{"id":2946,"date":"2020-09-01T18:22:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-01T18:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yaffotheme.com\/primary\/?p=2946"},"modified":"2022-01-17T18:43:01","modified_gmt":"2022-01-17T18:43:01","slug":"seven-ways-to-maintain-eternal-happiness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/?p=2946","title":{"rendered":"Doula or Not to Doula (My Second Delivery)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery alignwide columns-2 is-cropped wp-block-gallery-1 is-layout-flex wp-block-gallery-is-layout-flex\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"683\" height=\"1024\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAqsAAAQAAQMAAAD83oKlAAAAA1BMVEUAAP+KeNJXAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAAAlwSFlzAAAOxAAADsQBlSsOGwAAAG1JREFUeNrtwTEBAAAAwqD1T20JT6AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHgaXA8AAaOSslwAAAAASUVORK5CYII=\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3832\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Picture7.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/?attachment_id=3832\" class=\"wp-image-3832 nebotheme-lazyload lazyload\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-ls-sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 683px) 100vw, 683px\" data-src=\"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Picture7-683x1024.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Picture7-683x1024.jpg 683w, https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Picture7-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Picture7-768x1152.jpg 768w, https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Picture7-1024x1536.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Picture7-1365x2048.jpg 1365w, https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Picture7-830x1245.jpg 830w, https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Picture7-1200x1800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Picture7.jpg 1560w\"><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"460\" height=\"630\" src=\"data:image\/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAcwAAAJ2AQMAAADorCBLAAAAA1BMVEUAAP+KeNJXAAAAAXRSTlMAQObYZgAAAAlwSFlzAAAOxAAADsQBlSsOGwAAADtJREFUeNrtwTEBAAAAwqD1T+1vBqAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAADeAJEyAAH40dncAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"3726\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DoulaPicture1.jpg\" data-link=\"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/?attachment_id=3726\" class=\"wp-image-3726 nebotheme-lazyload lazyload\" data-sizes=\"auto\" data-ls-sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 460px) 100vw, 460px\" data-src=\"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DoulaPicture1.jpg\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DoulaPicture1.jpg 460w, https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/DoulaPicture1-219x300.jpg 219w\"><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>I was not planning on sharing anything regarding my delivery but I have received a lot of questions from friends and family regarding my experience with a Doula so here I am, sharing it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We decided that we would have a doula with our second child because my delivery with my first could have gone better.\u00a0 I can share those details another time but the main problem I had with my first was that I felt like I was not being heard.\u00a0 To try to avoid that the second time around, I wanted someone with me that would help my medical team understand my wishes.\u00a0 So we hired a doula.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We interviewed our doula first to make sure that she was a good fit.\u00a0 The doula and company that we chose was a great choice for us because I had a team of doulas.\u00a0 That meant that if my doula could not make it, there were two other doulas that would take her place.\u00a0 They also made sure that I met my team before my delivery month so that I would be comfortable with any last minute changes.\u00a0 I was also able to stay in contact with them the rest of my pregnancy via group chat.\u00a0 If I had any questions or concerns or simply wanted to vent about something pregnancy related, they were there.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Due to covid, on the day of my induction,\u00a0 I could only have two people in my delivery room at a time.\u00a0 The plan was to have my doula come and get us settled in, then my mother would stay during the downtime when we were awaiting things to get started, once things started to get a little more tense, my doula would return and help me through labor.\u00a0 Perfect plan right?\u00a0 Well that did not happen.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When we arrived at the hospital, my doula helped us get settled, made sure everyone had a copy of my visual birth plan, and stayed a few hours until we were simply in the \u201cwaiting period\u201d.\u00a0 When I arrived at the hospital I was 4 cm dilated.\u00a0 I went four hours with Pitocin, a labor-inducing drug, and did not progress very much so we decided to have my physician break my water and that is when things started, to get real, real fast.\u00a0 My contractions were almost instantly more intense, but because I could breathe through them, I thought I was fine.\u00a0 My husband and nurse were providing counter pressure for me as I bounced on a yoga ball.