I HAVE FOUR WONDERFUL BLESSINGS

 

We had difficulty getting pregnant at first, but luckily, with just a little help we were able to start our family. After not being able to get pregnant, we waited the complete first trimester before we shared our joy. Pregnancy was easy and I felt great throughout. We took The Bradley Method® classes and learned more about birth than we ever knew before. We had known we wanted a natural birth, but the classes really helped us to understand the benefits to natural birth without intervention. We were very lucky and found a great midwife along with our amazing doula we had lined up (she was our The Bradley Method® teacher). When labor first started, my husband and I were a little freaked out since contractions were only minutes apart. After a call to our doula, we calmed down and remembered what we wanted for our birth and prepared the tub for me to labor in. Our goal was to labor at home as long as possible and then head to the free-standing birth center. After several hours, we headed to the center. We labored in the tub at the center and then started to push. After a few hours of pushing, we we ecstatic to welcome our son into the world. Everyone was healthy and we had our beautiful birth. At about 24 hours we were ready to leave the birth center, but our son was having breathing problems. He was breathing very fast and could not properly nurse due to not being able to catch his breath. We went to the ER and were admitted to the NICU shortly. They did a partial transfusion and removed some of his blood and immediately his respirations went into the normal range. We spent the next two days bonding with our baby and trying to get out of the hospital. When we finally got home we had great support from our doula. While the later aftermath of our birth was not what we wanted, we ended up with a healthy baby boy. 

 

Our second baby came without any help from fertility specialists and we were overjoyed to give our son a sibling. This pregnancy too was fairly easy on me and when labor started this time we knew what we were doing. Our doula met us at the house to help us labor at home as long as possible yet again. When we finally headed to the birth center we got there just in time. After having one contraction in the hallway of the center I made it to the bed and knew I was ready to push. My pushing didn't take long as this kid was in a hurry to get out. After repositioning and pushing almost standing up, our second beautiful son was born. Everything went so well that after 6 hours we headed home with our healthy baby. 

 

After a few years I got the itch for another little blessing to join our family. We needed more fertility help this time and quickly found ourselves expecting baby #3. The birth center was no longer in operation and our midwife was doing home births so we opted to have our baby at home as the first two births had gone well without intervention. This pregnancy was not so easy and at the end I wound up with a cold that left me with strained and separated muscles and constant deep coughing. The cure...delivery of the baby. After using acupuncture to help us as we eased towards the due date, my water broke a week early. About a half hour later contractions began. We called our midwife and got into the tub(my ultimate relaxation area during labor, obviously). After two short hours we moved from the tub to the bedroom and there we delivered our beautiful baby girl. It was so nice being at home and when the boys came home from school they were able to join us in the bed and meet their new sister. 

 

Before we knew it, we were very blessed to find out we were pregnant again without any fertility treatments. The pregnancy went very well and before we knew it; the due date was fast approaching. Due during the holidays, I was praying for the baby to stay inside until we got through Christmas with the other children. But, at the last minute, this baby decided she wanted to join us in the festivities as well. In the course of 3 short hours, I started labor, got into the tub for a little while, moved to our bedroom yet again and pushed out our wonderful last addition. We enjoyed the eve of Christmas by getting to know our littlest and newest baby girl. The next morning we all got up to celebrate Christmas around our tree as a completely blessed family. 

 

I am a firm believer that the outcomes of my birth had to do with the preparation of Bradley childbirth classes, a wonderful doula who gave us amazing support and a great midwife who we trusted completely with the health of our family. I think natural is best and it worked well for our family.

 

We are blessed beyond belief.