Recent Birth News

A Home Birth
One of the best doulas in San Diego, CA is Dawn Thompson! Oh! I know that some of you are thinking, "My doula is the best!" Yes, San Diego has a phenomenal bunch of doulas. But all of them will tell you the same thing, Dawn is one of the best! I have had the privledge of knowing Dawn for a few years now and you will soon learn from reading her recent birth story, she is a very normal, down to earth, no-nonsence, fun girl! Dawn's a woman that has found her true calling, Dawn works hard to serve the birthing community and serve her family. She is inspirational one moment and then hilariously normal the next.
On Mothers Day Dawn gave birth to her baby boy, Luke. He weighed 9lbs8oz. Luke's birth story is titled, "A Doula's Journey to Vaginal Birth After Three C-Sections. Congratulations Dawn!!!! Welcome Luke James Thompson!!!
I love the fact that on the Saturday morning before Luke was born, even though Dawn was having early labor, "different than bracton hicks, taking all Mom's attention for a few short seconds every so often (still spaced out), we met at the movie theater to watch the documentary, BABIES. My sil, my niece, my mom, Dawn, her mom, her daughter and I enjoyed the movie. And then not 24 hours later I got the call that Luke was here! Born at home into his daddy's and mommies hands.
See Dawn's website, read about how, as a postpartum doula, Dawn has spent over 11,000 hours with families and their newborns and what those babies taught her. Dawn developed a famously popular Natural Newborn Sleep video

Two Hospital Births
I was blessed to be the doula at two births recently. They were so different. I always 'say' that and it is soooo true. No two labors or births are the same! One was the longest ever and one was the shortest ever! Both were first time moms. Both desired to birth naturally. Both births were vaginal hospital births. Yay! When the statistics are stacking up in favor of cesereans, vaginal birth gets a YAY! The short labor was completely natural. The other mom had a very short epidural near the end of her 42 hour labor.

A Lesson Relearned
The mom that had a short labor might not have considered it short; painless yes, short no. She experienced mild cramping and bloody show for 18 hours. But up until three hours before the birth I seriously thought 'not the real thing'. My only clue that this was the real thing was when dad said, "She won't get off the toilet". The next thing a doula does is speak to the mom. I said, "I'll be right there". As I joined her in her labor room (the bathroom) mom seemed fine, I mean really fine! But upon standing her up to "get this going" mom hung on me and PUSHED! No one minute long contractions, never two minutes apart. I am so glad that I listened to my instincts and remembered my own advice that everyone, each one, births differently.
YOU ARE UNIQUE!

By the way, fast mom got to the hospital in plenty of time. We were at the hospital a whole 40 minutes before baby was born! It was actually a fun, smiling time, the whole time! So much for the :) :\ :( stages of labor!

The longer birth story will take a lot longer to blog and a lot of space, so I'll save that one for another day...and another lesson. :)

Congratulations to all the new Mommies, Daddies & Babies!!!
Truely truely I am blessed.