December 5, 2025 • 22 mins
The calendar looks like dropped spaghetti, but every twist tells a story. We walk you through two real weeks of on-call life as a doula and lactation consultant—spontaneous labors that stall and surge, VBAC momentum at 3 a.m., and the quiet, steady work of helping a four-day-old learn to feed. It’s part logistics, part heart, and fully devoted to helping families feel informed, supported, and seen.
We start with a long Monday labor that resets midstream, the kind of day where patience matters more than numbers on a cervix check. From there, text threads turn into a nighttime return and a calm delivery. The next sunrise brings home visits: a determined parent with a fussy latch, prenatal sessions shuffled when membranes start leaking, and a VBAC that takes off after an epidural with only low-dose Pitocin. You’ll hear a candid look at a breech external cephalic version—three careful attempts, no turn, and a doctor who keeps options open. Between hospital corridors and car rides, we dive into real feeding fixes: structured schedules for sleepy newborns, weight checks that guide adjustments, storage plans for oversupply, and practical techniques that protect nipples and confidence.
The pace ramps at the hospital, where a dozen bedside consults and dozens of follow-up calls compress common early hurdles into clear steps: skin-to-skin, responsive feeding, asymmetrical latch, and data you can trust from diapers to grams. Then a curveball: a first-time parent who’s suddenly eight and a half centimeters after a day of apple picking, a long overnight, and a cesarean chosen with care when instruments won’t help. Through it all, life keeps moving—kids’ concerts, workshops, and a 50th anniversary that somehow stays untouched by the pager. The through line is simple: show up, listen well, adapt, and celebrate every small win that moves a family forward.
If you value honest birth stories, evidence-based breastfeeding support, and the human side of hospital care, you’ll feel at home here. Subscribe, share with a friend who’s expecting, and leave a review with the moment that stayed with you most—we read every word and it helps others find the show.
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Show Credits
Host: Angie Rosier
Music: Michael Hicks
Photographer: Toni Walker
Episode Artwork: Nick Greenwood
Producer: Gillian Rosier Frampton
Voiceover: Ryan Parker
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_01 (00:08):
Welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with
Angie Rogier, hosted by BirthLearning, where we help prepare
folks for labor and birth withexpertise coming from 20 years
of experience in a busy doulapractice, helping thousands of
people prepare for labor,providing essential knowledge
and tools for positive andempowering birth experiences.
SPEAKER_00 (00:46):
Hi, my name is Angie, and this is the Ordinary
Do La Podcast.
We on this podcast like to talkabout all things um birth,
babies, breastfeeding, labor,birth prep, um, kind of a wide
range of topics in that littleslice of life.
Hopefully, you have some reasonto be interested in that slice
(01:08):
of life, whether you work in itor you're going through it
yourself.
Um, it's a pretty poignant timeof life.
So welcome to our podcast.
Um, today I wanted to just kindof share a week in the life of a
doula or a lactation consultantor a birth worker.
Um, I was thinking aboutschedules um recently, and I see
(01:32):
lots of different calendars inmy life and calendaring systems
and programs, and um, and youknow, I'm familiar with
obviously some people'sschedules and how they have a
nice, tidy little work schedule.
They work, you know, nine tofive or something, um, or they
work on Thursdays or whateverthe case may be.
And I was thinking about what mycalendar were to look like, and
(01:54):
it it's kind of crazy, like it'snot tidy, it's kind of a hot
mess.
And I think of like the block,you know, you you can block out
time on your calendar, and minehas all kinds of crazy overlap,
and then there's also you're oncall all the time, which is kind
of fun.
So I'm gonna grab a random weekor two in my calendar of the
last couple of months and umkind of just go through that
(02:15):
week and and uh walk you throughwhat the the calendar might look
like.
I think my calendar looks kindof like you if you pick up um a
handful of cooked spaghetti andyou drop it on a month, that's
kind of what my calendar's like,as in it's all over the place.
Hard to predict and changes bythe week.
Some weeks I look at it ahead oftime, I'm like, awesome, this is
gonna be a pretty chill week, orit's a pretty empty week.
(02:38):
And by and large, that week isgonna fill up for sure.
So here's a random week in thelife of Adula.
I'm just grabbing a week from awhile ago.
Um, okay, Monday.
This particular Monday, I had aclient who was about three days
overdue to have a baby.
Um, she had, you know, had aninduction date a few days down
the road, but it wasn't thereyet.
And on this particular day, herlabor started spontaneously.
(03:01):
She was very happy about that.
Um, she got to the hospital, um,kept me updated throughout the
night, going Sunday into Monday.
Um, we texted quite a bit.
They were ready for me kind ofearly in the morning.
So I got ready, I went in.
It was before traffic happened.
I think I got there, oh, I don'tknow, like at 5:30 in the
morning or something.
She was laboring, doing well.
(03:22):
Um, spent the good part of theday with her.
And she had a really patientmidwife who wasn't really
checking.
She goes, Yeah, you're thinking,you know, it looks like you're
water broke, we won't check youfor what till you're ready to
push.
And um, which I appreciate thatpatience, but in my mind, I'm
like, oh, I wonder what I wonderwhat this these are doing.
Um, so throughout the whole day,I probably spent, I'm trying to
look and remember, probably agood eight hours with them.
(03:44):
She was laboring, doing well.
Um, her pattern would kind ofcome and go a little bit.
And towards evening, she gotchecked and she was she was one
centimeter when she arrived, andshe was now two centimeters.
She was very frustrated by thatbecause she thought she was much
farther along.
