I can't believe another month has passed and pressure has returned to write an update on the blog. I have been busy studying for my certificate and it is going very well. The smooth process of studying during early mornings and nap time, assures me that it is truly from God and not something I am doing selfishly. It has not been a burden to me or my family to complete and I know as a result it will bring much blessing.
I have taken 6 out of 8 exams (completed reading 1 manual and 3/4's through the 2nd one and one book), completed 2 out of 6 of my other assignments, and am working on a paper currently. My goal for this week is to finish the paper and the final 2 exams. This puts me at 75% of being done! And that is the hardest part of obtaining the certificate. The easiest part is attending 2 births and writing about the experience which is what I will be doing next. I am sad that I missed the water birth in January while we were in Arizona (she went way early). I still have one to look forward to in March and am working hard at preparing for that one!
I have had alot of encouragement and support on this adventure over the past month. I have also had a lot of questions asked that I thought I might be able to address on the blog so that everyone is clear.
What is a doula?
Doula (pronounced doola) is a term which is used to describe a woman experienced in childbirth who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother before, during, and immediately after child birth.
What exactly does a doula do - or what will you (I) be doing as a doula? Doula's have many different roles and it really is up to the client as what she wants. I could be starting a pregnancy with someone and helping her through the end...even up through postpartum. Or I may just help someone at the beginning, but not be there at the birth, and then be there through breastfeeding and postpartum. I am there to support and encourage my client in whatever needs they might have. That could be helping her work through a birth plan and setting expectations for how she wants her delivery to go, taking her to appointments, making sure her birth plan is carried out when she is in labor, taking picures, helping her with different labor strategies, listen, encourage, support, help her communicate to her doctors or family if needed, etc.
Do you deliver the baby or give medical advice? No. I can give suggestions or recomendations based on things I have studied, but I will not be giving medical advice. It is highly unlikely that I would be delivering any babies! We'll leave that to the highly paid doctors.
Why would I "pay" you to be my coach (when I am already paying the hospital)? There are several reasons one might pay to have a doula. If you are planning to have a natural birth (no medications), a doula is a huge benefit. It has been researched that if a woman who is going to try a natural birth has a "coach/cheerleader", they are more likely able to get through it then if alone or with a partner that can't support them in this way (honestly our husbands aren't always the best coach). By doing so, a doula cost is about 1/2 of what an epidural will cost you on your medical bill.
A recent study (here) shows these results:
Reduced the overall cesarean rate by 50%
Reduced the length of labor by 25%
Reduced oxytocin use by 40%
Reduced the use of pain medication by 30%
Reduced forceps deliveries by 40%
Reduced requests for epidural pain medication by 60%
Reduced incidences of maternal fever
Reduced the number of days newborns spent in NICU (neo-natal infant care unit)
Reduced the amount of septic workups performed on newborns
Resulted in higher rates of breastfeeding
Resulted in more positive maternal assessments of maternal confidence
Resulted in more positive maternal assessments of maternal and newborn health
Resulted in decreased rates of postpartum depression
Klaus and Kennel speculate that the mere presence of a doula had a beneficial effect on the emotional state of the mother, resulting in a decrease in catecholamines (adrenaline). This relaxed state allows uterine contractions to be more effective and reduces the occurrence of compromised uterine blood flow.
Insurance companies are taking note of the proven benefits of doula-assisted births. As a result, some providers have started to reimburse for doula care. If your company health care plan covers in-home care, nursing care, lactation consulting, or similar fields, doula care is most likely covered as well.
Why are you doing this? I have seen first hand that most doctors/hospitals view birth as an abnormal medical emergency when it it is a normal life event. Yes, there can be things that happen that are abnormal but most births should be considered normal and natural. Because doctors view them as abnormal medical events, they tend to intervene when unnecessary which can make labor and delivery much worse for mothers and their babies (inductions, breaking bags of water prematurely, timing labors, etc). I won't go into specifics here, but maybe for another post or talk outside the blog. Alot of it comes down to the fact that doctors/hospitals want babies delievered in a timely fashion because of their work schedule and efficiences in the hospitals/workers schedules instead of letting the body do its natural thing. If you think about it, birth has been around for...well EVER. The main reason the birth process was brought to the hospitals was due to infections most of which we have vaccines for now. Births use to take place at home with the help of a coach, midwife, mother, sisters, friends and family - a very supportive environment. With the transition to hospitals, males were the only ones who were able to get an education as a doctor and that I believe led to a misunderstanding of the birth process and made it into a medical, highly intervened "project" (you know how men are!). This has also resulted in increased c-sections and mortality rates for mothers and infants.
