I had a fast labor. Now before you start saying, "you lucky dog, " you need to understand that the difference between a normal labor and a fast labor is like the difference between sitting down to a nice tall glass of freshly squeezed lemonade and sitting down to a nice tall glass of unsweetened lemon juice concentrate. I'll spare you all the details and summarize by saying we had a beautiful waterbirth, and yes, it hurt.
I had spent too much time thinking of birth as the culmination of my pregnancy rather than the beginning of motherhood. Birth is NOT the finish line, it's the just the starting gun and you better be ready to run the parenting marathon. The staff of the Madison Birth Center proved to be perfect coaches, not just for my pregnancy, labor and birth but also for the most important part - becoming a parent to a helpless, precious, screaming, little newborn.
The home visits sound like a nice added bonus feature when you first hear about them. They are an absolute necessity for first time parents. We took the childbirth class, the baby wearing class, the cloth diapering class and the breastfeeding class. We thought we were prepared.
But we had a baby who didn't want to eat. She just wanted to sleep. I thought, "Being a mom is easy, she just sleeps all the time - cool." But Aszani did not share my sentiment. Audrey's weight was dropping, her billirubin level was rising and she was becoming jaundiced. She needed supplementation immediately. Aszani taught us how to supplement Audrey during breastfeeding with formula, a tiny tube and a syringe. It wasn't easy, but we only needed to supplement for 4 days before she was gaining weight like a little sumo wrestler. In that 4-day period, we were visited 6 times by Aszani, who also brought along Arlinda Michael, another lactation consultant. Aszani also called us daily to check in.
What was the alternative? Imagine not knowing your baby was losing weight. Imagine watching her slowly turn yellow , refuse to nurse and become increasingly sick and distraught. Imagine facing the need to hospitalize your little one for treatment of jaundice. Imagine having to leave the hospital without her and sleep without her for the next few days. Imagine how thankful I am that we had postpartum home visits and were able to avoid this entire situation.
This is just one example of the outstanding care that the Madison Birth Center provided after Audrey's birth. There was the time she didn't poop for 10 days, the month she cried every night for 3 hours and many other stories I could share. (See my blog at www.vesla.typepad.com.)
Postpartum is when you really need the most help and when the care from the Madison Birth Center is far better than anything else out there. This is when you lose sleep, lose your mind, and lose your modesty. This is when you may find yourself walking outside to greet the world with your new baby and wondering if you are wearing pants.
The staff at the Madison Birth Center goes well beyond the call of duty. They are more than just healthcare providers. They become your friends. They will help you from pregnancy through postpartum and best of all, they won't let you leave the house without wearing pants.
The classes are fantastic and highly recommended. The midwives are experienced and friendly. The staff is warm and knowledgeable. The new mom's group is a life saver, and the birth center's care is far superior to anything you'll ever know. Hope to see you on the other side - in parenthood.
I had a fast labor. Now before you start saying, "you lucky dog, " you need to understand that the difference between a normal labor and a fast labor is like the difference between sitting down to a nice tall glass of freshly squeezed lemonade and sitting down to a nice tall glass of unsweetened lemon juice concentrate. I'll spare you all the details and summarize by saying we had a beautiful waterbirth, and yes, it hurt.
But we had a baby who didn't want to eat. She just wanted to sleep. I thought, "Being a mom is easy, she just sleeps all the time - cool." But Aszani did not share my sentiment. Audrey's weight was dropping, her billirubin level was rising and she was becoming jaundiced. She needed supplementation immediately. Aszani taught us how to supplement Audrey during breastfeeding with formula, a tiny tube and a syringe. It wasn't easy, but we only needed to supplement for 4 days before she was gaining weight like a little sumo wrestler. In that 4-day period, we were visited 6 times by Aszani, who also brought along Arlinda Michael, another lactation consultant. Aszani also called us daily to check in.
This is just one example of the outstanding care that the Madison Birth Center provided after Audrey's birth. There was the time she didn't poop for 10 days, the month she cried every night for 3 hours and many other stories I could share. (See my blog at www.vesla.typepad.com.)