Um, so they kind of, you know,if we weren't doing something
pretty active, so I wasn't supersurprised um by the the you
know, going from one to two.
(04:05):
Um, if we weren't doingsomething to keep contractions
going, they kind of stopped alittle bit.
So they decided to just rest fora while, like, okay, we're gonna
take a break, we're gonna eatsome dinner.
Um, and they had me go home,which I hardly ever do.
I've maybe done that once ortwice in my career, um, like
actually leave, you know,without having like a backup
come in or anything.
But they're like, you know,we're just gonna hang for a
while.
Um, so I came home.
(04:26):
We were planning on a couplehours, but it ended up being
like four until they wanted meto come back.
So I went back at like 11 p.m.
I think.
Contractions were much strongerat this point.
They had started a little bit ofbetose about an hour before
that, and she got an epidural acouple hours after that.
Um, she slept sort of for awhile.
(04:47):
So now we're into two Mondaynight, going on to Tuesday
morning, wee hours of themorning Tuesday, and that baby
was born.
I think like 4 30 in themorning.
She pushed for about an hour anda half.
Um, and yeah, it was super,super awesome.
Oh wait, did she push 40minutes?
I I'm mixing them up a littlebit.
Um, but great birth.
So I came home, you know, havingbeen texting Sunday night, out
(05:10):
of birth most of Monday, um, upat a birth all Monday night,
came home and I slept for likefour or five hours.
Got up, went to a lactationappointment.
So had a lactation appointmentwith a client who um, and this
is a good 40 minutes away.
When I go, you know, more thanhalf an hour away from home, I
charge a travel fee.
And this one is a little bitfarther away um than I often go.
(05:33):
So I drove 40 minutes, went tothis lactation appointment.
I'd met with this client before,and her baby, cutest little
baby, um, has a personality likeI have never seen.
And this baby, very particular,she has opinions, um, and the
mom makes great milk, but thisbaby just gets really mad about
latching.
So we worked on that again, um,tried some different tips and
(05:53):
tricks, and it was a great,great visit.
Um, came back from that one, andthen I had that evening, I had
two postpartum visits.
Um, sorry, sorry, prenatalvisits.
These were prenatal visits fordoula clients.
Um, came home, I think I madedinner for my family, I don't
remember.
Um, but had a little bit of timeat home before I was headed out
the door again to two umprenatal visits with one with it
(06:16):
was a second visit for each ofthem, so I'd already met with
them once.
Um, and one of them, however,she was like, and she wasn't due
for like two weeks.
She's like, you know what?
I think my fluid's leaking.
So I switched the times and weexpedited her visit a little
bit.
I'm like, let's get this visitin.
Um, so I switched schedule alittle bit with my other client,
visited with her and herhusband, and wrapped up our
(06:39):
second prenatal preparation.
Um, then I went to my otherappointment, also a second
prenatal preparation, awesomecouples.
Um, and in the meantime, thefirst couple I met with, she
said, I'm gonna go in and getchecked out.
And she went in and it wasamniotic fluid.
Um, they decided obviously tokeep her.
She was a feedback, so they weregonna kind of start low-dose
(07:02):
potosa and they started it.
It was at two millil, twomilliliters.
Um, and they kept it at that fora long time.
We texted throughout the night,she was quite fine.
Um kept in touch throughout thatnight, you know.
So now like uh a third nightdoing some birth stuff, these
babies are all coming.
And in the meantime, of allthis, I had another client
(07:23):
saying, Hey, I'm in process, Ithink.
Like I'm having some prettysteady contractions.
So I was hoping it would allwork out, and you know what?
It did.
So I finally joined this coupleuh like at three in the morning.
Um, she had got an epidural, thepitocin got up to four.
Um, baby didn't love that, sothey put it back down to two,
(07:43):
um, which was kind ofinteresting.
Whereas, you know, some peopleget need a lot more potatocin to
fill much.
Um, she ended up, I think shegot an epidural as well.
Um, and that made her her uhlabor really take off.
She was very quickly 10centimeters.
So this being a V back was supersmooth at this point.
Things were going very well, andthe baby was two weeks early.
She pushed for about 40 minutes,had a baby by that one, it was
(08:06):
like 5, 5:36 in the morning.
Um, and baby latched greatafterwards, just like yeah,
super smooth, probably thesmoothest V-BAC.
You wouldn't know it was a V-BACif you didn't know it was a
V-BAC.
Um, super smooth delivery there,and from there I went straight
to a scheduled external cephalicversion.
(08:27):
I had a client who's doing acouple weeks and her baby's
breach, and she's been doing alot of things to try to turn
that baby.
Um, and one of the things theywere gonna attempt was that her
38, 37 week mark was to do aversion.
So I attended that with her.
She requested me to, and thatwas a good couple of hours.
As you know, with versions,maybe you do, maybe you don't.
(08:48):
They work about half the time.
Um, so it's with her and herpartner there while they got set
up for this.
Um, nurse talked to him throughit.
Uh, the doctor came in, anamazing, amazing doctor, a
maternal fetal medicine doc camein and they did the three
attempts.
This woman decided not to getany fentanyl for this.
Um, they do, of course, givetributylene to soften up the
(09:09):
uterus so it doesn't uh umrespond.
We want it to be kind of loosehold of trying to turn the baby.
Um, they usually do about threeattempts.
They did three attempts, andthis baby didn't move, so it was
kind of a bummer.
So we spent some time discussingthat and discussing next steps.
