The Impact of our Birth Experience


Happy Birthday Corey!

My entire family gathered around the dinner table last night to spend time together and to celebrate my brother Corey's 23rd birthday. My mom called me on Friday and invited us over(last minute as always, but luckily I always know the call is coming way before she ever calls me and we plan accordingly). I came early so I could spend some time with my sister and keep her company while she prepared a delicious dinner for us all. 7 home made pizzas! Everyone kept popping their heads into the kitchen, as none of us could wait much longer. Finally we all piled onto the dinner table, we had a full table. Did I mention I am the oldest of 8 kids? Yes, my mom had 8 babies(3 of which were triplets!) And now 4 grandkids. We all enjoy our favorite pizza, and as we begin to finish, we ask my mom the question that we know she loves to hear....

"So mom, tell us about Corey's birth!"

"Well," she says. "This was my first time at Pennsylvania Hospital, I wanted to use their birthing suites, but they were full and I was in the hallway......" 

She's thrilled we asked, just as she is with every single one of our birthdays, every single year... So 8 babies, that brings us to a March birthday, three June birthdays, three July birthdays and my September birthday. That's a lot of birth story telling. And she never ever tires of it... In fact, I am sure she would love to write out Corey's birth story so I can post it on here for you all.

We love telling our birth story's don't we moms? Any time someone wants to listen! There was a study done by reknowned doula, Penny Simkin, telling us that the impact of a woman's birth experience is life long. Click here for that article: http://www.tabs.org.nz/pdfdocs/simpkin.pdf

Now that you know that your upcoming birth experience is going to be a memory that lasts a lifetime(and may be told over and over and over again if you're kids are as sweet as us and willing to listen;-), think about how you can put some thought into your birth. Who is going to be there? What do you want the atmosphere to feel like? Would you like some support during your birth? Do you want pain medication during birth? Do you want to hold your baby right away or have them go to the nursery? Thinking about and planning for these and many other questions will help guide your choices and forever shape the story you will be telling for years to come.

As my mom told Corey's birth story for the thousandth time last night, there were about 10 times where I had to interject and say, "mom, you really could have used a doula at that point huh?"  Hiring a doula to help you plan for this event as well as be at the event to gently guide you to assist it all happening has been shown to create more positive memories and stories.

Don't wait another day, call us up to allow us to help you start planning for your birth story. Our birth story's really do stay with us for a life time.