The Birth of Nyra | Coit House Birth Center

/ Buffalo Doula Services LLC/

Stephanie and Finn were prepared for birth; they’d taken part in group prenatal sessions with their midwifery office, they hired a doula and birth photographer from BDS. They knew they were likely going to pass their due date, and actually hoped that they would! They knew they were likely going to have a longer labor as first time parents. They still felt they had so much to do and had so much time to do it, that when Stephanie’s water broke at work a month before her due date on the afternoon of October 19th, she just kept working.

When contractions started a few hours later, they stayed calm until the later hours of the evening when they grew more intense. They called their doula, who advised Stephanie to take a bath and try to slow things down a bit. After midnight, they knew they needed extra support and asked their doula to come. Upon arriving at their house and taking one look at Stephanie, their doula said “Oh, you’re pushing!” As the couple lived just a few blocks from the birth center, and getting into a car sounded horrific to Stephanie, they decided to walk. Every few feet, Stephanie would stop and lean on her doula during a contraction. Once they arrived at the birth center and began heading upstairs, Stephanie stopped and smiled and calmly mentioned “I think her head is out.”

As the midwife helped her pull her pants down, they were shocked to see that baby was indeed crowning! Finn got behind his wife to catch their baby and pass her up to Stephanie as just one more push brought baby Nyra earthside. Not long after settling into bed together, Stephanie realized “Someone needs to call Jen!”

Jen arrived at the birth center around 3:00am and found the new family cozied in bed chatting with Stephanie’s mom on FaceTime. She captured plenty of snuggles and the newborn exam. The midwife suggested Stephanie and Nyra take a bath together, as she wanted them to stay a bit longer since baby was a few weeks early. Jen began helping to prepare their bath, when she thought of all the beautiful bouquets spread throughout the birth center that were beginning to shrivel. She gathered up all of the flowers that were on their way out and filled the tub with petals before brewing an herbal bath and adding that to the water as well.

It was the dreamiest postpartum photoshoot, as Stephanie and Finn cradled baby Nyra in the bath and poured handfuls of water over her to keep her warm (and wash her thick, luxurious hair!)

Are labor and birth photos just not for you? We understand. In addition to our Birth Story photography package which includes up to 10 hours of photography from active labor to postpartum, we now offer a Golden Hour photography package! Think Fresh 48, except Jen is on call for you in the weeks surrounding your due date and comes as soon as you alert her of baby’s birth, day or night. Babies change a lot in just 24 hours, and we want to help you remember all the details of your new love; from their dark, alert eyes to their tiny curled up seashell ears. Contact us to book.

The Birth of Isla | Coit House Birth Center, Buffalo NY

/ Buffalo Doula Services/

Emilija and Correy desired an out-of-hospital birth from day one - so much so, that they were willing to drive an hour from their home near Rochester, NY to do so!

Emilija’s labor started early on a Sunday morning in October, with consistent cramping all day transitioning into more consistent contractions around 8:00pm that evening. She stayed in contact with her doula, Meghan of BDS, throughout until around 2:30am Monday morning when they decided it was time to head into Buffalo and get settled at the birth center, The Coit House. By 4:00am, the entire birth team was assembled and supporting Emilija through intense contractions. After laboring in the bathtub and shower, on a birth ball, in bed, standing and slow-dancing with her husband, and on a birth stool, she felt the first urges to push. After a few hours, at around 10:30am as the sun peeked out after a rain-filled morning, Emilija reached down and caught her baby and brought her to her chest. As a new family of three, Emilija, Correy, and Isla Rae curled up together in bed for the sweetest, uninterrupted golden hour snuggles.

Midwife/Birth Assistant: Maura Winkler and Ashley Fino, Fika Midwifery

Photographer: Jennifer Lombardo, Buffalo Doula Services

Doula: Meghan Warner, Buffalo Doula Services

Childbirth Education in Buffalo, NY | Hospital Classes vs. Private Classes

/ Buffalo Doula Services/

Childbirth education classes have been around for 60-70 years, and various “methods” have continued to influence what is taught. Lamaze, Bradley, and Mongan (hypnobirthing) methods are the names most familiar to pregnant women. Over time, classes moved into the hospitals, and the goal of those classes became offering information on choices that were available to them… in that particular hospital. Such classes are appealing; they often come with a tour of the labor and delivery/maternity wings, sometimes they’re covered by insurance, and they’re sometimes recommended by the provider you’ve entrusted to care for you during pregnancy. But are they teaching you the realities or labor and postpartum, or simply wooing you into compliance?

A recent client felt compelled to take the childbirth education class at the hospital she was giving birth at, after her provider encouraged her to do so. We were texting afterward and she said to me, “I feel like I was just schooled on how to be a nice, agreeable patient who will get an epidural when they tell me to.” She felt inadequately prepared for experiencing the unmedicated labor she was planning. She and her partner had learned what procedures and protocols the hospital needed to follow, and what would happen upon checking into the hospital, but when she asked the instructor how she would cope throughout labor the response was to list off the various medical pain relief options. While these are important to understand as well, unless one is planning a cesarean, they will likely feel labor pain at some point and may wish to cope with it using alternative methods. My client also wondered what she’d do if her labor was very long? What were her options in the hospital? Did she have any? What should she expect from a brand new baby? How would she feel? How could her partner support her? So many questions had gone entirely unanswered.

This was one of the main reasons we began creating our own classes in 2018. Birthing people and partners deserve to be well-educated on their options for birth! Not only were we seeing our clients who’d attended a hospital childbirth education class come away feeling unprepared for labor, we also realized the absence of preparation for postpartum and caring for a newborn left our clients feeling lost, swept aside, and lacking confidence for parenthood. When we structured our classes, we made sure to devote as much time to preparing for postpartum and a new baby as we do to stages of labor and birth planning. Much like the founders of formal childbirth education did in the 1960’s, we have put a lot of time and energy into considering everything women need to know (not just about pregnancy, birth, and postpartum but also the inherent dangers in the current system of maternity care and how to create change.)

We offer a full day class, Birthing + Babies, which not only thoroughly covers labor and birth planning, but postpartum planning and newborn care as well. We also offer a complete series of classes: Childbirth Prep, Comfort Measures, Baby Basics, and Breastfeeding 101. Each class is two hours and packs a whole lot of information in. Pick and choose to customize your educational experience, or register for all four to start parenthood off on the right foot, armed and prepared with expert knowledge (and save $25.00 while you’re at it!) Check out our upcoming class schedule or contact us with questions or to schedule a private class. Our classes take place in the cozy office of Buffalo Doula Services, and at the office/birth space of Fika Midwifery, the Coit House.