Family Spotlight: Megan And Sasha Discuss Their Twin Birth

Today on the blog we are interviewing Megan and Sasha. They hired Karla and Narchi for support during their twin birth.

NYC BIrth Village: Thank you Sasha and Megan for joining us for this interview! We’re grateful to have you on our blog today. What made you decide to seek doula care and subsequently choose NYC Birth Village for your doulas?

Megan: Initially, we were anticipating having one baby and we were planning to have a home birth. So we began looking at midwives and just tried to figure out how we could go with the most natural, most comfortable birth possible. And then, we found out we were having twins. Every midwife we talked to wasn’t comfortable delivering twins at home and we heard stories about how there could be a variety of complications. So we began looking at other options like the birthing center and the hospital. It became this big web of trying to find providers that would help us. We saw several different OBs. We were going to go with one provider, but they said that with twins there would be a higher rate of C-section because they were opening another center and they didn’t have enough people. We found another practice that we thought was very good, but it was very based in Western medicine, and it seemed like we were seeing a different OB every time. We decided that we wanted to make this experience a little bit more comfortable. That’s when we started researching more about doulas. We wanted to have someone with us who had gone through this experience before and reassure that it’s ok to ask questions about certain thing. I didn’t realize that a birth plan was important, but that changed everything. During the first few appointments that we went to, the OB said, “You absolutely have to have an epidural,”. The moment I put down the birth plan, the conversation changed. They were like, “Oh if this is what you want,” all of a sudden, “this is a possibility”. But Narchi helped us put those things in writing and have a support system to say “it’s ok to ask for those things”.

Sasha ended up getting some sort of virus. He wasn’t allowed to be in the delivery room for most of the delivery, and missed a lot of the labor process. Without Narchi there, I don’t know how I would have gotten through it without her.

NYC BV: In what ways did Narchi and Karla help you prepare prior to your birth?

Sasha: They helped suggest positions that were helpful, body work, and things that we could do to soothe Megan in some fashion. And just talking to us. We have our parents, but their method of advice is, “Oh well this is the way we used to it.” So I think it was good to have that kind of disconnected (historically speaking) relationship with somebody who can look at your preferences, and your way of doing things, and your strengths and weaknesses.

I was a little trepidatious about hiring someone like that. Initially, I thought that was what our moms were for. I think in the end, entering a hospital system is an unfamiliar territory, especially because it’s so driven by not getting sued. They are very objective about how they deliver information and are not conscious about the person’s manner of perceiving information. So I think the birth plan is very cool. All of a sudden you’ve spoken their language and it’s in writing. So now you are running the show with your special counsel, the doula. I was a little skeptical in the beginning, but she was consistent in the way she was treating Megan. So I was like, OK. She needs this and I saw how it could be beneficial.

NYC BV: What do you remember and appreciate the most about the labor support?

Megan: The doctor was trying to walk me through pushing. Narchi said, “You have to push and relax your legs at the same time.” For some reason that just clicked for me. And the doctor just looked at her like, “What ever you just told her keep doing it! I need you to tell all of my patients that” (Laughs).

Even though Sasha wasn’t allowed in the delivery room, she would say to my parents, “You know, maybe you should share this with Sasha, or take some photos or videos of the process and send it to him”. So that was really great and something that I was not aware of in the moment. But It was a really intense labor. She was there from the moment I started having contractions, she was there the entire time. There was a moment when I was having contractions way less than a minute apart. She said, “Maybe you should talk to your doctor”. She has this way of not being pushy, and say, “you can do this”, and say “this is a possibility”. So the doctor actually turned the dose of pitocin down. So things like that were really helpful in the moment.

My parents were there for the delivery process, which we weren’t anticipating either. Because Sasha was sick, the staff let my parents in. But having Narchi there helped to calm all the emotions that were present. I feel like if it were just my friends and family there, it would have been a lot more dramatic, or I don’t know. It was nice to have someone there who was close and supportive, but also on the outside.

If you would like to learn more about hiring one of our birth or postpartum doulas, check out our website at NYCBirthVillage.com !

Edited for Content

Megan and Sasha learn how to bottle feed their 3 week old twins during a postpartum visit.