Birth

Now besides medical intervention, there’s not a lot on the market for birth. And I think that most people are like, “whelp, the baby’s gotta come out of me somehow!” and then they plan to go to the hospital and don’t really think a lot more about it.

This is unfortunate because babies coming out of bodies is no easy feat… yeah yeah you might hear some boomers say, “but women have been having babies for thousands of years!”. Yeah and you know what else? Women have been dying and being traumatized by birth of also thousands of years, but no one is talking about it.

Well, I’m going to talk about it and at the same time offer a recommend that is a little bit unexpected for a tech and babies’ blog. If you are pregnant, please, please consider getting a doula for your delivery. PLEASE.

What is a doula? A doula is a specialized caregiver who is there for your experience, someone to make you feel safe. Because guess what? If a pregnant person does not feel safe, labour will stall. We are animals after all. And if labour stalls then medical interventions are necessary. Think of this another way, how many of us have experience with labour and delivery? Maybe like fifty years ago when midwives were much more popular, but now the majority of Canadians give birth in hospitals. I gave birth in a hospital and medically, things went well. Emotionally? Hell no.

We did have a doula planned for birth, her name is Juliet and you can find her here.  But because my kiddo was born in one of the covid waves Juliet could not be present for my birth and I ended up getting a epidural (which I didn’t want) and a c-section. Now I’ve made my peace with my decision for a c-section. But looking back over the whole experience? I would much rather have had an experienced person who knows what a labouring body needs. Someone there for my experience, who could as much as possible keep me feeling safe. Because now when my kiddo’s birthday rolls around I have a deep twinge of sadness, because that day really sucked for me and I am forced to remember it year after year.

Another doula I met along the way is named Marj, you can find her here. She also offers prenatal yoga and consultations/postpartum support for after birth. Postpartum support is huge. Especially if you want to try and nurse. It’s funny how overwhelming bringing home a new person can be. But it was fucking scary, and I would 100% recommend having some postpartum support too. You can even find some doulas who offer over night support like this group of sisters. Essentially, they’ll come to your home around 10pm and then they will care for baby overnight while you try and get some rest. Newborns eat every couple of hours, and if you’re nursing it’s incredibly important to establish a decent routine in those first early weeks. A night doula talks care of baby and will bring them to you to nurse if you want.

So, rant over. But I cannot overemphasise how important it is to have as much support for birth and postpartum. If you have family, good for you. But I know so many people here in Canada who are first generation immigrants, meaning that it’s just the parents caring for a newborn. We need to do better.