Today I recieved a book in the mail that I ordered about childbirth. The copyright was 1944. At first I was alarmed that it was so old and possibly out dated. Then suddenly I was relieved to know that birth is a long lived normal process that can't out date. Yes, there are medical advances and new things we can learn about the process, but as a whole, it stays the same.
In Bloomington/Normal, I will say that we are very blessed to have good doctors who for the most part, want to see us have the birth experience that we want. You may have noticed that even both of our hospitals are turning the labor and delivery units into "birthing centers" to be more accomodating to those who want to have a more natural-like birth setting. This is also good news to me as they may actually hire certified labor nurse/doulas on staff! Don't start a rumor...I didn't say they are, I said they might...this may lead to that. So at your request, you could have a labor coach and it would be part of your hosptial bill (I think that is how it will work).
Are doula's only "good" for those who want a natural birth (with no medications)? No. (see benefits above) I am here to see to it that you have the birth experience that you want. I am neutral when it comes to receiving medications to relieve pain in labor or going natural. My job would then be to go through the benefits and risks to both so that YOU can make the decison for yourself. The more prepared you can be before labor and delivery - the better you will be feeling (calmer, fears subided, etc). In whatever you decide, I am here to support and encourage you. If it is with no medications, I have learned techniques to dealing with pain in natural ways.
If you have further questions, you can always email me, post a comment/question on the blog, or see me. I would love to answer them.
Two more ExCiTInG things to note and pray over with/for me
1) All of this studying has got me thinking about going back to school - nursing school. I actually love to study and go to school and this topic is so fascinating. I would love to be a nurse! Of course I am leaning towards labor and delivery but going through clinicals might change my mind. I have done a little research at ISU and at Heartland and now just trying to decide if I want to do it, if timing is right, where I am going to go and if this part of God's plan for me. My leaning is towards Heartland since I already have an associate there and most of my general credits would be applied to this degree. I really just need to set up an appointment and see how much work it is going to be. I don't want it to take away from my family especially with all the other things we have going on!
One thing that convicted me a little was Sunday's sermon. He talked about how we put our fulfillments on earlthy things instead of on God. Including in this is the finding fulfillment in education or wisdom (work, power, possessions, people, addictions are also things we seek fulfillment out of). This is what he read out of Ecclesiastes 1:16 - 18 "I thought to myself, 'Look, I have grown and increased in wisdom more than anyone...I have experienced much of wisdom and knowledge. Then I applied myself to the understanding of wisdom, and also of madness and folly, but I learned firsthand that pursuing all this is like chasing the wind. The greater my wisdom, the greater my grief. To increaseknowledge only increases sorrow" What Solomon is saying is that all of it doesn't matter and will not fill us...only God can do that (I know you have heard me say this many times). It leads to emptiness and requires us to build our own kingdom and not let God do the building. So I guess what I am saying is that I need to be careful that I am letting God build my kingdom. I think I have the right reasons for wanting to further educate myself but I want to be sure. Prayer and seeking God's direction will help me know. Please pray for me in this decision.
2) Costa Rica
In 2010, I shared that I really wanted to go on a mission trip and was praying for the right opportunity. I am pleased to announce that I will be going with a team in June 2011 to Costa Rica! I don't have a lot of information at this point but I did attend one meeting and prayed that God would direct my path on this. We will be going with a local eye doctor in town who will be giving free eye clinics. We will be helping at the eye clinic with glasses fittings, giving out sunglasses, and other eye care "duties". We will also be doing something with the children as far as a "bible school" and there will be opportunity to do some labor-type work (building a fence or something of that nature) for our missionaries that live there. I am very excited for this opportunity and am hoping that I will have the chance to help some pregnant women or maybe even help with a birth!!
2011 is going to be a BIG year for me! I am very excited!! My new motto "I'm closer to heaven in 2011!"
