“Raising a child is not an easy task and you constantly wonder if you are making the right/best decision. Watching my 12 yr old laugh, cry, dance, love and everyday becoming more rooted in who she is as a person, is a joy! Part of who she is, is due to parenting but more of it is due to who she is deep down. A human who hugs often, laughs a lot, dances her way through life and loves with her whole heart!”

“One way I have found to sneak some self care is whether or not I have appointments on a specific day, if my children have scheduled care away from the home, they go. If it ends up meaning a free day for me, I know I deserve that time, to do whatever it is I want to do. No guilt.”

“A third baby….really?”  Asked everyone who had walked this journey with me.  I knew in my heart there was one more so I armoured up and got the candles back out.  I would be 38 years old within a few weeks of this birth so this made me a “geriatiric mom”.  Really?  That’s a thing?  Why yes it was, and now it was me; and my midwife had to work very hard to hold her poker face when I suggested a home birth.  I was a geriatric VBAC with a history of placenta accreta.  I can see the humour now.

Needless to say this was not at all the birth I imagined. Looking back I am able to see through the trauma to the many ways I was scared into making decisions that did not align with my values or my rights. My birth experience has strengthened my purpose as a doula and has proven to me the true value of educated, calm, and consistent support for all families in every stage of their parenting journey.

Nothing can prepare you for the sleep deprivation postpartum. After 57 hours of labour, we were walking zombies trying to feed Hudson, sleep and feed ourselves. Hudson struggled to latch which he has successfully learned with the help of an incredible lactation consultant and Osteopath! We couldn't have done it without their support!