In our first meeting with Kattie she was confident and calm in answering every question we threw at her. Every answer seemed logical, and I felt that her answers were thoughtful and based on experience and fact. Both Eric and I called and emailed her frequently towards the end of my pregnancy when things were getting a little dicey.
My doctor was very high strung and dismissive, and we’d leave my doctor appointments feeling rushed, and uncertain. Having Kattie available to answer questions and talk us through each scenario had a calming effect — we never felt rushed, or like we were bothering her with our “silly” question.
My primary goal was to feel like I had choices, and was not being forced in to things that didn’t feel right for me and my baby. Ahead of the birth, Kattie helped me feel that I had choices by running through the various scenarios with me, and talking frankly about the pros and cons of each choice.
During the birth itself, I remember her being my voice, and helping slow the pace of action when the nursing staff became too forceful. For me, the concern was that I had literally zero experience with child birth. I had not been present for any other birth, and had not heard many honest stories about the experience. (Even my pregnant friends who gave birth before I did wanted to wait until after my birth to share stories so they didn’t “scare” me — which made me scared!) Having Kattie walk us through the possibilities, and talk me through every little step of the process was super helpful for me. And, the fact that she had a ton of experience to pull from gave me a wide range of real life circumstances that I could consider for my own delivery.
The thing I remember most about Kattie was how calm she was throughout the entire process. She was never nervous, or unsure. For every question, there was a reasonable and immediate answer. Eric and I both had complete faith in her knowledge and experience.
