort Measures
As labor progressed, she made sure to move me in a different position about every few hours. She used a peanut ball to out between my legs and switched me from side to side through the night. Finally, when it was time to push she was at my side coaching and encouraging me through every contraction.
Supporting Me as a New Mom
Lastly, the one thing I am so grateful for is her support after birth. My daughter had to be rushed to the NICU. My doula stayed in the room with me as they prepared to move me to a recovery room. Once I was ready, we all went to the NICU together so I could see my daughter. I was so weak and exhausted from labor I could hardly do anything other than stare at my baby. My doula asked the nurses if I could hold her. So, the nurses handed my daughter to me and I held her for the first time.
Postpartum Check-In
I spent about a week in the hospital recovering. After a day or two she came back to the hospital to check on me. She sat with me for a while and we talked about how to take care of myself postpartum. She reminded me that this is the time to rest and to ask for help if I needed it.
Once I was released from the hospital, my doula waited about a week or two before stoping by our house again. She same to see how we were fairing with our newborn. She was keen to ask how I was feeling mentally and physically. We discussed the labor and delivery as a debrief and gave a final parting gift of a cute baby onsie and postpartum journal.
Final Thoughts
I am so glad that we hired our doula! She was amazing from the moment we hired her. I could not have predicted my preeclampsia, but I am so glad that I had someone at my side who knew how to help me during a scary and stressful time.
I would suggest interviewing a few doula’s to see which one you feel most comfortable with. Each doula has their own way of doing things and you need to find the best fit for you. To me, it was important to find someone with a lot of experience. I was a bit nervous about labor and delivery since this was my first birth. I interviewed several doulas until I found someone who was very experienced in many situations (even delivering a baby in a car!)
If you are thinking about hiring a doula you can read more about them here.
Comment below if you had a doula and how they supported you.