Um, the doctor was great, likewe can try again.
Um, so she's gonna she's gonnacontinue to work on something.
(09:31):
She's very tenacious about it.
We'll see where it leads in thenext couple of weeks.
So um left from there and wentto where else did I go?
Oh, I went uh to anotherlactation appointment.
And this lactation appointment,um, baby's four days old, super
cute couple.
Um, they were about half an hourfrom you know where I had been
(09:51):
at the ECB, so I was kind oftraveling all over this day.
Um, went down and spent a goodhour and a half, two hours with
them.
They had we had a lot oflearning to do.
Um, baby wasn't gaining weightuh very much at all.
Um, so we did some greatlatches, worked on some some
techniques to help, and it'sjust some scheduling things
(10:11):
really.
These family, you know, like ohthe baby's sleeping, so I let
her sleep for four or fivehours, and and she's only four
days old.
So we we talked about a lot ofthings, had a great, great visit
there.
Super, super great couple um towork with there.
Um, let's see after that, justlooking at my calendar here.
Came home.
My kiddo had a concert, so Itook him to his concert.
Maybe I made dinner, I don'tremember.
(10:32):
I got to see part of hisconcert, the part he was in.
Luckily, it was the first umfirst section of the concert
because I had to leave there andgo teach a breastfeeding class
at a local hospital.
Um, so I went and I had a fullclass um at the hospital, had a
great time teaching those um, Ithink there was eight or nine
people in the breastfeedingclass.
Some had partners, some didn't.
(10:53):
So we had you know eight or nineuh pregnant moms, um, some had
partners.
Came home from that and wasreally grateful to sleep a full
night in my bed.
Never know if I'm gonna get tobecause I still have you know
people in the wings.
Um next day I woke up and hadand there's always there's
always clerical stuff to do,right?
Like emails to answer, birthstories to write, things to
(11:14):
schedule, uh, you know, there'salways some homework to there's
charting type stuff.
So I did a bunch of work in themorning.
Um, yeah, I usually get up, youknow, start the day pretty early
to get some stuff done beforeI'm out the door.
Had a dentist appointment, wasable to squeeze that in.
Went to a lactation appointmentof a baby who is about three and
a half months old.
I've seen him a few times, doingreally well.
(11:35):
He's on the small side, butgrowing well, but his parents
notice a couple things are alittle bit off.
Um, like not developmentally,he's doing really well, but his
weight seems he's not gaining umsuper well.
So we checked on that.
His weight gains are trendingdown a little bit, but he's also
getting to the age where babieskind of drop their daily gains
in half.
Um, so we kind of did a littledetective work there, talked
(11:57):
about some ways to kind of gethis weight back up.
They've been traveling a littlebit with holidays that some
other travel coming up, so kindof put some strategies in place
for that.
Um, and it was so fun.
It's so fun.
I don't get to see babies thatold all the time, and when
they're that old, theydefinitely notice when you're
there and they're breastfeeding,so I had to kind of step back a
little bit and watch from afar.
(12:18):
Um, but did a good weighted feedand um baby took a good five
ounces and in a pretty quicktime, but it was great to see
see that that client again, seethat couple and their cute
growing little guy.
And then went straight fromthere to a um lactation shift at
the hospital.
I do work at a couple differenthospitals in lactation.
This particular one um I workonce a week, yeah, some weekends
(12:41):
out as well.
Went there and it was a busyday, like it was a busy day.
Got to see probably 12 patients.
Um, and I did about 35 phonecalls at that hospital.
I call out and talk to everybodywho's had a baby within the last
couple of weeks, checked in onthem, had some great phone
conversations.
Um, usually get out of there bylike 7, 7.30, but I didn't leave
(13:02):
until 845 today because it waspretty busy.
Um next day I worked at theother hospital that I work at,
um, also pretty busy.
So that was kind of a hop andday.
Um, usually at that one I go inpretty early, like at 7.30 in
the morning, and I work withanother consultant that day.
And so she usually takes care ofNICU.
We kind of um while I take careof the floor while she focuses
(13:24):
on NICU and does some NICUmeetings and also do some NICU
visits too if it's pretty busythere.
Um, but that was a Mondaythrough a Friday on a random
week.
I'm gonna flip to another randomweek.
Let me see if I can rememberthis week.
Um, all right, this one'sstarting on a Sunday, not a
Monday.
I worked at the hospital on thisparticular Sunday.
(13:46):
Um, it looks like I also hadright after that nearby, I had
in the afternoon a um lactationvisit in somebody's home.
If this is a client who has amassive oversupply, and so we
struggle there with uh like thiswas all about storing milk, how
to cycle through and store milkum and and what to do with extra
(14:09):
supply.
So kind of sketched out a planfor this particular um client.
Um, I think I came home andslept in my own bed the next
night, which was great.
Um, looks like the next day Ihad a second prenatal interview
with a couple.
Um, super awesome couple.
They live actually three or fourhours away, but in a really
(14:31):
remote part um of the country.
And so they come in.
Her mom lives closer to town, sothey'll come in and do visits.
So they came in for a visit, andI got to meet with them at a
cute little library, had a greatvisit there, probably drove
about a half an hour north, metwith another, had another
prenatal visit, a first prenatalvisit this time with um a
(14:52):
couple, a woman and her wifehaving a baby, met with them.
Let's see what else happenedhere.
Oh, I had then I had a lookslike I had a virtual um call.
I don't know if it was aninterview, looks like it was um
an interview for um being adoula.
