Marcy's birth testimonial about being flexible with your birth plan

I met Aubrey by chance. I was chatting with a friend of a friend about my birth plan. I wanted a natural birth but I wouldn't be able to attend a birth class and had only read books about the process. She suggested I meet her friend Aubrey who was a doula. I jumped at the chance to speak with a doula about what kinds of services she could offer.

When my husband and I met Aubrey we knew we wanted to work with her. She was so positive and encouraging. I had some concerns about how well I would cope during the natural labor process and wanted to be able to have access to an epidural if needed. Aubrey was very supportive and helped me come up with a birth plan. She also showed me really helpful moves to cope with labor.

When the big day arrived my mother, my husband and Aubrey were all there as support. We fell into a rhythm of helping my body get ready for this baby. There were times during the labor process when I couldn't articulate what I needed to cope but Aubrey intuitively knew what I needed and when. She was a great help for my husband, giving him direction to help comfort me.

After 14 hours of laboring naturally, I chose to have medication. Though there is some relief with an epidural, there are times when the pressure felt a lot like pain. You'll need those precious coping techniques to handle labor when the medication wears off and you have to wait for the doctor to arrive to administer more.

Aubrey was fantastic at reminding me about my birth plan, answering my questions about laboring in a hospital, helping me cope with labor (both medicated and unmedicated) and empowering me as a woman.

For these reasons I will always recommend a doula for every kind of birth.

My mother told me afterwards how she will recommend a doula for my other sisters. There was a scary moment during the birth of her grandchild when she decided she really is ill-equipped to help support a laboring daughter when she was so terrified herself. She was so grateful for Aubrey and her calm and knowledgeable demeanor.