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Love is in the Air
Reecey loved making her own Valentines. This was before school on "career" day last week. The night before, Reece had told me she wanted to be a teacher when she grows up. So I laid out this dress and though I would put her hair up so she would look "teacher-ish". When I started getting her ready the next day, she said "Why do I have to wear this dress?" and I said "Because you said you wanted to be a teacher when you grew up and today is career day at school where you are pretending to be a teacher". She says (crying) "I don't want to be a teacher...I don't want to be anything...I just want to be a little girl!!". I thought it was so cute and told her she could be a little girl for as long as she wanted!!
Cute up-do bun
Most of the time, they really, really love each other!
SNOW
After the crazy amount of snow we got, we were so sad that it was too cold to play in it last week being below zero and all. We were so happy that it warmed up this week. We went out Monday afternoon after nap.
Here is snow "mountain" in our cul-de-sac
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Getting crafty
The kids got a lot of crafty things for Christmas like paints, crayons, etc. Reece got a fun wooden fairy wand that she could paint all by herself (with an OCD mom hovering over her). She absolutely loved doing this! She asked me "Who got me this for Christmas?". I said "Aunt Jilly". She says "Next time I see her I want to give her a hug and kiss and tell her thank you because I love it so much" (Thanks Aunt Jilly!).
Update on Sparkle Chart system
So...I should have known to try something out before posting it on the blog...yet another lesson learned and I am okay with it. The sparkle chart was pretty much a flop. I was skeptical going in feeling like rewarding them for good behaviors only felt like bribing and I wondered if it would truly last. I really didn't want the kids to expect getting something each time they obeyed. But I wanted to give it a shot anyway and see what happened. It didn't take long before Reece could have cared less about a sticker. While I do still think it's important to praise them a little when they are good, rewards are short lived motivators.
In the meantime, I had been praying about how to parent. And as always, God's timing is impecable. On my way home from the hosptial at 5:30am (see story here ), I heard an interview with the author of the book "The Well-Behaved Child" by John Rosemond. He seemed to address every issue I was having in parenting. Later that morning, I ordered the book and read it in less than a week's time. I highly recommend the book and it is has already left my house and entered the home of different friend's house in a short amount of time. What were some of my take aways from the book?
When a child misbehaves, it creates a problem. But who's problem is it really? Most parents take on the problem themselves and try to solve it, which results in frustration (since we are unable to solve the problem for the child). We as parents need to put the problem back on the child so that they will want to solve it. How do we do this? By enforcing what John calls "The agony principle"...a punishment that they will never forget and never want to happen again. This causes them to feel the problem and want to solve it so they never have to suffer the consequences again. His main punishment in the book is confinement to their room for the rest of the day - the room being stripped of it's fun and only left to it's bare essentials. Now this is going back to basics, right? Side note: He's no nonsense and takes us back to the basics of parenting - instead of using all this psychology stuff we have had shoved into our heads over the past few decades. Not that that stuff totally doesn't make sense, but that we as parents in the 21st century have way too much information, causing us to be confused and unsure of ourselves as parents.
We are currrently using one of his strategies from his book and it is working well so far (been doing this for a week). The system is called "Tickets". Basically, I was to ponder the misbehaviors of my child and narrow in on 1 to 3 of them that were the biggest and most frustrating of "her" problems. Write them down on a sheet. Create 3 to 5 tickets and attach them to the sheet. Each day she starts out with the 5 tickets. If she does one of the misbehaviors on the list, a ticket is removed. No constant warnings, yelling, threatning...just say "Okay, you did blank, so I'm taking a ticket"...no if's, and's, or but's. When all the tickets are gone for the day (no matter what time it is), she immediatley must be confined to her room for the remainder of the day...only being aloud to leave for bathroom and meals (and if you must run an errand). The likelihood that the child would be confined to the room at say, 10:00am would be rare and if it did happen, it would only happen once...what a long day for the child and they would not wish that on themselves again. So basically, there may be some difficult days, but not as many as there currently have on the "yelling" system. He also says, by focusing in on 1 to 3 of their misbehaviors, you should see the other smaller behaviors diminish as you use the system so don't get too caught up on which ones to put on the list, and don't put them all.