I worked for a company throughthat covers insurance or covers
(15:12):
doula services throughinsurance, so I had an interview
there, and then it looks like Idid an overnight.
Um this is a looks like a nineor ten hour overnight, kind of a
longer one for a couple.
I was there at birth doula, um,and they needed some there's a
couple weeks where they neededsome overnights.
So that was that day.
We're going on a Tuesday now.
(15:33):
Looks like I had a lactationvisit, lactation visit,
lactation visit, lactationvisit, four in a row.
So um looks like we startedpretty early.
Well, I have a 10:30, 12:30,2:30, 4:30.
So got to see three differentpeople.
One of them, wow, she did somuch dedicated work towards
(15:56):
getting back to breastfeeding.
Um, her nipples were probablytorn up worse than I've ever
seen any client's nipples.
Um, the next mom I saw that day,um, but by the way, she's in
great shape now and phenomenal.
Like she's so tenacious.
Uh, she's come such a long way.
I'm incredibly impressed withher.
Um, next mom I met with, kind ofinteresting, she had a what she
(16:17):
determines a pretty traumaticbirth experience.
Um, and breastfeeding didn'tstart out great either.
And I met with her a few timesand pretty quickly got
breastfeeding on track for her.
And she, this is kind of cool.
I don't I love to hear this, Idon't hear it all the time.
She said, you know what?
This is um helping with my birthexperience.
If I can make this work, um,this is very important to me.
(16:38):
So she also got into a reallygreat place.
Um my third visit that day I waswith a mom who's doing pretty
well.
She's in the medical worldherself, she's a nurse
practitioner.
Breasting is going pretty well.
Um, we adjusted a couple littlethings, checked on some weights,
and then um my fourth visit ofthe day, this mom, um, awesome
(16:59):
client, she had a very, verycaboose baby, and she's pretty
mad about it, honestly.
Um, so she had this little baby,and I often don't go into a home
like this, but I went to a homeand there was like all these
teenagers and a brand new baby.
Um, and this little baby is wasjust really slow on the growth.
So we talked about some ways toto help with that, um, help milk
(17:19):
supply.
Looks like I did anotherovernight that night.
Um, do I have oh, yep, there's abirth later on that week.
I'm like, yep, there's a duedate that week.
Of course, babies like to come,whatever.
Um, next day, looks like I had alactation visit, lactation
visit, uh, doula visit, and thenI taught a pelvis workshop in
(17:41):
the evening and anotherovernight.
Um, that was another full day.
The next day, it looks like oh,I went to a funeral.
Um and then I went to thehospital, did a lactation shift
to the hospital.
Uh on the way home from that, Idid a lactation visit.
Looks like two of them,honestly.
That's funny.
So kind of went later into theevening with that.
(18:04):
Next day I worked at the otherhospital I work at.
This is on a Friday.
Usually I go in, like I said, 730, got done by like 12.
Oh, looks like I did some applepicking.
Oh, yes, I remember this birth.
Um, it was a client, it was afirst baby.
Um, and she kind of let us know,like, hey, I'm in labor, I'm
gonna get into the hospital.
So we said, great, keep in touchwith us.
(18:26):
Um, and I had been apple pickingwith my kids.
So I'm like wearing jeans and at-shirt and tennis shoes, and
you know, not not uh superdressed up by any means.
And this this is a rareafternoon off.
Um, and I planned actually to goto some haunted houses.
This was in October with my kidsthat night.
Um, wherein this mom called andsaid, Okay, we're at the
(18:48):
hospital and I'm at like eightand a half centimeters.
And we're like, what?
And she was like, What?
So she was totally shocked.
I was shocked.
So I did not go to the hauntedhouses.
I had my kids actually just dropme right off at this birth um
because this first-time mom hadshe had no idea she was that far
progressed, and neither did we.
So I got there in my t-shirt,tennis shoes, and jeans, which
(19:10):
is not usually what I wear to abirth.
Um, it was not fast after that,so we thought it'd be super
fast.
Um, I was honestly five minutesaway um when she called, so ran
right over there, and I think Iwas with them for a good 12 or
13 hours so overnight thatFriday on to Saturday.
It was still dark, actually.
I remember when I left.
(19:31):
So it was before sun, beforesunrise, but um things kind of
slowed down.
She did end up having aC-section, she got to 10
centimeters.
No, no, or did she quite get to10 centimeters?
I can't remember.
Um, she ended up having acesarean, however.
Oh, yeah, she did.
She was pushing and everything.
Um, and the doctor didn't feel adoctor I really like working
(19:51):
with, he didn't feel thatforceps or vacuum would do any
kind of changing to the positionthat the baby was in.
So, um, for someone whoprogressed.
So fast she did end up with acesarean after everything that
we tried.
So kind of a bummer.
I know I came home.
Actually, this, I remember thisbecause I didn't have a car at
the hospital.
So I texted my husband and said,Hey, can you come get me?
(20:12):
Um, and I just started walkingtowards home.
So I got I love walkingactually.
So I got a couple miles inbefore he, I was pretty tired.
They were kind of probablyswervy miles.
Um, came home and slept um agood deal of that morning.
Um and it looks like thatevening, oh, I do remember this
was so much fun.
(20:33):
We had a 50th weddinganniversary party for my mom and
dad that evening, and it was amiracle that that didn't get
touched on by anything elsethroughout the week.
So that's another random week umin the life of a doula lactation
consultant.
So as you can see, like there'ssome unpredictability to these
schedules, which is kind of funum as births come up.
Um, but I love it.
