After trying for nearly a year to get pregnant, my husband Jason and I were elated to finally conceive in December of 2016. We were living in Ohio at the time but decided to move to my hometown of Baton Rouge to raise our child closer to family. The first four months of the pregnancy were in Ohio under the care of one of the most natural birth friendly OB’s in NW Ohio. After years of hearing many of my friends’ horribly unpleasant hospital experiences I’d decided I wanted something different and had developed the goal of an intervention free labor. Our OB was great, but at a typical visit with him we would wait for sometimes a half an hour then only see him for 10-15 minutes to listen to the heartbeat, check blood pressure, etc. The move south allowed us to transfer care to the Birth Center of Baton Rouge, where our experience was night and day compared to the crunchy OB in Ohio. The Birth Center still takes care of the medical end of things like blood pressure and heartbeats, but the level of care we received there far surpassed anything I could’ve expected from any practice. During the last half of the pregnancy I grew close to everyone at the Birth Center through the lengthy, intimate appointments, and I looked forward to every visit. The midwives were supportive, patient, nonjudgmental, and only interested in helping me learn what I needed to to have the labor I wanted. I know that I could call them with any issue and have a knowledgeable, comforting support system, and I can still count on them for such support now.

As my due date came and went, I grew increasingly impatient and emotional, despite my best attempts to just go with the flow. Days passed and I grew more and more anxious and fearful of an induction. Under the care of the Midwives I tried senna tea and three membrane sweeps before castor oil did the trick at 41 weeks and 6 days. I finally started having regular contractions around 6 or 7 on Friday, September 15th. At around 11:30 I thought we were getting close but after a quick trip in to have Sherri check me I was sent home after a shot of Benadryl in the butt to help me sleep, as I was only about 1.5 cm dilated. We returned home and tried to sleep between contractions, but at around 3:30 the discomfort intensified and I instinctively knew that we were getting close, so we headed back towards the birth center. This was the most surreal car ride of my life...I rode on my knees in the front seat, facing backwards and hugging the headrest during contractions. It was the only way I was comfortable. I remember looking at the carseat and thinking that the next time we rode in this car there would be three of us.

Sherri greeted us at the Birth Center and was an immediate comfort. She instinctively knew when a contraction was coming and would apply just the right amount of counter pressure in just the right spot on my back. She was like a wise, loving family friend guiding me through this incredible process. My mom arrived and labor picked up, but the bathtub was incredibly soothing as well as the constant encouragement and counter pressure. We kept a nice relaxed atmosphere, chatting in between contractions, which is kind of how I'd hoped it would go. My friend Karen arrived around 5:00 and my on call nurses overlapped, so I ended up with two awesome nurses and an unofficial doula (my friend Karen) in addition to my mom, Jason, and Sherri-my little support team was amazing and I felt that everyone was there only to love and care for me and baby. When a contraction would come back around I felt like I had my own little pit crew supporting me through each one. I had faith in the fact that both the baby and myself were in the safest, most loving environment possible. Though natural labor is a huge mental and physical challenge, there was an undeniable sense of peace in the room.

As labor intensified and I began to feel the urge to push Sherri talked me through everything. I remember her suggesting that I feel for the head and sure enough I could feel the firm smooth surface of a head emerging. Another surreal moment! We didn't know the sex of the baby so we were all sort of wondering who we'd be meeting momentarily. Especially as a first time mom, I think there's a certain level of fear of the unknown there. But I didn't have long to focus on the fear because the fetal ejection reflex started to really kick in, however part of my cervix was keeping baby from moving on out. I swear Sherri has almost a supernatural sense about these things because she suggested that I get out of the tub and push on my hands and knees. As soon as I did that we started really making progress! I remember pushing being a relief because it felt productive, and I knew that the pain would be over soon and we'd have the baby in our arms. I had worked with Amber Anderson, the PT at the birth center, and one of the few conscious thoughts I had in the final moments of pushing was remembering her explanation of pushing, in the you weren't really supposed to flex those muscles, rather open them up like a door. So I just tried to open the door and welcome our sweet baby. Pushing on my hands and knees grew tiresome after a while so I actually ended up on my left side due to pure exhaustion. At 7:14 a.m., after about 15 minutes of pushing, John Calder Galambos entered this world. He was long and lean, at 7 pounds 4 ounces, and 22 inches long. And he has been life's greatest blessing!

Even long before I got pregnant I knew I one day wanted a birth experience in which I felt honored, respected, safe, and loved. Fortunately, that is what I got, and I owe it to the Birth Center of Baton Rouge. The Midwives and Dr. Dickerson provide exceptional care in a comfortable environment. I pray that every woman, whether they desire a natural labor or not, experience the same level of care and compassion as I was provided. I feel like becoming a mother in any way is transformative, but to become a mother in a safe, beautiful environment and surrounded by loving, capable caretakers who believed in me and and the perfect design of my body was a life altering experience. We hope to add another child to our family someday in the near future, and we will absolutely choose the Birth Center again if we are so blessed to have the opportunity to conceive.

- Sarah Harrision