Honouring your birth, honouring every phase of this sacred journey. This journey is deep, beautiful and truly the most intimate experience you will go through. We are here and we honour all that you are and all of the pain and beauty unearthed during this vulnerable season.
Birth is Sacred. Birth is Magical. Birth is Exquisite. Birth is Scary
Do the above statements resonate with you? If so, which mantra?
Did you know that it’s possible to resonate with more than one? Many surrogates express both excitement and fear when speaking about their experience. Explained in this scenario:
“When I am taking my own children to school, I am careful. When their little friends are in the car, it’s a whole new level of heightened caution”.
Labour + delivery
I remember when going into my first surrogate birth, I hadn’t talked much about the birth beforehand. It was nearly 20 years ago now, and it was an induction. I hadn’t heard about birth preferences or planning; all I knew was that I was excited, and I was scared.
During the birth, my intended mom went from excited, scared, and terrified, to begging me to take whatever they could give me for pain. I was loud and very obviously feeling the pangs of labour.
It’s through that experience that birth planning and preferences have become such an important piece of the work that we do.
Birth planning
When Canadian Fertility Consulting asked us to help them create a birth plan that would be shared with clients. It felt like it was almost too much of a responsibility; too much to parse out on one sheet of paper. However, it was so important that we committed wholeheartedly.
After several drafts, we landed on what is now a template that surrogates fill out, intended parents review, and eventually becomes foundational to the plans or preferences for their birth.
Every birth is unique
There are as many ways to birth as there are people. We love it when intended parents or surrogates ask us to “add a space for this”, or to “leave more room for that” in our planning sheet. We want the plan to be fluid and personally built.
Honouring your birth
Here’s a link to the document. We’d love for you to send us your feedback. Tell us what we may be missing, and if you are nearing your Birth Day, we are sending you so much love!