(20:54):
I absolutely love it, and it's agreat day, a great day when I
can help other people and umjust feel so fortunate to meet
some incredible people.
Um, gosh, all my clients hold apretty special place in my
heart, and I don't know if theyknow that or not, but for years
and years after I've worked andserved with them, then I um
still have really fun memoriesof them.
(21:15):
So I got to just experiencegoing through that like uh just
now too, and and remembering alot of those awesome people.
And it's so impressive to seehow hard people work and how
dedicated they are to um what'simportant to them.
Thanks for hanging with me toofor two of my crazy random
weeks.
Um we sure appreciate you beinghere with here with us on the
(21:35):
Ordinary Do Lo podcast.
Hopefully you can make a humanconnection with someone you know
or someone you don't, but reachout and um those relationships
we have are incrediblyimportant.
Hang on to them, treasure them,value them, and take good care
of them.
Hope to see you again next time.
Have a good one.
SPEAKER_01 (22:14):
Episode credits will be in the show notes.
Tune in next time as we continueto explore the many aspects of
giving birth.
Welcome to the Ordinary Doula Podcast with
Angie Rogier, hosted by BirthLearning, where we help prepare
folks for labor and birth withexpertise coming from 20 years
of experience in a busy doulapractice, helping thousands of
people prepare for labor,providing essential knowledge
and tools for positive andempowering birth experiences.
SPEAKER_00 (00:46):
Hi, my name is Angie, and this is the Ordinary
Do La Podcast.
We on this podcast like to talkabout all things um birth,
babies, breastfeeding, labor,birth prep, um, kind of a wide
range of topics in that littleslice of life.
Hopefully, you have some reasonto be interested in that slice
(01:08):
of life, whether you work in itor you're going through it
yourself.
Um, it's a pretty poignant timeof life.
So welcome to our podcast.
Um, today I wanted to just kindof share a week in the life of a
doula or a lactation consultantor a birth worker.
Um, I was thinking aboutschedules um recently, and I see
(01:32):
lots of different calendars inmy life and calendaring systems
and programs, and um, and youknow, I'm familiar with
obviously some people'sschedules and how they have a
nice, tidy little work schedule.
They work, you know, nine tofive or something, um, or they
work on Thursdays or whateverthe case may be.
And I was thinking about what mycalendar were to look like, and
(01:54):
it it's kind of crazy, like it'snot tidy, it's kind of a hot
mess.
And I think of like the block,you know, you you can block out
time on your calendar, and minehas all kinds of crazy overlap,
and then there's also you're oncall all the time, which is kind
of fun.
So I'm gonna grab a random weekor two in my calendar of the
last couple of months and umkind of just go through that
(02:15):
week and and uh walk you throughwhat the the calendar might look
like.
I think my calendar looks kindof like you if you pick up um a
handful of cooked spaghetti andyou drop it on a month, that's
kind of what my calendar's like,as in it's all over the place.
Hard to predict and changes bythe week.
Some weeks I look at it ahead oftime, I'm like, awesome, this is
gonna be a pretty chill week, orit's a pretty empty week.
(02:38):
And by and large, that week isgonna fill up for sure.
So here's a random week in thelife of Adula.
I'm just grabbing a week from awhile ago.
Um, okay, Monday.
This particular Monday, I had aclient who was about three days
overdue to have a baby.
Um, she had, you know, had aninduction date a few days down
the road, but it wasn't thereyet.
And on this particular day, herlabor started spontaneously.
(03:01):
She was very happy about that.
Um, she got to the hospital, um,kept me updated throughout the
night, going Sunday into Monday.
Um, we texted quite a bit.
They were ready for me kind ofearly in the morning.
So I got ready, I went in.
It was before traffic happened.
I think I got there, oh, I don'tknow, like at 5:30 in the
morning or something.
She was laboring, doing well.
(03:22):
Um, spent the good part of theday with her.
And she had a really patientmidwife who wasn't really
checking.
She goes, Yeah, you're thinking,you know, it looks like you're
water broke, we won't check youfor what till you're ready to
push.
And um, which I appreciate thatpatience, but in my mind, I'm
like, oh, I wonder what I wonderwhat this these are doing.
Um, so throughout the whole day,I probably spent, I'm trying to
look and remember, probably agood eight hours with them.
(03:44):
She was laboring, doing well.
Um, her pattern would kind ofcome and go a little bit.
And towards evening, she gotchecked and she was she was one
centimeter when she arrived, andshe was now two centimeters.
She was very frustrated by thatbecause she thought she was much
farther along.
Um, so they kind of, you know,if we weren't doing something
pretty active, so I wasn't supersurprised um by the the you
know, going from one to two.
(04:05):
Um, if we weren't doingsomething to keep contractions
going, they kind of stopped alittle bit.
So they decided to just rest fora while, like, okay, we're gonna
take a break, we're gonna eatsome dinner.
Um, and they had me go home,which I hardly ever do.
I've maybe done that once ortwice in my career, um, like
actually leave, you know,without having like a backup
come in or anything.
But they're like, you know,we're just gonna hang for a
while.
Um, so I came home.
(04:26):
We were planning on a couplehours, but it ended up being
like four until they wanted meto come back.
So I went back at like 11 p.m.
I think.
Contractions were much strongerat this point.
They had started a little bit ofbetose about an hour before
that, and she got an epidural acouple hours after that.
Um, she slept sort of for awhile.
(04:47):
So now we're into two Mondaynight, going on to Tuesday
morning, wee hours of themorning Tuesday, and that baby
was born.
