Worth Their Weight in Gold – Christina, Tampa

review

If you are planning to have a natural birth, you need to hire these doulas.

Bailey and Amy were my pair of doulas and Bailey was the one on call for my birth. This probably won’t be a short review so the TL:DR (too long/didn’t read) version is:  If you are planning to have a natural birth, hire them. They are worth their weight in gold.
I was on the fence about both hiring a doula and having a natural birth. A couple friends of mine hired doulas and talked to me about their experience. At the time I thought if it got bad I would get an epidural, but I also recognized that as a first time mom with no family in the area it would be useful to have someone present that could be a helpful resource. I didn’t trust that my husband could make it through the birth without having a heart attack if left alone.

The things you get from Buddha Belly Birth Services:

  1. Constant communication via texts and/or emails with your doulas.
  2. A prenatal visit to go over your birth plan with your two doulas.
  3. One of your doulas present the day of your birth (mine came to our house because I decided to labor as long as possible at home)
  4. A post birth visit about a week after.

They were a wealth of information during the pregnancy. I had gestational diabetes and my doctors wanted to induce me on my due date. Amy and Bailey walked me through my options and if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have felt comfortable deciding I didn’t want to be induced (who knew you could say no to doctors). I believe babies come when they are supposed to and I had my diabetes under control via diet. (In the end, my baby came a day before his due date so he had perfect timing.)

I wouldn’t have even thought to put together a birth plan if it wasn’t for them. Basically they did all the research for me and gave me a template, which I copied when I decided to do a completely natural birth (no epidural.)
During the pregnancy, I’m pretty sure I would have died without them (I kept saying that they should just kill me). My baby was facing the wrong way so I was having insane back labor. Thank god for Bailey coming to my house, helping by pressing pressure points in my back, and then being in the hospital helping me breathe through the pain and giving tons of suggestions.
In the end, my labor was extremely painful and one of the worst experiences of my life (I’m not going to sugar coat it), but I was able to follow my birth plan completely through. I don’t think I would have made it through a natural birth without Bailey. Afterwards I found out that if I had gotten an epidural the doctor thought I would have ended up with a c section because of the way the baby was facing. Apparently it is hard to push out a baby that way, but my body knew what to do because I had no drugs in my system. I am such a baby with surgery that I thank my lucky stars that I didn’t end up with a c section. So, that means if I had to redo it, I would do a natural birth again, even though I’m still ranking this as the most painful experience of my life.

Bailey stayed with us for a while after the birth too (I can’t say how long since everything is a blur but I think about an hour). She is an angel and worth every penny.

If you balk at the price, in the end it was comparable to my maternity/newborn photos. If I had to choose between the two, I would choose the doula all day, every day (and I love my maternity photos).

To sum it up, if you want to do a natural birth, hire them. If you want an epidural, I would still check them out. It’s worth the money for the peace of mind that you will have experts on your side to help you have a birth that is close to what you want it to be (because lets be real, no birth ends up being exactly what you want.)
Christina G. – Tampa (source)

About Christie Collbran

Christie believes in helping women recognize their own inner wisdom, strength and power. Having served as President of the Tampa Bay Birth Network for six years and with ten years serving families as a birth doula, she has a reputation for leadership, dedication and compassion. A childbirth educator, certified lactation counselor as well as a certified doula, she makes a point of ensuring mothers and their partners understand all their birthing options and what to expect on their journey.> keep reading

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