Bumps, Birth, & Beyond: Complete Doula Care

About Me

I am a mother of two wonderful children. My daughter is 2.5 years old and my son is 3 months old. I did not have a doula with either of my pregnancies and truly believe having one would have helped me so much.

With my first pregnancy I ended up in the hospital at 37 and 3 days and was diagnosed with Obstetric Cholestasis and HELLP. I was induced and delivered at 37 and 4 days. I had a vaginal delivery that required help of a vacuum due to my daughter having decels. I had a postpartum hemorrhage and lost 3/5 of my blood. I then had retained placenta and needed a D’n’C to clear out my uterus.

With my second pregnancy I had partial placenta previa at 19 weeks which required me to go on medial leave from work, luckily it cleared at 26 weeks. At 28 weeks I was diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes and needed insulin to control it by 32 weeks. At 33 weeks I was diagnosed with a Pulmonary Embolism and was on blood thinners until 3 months postpartum. At 36 weeks and 4 days I was diagnosed with Preeclampsia and delivered at 36 weeks and 5 days via c-section due to my son being breech. We are now 3 months postpartum and my son has many health complications (Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Laringomylasia and Severe GERD) that we are still seeing specialists for and trying to find solutions. I have also been diagnosed with postpartum depression and anxiety.

I don’t tell you all this to invoke sympathy for myself but to tell you I can empathize with complications and sick children. For me I believe a doula would have been able to help me cope with my feelings of inadequacy and helped promote a more serene birth experience. I also believe had I had a doula to talk to about my feelings and had that female emotional support I may have been able to avoid the postpartum depression.

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