P is for Pitocin

P is for Pitocin,
P is for pitocin, pitocin, pitocin,
P is for Pitocin,
what does it do?
Pitocin is know as Oxy-tocin,
\O is for ocytocin, oxy-tocin
O is for oxytocin,
what does it do?

This is the rhyme my son and I could be found singing as I wrote an assignment this afternoon. After I was having trouble finding information on Pitocin in my many pregnancy books, I started to hum the rhyme while I searched various indexes. Before long my two year old joined in, becoming the first child who can Pitocin and Oxytocin before his own name I suspect. The Ch sound is apparently hard to manage at 2 and a half, apparently oxytocin and pitocin is not, go figure.
My son is less than impressed that I am studying and spends most the time when I attempt (foolishly) to do assignments when he is awake haunting my shoulders and back As in climbing on and off my shoulders and the occasionally sabotage attempt as well by snatching the keyboard. i generally try to do my study in the afternoon after we've done something in the morning together, today we went for two walks before I attempted to do the terminology assignment. Despite this he still isn't taking to quite reading time well.
Oh well, at least he knows what P and O stand for now. He is also enjoying all the new books with pictures of babies in them. He quite likes babies in theory, not so in practice I suspect as he doesn't much like to share his mummy with his daddy let alone another small human.

A first taste

As I mentioned in my last post my best friend was overdue with her first baby. A boy, yesterday morning she woke up with contractions, so I started to ring periodically throughout the day, after my last post I rang to check on her and found her contractions were between six and four minutes apart, so while her husband got the car ready, I began timing her contractions properly over the phone. Her normal midwife was on vacation and her cover midwife didn't want my friend in until she was three to two minutes apart for at least an hour. I began to have reservations about this as my friend was forty minutes away from the hospital and we were expecting a tropical cyclone to hit over the weekend. My friend was shaking and her contractions were coming on much faster, after only a half hour on the phone to me she was a minute apart, with instructions to hop off the phone and call the midwife back, I left her alone.
Sure enough, midwife was ready for her, so she and hubby headed off to the hospital, during which her waters broke and she threw up (something I had warned her might happen). She got to the hospital at half 12, and was seven centimeters dilated by then. She was blessed with a wonderful easy labor and had her son an hour and a half later at 2am surrounded by her husband and her mother in law.
It was my first ever experience of coaching someone through labor, it was the most amazing thing to support a friend through one of the most special days of her life. I am absolutely in awe of her, she did so well, never made a sound through her contractions and I even managed to make her laugh.
Congratulations on your first born my love. Thank you for letting share in your labor.
More so I now know I am on the right path. I have never felt like I belonged as much as I did helping you through it all.

Something amazing is happening.

*Ahem!*
Little back story here, when I was thirty six weeks pregnant with my son, I looked like this.

My husband and I had just moved into the house you see behind me, it took a lot of getting used too after our tiny apartment. One thing about this house was there was not a close the door without locking it option. If you closed the door you were locked out. So Midweek at thirty six weeks pregnant I am nesting and doing all the laundry, of course, I manage to lock myself out. If I wasn't 36 week pregnant I could have easily shimmy though one the itty bitty windows that were above our normal child proofed already windows. But I was thirty six weeks pregnant. So I did the natural thing had a big cry then went and knocked on neighbors doors. Luckily, the first neighbor I asked was home. I'm not sure how I managed to not freak her out because I remember telling her something along the lines of "I need you to break into my house for because I am way too pregnant to manage it,".

Unfortunately neither of us could manage to break in, and we ended up calling her partner home to do it for us. 

Fast forward to two weeks post baby, and I finally decide I need a friend. The next neighbor was my unfortunate victim. I started to turn up on her doorstep until she had no choice but to accept me. Luckily she was into the same things I was with one exception she did not like babies, wouldn't even hold my little ball of love. 

Spoiler Alert: he eventually won her over. 

Now this pretty lady is married, and 40w4d. I am so excited for her!!!