Reece has done very well on the ticket system and has not be confined to her room once. It has also prevented me from yelling and being frustrated. If she does a misbehavior on the list, I simply remove a ticket. John says if they are doing well on the system, you should lower the number of tickets as to put the pressure on a little for the times they do misbehave. Since Reece has been really good and not losing but one or so ticket a day, I am going to decrease the number of tickets. We also listed other misbehaviors she has and indicated what punishments would be specific to that misbehavior (like I had indicated on my prior post). The misbehaviors that equal a loss of a ticket are (currently): Not listening (not obeying when I ask her to do something or not to do something - the first time), Not asking permission (she takes our stuff a lot without asking), interrupting (when I am talking to daddy or anyone). Behaviors that do not result in a loss of ticket but another punishment is immediately enforced are: Being destructive (breaking/ripping things), Defiance (saying no to me or being disrespectful), Taking off her clothes (teaching her to do dress up over her clothes and to wear clothes around the house - yes this is a problem for us), and difficulty at bedtime.
I lamenated her tickets and put velcro on the back of them. They stick to the misbehavior chart. I'll keep you posted on how this is going. If you are interested in the book, let me know and I'll lend it to you!
In the meantime, I had been praying about how to parent. And as always, God's timing is impecable. On my way home from the hosptial at 5:30am (see story here ), I heard an interview with the author of the book "The Well-Behaved Child" by John Rosemond. He seemed to address every issue I was having in parenting. Later that morning, I ordered the book and read it in less than a week's time. I highly recommend the book and it is has already left my house and entered the home of different friend's house in a short amount of time. What were some of my take aways from the book?
When a child misbehaves, it creates a problem. But who's problem is it really? Most parents take on the problem themselves and try to solve it, which results in frustration (since we are unable to solve the problem for the child). We as parents need to put the problem back on the child so that they will want to solve it. How do we do this? By enforcing what John calls "The agony principle"...a punishment that they will never forget and never want to happen again. This causes them to feel the problem and want to solve it so they never have to suffer the consequences again. His main punishment in the book is confinement to their room for the rest of the day - the room being stripped of it's fun and only left to it's bare essentials. Now this is going back to basics, right? Side note: He's no nonsense and takes us back to the basics of parenting - instead of using all this psychology stuff we have had shoved into our heads over the past few decades. Not that that stuff totally doesn't make sense, but that we as parents in the 21st century have way too much information, causing us to be confused and unsure of ourselves as parents.
We are currrently using one of his strategies from his book and it is working well so far (been doing this for a week). The system is called "Tickets". Basically, I was to ponder the misbehaviors of my child and narrow in on 1 to 3 of them that were the biggest and most frustrating of "her" problems. Write them down on a sheet. Create 3 to 5 tickets and attach them to the sheet. Each day she starts out with the 5 tickets. If she does one of the misbehaviors on the list, a ticket is removed. No constant warnings, yelling, threatning...just say "Okay, you did blank, so I'm taking a ticket"...no if's, and's, or but's. When all the tickets are gone for the day (no matter what time it is), she immediatley must be confined to her room for the remainder of the day...only being aloud to leave for bathroom and meals (and if you must run an errand). The likelihood that the child would be confined to the room at say, 10:00am would be rare and if it did happen, it would only happen once...what a long day for the child and they would not wish that on themselves again. So basically, there may be some difficult days, but not as many as there currently have on the "yelling" system. He also says, by focusing in on 1 to 3 of their misbehaviors, you should see the other smaller behaviors diminish as you use the system so don't get too caught up on which ones to put on the list, and don't put them all.
Reece has done very well on the ticket system and has not be confined to her room once. It has also prevented me from yelling and being frustrated. If she does a misbehavior on the list, I simply remove a ticket. John says if they are doing well on the system, you should lower the number of tickets as to put the pressure on a little for the times they do misbehave. Since Reece has been really good and not losing but one or so ticket a day, I am going to decrease the number of tickets. We also listed other misbehaviors she has and indicated what punishments would be specific to that misbehavior (like I had indicated on my prior post). The misbehaviors that equal a loss of a ticket are (currently): Not listening (not obeying when I ask her to do something or not to do something - the first time), Not asking permission (she takes our stuff a lot without asking), interrupting (when I am talking to daddy or anyone). Behaviors that do not result in a loss of ticket but another punishment is immediately enforced are: Being destructive (breaking/ripping things), Defiance (saying no to me or being disrespectful), Taking off her clothes (teaching her to do dress up over her clothes and to wear clothes around the house - yes this is a problem for us), and difficulty at bedtime.
