natural birth

Our daughter was born January 2010 & our birth experience was exactly what we wanted. One of the most important aspects for us was to have a support during the birth. Enter Kristi who helped us achieve our goal – a totally natural birth – drug & intervention free. We were lucky enough to also meet Carol after the birth for breastfeeding support. As someone who has always believed birth was a natural process, I was totally surprised to find such little support in London when I was pregnant. Now Babies Naturally will help fill that void. Education & empathy are critical to positive birth outcomes. These ladies have it all. We feel very blessed to have met them & shared our birth story with them.

 

Aurora

Shannon has always been very professional and always made us feel comfortable no matter what the conversation or topic was. Her knowledge of the birthing process and aftercare is such a great asset and something we found invaluable as first time parents. Many times throughout the pregnancy we didn’t know what to expect or what our options were (or that we had them) and Shannon was always great at explaining and clarifying everything.

The most important area we would like to highlight was the labour and birth. Without Shannon present and on-call at all times, we probably would have made 2 or more trips to the hospital only to be sent home. It was such a relief to have Shannon’s experience and consulting to let us know exactly what was happening and what stage we were in. Being able to labour at home as long as possible made it much easier on us and we are confident this enabled a smooth birth.

On Sunday around 12 noon we had hit our low point. We were very exhausted physically and emotionally. Sensing this, Shannon made the trip out to Komoka to be with us even though Amy wasn’t in active labour yet. Shannon was a godsend to us. She raised our spirits, helped Amy relax and really kick-started labour. By recommending new positions and strategies Amy was able to relax, get baby Hope into the right position and get things moving along to the point that Amy was 6cm dilated by the time we arrived at the hospital at 6pm.

When it was time to travel to the hospital, Shannon made the trip with us in the car which was completely above our expectations. Knowing she was there allowed us to relax, confident we were in good hands if the baby arrived early. After all was said and done, Shannon spent over 12 hours with us that day and was constantly dedicated to us for that whole time. Having that level of support was inspiring to say the least.

Amy’s plan all along was to have a completely natural birth with no interventions. We are very confident that without Shannon, this would not be possible. When Amy wavered in her ability to complete the task, Shannon knew exactly what to say, or what to do to relax her, and get back on track. This was also very beneficial to me (Jeff) as watching Amy go through so much pain and discomfort was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Shannon was able to keep me calm and coach me into saying the things I needed to say, and do what I needed to do to comfort Amy. Without Shannon I might have collapsed and recommended an epidural to Amy. Again I am so grateful for Shannon’s support.

One of my (Jeff) initial fears of hiring Shannon was that it would limit my involvement in the birthing process. I can honestly say now that in no way did Shannon interfere with my ability to be involved in the birth. Quite the opposite it allowed me to be involved exactly how I wanted to be involved as Shannon handled everything else. I was able to be 100% focused on Amy and Shannon supported us both however we needed it.

Once Hope was born, it was the happiest moment of our lives. We owe it all to Shannon and are so glad we were able to share that experience with her. We don’t even know how to express how much we appreciate and are forever grateful for Shannon and what she did for us. After Hope was born, Shannon was also a great asset to help Amy in the early stages of breastfeeding. The nurses were almost non-existent so it was great to get little tips and tricks to kick start breastfeeding success. With a few small tweaks and adjustments Hope is feeding great and Shannon was a huge part of that.

Jeff and Amy Northey