Doula Time!

So I haven't been active as a Doula or Childbirth Educator since Wyatt was born.  We haven't stayed put long enough in one place for me to really make any connections!  Through a friend, I served as a Doula for a family that delivered yesterday!  While I probably won't be serving as a Doula regularly anytime soon, it was absolutely exhilirating.  It is work I truly love.  Being witness to a woman as she goes through the process of birthing a baby is an experience that I don't tire of, and being able to serve her during that time is an honor.  Working with this mother was quite different than my previous birth experiences because it was on a "pro bono" basis, and distance made it difficult for us to meet and do much preparation together.  I certainly missed that deep connection I have shared with clients in the past.  I also really missed being familiar with the hospital, staff and of course having my midwife there.  I worked with my midwife who delivered both of our children, and we became a great sort of team.  I learned invaluable skills and gained powerful knowledge by working with Marie.  She is the inspiration that drove me to birth work.  In spite of these missing pieces it was an incredible journey, and a short one!  I left mother and her new little work of God early yesterday evening, feeling renewed and really just happy!  While I will say that at this moment in time we are done having any more children, I recalled the feeling of unadulterated happiness on the days of both of my children's births.  Each was such a different experience, but that natural high of holding your child for the first time is one without compare.  At one point in her completely natural and exhaustive labor, the mother said "I just want a nap, when he gets here I want a nap".  I smiled and nodded.  I knew that while she said that in that moment of complete exhaustion, once she held her little baby she would be filled with such adrenaline and love that there would be no sleeping for a long while.  I recalled after Taylor's birth, I had been in labor for the entire day, and all of the night with no sleep, no drugs to relieve my pain or exhaustion.  I was so tired that at the end when the contractions would pile one after the other, giving me no more than 30 seconds between each, I was able to fall into a deep sleep in one or two seconds!  So tired!  Once she was born at 3:43 a.m. I was suddenly awake like I had slept all night!  A little orange juice and breakfast, holding my newborn I was so alive.  The same was true of Wyatt, I was in labor throughout the day and night, he was finally delivered via C-Section at 11:44 p.m. and although I was exhausted and groggy from the medication I took a brief nap with him in my arms and didn't put him down for the next 3 days.  Ask the NCMC nurses, they will tell you they couldn't get me to put him down for anything!  Watching the new mother with her tiny son at her breast yesterday evening filled me with remembrance of those first precious days with both of my babies and the wonderful bonds we share.  I love working as a Doula, and it gives me such appreciation for the art of MOTHERING.  Mothers are amazing.  We go through pain and discomfort that really in unfathomable, and once we lay eyes on our child the pain is suddenly a distant memory.  Our biggest concern is their safety, their comfort, their health and happiness.  We would do anything for them, and we do.  I really believe that birthing a child is such strong and hard work because it gives mothers the knowledge and confidence that they have overcome something that may have seemed insurmountable, and they did it!  Birthing is the ultimate confidence builder in a new or "repeat" mom, and she will need that confidence in the days ahead.  It just gets more complicated after that!  While I certainly am quite content with my two children, I had a teensy weensy bit of envy as I watched mom nurse her new baby.  Like I said, those first few moments and days are like none other and pass so quickly.  What a great day it was, and I feel like it was the start to some really great things happening.  They are a great family, and that little baby boy is one lucky guy because his mother and father love him so deeply, that was evident throughout the afternoon.  Anyway, it was a great day and I wanted to share some thoughts I had!