Roaring Baby Out Instead of Pushing, with Celia Mei Donaldson

“It’s gonna get more intense now” were the words of Celia’s midwife after her water broke. Even then, Celia felt strong and powerful while being in so much pain. She felt grateful to be so connected to her body. She knew the only way through it, was through it. So she roared.

 

What we talked about:

• Preparing for birth with all the things
• Finding tools to support your partner as well – this is a great one! 😉
• Is this it? Or is THIS it?
• Have someone take at least one picture of the early process
• Wine run to the neighbor’s house
• Setting up the environment with candles and music
• When the tub doesn’t do it, the shower might!
• Getting really primal
• Staying in the moment to avoid freaking out
• Instinctual body movements
• Breathing guidance
• “OK – It’s going to get more intense now”
• Feeling the head go through the birth canal
• Moaning 101 🙂
• Connecting to the transition of each phase
• Body pushing on it’s own
• “The only way through is to go through it”
• Roaring the head out!
• Being in awe of yourself
• Going from “me + baby” to “me = mom”

 

 

Related resources for birth and postpartum preparation shared by Celia*:

• Holisticmama.org – Celia’s website
• SpinningBabies.com
• RachelYellin.com – childbirth education class Celia took
• EvidenceBasedBirth.com

Books:

• Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth, by Ina May Gaskin
• Nurture: A Modern Guide to Pregnancy, Birth, Early Motherhood—and Trusting Yourself and Your Body, by Erica Chidi Cohen
• Birthing from Within, by Pam England
• Active Birth: The New Approach to Giving Birth Naturally, by Janet Balaskas
• The Vaccine Friendly Plan, by Dr. Paul Thomas
• The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, by Diane Wiessinger, Diana West, and Teresa Pitman

Podcasts:

• The Birth Hour
• Healthy Births, Happy Babies
• Doing it at Home
• The Birthful Podcast (yay!)

 

 

Related Birthful episodes:

• Prenatal Yoga, with Deena Blumenfeld
• Baby’s Position and Labor Flow, with Gail Tully
• Birth Principles: Better than a Birth Plan, with Jessie Harrold
• Setting up Your Postpartum Support, with Michelle Peterson

 

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About Celia Mei Donaldson

Celia Mei is a new mom and a nanny of 14 years, with a lifelong passion for birth. She had a transformative and fulfilling home birth leaving her looking forward to doing it again. Celia was a birth doula since 2011. She always admired women in birth as incredibly powerful, but was struck by how many were left feeling traumatized after the experience. While pregnant, it became her mission to discover the possibility she knew birth could be. By immersing herself in the wisdom developed by Ina May Gaskin, the Birthful Podcast and so many others in this powerful birth movement, she accomplished just that. Finally going on her journey into motherhood, Celia was inspired to create a resource for sharing evidence-based information about pregnancy, birth, and parenthood at holisticmama.org. To continue transforming the view of birth from that of fear to power, she is now being trained as a childbirth educator and plans to teach local classes in the Bay Area. She’d love to connect with families from all over the world, so feel free to get in touch with her at Facebook.com/holisticmamatribe.
 

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Title music: “Vibe Ace” by Kevin MacLeod, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).

Sponsorship music: “Air Hockey Saloon” by Chris Zabriskie, from the Free Music Archive / CC BY (edited for length).