\u00a0 Eventually, I felt like I had to go to the bathroom.\u00a0 My nurse escorted me to the bathroom and was by my side when I had a <em>really<\/em> intense contraction.\u00a0 I told her it felt like I had to poop (TMI but I don\u2019t care, this is my story).\u00a0 She immediately got me out of the bathroom and told my medical team that I was asking (more like yelling) for Epidural and in a lot of pain.\u00a0 My physician checked me out and told me that I was 10 cm dilated and medication would slow things down.\u00a0 The OB\/GYN\u2019s exact words were, \u201cI think if you give us two good pushes, your baby will be here.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I was in disbelief for obvious reasons and kept asking for Epidural when I had another contraction and pop, there was our baby girl\u2019s head.\u00a0 All-in-all, I only pushed three times.\u00a0 From the time my water broke to the time I delivered was roughly\u00a0 30 minutes.\u00a0 Even though I did not have Epidural, it was the best delivery experience\u00a0 and I had virtually no downtime (I can share these specifics too another time).\u00a0 Of course, right after I delivered our baby girl, my doula walked in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My delivery was a little more complicated due to covid but while my doula was in the room with us, she did ensure that the medical team knew what I wanted and left to ask the medical team any questions we had and kept us informed of what was going to happen next.\u00a0 Post delivery, she was also there to ensure that certain things happened (for example, I was one of the weirdos that wanted to look at my placenta\u2026she knew my plan and made sure I had my placenta tour).\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Because my doula did not make it to my delivery, we ended up using her as a postpartum doula which was amazing.\u00a0 My mom left after three weeks and I did not want to be alone during the day with the girls so my doula ended up helping me weeks four and five.\u00a0 She was a true blessing.\u00a0 Our doula ended up helping me with things like how to breastfeed in a carrier and checked in with me on how I was feeling.\u00a0 She also cleaned, helped out with our rambunctious toddler, brought me food and was just an overall extension of how my mom would have helped me if she were there.\u00a0 I would tell any mommy that a postpartum doula is a wonderful investment because they alleviate some of the pressure for you and you can actually get some rest or focus more on what you need to (your new addition) without being overwhelmed.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Deliveries rarely go exactly to plan.\u00a0 Therefore, if you feel like you would like some extra care, invest in a doula but here are some pointers:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Prior to delivery make sure you are able to meet your doula (or your team) that will be at your delivery<\/li><li>Have a back-up that you are comfortable with in case anything happens to your doula and they are not able to be there when you deliver.<\/li><li>If you are not able to use their services for your delivery, see if they can provide other services for you as a replacement (such as postpartum care).<\/li><li>Make sure that they understand your delivery plan and the specific things that you would like to avoid if possible.\u00a0 This way your doula can advocate for you.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-default\"\/>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote has-text-align-center is-style-large is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>\u201c<em>Remember your delivery is such a special time and the more support you have, the better.\u00a0<\/em>\u201c<\/p><cite>\u2014 Coley w.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator is-style-default\"\/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was not planning on sharing anything regarding my delivery but I have received a lot of questions from friends and family regarding my experience with a Doula so here I am, sharing it all. We decided that we would have a doula with our second child because my delivery with my first could have &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3836,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[88,90,92,102,94,108,95,103,104,97,99,86,96,87,93,107,98,105,89,101,91,100],"class_list":["post-2946","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mommy-ing","tag-baby","tag-breastfeeding","tag-doula","tag-early-childhood-development","tag-early-childhood-education","tag-featured","tag-high-contrast-images","tag-learning-through-play","tag-mom-life","tag-mommy-blogger","tag-montessori","tag-motherhood","tag-newborn","tag-parenting","tag-postpartum","tag-pregnancy","tag-sensory-play","tag-siblings","tag-toddler","tag-toys","tag-tummy-time","tag-waldorf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2946","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2946"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2946\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3838,"href":"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2946\/revisions\/3838"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3836"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2946"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2946"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/coleys-table.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2946"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}