Adding Doulas to Birth Plan Offers Supportive Pregnancy Experience [Jaclyn Roach]

My name is Jaclyn Roach and I am from the Yankton Bon Homme area. I attended SDSU and then I met my husband who is from Brookings and now we live here in town. I teach first grade over at Sioux Valley. So we had Renley in October so she's eight months old. She's a very happy little and healthy little girl and now she is moving all over, very inquisitive and also developing a very silly personality. So I'm very lucky I get to be home with her this summer.

Why did you choose Brookings Health System for OB care?

So after talking to others that we've known that had experience that played a big role in our decision and just hearing how overall their experience was and then also the updated facility and most importantly just the location just everything being in Brookings.

Why did you choose to have a doula?

So as first-time parents my husband and I just going into it and knowing every experience is different so we really wanted a little more support when we looked at our team and knowing the support that we would get from the hospital staff but the support that we'd get from the Doula Service and then knowing Ellie, knowing she was perfect for the job.

How was your cholestasis and high blood pressure discovered?

I was about 38 weeks, 39 weeks when my first symptoms showed up and my first symptoms were in the middle of the night. The bottom of my feet were so itchy, no rash, nothing. Wrote it off for a couple days and then I finally messaged Dr. Bennis and I was like. "Hey I think this is more than maybe just being really pregnant" and then she had me come in and do blood work. She had said yep your blood work is kind of showing that you might have this. We'll talk more at your appointment and then at my appointment my blood pressure was also really high.

Why were you encouraged to induce?

So cholestasis is a condition with the liver and then it affects like the bile moving through your body. If it's not transferring through your body then it is getting in your bloodstream so it has effects on the baby and then also for the mother. We talked about scheduling the induction so I was pretty ready to be done so I was like yep I'm okay with scheduling that and moving forward.

When did you go to the hospital?

Thursday morning I woke up and I just felt that crampy so as a first-time mom like you I feel like I really put the blinders on everything I was like no this probably isn't contractions like not it but it was. So when we we waited at home and labored at home and then when we went into the emergency room for our induction and then once they hooked me up they're like, "Oh yeah your contractions are two to three minutes apart like we are... we're here" so then they just had to give a call to Dr. Bennis to kind of change the plan for the induction because I didn't need to do the full thing.

How did Dr. Bennis and the staff support you during labor?

They were all very comforting. I think the whole process of getting checked in in the evening it was very relaxed and it was very calm so we checked in our nurse, Megan was amazing and she assisted and supported and getting anything we needed, getting the bath ready. The bath, that was like my favorite part but I felt it was very calm for what I thought going into it.

How did your doula include your husband?

For me I knew the care team their focus would be me and baby so for Carter to feel supported we were like the doula was a good like coach not that she took over any role from him but she was able to coach him through whatever he was ready to participate in.

How did the staff support you during labor and delivery?

The staff was really great. It was a lot more calm than what... I thought it would be more chaotic and more people come into the room but the whole time it was just very... there's a lot of teamwork it was very collaborative and it really was a calm experience. Everyone was really excited to celebrate a birthday that day they did a really good job of informing us but also I feel like not in telling you everything, everything as in to overwhelm you. Like it was at our level for not being in health care they did a really great job.

How did your doula and the staff support your birth plan?

Our minds are elsewhere so Ellie did a really great job of when those would come up of communicating what our choice was and then the care team also did a really great job of respecting those choices and everyone was very supportive like there wasn't any back and forth through that like our support we felt advocated for but we also felt very supported and respected.

What techniques did your doula recommend?

So we... so that was a big reason why I wanted to wait as long as I could for the epidural to do as many positions during labor so while I was at home I was in communication with her and she's like "Keep walking as much as you can, bounce on the ball," and then when we were here at the hospital our nurse Megan had said that she had just completed spinning babies training so she and she had offered to help with that and I said absolutely so we did some of those techniques. It was a lot of walking then the peanut ball the props kind of came into play. Once I had the epidural, we were still doing a lot of side lying positions and then when it was delivery time that's when I kind of finally was sleeping and they woke me up and were like it's time and then Renley came really quick. so I think between the whole process of just continuously moving was really beneficial.

Why did you decide against lying on your back during delivery?

So we chose to use an alternative birthing positions just because kind of research into the body and the female body and anatomy knowing that when you traditionally are pushing on your back due to probably having an epidural just your birth canal isn't for baby the best suited so that's why it was really important for us using the different birthing positions throughout labor and delivery and I think having that mind body connection and some of those other positions helped her come a little quicker for us.

How did the staff support your decision to breastfeed?

Yeah so we did choose to breastfeed and we just knew that our supports that were in place between the nurses here at the hospital after giving birth, we utilized Baby Café and we had a really smooth experience but a fed baby is best so we also felt very supported that if we changed plans at all that we were comfortable and okay with that too.

Why do you recommend delivery at Brookings Health System?

I would tell others that if you want a knowledgeable and supportive staff that Brookings OB is definitely the route to go and a great facility to be in. I feel that just throughout our experience at being in different areas of the hospital in different departments that everyone it's just the same quality care throughout everyone's been very kind and helpful and supportive and it's all right here in Brookings that you can't get much better than that.

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