Testimonial for Heather Karlson (DONA)
My water broke in the middle of the night. I had light, irregular contractions that followed, but I did my best to sleep despite my excitement...our first baby was finally coming!! The next morning I texted Heather to let her know our status, and my husband and I killed time. I was leaking a lot of fluid at this point, and it seemed to be discolored. Heather and I talked it over and decided that, unfortunately, it could be meconiun. I was thankful, even this early on, to have Heather to talk through the situation. My plan had been to labor at home for as long as possible, but now it was looking like we would have to go in earlier than I hoped. I was having consistent contractions at this point, and Heather met up with us at our home. For the next few hours we did everything we could to get labor to progress as quickly as possible. Then, we felt like we had to go to the hospital to make sure the baby was still okay if it happened to be meconium.
When we got t the hospital, I was so disappointed to find out I was only 3 cms dilated. Heather encouraged me and my husband and kept our heads in the game somehow; we needed that. No meconium – praise God – but now we were stuck at the hospital with a long way to go…
We labored for 7 hours at the hospital. Heather recommended different positions, kept me energized with food and water, and encouraged both me and my husband. Heather kept my husband involved, but gave him relief when he needed it. Looking back, my husband and I can both say that there is no way we would have been able to have been able to have a natural delivery if we hadn’t had Heather. I had no idea what my body could do, and I lacked faith; but Heather told me I could do it, and she was right! I pushed for a short 20 minutes and out came our beautiful son! We will never forget the totally vital role Heather played in his birth.
-Annie Ittersagen
July 17, 2015
Heather Karlson (DONA)
DoulaKarlson.com
Birth Fee: $1800
