Kathy’s birth story

My son Rowan was born on May 26. Everything went great, we are hugely grateful to our doula Celia Hughes who helped me have a really positive experience of birth. I only wish that she could come to New Zealand if I ever have another baby back home. (Celia...have you considered this? Haha).

My labour started at 7am, and I labored at home as long as I could given that I hoped to avoid epidural. To distract myself I watched the finale of 'American Crime Story, the People vs OJ Simpson'. It was really good and managed to distract me for the morning!

By afternoon my partner had come home from work and we eventually decided by 3 that I needed to go to hospital. There was bad traffic so it took 45 minutes to get to Aiiku, labour in the car was the worst part of the whole thing. By 630 I was ready to push and Rowan arrived at 8.37. Celia helped by coaching me through pushing, and her help meant that my partner could focus entirely on helping me, as we trusted her to advocate for my wishes to the hospital staff.

Kathy

Testimonial from Gillian with Rose

I decided to look for a birth doula for my second child because I had heard that statistically having a birth doula present can reduce c-section rates and I was attempting a VBAC birth. Also, I was attempting a natural drug free birth and was scared of the pain. I wasn’t sure if I would be able to cope with the contractions as the labour in my first birth was so awful and I had panicked so much and couldn`t breathe well. Luckily I found Celia.

She was fantastic. My husband and I had a few birth preparation classes with her before the birth. And she attended the labour and helped me every step of the way. She helped with back massages, and advice for trying different positions. And after every contraction she would say "good", or "that was a good one". Such simple words, but so encouraging. It helped me remember that each contraction is a good pain, and it’s a pain that brings you closer to your baby.

Unfortunately, my labour didn`t progress enough and I had a second c-section. She didn`t come in the operating theatre, just my husband did. But she waited outside. I only realized this a few weeks ago, but she was also super supportive and helpful to my husband after the c-section. He was upset about my condition during the operation and how I reacted badly to the anaesthetic. She helped explain some of the causes of this and was a great help to him. She also helped me a few days after the birth, a postpartum visit and she gave me some breastfeeding advice.

Birth is a really private matter, so I did wonder if it would be strange to have a third person in the room (other than the medical staff of course), and someone who we didn`t know very well. My husband was a little skeptical at first – do we really need a doula? he said Now, we both are so grateful that she was there. As supportive as my husband tried to be he didn't know anything about childbirth and was no practical help at all in the birth room. But Celia knew just how to help me and touch me, and she knows a lot about childbirth which was very reassuring - and ultimately, she is a very kind and warm person who truly celebrates the beauty of birth. I highly recommend Celia Hughes.

Another blog from joanna : http://joannamary.com/how-to-be-happily-pregnant-in-japan/