We all agree, birth is a remarkable event in any woman's life. Cradling her baby in her womb for the entire gestation of her pregnancy--meeting her baby in a safe and sound manner--always remains on top of a woman's priorities. As much as our energies pivot at ensuring baby's health and well-being throughout the laboring and birthing process, AMANI Birth's emphasis on guarding and sanctifying the laboring mother's birthing experience and laboring environment is equally stressed upon. After all, healthy and happy mothers make healthy and happy babies!
Today, we are thrilled to include a remarkable testimonial of a client of AMANI Birth Certified Doula, Nour Hafifi, which is a wonderful affirmation of the vision that AMANI Birth is built upon: empowering women in their mothering journeys.
This is what Nour Hafifi had to say about assisting this mother for her birth:
"Doula are not only for natural births!
A Doula brings calmness and provides clarity during chaos.
Often the lack of understanding and communication of what to expect leads to trauma and difficult recovery with emergency situation. A Doula is able to walk you through the process, while the medical team prepares for the emergency. As a Doula I have supported various births from SVD (spontaneous vaginal delivery), planned cesarean, assisted birth, VBAC, emergency cesarean, stillbirth and miscarriage. It makes a difference to have a hand to hold that provides you care. I had met a client who had a traumatic experience due to placental abruption, and this client's feedback shone a positive light. It validates the work I do (and Doulas do!) and we are worth it.
Dear Nour,
I wanted to write to express my deepest thanks from the bottom of my heart. I’m so grateful that you were at the birth. You brought a sense of calm to an otherwise very alien experience. And when things started to ‘go wrong’, you were there to support all of us. I will never forget the cool bag that you gave to me when I was taken into theatre; it sounds silly, but it made me feel more grounded and I was able to calm down and lower my heart rate. It’s not been ~3 weeks since the emergency C-section and I expected to feel terrible, yet for some reason I feel okay. The baby too - she sleeps well and doesn’t cry. I will keep a close eye on my mental health, and on the baby, but I really believe that your support has helped our general recovery, and helped me not to absorb the birth/situation as a traumatic experience. Instead, I’m able to view it as a situation I was in control off - despite it seeming out of hand at the time - because I chose the doctor, had the support of you and my husband, and prepared for the birth. I can see now that, inadvertently, I was also preparing for an emergency, and had set things up to be ready for anything. You were to integral to this even though in the heat of the moment it felt terrifying and wrong. It doesn’t feel like that now and I can’t thank you enough for being there.
You supported both myself and my husband during a time of life that was so new to us, when we were over 3000 miles away from home. At no point did we feel alone, worried or scared and I believe that so much of that is because you have been on-hand to answer any questions and provide excellent advice from the moment I contacted you until after the baby was born. I always felt that you were there to support me; your answers are extremely well-informed, well-thought out and full of detailed information, which I think is excellent!
Overall, your advice and guidance has made a significant difference to me and my experience of pregnancy and labour for my first child. I am so in love with my baby, it’s beyond anything I could comprehend before she arrived. She is so important to me and you have been so important to her arrival. You have gone above and beyond and I couldn’t recommend you highly enough as a Doula. I really wish you all the best in your future, both in your professional and personal life.
With the deepest thanks from all of our hearts,
Zan, Scott and Florentina."
Interested to know how you can take more charge of your birthing experience, surrounded by the support of your Doula? Check out the blog below to learn more about a Doula and her role in enhancing and assisting you in your birth wishes!