I think like 4 30 in themorning.
She pushed for about an hour anda half.
Um, and yeah, it was super,super awesome.
Oh wait, did she push 40minutes?
I I'm mixing them up a littlebit.
Um, but great birth.
So I came home, you know, havingbeen texting Sunday night, out
(05:10):
of birth most of Monday, um, upat a birth all Monday night,
came home and I slept for likefour or five hours.
Got up, went to a lactationappointment.
So had a lactation appointmentwith a client who um, and this
is a good 40 minutes away.
When I go, you know, more thanhalf an hour away from home, I
charge a travel fee.
And this one is a little bitfarther away um than I often go.
(05:33):
So I drove 40 minutes, went tothis lactation appointment.
I'd met with this client before,and her baby, cutest little
baby, um, has a personality likeI have never seen.
And this baby, very particular,she has opinions, um, and the
mom makes great milk, but thisbaby just gets really mad about
latching.
So we worked on that again, um,tried some different tips and
(05:53):
tricks, and it was a great,great visit.
Um, came back from that one, andthen I had that evening, I had
two postpartum visits.
Um, sorry, sorry, prenatalvisits.
These were prenatal visits fordoula clients.
Um, came home, I think I madedinner for my family, I don't
remember.
Um, but had a little bit of timeat home before I was headed out
the door again to two umprenatal visits with one with it
(06:16):
was a second visit for each ofthem, so I'd already met with
them once.
Um, and one of them, however,she was like, and she wasn't due
for like two weeks.
She's like, you know what?
I think my fluid's leaking.
So I switched the times and weexpedited her visit a little
bit.
I'm like, let's get this visitin.
Um, so I switched schedule alittle bit with my other client,
visited with her and herhusband, and wrapped up our
(06:39):
second prenatal preparation.
Um, then I went to my otherappointment, also a second
prenatal preparation, awesomecouples.
Um, and in the meantime, thefirst couple I met with, she
said, I'm gonna go in and getchecked out.
And she went in and it wasamniotic fluid.
Um, they decided obviously tokeep her.
She was a feedback, so they weregonna kind of start low-dose
(07:02):
potosa and they started it.
It was at two millil, twomilliliters.
Um, and they kept it at that fora long time.
We texted throughout the night,she was quite fine.
Um kept in touch throughout thatnight, you know.
So now like uh a third nightdoing some birth stuff, these
babies are all coming.
And in the meantime, of allthis, I had another client
(07:23):
saying, Hey, I'm in process, Ithink.
Like I'm having some prettysteady contractions.
So I was hoping it would allwork out, and you know what?
It did.
So I finally joined this coupleuh like at three in the morning.
Um, she had got an epidural, thepitocin got up to four.
Um, baby didn't love that, sothey put it back down to two,
(07:43):
um, which was kind ofinteresting.
Whereas, you know, some peopleget need a lot more potatocin to
fill much.
Um, she ended up, I think shegot an epidural as well.
Um, and that made her her uhlabor really take off.
She was very quickly 10centimeters.
So this being a V back was supersmooth at this point.
Things were going very well, andthe baby was two weeks early.
She pushed for about 40 minutes,had a baby by that one, it was
(08:06):
like 5, 5:36 in the morning.
Um, and baby latched greatafterwards, just like yeah,
super smooth, probably thesmoothest V-BAC.
You wouldn't know it was a V-BACif you didn't know it was a
V-BAC.
Um, super smooth delivery there,and from there I went straight
to a scheduled external cephalicversion.
(08:27):
I had a client who's doing acouple weeks and her baby's
breach, and she's been doing alot of things to try to turn
that baby.
Um, and one of the things theywere gonna attempt was that her
38, 37 week mark was to do aversion.
So I attended that with her.
She requested me to, and thatwas a good couple of hours.
As you know, with versions,maybe you do, maybe you don't.
(08:48):
They work about half the time.
Um, so it's with her and herpartner there while they got set
up for this.
Um, nurse talked to him throughit.
Uh, the doctor came in, anamazing, amazing doctor, a
maternal fetal medicine doc camein and they did the three
attempts.
This woman decided not to getany fentanyl for this.
Um, they do, of course, givetributylene to soften up the
(09:09):
uterus so it doesn't uh umrespond.
We want it to be kind of loosehold of trying to turn the baby.
Um, they usually do about threeattempts.
They did three attempts, andthis baby didn't move, so it was
kind of a bummer.
So we spent some time discussingthat and discussing next steps.
Um, the doctor was great, likewe can try again.
Um, so she's gonna she's gonnacontinue to work on something.
(09:31):
She's very tenacious about it.
We'll see where it leads in thenext couple of weeks.
So um left from there and wentto where else did I go?
Oh, I went uh to anotherlactation appointment.
And this lactation appointment,um, baby's four days old, super
cute couple.
Um, they were about half an hourfrom you know where I had been
(09:51):
at the ECB, so I was kind oftraveling all over this day.
Um, went down and spent a goodhour and a half, two hours with
them.
They had we had a lot oflearning to do.
Um, baby wasn't gaining weightuh very much at all.
Um, so we did some greatlatches, worked on some some
techniques to help, and it'sjust some scheduling things
(10:11):
really.
These family, you know, like ohthe baby's sleeping, so I let
her sleep for four or fivehours, and and she's only four
days old.
So we we talked about a lot ofthings, had a great, great visit
there.
Super, super great couple um towork with there.
Um, let's see after that, justlooking at my calendar here.
Came home.
