A Horse...

Where in the world did this whacky name come from?  A Horse In the Wind by the Sea... You can be sure, it is packed with deep meaning!       

My first birth experience was like that of many first time moms.  My view of birth was that it was a "natural" process, after all my mom had delivered four of my siblings at home... but in the hustle and bustle of life, I did not take time to adequately prepare for the birth of our first baby girl.  I felt bullied by a fair amount of fear and cultural norms. When it was all said and done, whether or not I had prepared may or may not have impacted the outcome.  Violet Dawn was born at 38 weeks via c-section. (Read more about that birth here)  She was breech and would not turn.  We did try to version proceedure.  It I had to do it over again, I would not have done the version and I would not have delievered at 38 weeks.  Alas... it cannot be redone and our Violet turned out just fine!
  
   As a side note, my c-section experience was just fine.  Nothing weird or out of the ordinary happened.  I did see my guts in the reflection of the big bright lights... that was weird.  I did feel afraid to hold my baby lying flat out on the table and totally numb. The recovery was fine for me.  I didn't really experience any post partum depression stuff.  We did have a hard time nursing, but eventually got it figured out!  

Violet Dawn Roth born January 30, 2009!

  15 months later, when I found out I was pregnant with baby #2, I was determined to do things differently.  Luckily, my bud and mom friend was a birth doula!  Jackie Priest showed me the well worn path of choosing a supportive provider, being part of the birth education community, and partnering with a doula!  

One fairly common tool for natural childbirth or really anything physically hard is visualization.  One of the most powerful parts of my preparation for my second birth was my visualization of a race horse.  See, I lived only blocks from ChurchHill Downs, and I had been a handful of times to watch the horses run.  Oh... they are so beautiful.  I get emotional just thinking about how magnificent those horses are running... every muscle exploding, shiny coats, and you just knew that they were made for this... They were free, they were powerful, so strong.  And that... was precisely what I wanted to experience.  And, I did! It was a total thrill!  I loved it!  And, I love the privilege of being a part of the birth stories of other amazingly strong and beautiful women!