Conceiving is simply beautiful, yet what happens emotionally and physically when conceiving is not as simple.
Kelly is a Birth Center mom who has had both a medicated hospital birth and a natural birth with The Birth Center. She is a prime example of why relaxing and trusting your body plays a big role in conception.
Originally I had a hard time conceiving. My husband and I were actively trying with my first. It felt like a never ending cycle of “not this month AGAIN!” emotions. Ultimately, we opted to see a fertility specialist/OBGYN due to our “why isn’t this happening for us?” scenario. We learned there was nothing medically wrong with our fertility. We ultimately just needed to let go, stop tracking, relax and let it happen.
I am a public school teacher; therefore, we have off for spring break – no work means no stress … you guessed it, Pregnant! All I had to do was trust my body and destress just as our nurse practitioner predicted.
I was pregnant in the spring. (With my first baby)
Conception with my Birth Center baby was a little bit diffrent yet somewhat alike. Conception was not in our favor as simply as sperm meets the egg once again. Yet knowing that we did it once before eased my mind this time around. Unfortunately, my husband and I experienced our first misscarriage in which no one prepares you for the heartbreaking moment of conceiving and losing. This pregnancy was very early, and though it was stressful, I knew that in the back of my head what is meant to be is meant to be. The experience helped me step back and reevaluate how caught up I was in the process of tracking my fertility and scheduling “the conception”. I let go of all the business side of becoming pregnant. We chose to let go and just live again. Let what is meant to happen for us, happen at its own time.
Once we threw in the towel of trying, we obtained the positive pink lines again. Finding out I was pregnant with my Birth Center baby after the misscarriage made the first trimester worrisome for me. To regain my peace of mind, The Birth Center wrote me down for an early ultrasound. The peace I obtained from this was exceptional. The ultrasound gave us a timeline of how far along we were.
I chose the birth center because I always wanted to have a natural birth. I believe strongly in the woman’s body and ability to give birth with the right support and the right information. I think a problem with our society is we are not effectively educating women about their bodies about birth, labor, pregnancy, breastfeeding, etc. and the fact that the majority of medical professionals are not supporting women appropriately or effectively. I felt the connection with The Birth Center mainly because of the educational support they provide and the open communication with the midwives. I am one to enjoy autonomy over my own body and true support from a medical professional vs control. Once I knew The Birth Center was close to home, I knew that was going to be the right path for me.
With my first pregnancy I was unable to birth at TBC due to my water breaking and no labor progression within 24 hours. Therefore, I had to transfer to Christiana Hospital where I received pitocin, obtained an epidural and gave birth to a healthy baby girl.
My birth with my son, Cody, was a very unplanned birth experience for which I am grateful. I was having a very strong contraction while we were trying to make it to TBC. Little did I know everyone was having a baby the same day at the same time. All the rooms were filled, and we were placed in the green room. Yes, the one without a tub, and I couldn’t care less. Once you are this far in labor, it doesn’t even matter as long as you made it with the support you needed. Someone had walked into our room whom I had never seen. She proceeded to ask us to tell her about ourselves which was fine, yet I bursted out saying “I don’t know who you are!” At this moment she restarted the conversation and introduced herself to us. She let us know she was a Birth Center doula, and she was here to support us alongside our nurse due to how busy the center was that day. I was ultimately so grateful for Annetta. She was lovely and her support was invaluable. My husband is one to benefit from being told how to be helpful in moments like this; he tends to take a stand-back approach. Annetta offered him options for things he can do for me. She demonstrated ways to support me in which my husband mirrored. This support was more than I could have asked. I recommend a doula for everyone! I was lucky to have been given the gift of Annetta at my birth.
As my husband was, as they call it, “rocking the apples,” my water broke. Coincidentally, we assured him he didn’t do it as his face was flushed. Within 15 minutes I was holding on to the dresser standing up, and I knew it was time to push. Part of me was wondering how long I would have to endure this level of pain. At this point I became best friends with the dresser, and I continued to grip on to the dresser. I pushed as I obtained verbal support from my nurse. I had Annetta in my field of vision as she fought to hold the dresser against the wall. At the last minute, Sarah Grace ran into the room encouraging my last push. She was there just in time to catch my son.
Cody was born a healthy baby boy
9lbs 8 oz
at 3:25pm
on 6/15/2022
The calm after the birth is an absolute aww moment. We were able to regain our energy, nap, and eat in peace before I got up to take a much needed shower before heading home. We had planned ahead for my in-laws to care for our toddler at their home for 24 hours after the baby was born. This gave us time to bond with the baby before introducing the two siblings to each other. I highly recommend this if you have older children.
The advice I would give is, be kind to your body and trust the process.