My kiddo had a concert, so Itook him to his concert.
Maybe I made dinner, I don'tremember.
(10:32):
I got to see part of hisconcert, the part he was in.
Luckily, it was the first umfirst section of the concert
because I had to leave there andgo teach a breastfeeding class
at a local hospital.
Um, so I went and I had a fullclass um at the hospital, had a
great time teaching those um, Ithink there was eight or nine
people in the breastfeedingclass.
Some had partners, some didn't.
(10:53):
So we had you know eight or nineuh pregnant moms, um, some had
partners.
Came home from that and wasreally grateful to sleep a full
night in my bed.
Never know if I'm gonna get tobecause I still have you know
people in the wings.
Um next day I woke up and hadand there's always there's
always clerical stuff to do,right?
Like emails to answer, birthstories to write, things to
(11:14):
schedule, uh, you know, there'salways some homework to there's
charting type stuff.
So I did a bunch of work in themorning.
Um, yeah, I usually get up, youknow, start the day pretty early
to get some stuff done beforeI'm out the door.
Had a dentist appointment, wasable to squeeze that in.
Went to a lactation appointmentof a baby who is about three and
a half months old.
I've seen him a few times, doingreally well.
(11:35):
He's on the small side, butgrowing well, but his parents
notice a couple things are alittle bit off.
Um, like not developmentally,he's doing really well, but his
weight seems he's not gaining umsuper well.
So we checked on that.
His weight gains are trendingdown a little bit, but he's also
getting to the age where babieskind of drop their daily gains
in half.
Um, so we kind of did a littledetective work there, talked
(11:57):
about some ways to kind of gethis weight back up.
They've been traveling a littlebit with holidays that some
other travel coming up, so kindof put some strategies in place
for that.
Um, and it was so fun.
It's so fun.
I don't get to see babies thatold all the time, and when
they're that old, theydefinitely notice when you're
there and they're breastfeeding,so I had to kind of step back a
little bit and watch from afar.
(12:18):
Um, but did a good weighted feedand um baby took a good five
ounces and in a pretty quicktime, but it was great to see
see that that client again, seethat couple and their cute
growing little guy.
And then went straight fromthere to a um lactation shift at
the hospital.
I do work at a couple differenthospitals in lactation.
This particular one um I workonce a week, yeah, some weekends
(12:41):
out as well.
Went there and it was a busyday, like it was a busy day.
Got to see probably 12 patients.
Um, and I did about 35 phonecalls at that hospital.
I call out and talk to everybodywho's had a baby within the last
couple of weeks, checked in onthem, had some great phone
conversations.
Um, usually get out of there bylike 7, 7.30, but I didn't leave
(13:02):
until 845 today because it waspretty busy.
Um next day I worked at theother hospital that I work at,
um, also pretty busy.
So that was kind of a hop andday.
Um, usually at that one I go inpretty early, like at 7.30 in
the morning, and I work withanother consultant that day.
And so she usually takes care ofNICU.
We kind of um while I take careof the floor while she focuses
(13:24):
on NICU and does some NICUmeetings and also do some NICU
visits too if it's pretty busythere.
Um, but that was a Mondaythrough a Friday on a random
week.
I'm gonna flip to another randomweek.
Let me see if I can rememberthis week.
Um, all right, this one'sstarting on a Sunday, not a
Monday.
I worked at the hospital on thisparticular Sunday.
(13:46):
Um, it looks like I also hadright after that nearby, I had
in the afternoon a um lactationvisit in somebody's home.
If this is a client who has amassive oversupply, and so we
struggle there with uh like thiswas all about storing milk, how
to cycle through and store milkum and and what to do with extra
(14:09):
supply.
So kind of sketched out a planfor this particular um client.
Um, I think I came home andslept in my own bed the next
night, which was great.
Um, looks like the next day Ihad a second prenatal interview
with a couple.
Um, super awesome couple.
They live actually three or fourhours away, but in a really
(14:31):
remote part um of the country.
And so they come in.
Her mom lives closer to town, sothey'll come in and do visits.
So they came in for a visit, andI got to meet with them at a
cute little library, had a greatvisit there, probably drove
about a half an hour north, metwith another, had another
prenatal visit, a first prenatalvisit this time with um a
(14:52):
couple, a woman and her wifehaving a baby, met with them.
Let's see what else happenedhere.
Oh, I had then I had a lookslike I had a virtual um call.
I don't know if it was aninterview, looks like it was um
an interview for um being adoula.
I worked for a company throughthat covers insurance or covers
(15:12):
doula services throughinsurance, so I had an interview
there, and then it looks like Idid an overnight.
Um this is a looks like a nineor ten hour overnight, kind of a
longer one for a couple.
I was there at birth doula, um,and they needed some there's a
couple weeks where they neededsome overnights.
So that was that day.
We're going on a Tuesday now.
(15:33):
Looks like I had a lactationvisit, lactation visit,
lactation visit, lactationvisit, four in a row.
So um looks like we startedpretty early.
Well, I have a 10:30, 12:30,2:30, 4:30.
So got to see three differentpeople.
One of them, wow, she did somuch dedicated work towards
(15:56):
getting back to breastfeeding.
Um, her nipples were probablytorn up worse than I've ever
seen any client's nipples.
Um, the next mom I saw that day,um, but by the way, she's in
great shape now and phenomenal.
Like she's so tenacious.
Uh, she's come such a long way.
I'm incredibly impressed withher.
Um, next mom I met with, kind ofinteresting, she had a what she
(16:17):
determines a pretty traumaticbirth experience.