I lamenated her tickets and put velcro on the back of them. They stick to the misbehavior chart. I'll keep you posted on how this is going. If you are interested in the book, let me know and I'll lend it to you!
A new adventure/ministry
What a wild and crazy roller coaster ride God continues to take me on in this life. I continue to seek his direction and will for my life paying close attention to His promptings. Never did I think He would take me to this place, but I did ask for clarification on my role by His leading. What will He think of next for me?
Many of you know that I have been a little obsessed with pregnancy, childbirth, etc for years. It only grew with my two pregnancies as I watched many (too many) childbirth shows (A Baby Story, Maternity Ward, I didn't know I was pregnant, to name a few). After trying for a natural birth (with help from a birthing coach), I failed as a result of a small pelvic structure, resulting in a c-section and a tramatic experience to boot. I struggled for a few months after this and believe I suffered from post partum depression which was never diagnosed. After these events, my passion grew stronger for what women endure during this time. I have a friend who is a doula (birthing coach) and she has always encouraged me about the opportunity of becoming a doula. I really didn't think much about it and figured my passion (or obsessiveness) with this amazing and ONLY God-given gift of child birth would diminish as I drifted farther from child bearing years! The result of my c-sections and not being able to experience a natural/"normal" way of delivering a baby, only peeked my curiosity more. Enter my friend...Jamie. I had shared these feelings with her before she had her 3rd child. Much to my surprise she offered me an opportunity of a lifetime - to be her support person when baby 3 arrived! To make a long story short, it didn't work out for me to attend when baby 3 was born. However, I was there and ready when baby 4 was born just 2 weeks ago....all part of God's plan and His perfect timing.
I felt after this experience that, my thirst would be quenched, but it only made me thirstier. I have prayed about it and researched it over the past 2 weeks. During this time of prayer, the Lord put a person on my heart and I wasn't sure why. I felt like I need to pray for the person so I did. Later that day, I sent her an email saying that the Lord promted me to pray for her and I wanted her to know as well as check on her. The fact that I owed her a small sum of money was my feeling that the Lord wanted to just remind me of this. It had slipped my mind until our email conversation that she was pregnant. She began telling me how she had just failed her glucose test and was fearful of delivery, epidurals, etc. I asked her if she put a birth plan together and that really helped me for preparing for my delivery. I also indicated that I was fascinated with this sort of thing was was thinking of becoming a birth coach. This is what she wrote back "Are you kidding me? I have been thinking and praying about our "birthing plan" and how it would be nice to have a doula, but was wishing I knew of one personally, etc. etc. Lindsay- you are an answer to prayer!!" I about fell out of my chair when I read that. GOOSEBUMPS!
So now that's it official, I wanted to announce my new opportunity for ministry. I am officially on my way to obtaining my certificate: Certified Labor Doula (CLN) through Childbirth International. It should take about 3 months to complete.
What is a Doula?
A doula is a trained and experienced labor companion who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother before, during and just after childbirth (natural or medicated childbirth).
Additionally, a doula supports a woman’s partner and family so that they in turn know how to best support her during labor.
A Labor Support Doula:
Recognizes birth as a key life experience that the mother will remember all her life.
Understands the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in labor.
Assists the woman and her partner in preparing for and carrying out their plans for the birth.
Stays by the side of the laboring woman throughout her entire labor.
Provides emotional support, physical comfort and an objective viewpoint.
Provides assistance to the woman in getting the information she needs to make informed decisions.
Facilitates communication between the laboring woman, her partner and her health care provider(s).
Perceives her role as one who nurtures and protects the woman's memory of her birth experience.
Practices confidentiality.
(http://www.wisewomenbirthservices.com/)
Childbirth International is one of the fastest growing training organizations in the world - currently have students from every continent and 75 countries across the world and every state of the USA. Our philosophy in training Childbirth Educators, Doulas and Counselors is to ensure they have the confidence and skills necessary to carry out their role professionally. This enables them to support parents in making the right decisions for themselves throughout pregnancy, labor and birth - their birth, their way. We strongly believe in the benefits of a natural birth while acknowledging that sometimes interventions are necessary for the well being of both mother and baby. Routine interventions without any medical indications have no place in maternity care.
