“Everyone was so supportive and fantastic in preparing me for what I could expect.”
For the birth of her first baby, Laurie had some checklist items for pre-natal and delivery care: She wanted the care of certified nurse-midwives, she wanted a hospital birth, she wanted a drug-free experience and she wanted to be in charge. She found her match at CHP Barrington OB-GYN: two midwives, two physicians
Marybeth Merritt, CHP’s prenatal educator, taught her and her partner, Steven, ways to talk to and bond with their baby before he even arrived. And CHP’s birth classes were a tremendous help in preparing the couple for childbirth.
“Everyone was so supportive, and fantastic in preparing me for what I could expect,” said Laurie. “There was no judgment, and pressure to steer us in one direction or another.”
However, not all labor and deliveries go quite according to the checklist plan: After a long labor, Hunter was delivered by Cesarean section in July.
Despite the presence of a doctor, midwife and hospital nurses, there was never a moment of tension in Laurie’s delivery room. Everyone was calm, and everyone worked as a team.
When Hunter arrived, crying, it was his dad’s voice he heard first, and he calmed right down. Laurie said it was an emotional moment when Hunter heard his dad’s voice and responded as if he already knew him well.
“My fears had been having a lot of people in the room, and having a C-section,” said Laurie. “But that’s what happened, everyone was calm, there was no rush, no pressure, it was one step at a time. It wasn’t what I had planned, but it was so positive. I never felt like any decisions were out of my hands. Everyone wanted what was best for us.”
During Laurie’s pre-natal care, Susan Greenberg-Yarmush was her nurse-midwife; her nurse-midwife colleague, Lisa Fraine, was on call when she went into labor. Dr. Antoine El Khoury performed the C-section. It was a true team effort, from pre-natal care to Hunter’sdelivery.