A Doula Story

I am preparing for natural childbirth. I know, I know - it hurts. For those of you who know me well, this really shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. There is a lot about natural childbirth that appeals to the hippy side of me. I am not kidding myself that it will be easy. In fact, know it will not be easy. The most important thing is that the baby is healthy and that I am healthy. If drugs are necessary for that outcome then that is fine too.

To support both Mike and I during labor we would like to have a doula with us. Mike and I have taken a natural childbirth class with a woman named Rita who was recommended by my OB. Rita is AWESOME. I just can't even describe her she is so great. As my OB says, she "gets it". Mike and I both really connected with her. She is very hippy, she is very spiritual, laid back, funny and just awesome. And she is a trained doula who has attended over 400 births. So naturally we wanted her to be our doula. Well the catch is the I am due Aug 17 which is a Friday and she was supposed to be going on a two week vacation Aug 17!

So after dealing with that disappointment we set off to find someone else. As I mentioned I have spoken to several doulas and one conversation leads to a referral for another doula etc. As you might imagine, there can be a bit of a political edge to a doula - frowning on medication, frowning on hospital births and preferring home birth etc. I am having the baby in a hospital - not my home. I completely believe in the wonders of western medicine and want every medical advancement at my disposal when giving birth. So I didn't see eye to eye with several of the doulas I spoke with.

I then spoke with two doulas who seemed to get me. Carrie and Barbara. Mike and I met with each of them last weekend. They each had their strengths and weaknesses, but I think both would be fine. But after each meeting, what kept hitting me is "but they aren't Rita."

I had called Rita earlier in the week to schedule a massage and she called back and left a message on Sunday. Then Sunday night before I had chance to call her back, Mike and I went to see Harry Potter and as we were leaving the theater, who did we run into - RITA! She wanted to know if we had found someone to work with. I told her not really and then she said that her vacation plans had change. So we made arrangements to talk in the morning.

I spoke to her Monday morning. Her husband is a police officer and was not able to get all of the time off that they wanted so for the last three weekends in Aug they are going away each weekend, but she will be here Monday - Friday. It still isn't the perfect scenario, but it's something. Assuming I don't know into labor Aug 17-19 or Aug 24-26. Murphy's law, right?

So Mike and I are going to meet with her backup doula this Sunday to see what we think of her and if all goes well, then I am going to try my darnedest to get this kid out on a weekday. If I go into labor on one of the weekends she is away then her backup would be our doula.

So that was a really long post! If you want to know more about Rita (I am sure I sound like a psycho by now) you can check her out at http://www.mothermeinc.com/contact.php