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Doulas: Give me your thoughts!
DH and I are starting to put together a very loose birthing plan, and are still really in the research stages, so I thought I'd ask all of the fabulous moms on here about Doulas: Did you use one? How was the experience? How did you find yours? Any recommendations?
We are hoping to be able to give birth at Midcoast Hospital in Brunswick, since we will predominantly be based out of my father's house in Woolwich. I really like the idea of having a Doula there to advocate for us since I want to be as concentrated on the actual birth as possible. I also am leaning towards having one as there will be a lot of grandparents/family (both sets of parents are divorced, some have new partners) that are going to be on hand for the birth, and having someone be able to serve as an interceptor would be great. Any and all advice would be much appreciated!
The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware; joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware. -Henry Miller
http://cookthehumbletable.blogspot.com/
Re: Doulas: Give me your thoughts!
We had a midwife "intern" with us throughout my pregnancy, so when it came down to the last few weeks, I asked if she was going to be there for the birth. When she said that she wouldn't be unless we wanted her to be, I jumped at the chance to have her function as a doula for us. It was totally the right decision for us and she was a great advocate for me. Our midwife tended to be on the nervous side (there were times when it was good that she was nervous) so having this person there helped us all to remain calm (and saved me from an episiotomy).
I highly recommend it. I know that there are doulas out there who also help with aftercare once you leave the hospital. If we could have afforded it, I totally would have been on board with that too. I was a wreck taking that baby home by myself!
Are you planning to have a med-free birth? That's where I think a doula might be useful.
I didn't have a doula and I don't think I missed anything. I got induced with pitocin after my water broke. I walked in the hallway a little bit during early labor but mostly I needed to stay in bed on the fetal monitor. A couple of hours into labor I had a dose of Stadol and was loopy/sleepy for a couple of hours. After that wore off, I got an epidural and spent the rest of the night dozing in bed. At 4 am the nurse woke me up and told me it was time to push. I pushed for an hour and delievered DD. I'm not sure what a doula would have done for me; I was druggeed and asleep for much of my labor!
I would agree with this. I was awake and irritable for my entire labor!
The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware; joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware. -Henry Miller
http://cookthehumbletable.blogspot.com/
I had my baby at Midcoast last month and I will tell you that the nurses and OBs are fabulous! I was in labor long enough that I had to switch nurses part way through, but it didn't bother me. Both of them were awesome and I am still so grateful for their help. The second one stuck with me until the bitter end and I'm pretty sure her shift was over before the baby was out. I had wanted a doula but never met with any because my husband completely on board with the idea and I wasn't sure I wanted the added expense. Even though my baby's birth didn't go as I had planned, I felt that everyone there supported my wishes (e.g. I said don't ask me if I want pain medications and no one did). They took such good care of me and the baby. A couple of times they even gave my husband a meal when they had an extra one.
As far as breastfeeding goes, the support at Midcoast could not be better, in my opinion. Every nurse we had was able to help me get Feisty latched on and we were visited by lactation consultants every day. They also called after we were home to see how we were doing. I got lucky that my baby wanted to nurse right away, but I also had nurses helping me with every feeding those first few days.
Let me know if more info would be helpful, but the bottom line is I think you find Midcoast a very supportive hospital for natural birth whether or not you decide to have a doula.
Best wishes...I hope you have a wonderful birth experience!
I had Marcus at Midcoast also, and had a great experience there. It didn't all go as I planned, but I found the nurses and my MW's to be super supportive of my choices all along. I also agree that the lactation support there is excellent; I got a lot of it because I was there for a week because Marcus had some issues. Are you going to be with an OB or a MW? You may be able to get a lot of the things you'd want from a doula from a MW at Midcoast without the extra cost of a doula. I agree, that you will likely have a great experience at Midcoast even without a doula.
The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware; joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware. -Henry Miller
http://cookthehumbletable.blogspot.com/
I hope not because I'm excited to have a baby at Mercy again and I'm not pregnant nor do I even want to be pregnant now! It was just that great. I hope my favorite nurse Pam is there again- I'll cry if she's not!
Thanks for paddling around in the "crazy pool" with me(come on in all, the water's great!)- totally made me feel better! I swear, I've had about 10 emails back & forth with my mom today (she works @ MMC) about MidCoast and how much she loves it since it's where she has all of her medical work done, and I'm kind of glad I'm not up there right now, b/c I'd be scheduling a tour for tomorrow
The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware; joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware. -Henry Miller
http://cookthehumbletable.blogspot.com/
We chose Mercy hospital wayyy before actually needing one, BIL/SIL delivered there and we fell in love with the place. It really was a great experience, besides the some of the physical stuff. (I still haven't forgotten all of it, but am sure I soon will.) So now after being there to deliver Delia, I am already looking forward to seeing the nurses again. Gosh Erika, I didn't even contemplate having different nurses...
Now as far as a doula, I actually had a student MW who was paired with a triage nurse since the actual midwife was delivering another baby in the next room. It sounds like the MW's at Midcoast are pretty highly recommended and perhaps a doula would be an added expense..On the other hand it is totally up to you and your DH, do what makes you comfortable and prepared to give birth...if you feel that an extra person to focus on you and DH is what you need then go for it. It's definatly a journey and the outcome is pretty awesome...
Haha I feel the same way about MMC!