16/08/2024
Diana is one month old and I can say that I was born again! A new, big transformation took over myself. “There is nothing I can’t do” - this was the immediate feeling I had when I got her with my own hands!
Yes, I got her with my own hands. I still remember about her skin, texture and temperature, so warm and so slippery!!! I will never forget these sensations!
I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and she came via the most respectful, powerful and intense VBAC.
As I said before, I will not share details of my experience here and this is not a birth report. As a birth worker I believe we can easily become a model of what is “beautiful”, what is “right”..., when in fact, there is no definition of those things! I wanna talk about things that were important to me in achieving my VBAC, such as:
- shared care and birth preparation;
- pressure on having a beautiful birth because I am a Doula?;
- afraid of giving birth?;
- did I think about requesting pain medication?;
- how did I feel about contractions?;
- how did I feel about birth?;
- did I use Hypnobirthing???
When I got the happy news of my second pregnancy I quickly connected the dots and thought: Who am I to the Dutch obstetric system? What do the protocols say? As a Doula I had all the answers by heart:
- Second time pregnancy - previous c-section - medical case - hospital birth.
Again as a Doula, I was aware of all this before being pregnant! I also knew I had 70% of chances of a successful VBAC, which I was very happy and confident about! However, the remaining 30% needed a lot of preparation and care!
I started my research!
Initially all I had in mind was a home birth! After talking to one or other person, my intuition got confused and I considered a hospital birth… but, I don’t like the medical setting!! I had a moment of not feeling safe anywhere and the “shared care” option came as a sunshine for me!!
Have you heard about shared care?
I’ll talk about this in the next post!
. to be continued
