Congratulations! Joining the motherhood club is exciting, joyous, elating, exuberating, and fantastic! It’s also scary, quizzical, and expensive! But don’t worry! I’m here to help you through the process. I started doing research into birthing options in 2012 when my older sister was pregnant and boy am I happy I did! Went into the research thinking that going to the hospital was the only logical choice for giving birth, and ended up birthing both of my children at home with midwives. Each birth was an amazing experience and I highly recommend a home birth for women with low-risk pregnancies. Here are some of the amazing people in Las Vegas who helped me create my family:
Our pregnancy journey was not an easy one. My husband and I went through two second trimester miscarriages and we decided to see a specialist before attempting another pregnancy. Our midwife referred us to Dr. Paul Wilkes of Desert Perinatal Associates and he was amazing. A very caring and compassionate man, he helped walk us through the testing process until we discovered what was causing the miscarriages: I have MTHFR. The gene mutation was causing small blood clots to cut off blood circulation to the uterus, resulting in miscarriage. Fortunately, taking a low-dose aspirin once a day and eating a diet high in anti-coagulant foods (such as spinach & dark chocolate) thinned my blood enough to allow two successful pregnancies. I was still able to work with a midwife and do a home birth for both pregnancies, but I had several check-ups with Dr. Wilkes along the way to make sure everything was progressing well. A big thank you to Dr. Wilkes for making my motherhood dreams come true. https://www.desertperinatalassociates.com/
Marvelys Lopez was my first midwife and she’s absolutely wonderful! She’s very attentive, caring, and is extremely knowledgeable about pregnancy and the birthing process. Since Marvi assisted with my first born, I had a massive amount of questions for her at every appointment and she was incredibly patient answering all of them (my appointments would usually take an hour instead of the normal 30-45 minutes). Her approach concentrates on whole body and mental health to help prepare for birth and baby. I would highly recommend her to anyone considering a midwife. The only reason Marvi didn’t deliver my second baby was because she had a family vacation planned during my due date. I was sad to lose her and a little scared that I wasn’t going to find anyone as good as her, but I was fortunate enough to find another incredible midwife.
Dr. Sondra Catania with Catania Family Chiropractic can take care of everyone in your family (including babies & toddlers), but what makes her so special is how she caters to pregnant women. She carries a couple different pregnancy pillows that allow a pregnant woman (in any stage) to lay on her stomach during the muscle warm-up process, giving a much needed break from back strain. Ahhhhhhhh. Plus, Dr. Sondra is super sweet, easy to talk to, and usually has soothing essential oils diffusing in her office.
Tiffanie Gonzales with Well Rounded Mama was my second midwife. Her energy exudes Mom! and you just want to give her a big hug and tell her your life story. She’s been a midwife for several years, has seven (yes, seven!) kids and a whole lot of grand kids, so she knows what she’s doing. I cannot sing her praises high enough and am so happy she was the one to help me bring my son into the world.
Both of our kids had tongue ties. Jade’s wasn’t too bad and our midwife was able to take care of it with a small snip shortly after birth. Our son’s tongue tie was a bit more complicated and was causing me pain when nursing. We decided to do a frenectomy (tongue tie procedure) with Dr. Tara Erson and the process went very smoothly. There’s a lot of aftercare involved with the procedure (several weeks of tongue stretching and massaging), but it’s well worth it.
My husband is a flight attendant and his schedule constantly changes. I don’t mind the fluctuation, but it makes hard to physically attend any classes together and during my first pregnancy I was stressing over finding a Bradley birthing class that would fit both of our work schedules. Fortunately, we found an awesome one online! The Mama Natural Birth Course is an amazing wealth of information for anyone who’s going to give birth, not just for those who are looking to do natural home births. The two ladies hosting the program believe in informed consent and are very adamant about women taking the birthing path that feels best for them, whether it be in a hospital, birthing center, or at home. Once purchased, you have access to the course for a full year. It was really nice being able to go through the material as many times as I wanted, and I was able to go through it with my mom since she was my doula. Below is a course description from the creators.
My Birth Story: The Second Round
Thank you Lord, I had successful home births for both of my children. My daughter Jade came into the world in a slow and steady manor through 20 hours of labor and 3.5 hours of pushing. It was easily the most challenging thing I had ever done in my life and it hurt like hell, but there was never a point where I didn’t think that I could handle the remainder of the birthing process.
My son Ryan’s birth was nothing like his sister’s. Ryan believed in the “Come out with guns blazing!” approach. About three weeks before the birth, he started giving me all the gross bodily signs that labor was approaching……and then the signs would disappear. Grrr. Then the signs were there again! And still he didn’t come. Argh. This happened a few more times, so by the time he actually gave me real signs of labor, I didn’t believe him. I chalked up the crampy feeling to gas pains and continued watching Star Trek with my husband before going to bed. A little over an hour later, the “gas pains” became more intense and frequent. Should I get my hopes up? Yes!! Hooray!! It’s finally labor time! Texted Tiffanie to give her a heads up that I would need her later and would give her a call when my contractions were 4-1-1 (4 minutes apart, each lasting 1 minute for 1 hour).
