“From the beginning, our experience with Casey was like a breath of fresh air. As first time parents who had tried years to conceive, we were determined to learn everything about birth that we possibly could. Casey gave wonderful book recommendations and guidance, but more than that she educated us. Not in just a teacher way, but in a loving, compassionate, “let me take your hand and lead you through this” sort of way.
We learned more from meeting with her weekly for 8 weeks than we did in the classes that the hospital offers! She instilled a sense of confidence in both my husband and I in our various roles for the birth, and there was great comfort knowing that she was going to be there guiding the whole process. I remember one of the questions during a meeting was “under what circumstances would you have a C section” I scoffed because I was 100% camp “unmediated birth” so I remember replying that one of us would have to have our life in danger.
Well, fast forward to the actual birthing process and basically everything I wanted and planned changed, but our one constant was Casey. We ended up needing to be induced a week early because our baby girl was suddenly measuring small (and had previously been on track) and Dr’s were concerned my placenta was failing and that she would be too weak to thrive during birth had we let her continue to cook longer. All of this shook me up, but Casey glided through it like a pro.
After 3 days of induction and interventions I never wanted, I found myself finally laboring through to bring my girl into the world. During the almost 10 hours of contractions 2 min apart, without any pain med’s, she was there pushing on my back, massaging, guiding, breathing, encouraging, coaching, getting snacks and drinks, caring for us both and being the liaison for our families since I wanted our birth room just the three of us. After all of that, my body still had not progressed at all. I was still 3 cm. She knew I hadn’t slept in days and was exhausted. She agreed with the Dr’s, nurses, and my husband that the time had come for an epidural.
There was no disappointment or judgement from her, just reassuring that I had done all I could and this was what my body needed at that time. Well my body still didn’t get the memo and although I was able to rest, my contractions became abnormally long (6 min) and began really affecting the baby’s heart rate. After multiple severe drops we had an even lower one and Drs rushed in and suggested an emergency C section. I bawled my eyes out but Casey was there to support my husband and I. She advocated for me during the sign off process while I was a crying wreak.
After the surgery (that thankfully ended up with a beautiful, healthy baby girl!) she continued to check on us, care for us, and communicate with our families who were in the waiting room. After being discharged, she came by the house to check on the baby and I. Overall she is an invaluable resource and guiding light throughout the birthing and recovery periods. As we begin planning to take steps toward expanding our family, we can confidently say that Casey will be part of that process again.”
