When we became pregnant with Daniel we didn’t think twice to choose midwifery care. We had the feeling that the midwifes would give us the most personal approach and would do everything to support a natural birth. Now that our son is four weeks old and we look back. At one of the birth nights at the midwifery centre a doula, Katie spoke about how she could support couples both during the delivery, but also post-partum. As first time parents she really got our attention, because we were both feeling a bit anxious about the whole labour process, but also if we would be up to speed right away to start taking care of our baby.
We felt a really good connection with Katie, so we asked a couple of weeks later if she wanted to be our birthing doula and luckily she said yes! As the delivery date was pretty close to her holidays, she also arranged for Kim, our second doula, in case she couldn’t be there. In the end we were lucky and could have both, because Katie helped us during the start of labour and Kim did the second part. They were both wonderful in supporting us through the whole process. The start of labour did not progress really fast, but Katie got us through it. She supported Cécile with pain relief methods, like the TEN’s device, massage and different positions, but also supported Edwin in helping him to help. It helped Cecile a lot just to be able to hold Katie’s hand during every contraction, knowing somebody was there to help her deal with them. Kim got us through the second part of labour and helped really well with Cécile to push. We think that without them it would not have ended in a natural birth, so you could say that their help is really invaluable!
The day after we got out of the hospital we had our post-partum doula helping us at home. She added a whole different dimension of help. As our family and nearest friends are all in Europe, we were looking for some support and also help in the household. The doula helped us with that, but what was much more important, she managed to get us into our new rhythm very fast and made us feel much more comfortable taking care of our son. The first time she came, the first priority was breastfeeding. With her help we got that going from the first day, which was amazing as we thought it wasn’t going really well when we left the hospital. With all of her experience and calm approach she taught us all the small details (and let us learn by ourselves). Thinks like how to latch, what’s a good latch, which positions work, burping, etc. They teach you these things during prenatal class and in the hospital, but you only really really get it when you take the time at home with an experienced person to support. Also, the first day at home we realized we were clueless about what was going on. Why is Daniel crying right now, when should we feed him, why doesn’t he like to sleep in the bassinet, so where are we going to put him to sleep, what’s the right diaper size for him, how and when do we bath him……well….the list goes on and on :-). After 4 weeks it feels like Daniel has been with us forever. We’ve established a routine and feel very comfortable taking care of him.
Hiring our doulas has been one of the best decisions we have ever made.
Cecile and Edwin