So what's the ministry?
Well, I'm not totally sure what it will look like but wanting the Lord to lead. I have a strong desire to assist women in labor/child birth. I certainly LOVE the idea of helping women that I know go through this experience. I also have the desire to help women I don't know go through this not just on the birthing side, but on the Lord's side as well - being a disciple for Him. What a way to minister of God's goodness, creation, mercy, salvation than through a birth of a child - a miracle? If you have had a baby (and even if you haven't), you can't deny that ONLY God could have come up with something so detailed and miraculous as conception, pregnancy, and birth of a child. The whole process is just completely mind boggling! I want to show my clients (if they do not know Jesus), that there is such signifcance between the birth of their new baby and the new birth that we have in Christ Jesus. So for now, I am going to wait and see where God is going to take with this.
Next steps
One of the requirements for obtaining my certificate is that I have to attend two births and write about the experiences. I am hoping to experience a water birth in the next month and then also another birth in March (from story above). I had my first "official" client meeting Tuesday to go over expectations and the birth plan. When the plan is finished I would like my continued "practice" to pray over the plan and give the plan over to Him, knowing that He will work the plan according to His purpose.
I wanted to pass along Jamie's birth experience/testimony - "Having Lindsay at the hospital with us during delivery was more of a blessing then we knew to expect. At first, when things were going slowly, it was helpful to have her there to encourage me and share in my excitement and anticipation. However, when things started moving more quickly than we were prepared for, Lindsay did a great job keeping us focused. Later, she shared pictures and times of important events from the delivery that we now hold as treasures. As a woman, I enjoyed having Lindsay with me because I knew she'd been through and understood all that a labor and delivery would entail physically, emotionally, and spiritually."
Possible Mission and Name
I would like the name of the ministry to tie in the new life kind of birth with the born again kind of life...New Life is all I am coming up with but I know that is a name of another organization...would love to hear suggestions on all you creative readers out there. A couple of verses that could be part of my mission:
John 16:21-22 "It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice and no one can rob you of that joy"...1 Peter 1:3-4 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mecry he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade-kept in heaven for you,..."
Please pray for me in this new adventure and ministry opportunity!
Many of you know that I have been a little obsessed with pregnancy, childbirth, etc for years. It only grew with my two pregnancies as I watched many (too many) childbirth shows (A Baby Story, Maternity Ward, I didn't know I was pregnant, to name a few). After trying for a natural birth (with help from a birthing coach), I failed as a result of a small pelvic structure, resulting in a c-section and a tramatic experience to boot. I struggled for a few months after this and believe I suffered from post partum depression which was never diagnosed. After these events, my passion grew stronger for what women endure during this time. I have a friend who is a doula (birthing coach) and she has always encouraged me about the opportunity of becoming a doula. I really didn't think much about it and figured my passion (or obsessiveness) with this amazing and ONLY God-given gift of child birth would diminish as I drifted farther from child bearing years! The result of my c-sections and not being able to experience a natural/"normal" way of delivering a baby, only peeked my curiosity more. Enter my friend...Jamie. I had shared these feelings with her before she had her 3rd child. Much to my surprise she offered me an opportunity of a lifetime - to be her support person when baby 3 arrived! To make a long story short, it didn't work out for me to attend when baby 3 was born. However, I was there and ready when baby 4 was born just 2 weeks ago....all part of God's plan and His perfect timing.
I felt after this experience that, my thirst would be quenched, but it only made me thirstier. I have prayed about it and researched it over the past 2 weeks. During this time of prayer, the Lord put a person on my heart and I wasn't sure why. I felt like I need to pray for the person so I did. Later that day, I sent her an email saying that the Lord promted me to pray for her and I wanted her to know as well as check on her. The fact that I owed her a small sum of money was my feeling that the Lord wanted to just remind me of this. It had slipped my mind until our email conversation that she was pregnant. She began telling me how she had just failed her glucose test and was fearful of delivery, epidurals, etc. I asked her if she put a birth plan together and that really helped me for preparing for my delivery. I also indicated that I was fascinated with this sort of thing was was thinking of becoming a birth coach. This is what she wrote back "Are you kidding me? I have been thinking and praying about our "birthing plan" and how it would be nice to have a doula, but was wishing I knew of one personally, etc. etc. Lindsay- you are an answer to prayer!!" I about fell out of my chair when I read that. GOOSEBUMPS!
