Testimonial for Allison Connor

Allison was an encouragement from the very first conversation I had with her. She immediately offered supportive words and an encouraging attitude, a kind of "can do" spirit about the process without being overbearing. Shelped me thing about pain medications, and offered suggestions for achieving a quick labor and work through my "moment of birth" anxieties. I was really looking forward to the "bag of tricks" she would bring to the labor, as well as her presence of mind to help us be alert to what was going on with my body as labor progressed (or didn't). Unfortunately, we didn't get to use her "bag of tricks" because once we got to the hospital, Johanna was born just 53 minutes later, and almost in the staff bathroom. Although sorry to not have had a bit of "pampering" during the labor, I couldn't have been more delighted with such a short wait time once we got to the hospital. It relieved any difficulty of an overly zealous hospital staff or the pain of birth. The birth was so fast, I didn't have time to worry about either, and I credit Allison in helping with that. In fact the whole week before I gave birth, she gave me tremendous support that really helped me get over some rough spots. I went into false labor a whole week before finally giving birth. I had no idea what to make of what was happening to my body, and I was disappointed by a lack of progress, but also tired from lack of sleep as contractions would increase at night. I was feeling disappointed, discouraged and stupid. She did nothing but give me encouragement. She helped to steady my emotional state, giving me a burst of perseverance and steadiness while I waited for true labor to set in. She offered practical advice on the positioning of the baby, and ultimately, when I was finally in labor, but was lacking consistency in contraction timing, she encouraged Nathan and I to do lunges. It couldn't have been more than 1.5-2 hours later that Johanna was born.

-Jennifer Kin

March 22, 2011