Seanna McDonald - Doula (Blog): Welcoming Lucy

In January of 2015, I retired from doula work..... And then a few months back I got a message from Shannon that I had been waiting for since she got married to Bob. She was expecting baby number two and was wondering if I was available to be her doula again. How could I say no? The birth of her first baby was a truly incredible experience and I jumped at the chance support her again.

Shannon and Bob were planning a water birth at her parents home in Metchosin. The house and the yard is pretty much heaven on earth and her family is incredibly full of life and love. The walls are covered in art and family photos, within seconds of walking through the door everyone has greeted you with a hug, and there are always offers of food, drink, chocolate......is it any surprise I went back a second time?

This time around labour started out somewhat slowly, lots of wondering if this was it, or just a false start. Gentle enough to let everyone sleep at night but consistent enough to have everyone on their toes and ready to go. Finally on Saturday morning Shannon called and sounded a bit more sure that things were starting to pick up. The midwife had been by to check on her progress, she was dilated to 3cm and was contracting consistently around the 6-7 minute mark. She still sounded comfortable and in control but I wanted to pop over and see how she was coping with my own eyes.

I arrived shortly after 2pm, Shannon was in bed with her adorable daughter Gwen, reading stories. Every few minutes, while she read, her breathing was a little deeper but she managed to finish the story. Very impressive! After getting Gwen all tucked in with a snack we decided to head out and wander around the yard to see if we could get things going a little stronger, just like we had done while she was in labour with Gwen.

The yard is beautiful, and Shannon quietly contracted as we walked, very quickly moving from 6 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart. As we walked, the family dog, Beau stayed with us the entire time, keeping guard over Shannon for each contraction. Eventually I suggested we head back to the house to let the midwife know things were picking up and so we could start putting the birth pool together. My gut told me that we would be needing it sooner rather than later.

Once Bob was going on the pool construction and midwife Andrea was on her way, we spent some time pacing around on the deck and then headed down stairs to the beautiful birthing space they had created in the basement.

Andrea arrived around 330pm and it was full steam ahead for Shannon and her labour. Contractions were coming fast and furious, shortly after arriving Andrea checked Shannon and she was now dilated to 5-6cm. Time to call in the back up midwife and start filling the pool.

Shannon was amazing throughout each and every contractions. Shannon was unbelievably supported by her husband Bob, her mom, her sister and especially Gwen, who was the perfect little doula in training, she helped keep the labouring mom nice and cool with old face cloths, got her drinks, and gave her lots of hugs and kisses. Her father and brother in law were close by and the home was full of family waiting to meet the newest addition.

Time flew by and soon it was time to get into the pool. After a few really tough contractions that Shannon had to blow away (anyone who has ever had to "blow" away a contraction while every fibre of your body is trying to push knows how really tough those contractions were), she was fully dilated and it was time to start pushing.

After just a couple of pushes, and as the sunlight started streaming in the window, surrounded by family in a room bursting at the seams with love and light, baby Lucy was born.

I know I say it over and over again but I am truly in awe of each and every woman and her family that I have supported over the years. Each baby will forever have a special place in my heart and it is truly a gift to be invited into such a sacred space.