Gavin was born on June 11th after over 24 hours of labor and six hours of pushing. He was one day early from our due date and my first baby. My Husband, mother, father, Shelly, the doula, and Nicole were there from 6am until he was born at 4pm. I was planning on having Gavin in the birthing tub, but it just wasn't comfortable with me. Gavin had his arm up in some way so in between contractions I was still having a lot of pain. I needed a lot of stretching and help and support from every person. Nicole was able to help keep me stretched and held my cervix open till our little 6 pound 6 ounce peanut came. I didn't tear and was able to go shopping the next day since we had no clothes other than one outfit since we did not find out what we were having.

Bentley was born on May 26th at 1:30 am. This being my second birth i was assuming she would come much faster and easier, but that was not the case. She was 6 days late from her due date and it was enough to make me go bonkers. Nicole kept up with me and helped to try and keep me calm and at ease since I was having a lot of false labor and kept thinking Bentley was coming. She was sunny side up so Nicole instructed me on the correct movement to get her into the right position. My husband, mother, father, aunt, Jess, and Nicole were at the birth again, pretty much from 7 am until 1:30am the next day. Everyone was needed again and Nicole had to do some pretty extreme stretching, icing, and holding of my cervix to help Bentley come into the world. I did have a small tear since Bentley was a bit bigger at 7 pounds 14 ounces, but didn't need any stitches. I felt a bit more beat up after this birth and used up my tea bath and pads with willing arms. If it wasn't for Nicole's wisdom and knowledge I would have had C sections in both births if I was in any hospital setting. I am so grateful for all the time she has spent answering questions and is seriously part of our family now. She will be birthing our third child in July of this year and I am so glad we have come up with a birth plan to help me relax and have a much more smooth birth experience, even though I did have some pretty tough births before. I feel so blessed to have Nicole to help me and my family stay healthy and bring my beautiful babies into the world. There is no one else I would trust to go through the whole birthing process with.