Another Birth

Sunday night I got called by my client in labor. I left my house at midnight and got home at noon the next day. Needless to say after doing an all-nighter Thursday night I am quite tired. But it's worth it! The couple did fantastic together and the mom had an all natural, wonderful birth. Her doctor really respected her birth plan. Mom was patient, strong, and super sweet during her birth. She labored in a lot of different positions, including sitting on a birth ball, leaning over the birth ball, walking the halls, resting in bed on her side, standing and hugging her husband, standing in the shower, using a squat bar, and even sitting on the toilet. With education, desire, and a supportive birth team, childbirth without drugs is very achievable! It is a privilege to be at births as a doula, and I am very excited that I've found this path.

First Home birth!

I went to my first home birth the past week. I went with the doula who trained me. It was really neat!
In the past year I have become a big advocate for homebirth. I am not saying I want to have one, because homebirth is especially safe for low risk women, and because I've had two cesarean, I am not "low risk". The problem is, many women are being denied the care they deserve in a hospital (like banning VBACs or insisting on c-sections for breech babies) so some women have to seek home birth even if they are what would be considered "high risk".
I was speaking to the doctor that was attending the home birth and he said they used to do twins, VBACs, and breech births, but in the past few years they stopped doing those. He said it's all politics, and that they would like to do those types of births, but they have to do what they can to keep home birth a viable option at least for the low risk women.