About Me
Let's get acquainted...
My name is Catherine. I am the proud mother of two beautiful girls, Eden and Iris. They are the marshmallows in my lucky charms, so to speak, along with my husband, Jerry, and our menagerie of a dozen or so cats (we live in the country), a dog, and two fish. Yes, we used to keep lizards too.
By trade, I am a Master's level Speech-Language Pathologist certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA). I am also licensed in my state, hold a Type 10 Speech-Language Impaired teaching certificate and have an Early Intervention credential for serving children from birth-3 years of age.
During my graduate studies, I was a research assistant for the Speech Pathology & Audiology department. The skills I learned in locating information and interpreting research have been invaluable to me later in life as I discovered my passion for natural childbirth and began my quest to educate others about it as well.
Like many women, I had not given much thought to the type of childbirth experience I wanted until I first fell pregnant. As I began to read every pregnancy book I could get my hands on, I delved into the subject. To me, natural childbirth just makes sense. Giving birth is what a female body was designed to do. It never occurred to me that I couldn't have a natural childbirth.
Like you, I've heard all the horror stories. But the common theme among them is that those mothers believed their birth would be a painful ordeal. Well, they weren't disappointed. They got exactly what they expected, for better or for worse.
I believe there is a huge self-fulfilling prophecy to childbirth. If you trust that your body knows what to do, if you believe that you can have and will have a pain-free natural birth, then you will.
Both my births were the most empowering, self-defining moments of my life. I went into labor believing in my body, knowing I could birth my babies with no outside intervention. You can read the full details of my birth stories on the Birth Diaries page.
By believing in yourself, trusting in your body and your inner strength, you can accomplish anything.
Giving birth is probably the most pivotal event in a woman's life. The transition to mother is life-altering, in the best of ways. All too often, women give the power over their birth to others.
Why should a mother whose labor is progressing normally be encouraged to "move things along" with invasive augmentation techniques like amniotomy or pitocin? Is a faster labor a better labor? It may be a more convenient, but for whom? When we interrupt the natural process that birthing is, we risk causing unforeseen complications.
I am not belittling doctors in any way. There will always be circumstances and complications that will prohibit a natural childbirth. There will always be situations that required skilled medical intervention to save the life of a mother or her child. However, my goal is to make routine medical intervention the exception, not the rule.
To that end, I believe the best way to have a natural birth experience is by educating yourself. No matter what setting you choose for your birth, there are decisions that must be made. Without knowledge of childbirth, you may limited in your ability to advocate for yourself and make informed decisions throughout your pregnancy and childbirth.
This
is the reason I wanted to create this website. I wanted to encourage
you to learn about natural childbirth and pregnancy, and be able to
give you resources to make informed decisions. I hope it helps!
If the information provided here helps you in any way throughout your pregnancy, be sure to email me through my Contact page. I love hearing stories like that!
For
more about me, visit my Birthing
Blog.
Happy Birthing!
Catherine