So now that's it official, I wanted to announce my new opportunity for ministry. I am officially on my way to obtaining my certificate: Certified Labor Doula (CLN) through Childbirth International. It should take about 3 months to complete.
What is a Doula?
A doula is a trained and experienced labor companion who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother before, during and just after childbirth (natural or medicated childbirth).
Additionally, a doula supports a woman’s partner and family so that they in turn know how to best support her during labor.
A Labor Support Doula:
Recognizes birth as a key life experience that the mother will remember all her life.
Understands the physiology of birth and the emotional needs of a woman in labor.
Assists the woman and her partner in preparing for and carrying out their plans for the birth.
Stays by the side of the laboring woman throughout her entire labor.
Provides emotional support, physical comfort and an objective viewpoint.
Provides assistance to the woman in getting the information she needs to make informed decisions.
Facilitates communication between the laboring woman, her partner and her health care provider(s).
Perceives her role as one who nurtures and protects the woman's memory of her birth experience.
Practices confidentiality.
(http://www.wisewomenbirthservices.com/)
Childbirth International is one of the fastest growing training organizations in the world - currently have students from every continent and 75 countries across the world and every state of the USA. Our philosophy in training Childbirth Educators, Doulas and Counselors is to ensure they have the confidence and skills necessary to carry out their role professionally. This enables them to support parents in making the right decisions for themselves throughout pregnancy, labor and birth - their birth, their way. We strongly believe in the benefits of a natural birth while acknowledging that sometimes interventions are necessary for the well being of both mother and baby. Routine interventions without any medical indications have no place in maternity care.
So what's the ministry?
Well, I'm not totally sure what it will look like but wanting the Lord to lead. I have a strong desire to assist women in labor/child birth. I certainly LOVE the idea of helping women that I know go through this experience. I also have the desire to help women I don't know go through this not just on the birthing side, but on the Lord's side as well - being a disciple for Him. What a way to minister of God's goodness, creation, mercy, salvation than through a birth of a child - a miracle? If you have had a baby (and even if you haven't), you can't deny that ONLY God could have come up with something so detailed and miraculous as conception, pregnancy, and birth of a child. The whole process is just completely mind boggling! I want to show my clients (if they do not know Jesus), that there is such signifcance between the birth of their new baby and the new birth that we have in Christ Jesus. So for now, I am going to wait and see where God is going to take with this.
Next steps
One of the requirements for obtaining my certificate is that I have to attend two births and write about the experiences. I am hoping to experience a water birth in the next month and then also another birth in March (from story above). I had my first "official" client meeting Tuesday to go over expectations and the birth plan. When the plan is finished I would like my continued "practice" to pray over the plan and give the plan over to Him, knowing that He will work the plan according to His purpose.
I wanted to pass along Jamie's birth experience/testimony - "Having Lindsay at the hospital with us during delivery was more of a blessing then we knew to expect. At first, when things were going slowly, it was helpful to have her there to encourage me and share in my excitement and anticipation. However, when things started moving more quickly than we were prepared for, Lindsay did a great job keeping us focused. Later, she shared pictures and times of important events from the delivery that we now hold as treasures. As a woman, I enjoyed having Lindsay with me because I knew she'd been through and understood all that a labor and delivery would entail physically, emotionally, and spiritually."
Possible Mission and Name
I would like the name of the ministry to tie in the new life kind of birth with the born again kind of life...New Life is all I am coming up with but I know that is a name of another organization...would love to hear suggestions on all you creative readers out there. A couple of verses that could be part of my mission:
John 16:21-22 "It will be like a woman suffering the pains of labor. When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world. So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice and no one can rob you of that joy"...1 Peter 1:3-4 "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mecry he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade-kept in heaven for you,..."
Please pray for me in this new adventure and ministry opportunity!
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