Um, and breastfeeding didn'tstart out great either.
And I met with her a few timesand pretty quickly got
breastfeeding on track for her.
And she, this is kind of cool.
I don't I love to hear this, Idon't hear it all the time.
She said, you know what?
This is um helping with my birthexperience.
If I can make this work, um,this is very important to me.
(16:38):
So she also got into a reallygreat place.
Um my third visit that day I waswith a mom who's doing pretty
well.
She's in the medical worldherself, she's a nurse
practitioner.
Breasting is going pretty well.
Um, we adjusted a couple littlethings, checked on some weights,
and then um my fourth visit ofthe day, this mom, um, awesome
(16:59):
client, she had a very, verycaboose baby, and she's pretty
mad about it, honestly.
Um, so she had this little baby,and I often don't go into a home
like this, but I went to a homeand there was like all these
teenagers and a brand new baby.
Um, and this little baby is wasjust really slow on the growth.
So we talked about some ways toto help with that, um, help milk
(17:19):
supply.
Looks like I did anotherovernight that night.
Um, do I have oh, yep, there's abirth later on that week.
I'm like, yep, there's a duedate that week.
Of course, babies like to come,whatever.
Um, next day, looks like I had alactation visit, lactation
visit, uh, doula visit, and thenI taught a pelvis workshop in
(17:41):
the evening and anotherovernight.
Um, that was another full day.
The next day, it looks like oh,I went to a funeral.
Um and then I went to thehospital, did a lactation shift
to the hospital.
Uh on the way home from that, Idid a lactation visit.
Looks like two of them,honestly.
That's funny.
So kind of went later into theevening with that.
(18:04):
Next day I worked at the otherhospital I work at.
This is on a Friday.
Usually I go in, like I said, 730, got done by like 12.
Oh, looks like I did some applepicking.
Oh, yes, I remember this birth.
Um, it was a client, it was afirst baby.
Um, and she kind of let us know,like, hey, I'm in labor, I'm
gonna get into the hospital.
So we said, great, keep in touchwith us.
(18:26):
Um, and I had been apple pickingwith my kids.
So I'm like wearing jeans and at-shirt and tennis shoes, and
you know, not not uh superdressed up by any means.
And this this is a rareafternoon off.
Um, and I planned actually to goto some haunted houses.
This was in October with my kidsthat night.
Um, wherein this mom called andsaid, Okay, we're at the
(18:48):
hospital and I'm at like eightand a half centimeters.
And we're like, what?
And she was like, What?
So she was totally shocked.
I was shocked.
So I did not go to the hauntedhouses.
I had my kids actually just dropme right off at this birth um
because this first-time mom hadshe had no idea she was that far
progressed, and neither did we.
So I got there in my t-shirt,tennis shoes, and jeans, which
(19:10):
is not usually what I wear to abirth.
Um, it was not fast after that,so we thought it'd be super
fast.
Um, I was honestly five minutesaway um when she called, so ran
right over there, and I think Iwas with them for a good 12 or
13 hours so overnight thatFriday on to Saturday.
It was still dark, actually.
I remember when I left.
(19:31):
So it was before sun, beforesunrise, but um things kind of
slowed down.
She did end up having aC-section, she got to 10
centimeters.
No, no, or did she quite get to10 centimeters?
I can't remember.
Um, she ended up having acesarean, however.
Oh, yeah, she did.
She was pushing and everything.
Um, and the doctor didn't feel adoctor I really like working
(19:51):
with, he didn't feel thatforceps or vacuum would do any
kind of changing to the positionthat the baby was in.
So, um, for someone whoprogressed.
So fast she did end up with acesarean after everything that
we tried.
So kind of a bummer.
I know I came home.
Actually, this, I remember thisbecause I didn't have a car at
the hospital.
So I texted my husband and said,Hey, can you come get me?
(20:12):
Um, and I just started walkingtowards home.
So I got I love walkingactually.
So I got a couple miles inbefore he, I was pretty tired.
They were kind of probablyswervy miles.
Um, came home and slept um agood deal of that morning.
Um and it looks like thatevening, oh, I do remember this
was so much fun.
(20:33):
We had a 50th weddinganniversary party for my mom and
dad that evening, and it was amiracle that that didn't get
touched on by anything elsethroughout the week.
So that's another random week umin the life of a doula lactation
consultant.
So as you can see, like there'ssome unpredictability to these
schedules, which is kind of funum as births come up.
Um, but I love it.
(20:54):
I absolutely love it, and it's agreat day, a great day when I
can help other people and umjust feel so fortunate to meet
some incredible people.
Um, gosh, all my clients hold apretty special place in my
heart, and I don't know if theyknow that or not, but for years
and years after I've worked andserved with them, then I um
still have really fun memoriesof them.
(21:15):
So I got to just experiencegoing through that like uh just
now too, and and remembering alot of those awesome people.
And it's so impressive to seehow hard people work and how
dedicated they are to um what'simportant to them.
Thanks for hanging with me toofor two of my crazy random
weeks.
Um we sure appreciate you beinghere with here with us on the
(21:35):
Ordinary Do Lo podcast.
Hopefully you can make a humanconnection with someone you know
or someone you don't, but reachout and um those relationships
we have are incrediblyimportant.
Hang on to them, treasure them,value them, and take good care
of them.
Hope to see you again next time.
Have a good one.
SPEAKER_01 (22:14):
Episode credits will be in the show notes.
Tune in next time as we continueto explore the many aspects of
giving birth.
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