Family birth & wellness

As the CEO’s assistant at Family Birth & Wellness, I was responsible for many written materials. This sample is my favorite birth story I was able to publish to their Facebook page, as I was able to interview the parents myself.

We want to share Taylor's beautiful birth story and experience at Family Birth and Wellness.

Taylor told us about her first birth which took place at Family Birth and Wellness. “It was a long one, a very long labor, the heat of it about 30 hours” was how she started the story.

Taylor’s progression was very slow. After many hours of hard labor, she was laboring in the shower and was certain she wanted to leave and go to the hospital for an epidural. She was sure she couldn’t do this anymore. She said that her partner Eli, Carla, and Kim encouraged her to keep going, but that they could prepare her for a transfer: First though, they offered Taylor nitrous oxide. She wanted so badly to give birth in a more natural way, so she decided to give it a shot before transferring to the hospital for an epidural. Taylor said it made the difference and “I think the nitrous helped me relax. It took me to the place that I couldn’t get by myself. Because once I had calmed down, my body started progressing a lot faster...and it gave me the relief that I needed to to be able to carry on, and for my body to carry on. And then I said that I felt an urge to push.”

She pushed for four hours in every position imaginable, but nothing worked except being over the toilet with a stool under her feet. Even though they planned on a water birth in a tub, Taylor says, “there is no real birth plan; the birth plan is going along with the flow, the birth plan is what works for me. “

Kim, Carla, and Amy walked her through how to push in the most effective way, to breathe, tuck her chin, etc. Taylor says “my body had the instinct, but it needed the guidance, and they gave me the guidance.” On top of that, they reassured her in ways they knew she needed. She says she couldn’t have done it without Eli and the midwives.

Eli says the care team at FBW helped make him feel more involved with his son’s birth. They offered to help him catch the baby himself, taught him in-depth information at the birth class, and enabled him to be a help to Taylor through her labor. “I felt pretty prepared, and I think most people feel really unprepared.”

Taylor says the best thing about her care was “the people that provide the care made me feel comfortable.” She knew no matter what, she was going to be taken care of. The way talked Taylor through labor, appointments, and were always there via the midwife phone to answer questions and calm concerns. Eli says “they genuinely wanted to know” what was going on with them and the baby. In postpartum, they stuck with the midwives they bonded with during pregnancy and especially Taylor’s labor. She says any problems she’s had with breastfeeding, newborn information, and more, have all been explained by Carla so Taylor and Eli could feel at ease with their decisions. Taylor is so grateful that Family Birth and Wellness is where and how she chose to have her baby.