I was over half-way through my first pregnancy when I came across a fabulous book by Rhea Dempsey called Birthing With Confidence. I knew then that I needed and wanted an experienced Doula whom I could build a relationship with leading up to the birth and who I could trust through the whole process. While searching through the list of people trained by Rhea Dempsey, I came across Stephanie’s details and I knew I had found my special person.
Stephanie was amazing to have on our team. With her wealth of knowledge and experience, she was so gracious with her time and care in getting to know my husband and I and our birth plan. I had a clear idea of what I hoped would be my process during the labour and with Stephanie’s help we went through the many possibilities and outcomes, our thoughts and feelings, hopes and fears, and what may happen in things didn’t go to plan.
My husband and I felt as prepared as we could, and very confident that with Stephanie by our side we could navigate our desire to have a drug-free labour spent predominantly at home with the final stages in the hospital birth suite.
My labour began with a bang and continued at full speed. There was little time between contractions and they were strong from the beginning. Stephanie arrived after some hours and I immediately felt a sense of relief knowing she had experience this many times before. I felt sage and able to let go in my labour freely. For the first 14 hours our little team were deep in the heart of the birth in our home. After this amount of time I was exhausted, the contractions were so strong, I had started to vomit. I felt completely out of control and I still needed to get in the car to get to the hospital, so we headed off on our way. The car ride was very difficult but on arriving at the hospital thing settled a little. After many more hours I was unable to cope with the discomfort I was in so I opted for the water injections as they were in alignment with my plan for a drug-free labour. I was not prepared for how painful these would be. My lower back pain did diminish dramatically but I felt I had shut down somewhere in the process with the level of pain these caused. With adrenalin now charging through my system, my dilation went backwards.
I had to make many choices from this point onward which were not in my plan, however because Stephanie had been so thorough in covering all of the potential outcomes I felt that with each choice I faced I could make clear and conscious decisions about the next step forward. This was very empowering, as I would have really struggled had I not been as prepared or had I felt that I was being pressured. Stephanie held the space for me completely… I felt very supported and nurtured by her. I also had full confidence with Stephanie by my side that I could be in control of my decisions at the hospital – a vital element when in labour, especially for the first time.
After 27 hours our beautiful daughter was born into this world. Stephanie was right by our side and we will be forever grateful for her amazing level of calm and nurturing throughout the whole process.
I would highly recommend Stephanie as a doula – her assistance to both myself and to the needs of my husband were priceless.
We will always have such a special connection with her. My husband I I often say “God bless her” for being our strong guiding light during the birth of our daughter!
Thank-you so much Stephanie xx
Nicole – 2014