Since labor for my first birth lasted several hours, I figured there was plenty of time to give my husband some sleep before needing him to fill up the birthing tub. I heard snoring ten seconds later and was immediately envious. I tried to rest as best I could through the contractions and waited for some semblance of a pattern. A couple hours later, there were lots of increased intensity contractions, but still no pattern. Five minutes, two minutes, nine minutes, six minutes, two minutes, four minutes. They were getting pretty intense though, so I woke my husband and asked him to start filling the birthing tub. About 10-15 minutes later, I got up to go to the bathroom after a contraction, thinking I had at least two minutes to pee and crawl back into my nice warm bed before the next one came. Nope. Got hit with a really super nasty contraction as soon as I sat on the toilet. Writhing in pain, I yelled to my husband to call Tiffanie and wake up my mom (my doula for both births, thanks Mom!).
Towards the end of the contraction my water broke. When I hobbled out of the bathroom towards the birthing tub, another nasty contraction doubled me over. Hobbled another few feet towards the birthing tub and another super nasty contraction put me on the floor. Was able to crawl/fall into the birthing tub….. but the water was only a foot deep. Was about to mentally kick myself for not waking my husband sooner for tub duty when an ultimate contraction hit. And then another. HOLY COW, I don’t think I can do this. The intensity of these contractions were not what I remembered from Jade’s birth. If I have to go through this for several more hours, I’m not going to make it without going to a hospital. I heard Tiffany walk in and breathed a short sigh of relief before the next contraction hit. After that, a miracle occurred: my body told me it was time to push. One, two, three pushes…..catch honey, he’s coming out!!! A moment later I was cradling a beautiful baby boy in my arms with my husband. A perfect moment. And you know what made that moment even more perfect? My daughter had slept through the whole dang thing. 😉
Birth Plan
Below are some awesome products that made my life much easier for Birth & Baby & Postpartum Healing:
The Daisy Bee Waterproof Nursing Pillow Liner
(A great resource to discover more about vaccines. It promotes an informed consent approach vs. a one size fits all narrative. It’ll help you decide which vaccinations are best for your family and when to administer them.)
(Dissolve a tablet in breastmilk & give a few drops to baby when in pain from teething or a tongue-tie procedure.)
(The only diaper cream that ever worked on my kids.)
Boba Wrap Baby Carrier
(Love this carrier for the first few months)
(Slather on your lady parts after birth for healing and soothing.)
(In lieu of the vitamin K shot, we decided to use these drops. Midwife approved.)
(A must for the first few weeks of nursing. This cream will soothe your sore aching nipples as you and your baby find your feeding rhythm. Best of all, you don’t have to wash it off before you nurse.)
Medela Breast Milk Storage Bags
(I love these and are in them 24/7 while I’m nursing.)
(These help contain the smell of really nasty diaper explosions before shoving them in the diaper pail. And they’re great for containing diapers when on the go.)
Vitamins for Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
(Only use during the last six weeks of pregnancy.)
(The only prenatal that didn’t make me sick in the first trimester. Added bonus: these helped me feel more normal after birth so that I wasn’t a raging witch to my husband during hormonal surges. These may help save your partner’s life!)
Random Advice
- Continue to take your prenatal vitamins through nursing.
- Nursing: Keep a food log. What you eat affects your baby. If your little one seems to cry for no reason and you’ve already gone through your hungry, wet/dirty, trapped burp, tired checklist, something you’re eating might be giving him/her tummy aches. I’m vegetarian and my daughter had a food intolerance to cheese, soy, & chocolate (she grew out of the cheese and chocolate intolerance around 18 months, but still has a nasty stomach ache if she eats anything with soy); my son has an intolerance to all dairy & eggs. If you suspect your baby has a food intolerance/allergy, try nixing some of the most common food allergens from your diet (cow’s milk, eggs, tree nuts, peanuts, shellfish, soy, fish, and wheat) and see how your baby reacts. My little ones went from unhappy screaming infants to happy cooing cuddle bugs within 48 hours of finding their triggers. It may take some time, but changing your diet is well worth the health and happiness of your beautiful baby.
- Gerber and Wonder Nation clothes run small.
- Baby still crying after running through hungry, wet/dirty, trapped burp, tired checklist? Do squats. Seriously. Your baby will calm down within minutes. It’s magic.
- My babies would scream bloody murder if they farted and a teeny tiny spot of poop came out in their diaper. Of course you change the diaper immediately because you don’t want little ones sitting in poop, no matter how minute, but what a waste of a diaper! Diapers are expensive and tiny babies have a lot of tiny sharts, so what’s a wallet to do? PANTY LINERS. Cover the drop of poop with a liner, wipe baby’s bottom clean, slather some coconut oil on the booty and voila! Happy baby again.
- Slather coconut oil on your baby’s butt every time you change a diaper. It helps keep your baby’s skin soft & hydrated, diminishes diaper rash, and makes poop clean up a whole lot easier! Baby poop stains skin and it takes a little bit of elbow grease to scrub it off. That doesn’t feel good to your sweet little baby. But when there’s a coconut oil barrier on the skin, all the poop smoothly wipes right off.
Blazing Brilliant 