I LOVE MY JOB!

I love my work as a doula! I am on another birth high today after attending the birth of a beautiful baby boy (no name yet) at 12:50AM this morning! This first time mom and dad not only voiced thier intention and desire to have a natural, non-techical, non-interventive birth, but they acted on their desire and surrounded themselves with people of like mind. They found a world of people that agreed with their philosophy and they went against the mainstream (torrent). This meant they changed doctor/catcher, changed hospital, etc. This mom had faith in God, faith in her ability to birth, faith in the birth process. She found a doula she had faith in and a catcher she had faith in. Then she let nature take it's course...

Side Note: We all know the 4 P's of Labor, The Powers, The Passageway, the Psyche and the Passenger. The Powers are the Uterine Contractions. With good nutrition and exercise the uterus and the hormones that cause good contractions work together to bring on birth - it just works! The Passageway is mom's pelvis and the birth canal allowing baby smoothly through the Cardinal Movements. Women do not grow babies bigger than they can birth. The Psyche, in my opinion, is the most important of the 4 P's. I could write a book on this but there are many already (see my reading list). Sometimes the Passenger (the Baby) has a mind of his/her own. Sometimes they like their cord or hand so much they keep it up by their head (nuchal cord/hand) causing a longer labor (than hospitals allow). Sometimes baby is breech and all Mom's good intentions can not move baby or change his mind. There are many ways to try to turn breech presenting babies: http://www.spinningbabies.com/ , talking to baby, walking, swimming, etc. But today this little guy was sweet and cooperative and came straight away.

...Mom's waters starting leaking early morning hours Thursday. Labor started 16 hours later. Baby boy was born 6 hours later. No I.V., minimal vaginal exams (one at admission to hospital, one when mom started pushing), no hospital gown, all was as mom wanted. The doc and mom worked together and mom had no perineal tear. As babys shoulders were born the catcher let mom finish birthing her own baby. Mom took her little boy onto her chest and a family was born!

This was a good example of why women don't need pitocin just because their waters break and labor hasn't started. Wait. Mom was not under pressure to start labor or else! Pressure, clocks, time tables don't work for birth. This concept is especially hard for our "scheduled" society to grasp. We schedule play, work, eating, sleeping... but birth is sacred and

We can not schedule the holiest of moments. -Rosie Peterson