In between days and Lactation Consultant

Well, today I started making the inquiries towards becoming a lactation consultant, it's certainly going to be a lot of work, and I do know it will be worth it in the long run, but I think finishing (starting) my doula training needs to come first. The amount of clinic hours I need to do to be certified with lactation consultant is not manageable with a two year old at home still (matter of months left till he starts daycare). I have still started to make arrangements for doing this as the best way to do it is to become a La Leche Leader, since I won't be coming from a medical role.
I finally feel that after three years of talking about it I am getting somewhere. I started sorting out my office space yesterday with the 'help' of the two year old. I hardly know what do to with myself with out regular dancing (hence the title- dancing doula to be) but while my dancing club gets updated due to a change in ownership we have to make do. I'm thinking about starting to make some apron time pinafores for when I can start practicing, but I feel a bit as though I am jumping the gun since I haven't started my course yet (less than a month to go) but I need to feel as though I am making progress.

Who am I?

My name is Jess, I am a twenty three year old divorced single mother. I have a three year old. I also dance a lot. I dream of being a doula and am looking forward to starting my training March 2014.

Why I'm going down this path.

It's 11pm, almost 12 and instead of sleeping or even doing the desperately needed house work (the laundry, oh god, the laundry) I am writing this. In a week or so I start down the path to becoming a internationally accredited doula, three years ago when I was pregnant with my son I had no idea what doula's were, or that they even existed. I was sitting in our apartment, completely oblivious, my greatest worry being that my morning sickness wasn't going to stop (it didn't stop), and that my husband wouldn't be at the birth, as he  was/is in the Royal New Zealand Navy, he spent most of pregnancy at sea.
 I spent most of pregnancy eating the only things I could keep down (burger rings and rodeo burgers), watching four seasons of the big bang theory (my son still reacts to the theme song) and being bored on facebook.  It was on facebook that I first stumbled upon doula's. I was the Natural Parenting Magazines page, when i saw an ad for doula looking for work. I contacted her via email explaining I was looking for someone to be at my birth to support me. I didn't want to give birth in a room full of strangers (without even my husband), and since I was going through the public system for my midwife I wouldn't even know the person delivering my baby. I had just turned twenty and I was scared. To be honest I was not impressed with the response, and I didn't end up hiring the doula, I went to report later and it turns out said doula was not accredited.
That was the last I thought on the subject for a very long while. Right up until my birth actually. My birth was a pretty awesome experience as a whole, I mean, I got this amazing little guy out of it, and as a bonus my husband was there. But I do have several improvement points for next time around.
 Six hours in, I had spent most of that in a kneeling position, thinking and praying through my contractions, yay for the distraction method. I spent some time in the pool, in the same position. All in all I have pretty set that I was going to give birth on my knee's, without anyone touching my stomach. Unfortunately, and here is where a doula would have been great, the midwife in charge put me on the bed on my back the moment I felt the need to push.
It's three years in August and I still remember arguing that I did not want to be lying down at all I wanted to stay on that floor. I still remember the midwife telling me I had to give birth on the bed because that is the way it was done, and there wasn't another way to do it. But within forty minutes I had my beautiful son, so I am grateful to the midwives who delivered him.
However, I look back and see so many opportunities where a doula would have been a great help particularly with the troubles we would go to face with my son (who was diagnosed failure to thrive within two months) . A little more information about breast feeding and informed consent would have been excellent, most of which is my own fault I went in without doing any research on breastfeeding, I was told antiquated advice (twenty minutes on each side only) and felt generally out of depth at all times.
I look forward to the future, to my study, I know I am starting out on a new path and that it will be worth the work I put into it. After all, the babies of this country and their mothers deserve the best we can give them. I hope to be the person that helps with that.  how you give birth to babies. Never again will I give birth on back.
I came out of the childbirth system feeling like there was a gap in the childbirth system, a gap for people like me who just needed a little bit more information without feeling bullied or looked down upon. Now that my son is getting ready to be a preschooler, that wonderful time when my life suddenly empties a bit because the center of my world is growing up and will be out of my care, I am looking into options of fulling that gap.

At first I looked into Midwifery, but my own health kept me from being able to keep their schedule.  From there I started to look at both doula and childbirth education, from there I could study to be a lactation consultant, then I could offer best help possible to new and expecting mothers. More than anything I would like to help expecting mothers through their pregnancy, labor and beyond so they look back and feel as though they had the best experience and the best support.
I look forward to the future, to my study, I know I am starting out on a new path and that it will be worth the work I put into it. After all, the babies of this country and their mothers deserve the best we can give them. I hope to be the person that helps with that..

Myself (20) and my minutes old son, on my back