Illustration by Richard Wilkinson.
Read Part I Here || Read Part II Here
When we arrived at the hospital they brought us into L&D room 7. J looked at me and said, “Seven, that’s a good number.” I agreed. I always take seven as a good sign and mentioned to J that this was the very room my last clients birthed in. That moment was the calm before the storm. Continue reading
A woman laboring on the ball. Illustrated by Megan Gnekow.
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I received a call from J at 1:00 AM, just as I was returning home from a night out with friends. J had been in labor for three hours and was now needing my assistance. I came home and packed up a few things. Brushed my teeth and tried to make sense of my hair. Not a stitch of make-up and I couldn’t even remember if I had showered that day. Oh, well, too late now. I changed my clothes, grabbed my doula bag and headed out the door. Continue reading
Baby shown in Frank breech position. (Courtesy of Flickr)
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I first noticed them in our Tuesday night Birthing From Within class. They had a quiet presence, a look about them that made me want to know them. Later that evening she introduced herself to the class. 40 years old and a first time mother. She’s a writer and an artist, he’s Italian and a professor. They are equally attractive as they are intelligent and artistic. I secretly want to be their doula. Please ask me, I think to myself. Continue reading
I am Joy, a happily married mother of two waterbirthed babies. I am a doula and a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator, who worked as a midwife's assistant at a freestanding birth center in TX. As of 2015, I'm a full-time nursing student who teaches childbirth classes at Park Ridge Health, The Baby Place, in Hendersonville, NC. I love serving laboring moms and I enjoy teaching birth education. I use this blog to write about it all - my life, my children, and my passion of all things childbirth.
The Joy of This 