Testimonial for Meredith Markussen, CD(DONA)
I say with all seriousness that I could not have had a successful VBAC without Meredith. She encouraged me through five days of prodromal labor that helped prevent me from exhausting myself before going into true labor. Once labor finally started, she immediately identified that baby was probably not optimally positioned and causing "positional contractions." After going to the chiropractor and getting baby better situated and adjusted, my labor finally took off and started becoming effective! I can only imagine how many more hours of labor were prevented because of her identifying that. (my first baby was a 55hr labor with no doula before getting a c section) She advised my husband and I throughout early labor and helped us in making the decision about when to go to hospital (as a VBAC, we wanted to stay home as long as possible). At the hospital she knew just how to help labor progress through position changes etc and knew just how to encourage me (and without those hip squeezes, I'm not sure I could have gone unmedicated!). Her support allowed my husband to just be my husband which was what I wanted and needed. My husband is a surgeon and I am also an RN, so the fact that Meredith had experience in L&D as an RN was reassuring for us in navigating a VBAC in the hospital. She is knowledgable of the medical world and also the natural world which was very helpful for us. Having Meredith at our side helped ease anxiety and give us confidence. My husband was skeptical of the doula thing but after meeting Meredith for the first time, he was so relieved we would have her there! Now he is a huge advocate of having a doula. All of our doctors, midwives, and nurses loved her too! Since then, we moved a couple hours out of town, but if/when we have another baby, we are seriously considering coming to deliver in Dallas so Meredith could be our doula again! I recommend her to all my pregnant family and friends!
-Karen Ann Robbins
September 17, 2018
Birth Fee: Not specified
