More About Caren
My supportive husband, Josh, and I in Maui. We have been together for 28 years, married for 23! He is my best friend and the best dad a kid could have!
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Our family on a daytime trip to the city. Jordan is now 20 and Aspen is 17. I remember the days they were born like it were yesterday.!
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As a mom and a gestational surrogate, I have experienced 4 births and believe the key in a successful and beautiful delivery, is to stay FLEXIBLE and allow the safe passage of your baby with the help of your health care provider. My son was my most difficult labor and delivery, and now understand how my new found child birth knowledge could have saved me from 3 hours of pushing, assisted by vacuum. My daughter was induced and fairly uncomplicated with few medical interventions to assist in the delivery. I was able to deliver her in about 45 minutes of pushing. With the first surrogacy, I delivered a healthy baby boy at 34 weeks, 5 days. It was quite a surprise to my husband and I as well as the baby's parents! I arrived at the hospital already dilated to 8cm, so there was no turning back. I then had an epidural placed, for medical reasons, and delivered him within 14 minutes of pushing. The last and most recent surrogacy was very much like my first delivery of my son. It was one of the hardest experiences, but most rewarding of my life. I labored with no interventions and pushed for 45 minutes with no medication. Then, my uterus had a different plan. I then needed to sit still for an epidural, had a bit of pitocin to get my uterus back on track, and then successfully delivered the 9lb baby boy into the arms of his dads. Of course, with all four deliveries, there was a lot more detail throughout the process and medical reasoning behind the interventions needed to provide a safe passage for our babies.
After the surrogacy journey, I struggled with "what do I do now?" I felt I needed to be part of the birthing community in some form and remembered a conversation I had had with a birth doula while pregnant with the surrogacy and thinking how rewarding it must be to be part of a baby's entry into the world. I know now how rewarding and fulfilling this "job" is and love every part of what it has to offer to all that are involved.
I mention these tidbits of delivery in my own life, because I feel it is important for you to know a little of my history, and I will gladly share more details of my stories in our meetings if you like.
After the surrogacy journey, I struggled with "what do I do now?" I felt I needed to be part of the birthing community in some form and remembered a conversation I had had with a birth doula while pregnant with the surrogacy and thinking how rewarding it must be to be part of a baby's entry into the world. I know now how rewarding and fulfilling this "job" is and love every part of what it has to offer to all that are involved.
I mention these tidbits of delivery in my own life, because I feel it is important for you to know a little of my history, and I will gladly share more details of my stories in our meetings if you like.
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Photos of me at work:
I was recently given an opportunity to work with a local documentary newborn and family photographer to write a blog about what doulas do and how our work is so important to growing families. Click here to check out the blog of "Caren at Work". Thank you, Jenna Christina, for this amazing gift you have given this family and myself as a birth doula. As many people could imagine, birth doulas are rarely photographed, as we are usually busy helping mom and dad manage through the various stages of labor and welcoming their new baby to the world. Jenna gave me the opportunity to let people know what it is that I actually do as a doula! She also inspired me to use my creative and artistic ability to start offering birth photography myself. Click photo to the left for more details. |