Breaking news! Steve and I have never been parents before.

Everything we’re going through right now is completely foreign to us. Sure, I grew up in a home child care environment. Yes, we both had siblings and did our fair share of babysitting. Somehow none of that fully prepared us for being in charge of a child of our own. And more importantly, it certainly didn’t ready us for birthing that child.

As we discussed the labor and delivery portion of bringing a baby into the world, we decided we’d be much more comfortable if we had an experienced support person by our side. We are both brave and strong, but this is very new territory for us. What if I am not my cool, calm and collected self during labor? And I try to push Steve down the stairs? What if we can’t figure out how best to minimize the pain I will undoubtedly be experiencing? What if Steve really, really has to go to the bathroom but I don’t want to be left alone? All of these “what if” situations steered us to one decision: hire a doula.

What is a doula? Glad you asked. If you want to learn a little more (without me going though the motion of typing it all out), just click HERE.

The most important factor for us in our doula search was that both Steve and I be totally comfortable with our choice. After all, this is a person who will be with us for a seriously intense life experience during which we will likely feel pretty vulnerable and unsure. It seems that technical questions are much less important in this type of discernment than a gut feeling.

So we set up coffee dates and we interviewed potential doulas and, wouldn’t you know it, we found one! Two, actually, which means that should Kathy find herself absolutely unable to support us on the big day, Holly will come to the rescue. (Kathy and/or Holly, if you’re reading, I hope you don’t mind me linking right to your websites…)

We’ve had one prenatal meeting with Kathy so far during which we got a chance to know each other a little better. I’m happy to report that both Tivo and Flicker approve of her as well – a great sign! Now we just need to focus on our homework: keep up with the exercise, practice comfort measures and investigate our local La Leche League offerings.

I promise to report back after the birth with our full doula-assisted experience. Exciting reading material to come! Yay!