It is my belief (and I am passionate about it!!) that there is one thing everyone must experience in their lifetime. That is: the birth of a baby, in all its raw form and emotion. I believe it is one of the most humbling, reverent experiences and should not be missed.

Birth is a journey, not only through pregnancy and labor, but through the beginning of a new life. Once you become a parent, your life changes so much, that you have no choice, but to change with it. You learn from this journey; you make mistakes along the way; and you become educated on this journey.

My birth journey began in 1999. I was the typical new mom-to-be. I enrolled in the OB-recommended, "hospital setting" prepared childbirth class. It was a great beginning for giving me a general sense and understanding about pregnancy and birth. I was empowered . . . I figured I was educated 'enough.' As I look back now, I would have changed a few things. While I thought I was all set, I would have benefited from more information. I thought I knew it all, and boy was I wrong!

As a first-time Mom, I should have hired myself a Doula. I would most likely have had a different outcome for my first birth, which subsequently, would have changed the next three births. This is not to say that my birth experiences were horrible. They were not, by any means. In my first birth, I firmly believe that I was the conventional laboring Mom, doing all the things that I was told to do. In the end, a cesarean was the outcome, and with that, I was thankful to some degree. My son was born after 18 long hours of labor, and I needed him out.  For those circumstances, that end result was right for a healthy me and healthy baby. I had no ill will about the experience, and I was certain that “next time it will be different!”

Well, next time came and, ironically, it wasn’t that  different. I had a baby girl at 37 weeks gestation that was frank breech. She made no effort to turn on her own and with a past history of c-section my OB was not comfortable performing an external version. See folks, this is where the Doula would have come in nice and handy! My Doula would have taught me positions to get into prior to labor to help baby rotate. She would have peppered me with information and techniques that I could have done myself, to encourage change. She would have implemented me with advice and articles on VBACs and what to prepare for.

So, there I was again, facing another c-section. As a general ‘rule’ in the ACOG, (American College of Obstetricians Gynecologists), way of thinking, once a cesarean always a cesarean. I was certainly headed on that road for sure...for my third and fourth births both resulted in a cesarean as well. I will never say that I had a bad experience in the birth of my children.  I love my birth experiences.  Were they what I dreamed of? No. Were they ideal? No. They are something special though, because they are mine!

Hindsight is 20/20 and we can’t go back. However, we can go forward.  We can educate ourselves and flood our minds with the options that we do, in fact, have! Whether this is your first birth or your fifth birth, we all have options. We all have the right to have a better birth experience. We have the choices to help us make our ideal birth happen. Sometimes it doesn’t always work out that way. Sometimes it falls short in our own minds. In the end, they will be your births. They will become your journey and your story to tell. That, in itself, will be special . . .  not only to you as the traveler, but to your children as well. No matter how it happens, how it all comes to pass, this will be your journey.

   
Make it count!