Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Doulas
This is a follow-up post to my brief birth story...
I cannot stress enough how valuable we found our doula to be during our birthing process. At first we hired her because of all the research we read about doulas and how they reduced the need for various interventions during the birthing process. But we got so much more than that.
We hired her at about 15 weeks and I emailed her throughout the pregnancy with questions and updates. She always returned my emails in a timely manner and was kind and supportive.
On the day I was induced she was there right after they broke my water. She walked in and got going. We began walking the halls and she talked me through every contraction and gave DH hints on how he could help me. She was helpful without being too intrusive and was able to anticipate our needs - whether it was massage, positioning, a cold cloth, grabbing the nurse or a calm voice. Throughout the whole process she took notes (which she emailed me as a timeline last week, so awesome because it was hard to remember all the details) and pictures.
While she can't give any medical advice, she did do some interpreting of the nurses actions and give us a heads up on what certain Dr.s and nurses usually did. She made it much easier for me to go as long as possible without an epidural (9 hours) and kept DH calm - he tends to be anxious. Which, in turn, kept me calm.
She also did a great job of relaying info to our families and being supportive to them as well.
Our doula came to visit us afterwards to offer support with BFing and stated that she will be available to us whenever we need her.
Yes, having a doula is an extra cost but it is SO WORTH IT!