Birth Fair

On Saturday, March 27th, there was a holistic birth fair here in DeKalb. It was AMAZING, to say the least.

When I first walked in, I was able to talk to the woman who is teaching the Bradly Method class that I will start auditing starting on Friday. I am really really excited to get my Child Birth Education classes started.

I was next able to introduce myself to the co-leaders of the ICAN of Kane county. I was so happy to be able to meet them. They were awesome. After talking to them for a little while I was able to go behind the desk with them and share the wealth of information that ICAN can give to woman. I enjoyed it. Tons of woman were in need of a DeKalb ICAN....Hopefully we may be able to start one eventually. The woman were awesome. I connected so well with them. It was heartbreaking hearing the stories some of the woman had. I just wish more woman were able to educate themselves better before or during their first pregnancy. I think so much could be avoided if books like WTEWYE weren't around!I even mentioned The Feminist Breeder  a couple of times. There were a couple who were interested in the Doctor/nurse facebook comments! There were a couple woman I was able to give some good advice to I believe! I can't wait for the meeting in April.


I was also able to speak with a couple local doulas, who I LOVED! One in particular, I was able to talk to about mentoring me once I was able to start attending births. I am so glad I asked because she hadn't even thought about that. There were about three other woman there who were reading and doing their child birth classes. I also meet three doulas. I never knew there were so many trying to become or already existing doulas in the area. It really is exciting to see all the woman interested, in my area, in getting a better birth.

I was also able to meet some other birth professionals as well. There was a woman there who does placenta encapsulation. I really wish she had been around when I had Emmie in September. She gave pretty interesting information on what the hospitals may do with some of the "medical waste". It was disgusting honestly. I am really hoping next pregnancy I am able to use this woman. I think it would indeed help me avoid PPD. Although having a meaningful birth experience, the way a woman is supposed to, would also help me avoid the PPD.

What I will do to be DONA Certified....

So as my blogging name implies, I am either a Doula or in the process of becoming a Doula. In this case I am in process of becoming a doula. In order to this I need to take a Child birth education class, a DONA, workshop, and a breastfeeding class before I can attend births. I am really anxious to starting being able to attend births.

Anyway... I recently contacted the woman who is running a workshop in May. Luckily for me the workshop contains the breastfeeding class in it. BONUS! I am going to have to read 5 books, three of which I have to read as a required reading for DONA certification. Currently I am on my The Doula Book: How a Trained Labor Companion Can Help You Have a Shorter, Easier, and Healthier Birth. For some reason it has been kind of tedious to finish up. I am hoping to have it don by tomorrow at the latest. Then it is onto The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers: The Most Comprehensive Problem-Solving Guide to Breastfeeding from the Foremost Expert in North America [ULTIMATE BREASTFEEDING B-R]! Thank goodness for the library because in books alone so far I have spent 30 dollars, but the isn't including books I've already bought.

The Child birth education class that I am going to take is the Bradley Method. I am lucky that I found one starting on April 2nd and decently close. My fiance was able to get every Friday off for it so he could stay with the kiddos. The woman who is hosting the class is letting me audit without a fee unless I would like a "text book". All that I need to do is help her set up and put away. As well as helping with any demonstrations. I was lucky to find the class when I did because the lady who is hosting the workshop has made it a requirement!

The workshop is going to cost a pretty penny on its own but again very much worth it. Unfortunately the class is in Elmhurst which is about an hour and fifteen minutes away. Another not so amazing point is that it starts at 9a.m., three days in a row. BLAH!!! I am really excited that the class is coming soon though. I really can't wait!

This is me....

Well this is my first official blog post. Let me give a little more detail on myself than the description gives.....

I found out I was pregnant with my son on October 17th 2007, at the ripe age of 17. I had no clue what I was going to do. My boyfriend, now fiance, and I had discussed it and "taking care of it" just was not something we were willing to do. I half heatedly skimmed through "What to expect when you're expecting"! It held no interest for me and I thought we would just figure it out along the way. I was the typical main stream mom to be and went right for an OBGYN. I had never even heard of a midwife, or really any holistic type medicine. At 39 weeks and two days I had an ultrasound for fluid and a non stress test. Everything was fine but the OB said since my son was big, we should schedule a cesarean. I asked why not try to induce, he told me that we could but it would probably end in a cesarean. And a cesarean after labor was much harder to recover from. I went along with it. I had no problems. My section went great and I had a baby by 7:35 am on Thursday, June 5th 2008.

Fast forward about seven months.....

On Friday, January 2nd 2009 I found out we were expecting again. I thought having one little monster was hard... how the heck was I going to manage two! I went and bought some books this time around. I had heard about what a midwife was. I was looking for "Spiritual Midwifery" but instead found Henci Goer's book "The Thinking Womans Guide to a Better Birth." It opened my eyes to natural childbirth. I was determined to have a VBAC. I found a midwifery practice who would let me VBAC! Although I would eventually have to drive an hour and forty - five minutes, it was worth it to me! My water broke at 41 weeks exactly, at 1 a.m. Continuous rushes still hadn't started so I went into the hospital at 41.1 weeks at 9 p.m. They augmented my labor with pitocin. Long story short, after 18 long hours of medicated free labor, two failed epidurals, and a failed spinal I was put under general anesthesia to have an unplanned(I call it this instead of an emegency because Emaree's,pronounced emery, heart rate was just fine) cesarean. In my medical record it will say "failure to progress" but it was really failure to know how to give an epidural so I could relax! It was horrible! That's about all I can say on that.

We plan on ttc after we get married and are planning on VBA2C!

Well thats all for now.

Future Doula
Allie