Education is the Key to a Positive Birth Experience...
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About Laura...
Laura Magnarelli - CHBE, CD(DONA) Se Habla Espanol
I gave birth to my beautiful blue eyed guy in January of 2009 at UCSD naturally, without any pain medication and also without having even hearing of HypnoBirthing. Looking back I'm so grateful to have found supportive care providers and family support because without those two I can only wonder what path my birth would have taken. When my midwife came in the next day to see me she told me something that stuck in my head, “you should be very proud of yourself for staying in this room (on the 4th floor). There are plenty of women who come in and try but not many succeed.” I felt incredibly accomplished and empowered after my birth, who could not want to birth this way. and
Over the next few months as I watched my pregnant girlfriends having their own experiences, their births taking different paths than they had envisioned, I couldn't shake off this feeling of helplessness. I had a beautiful birth, and they had so many regrets. And then it came to me as I thought about my birth. I remembered asking if there was a volunteer doula available when I had arrived at the Birth Center. And on that particular Tuesday morning there wasn't. I didn't really know that much about what a doula did, except that she was an angel that showed up at your birth and helped you. A light when off. A doula. If I was a doula, then I could support other women during their birthing time. I looked up the requirements on the DONA website, printed them out, and thought well, that's not too hard. But, I knew it wasn't something I could manage at the time with my son being less than than six months old.
I stuck those requirements in a drawer, and every month or so I would take them out and look at them. I would feel a stirring in my heart and then the voice would pop into my head, “not now”. Finally, as I began to go through some significant life changes I looked at the papers and I said to myself, “I have to do this. I have to help other women. I have to do something that I have passion for.” I immediately looked up the training, this was the fall of 2010, and there was one in January. I signed myself up, bought the books, and began to study. In January of this year I took the DONA training and on the last day, a guest speaker came in to talk to us about how to establish yourself as a doula.
This lady was high energy and you could feel the passion just rolling off of her. Maybe it was because she had just come from a birth. She gave us well organized handouts and I found myself jotting down every word she said. This lady, named Care, knew her stuff. And she said she also taught these classes. Something called HypnoBirthing. I had no idea what that was and I thought oh, another gimick-ey birth class you take that does nothing to actually prepare you for birth. But, when I talked to her after her presentation she seemed so down to earth I felt that stirring again. I wanted to know more about what she was doing.
We kept in touch and I went to shadow a series of her classes. I went out and bought the book, read Mickey's story, and my heart was stirred once more. From the moment I sat down on the comfy cushions, in the soft glow of the lamps, I knew this class was different. They were actually giving parents useful information, showing them videos of real, natural birth. And, the most important element was that it wasn't complicated. It didn't stress parents out with all this complicated stuff to have a wonderful birth. They just had to educate themselves and practice relaxation. The very foundation of HypnoBirthing, that birth is a natural, normal process was a message I knew women needed to hear.
Since then I have joyfully supported many HypnoBirthing parents a doula. I feel deeply honored each time I am present to witness the birth of a family. Now I'm also supporting another group of women in our community by teaching the series in Spanish as well as English.
I gave birth to my beautiful blue eyed guy in January of 2009 at UCSD naturally, without any pain medication and also without having even hearing of HypnoBirthing. Looking back I'm so grateful to have found supportive care providers and family support because without those two I can only wonder what path my birth would have taken. When my midwife came in the next day to see me she told me something that stuck in my head, “you should be very proud of yourself for staying in this room (on the 4th floor). There are plenty of women who come in and try but not many succeed.” I felt incredibly accomplished and empowered after my birth, who could not want to birth this way. and
Over the next few months as I watched my pregnant girlfriends having their own experiences, their births taking different paths than they had envisioned, I couldn't shake off this feeling of helplessness. I had a beautiful birth, and they had so many regrets. And then it came to me as I thought about my birth. I remembered asking if there was a volunteer doula available when I had arrived at the Birth Center. And on that particular Tuesday morning there wasn't. I didn't really know that much about what a doula did, except that she was an angel that showed up at your birth and helped you. A light when off. A doula. If I was a doula, then I could support other women during their birthing time. I looked up the requirements on the DONA website, printed them out, and thought well, that's not too hard. But, I knew it wasn't something I could manage at the time with my son being less than than six months old.
I stuck those requirements in a drawer, and every month or so I would take them out and look at them. I would feel a stirring in my heart and then the voice would pop into my head, “not now”. Finally, as I began to go through some significant life changes I looked at the papers and I said to myself, “I have to do this. I have to help other women. I have to do something that I have passion for.” I immediately looked up the training, this was the fall of 2010, and there was one in January. I signed myself up, bought the books, and began to study. In January of this year I took the DONA training and on the last day, a guest speaker came in to talk to us about how to establish yourself as a doula.
This lady was high energy and you could feel the passion just rolling off of her. Maybe it was because she had just come from a birth. She gave us well organized handouts and I found myself jotting down every word she said. This lady, named Care, knew her stuff. And she said she also taught these classes. Something called HypnoBirthing. I had no idea what that was and I thought oh, another gimick-ey birth class you take that does nothing to actually prepare you for birth. But, when I talked to her after her presentation she seemed so down to earth I felt that stirring again. I wanted to know more about what she was doing.
We kept in touch and I went to shadow a series of her classes. I went out and bought the book, read Mickey's story, and my heart was stirred once more. From the moment I sat down on the comfy cushions, in the soft glow of the lamps, I knew this class was different. They were actually giving parents useful information, showing them videos of real, natural birth. And, the most important element was that it wasn't complicated. It didn't stress parents out with all this complicated stuff to have a wonderful birth. They just had to educate themselves and practice relaxation. The very foundation of HypnoBirthing, that birth is a natural, normal process was a message I knew women needed to hear.
Since then I have joyfully supported many HypnoBirthing parents a doula. I feel deeply honored each time I am present to witness the birth of a family. Now I'm also supporting another group of women in our community by teaching the series in Spanish as well as English.
