I've done a lot since the last time I posted here. I'm still doing the doula-ing and loving it. My most recent adventure has been my own home birth. My son was born here at home on the August long weekend. It was amazing, and I was so grateful I was able to experience it.
My daughter's birth was long, in a hospital where I received and epidural and pitocin. Although I was still under the care of my midwives, I felt detached from what is a "natural" experience. I was tired, overwhelmed and just wanted to get it over with. I had great care and support, but I was just done. It took me a while to recover and I had some issues with breastfeeding because of all the edema that had built up due to being on the saline drip for so long. I had gone into childbirth hoping to be able to go longer without intervention, but you know, best laid plans and all.
It took over 2 years for us to get pregant (that lasted more than the first trimester) the second time. I was diagnosed with MALT, a form of cancer, when my daughter was 18 months old. After surgery and radiation, we waited for a year before trying for another child. We tried on our own for a year, and then with the help of a fertility clinic we did get a sticky baby, eventually.
I started planning for a home birth in my second trimester. Since I knew what a contraction felt like, there was less of that fear of the unknown to deal with. That's a huge issue for a lot of first time mums. I had been teaching childbirth classes for a while and helping moms with their births for 5 years so I felt much better prepared than i had been the first time around. My midwives were very supportive of a homebirth, they set me up with my
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