While you are in your labor, I help you with the pain of the contractions. I am an anesthesiologist, trained to place the epidural. If you go to cesarean section, I help you with this also.
You do not know me. I am female. I have had birth. By c-section. I went post-dates. The induction stopped at four centimeters, and I was taken to the OR. We talk about this, if the need arises to make you feel at ease with the childbirth process.
I work well with Doulas. I really like them. The very best Doulas understand my role as an anesthesiologist. They give the mother the okay to stop and ask for help if they think it is right. It is all about you. Really. It is. 'You are the Queen today,' the post-partum nurse told me as she helped me take a shower, 'for today you have given birth.' Her words affect the way I treat you, my patient. She is right. You are the Queen.
What you do not know, is that I am a Reiki Master. I teach Reiki. I studied more to become a Karuna Reiki (R) Master. I teach that too. My vibration is very high. On purpose. I work as a team with the Higher Realm. All Reiki light workers do.
When I scrub your back, it is a spiral. We are taught that in basic sterile practices in the OR. However, the spiral is also used to start a Reiki healing. I do BOTH when I start my work with you. I also ask Spirit for help, especially if your back is not straight, if you have fat or edema over the spine, or you are especially nervous. Also if your labor is fast, or baby is under stress.
If you have trauma in your past, I know. I feel it. My energy links with yours as I heal you. I understand the problems that you have with your husband. I have had that also. I understand molest. I have compassion for all you have experienced.
The space I select to place the epidural is not random. Although it is in the lumbar spine, I have a choice between a little higher or lower, depending on how easy it is for it to insert. This choice is always guided. I know 'you will not be happy at that level' if I aim for the wrong one. Believe me, before I tuned in, I went anyway, always having difficulty. Now I know.
My spiritual practice helps to ground the chaos of labor. My love from my heart, for you in your condition, comforts you. I ask about the baby to distract you while I work. I check, twice, to make sure the epidural is going to be right for you and offer you relief. As I place the tape on the back, I end my Reiki session, and the healing flow stops.
After your pain is less, I can talk. I find out what I need to know, and as I fill out my forms and start the pump, I reinforce whatever it is I think you might need to know. What is okay, what isn't with a running epidural. What to anticipate when the head drops into the birth canal. I set an example for you to stay calm amidst the chaos of new life.
Afterwards I check on you in post-partum. I want you to know I really care, and am honored to share your joy.
The hardest ones are the birth ball birth plan patients. They have no idea how bad the pain can get. They consider it a failure to ask for my services. I want to say I really know, and wish so much I could share 'you now have a Reiki birth'. This is so much better than trying to twist the fate to match your will. Your baby will be born in the love that is of Heaven. And your body will not have pain. You can actually enjoy your son or daughter's birth!
In thinking you have judged anesthesia to be what it is not. Relax and know I have your safety first, and always your comfort with the best of all realities. (I wish I could teach this to everyone who works on Obstetric patients, especially anesthesia caregivers like me.)
Welcome to the world new family. I hope you start things right. Enjoy your miracle: New Life!!!
Namaste,
Reiki Doc