Gravity Birth™

Congratulations to Holistic South’s newest addition,
Avery! Born 3/2/16 in water, with Love.
A very proud mama who labored with hypnobirthing love & light, power & strength.
A papa who was so very present and supportive.
Patience & Time! Amazing Labor!
Congratulations to beautiful “Valentina” born
February 14, 2016!
Caring for women throughout the prenatal & postpartum period
with your certified nurse midwife
Welcoming Finley into the World! Coming up for a visit from Key Largo.
some previous Birth Stories of Debra’s
Dear Debra!!
Our baby Teo is born! I was in labor for a bit more than 30 hours. It was intense, sometimes I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it, but we did!!!! Surges started on Monday Dec. 29th at 11pm and baby Teo was born today at 5.30 am Dec. 30th, 2014!
I’m so so so happy with my happy and healthy baby! 7.2 pounds 🙂
Also he’s breastfeeding great! Thank you so much for your amazing help and teachings! You really made a difference in my life. You made my pregnancy even more beautiful than it already was. Thank you so much!
Anai

I wanted to send you this note to thank you for all your help during the birth of my 2 daughters. The important lessons you taught me during the months I attended your prenatal yoga classes helped me to have 2 wonderful, natural births! I have to confess I knew very little about what a birth experience should be. I was relying mostly on my OB/GYN recommendations rather than on how I wanted my labor to be and how important it would be for both me and my daughters to have a good, healthy birth experience from beginning to postpartum. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you being my doula during my last birth. Thank you for opening my eyes & my heart and helping me find the strength within myself to birth my child with out any anesthesia! I know it was my decision but having your presence and support made it possible to stay calm and centered during the most active part of labor & birth. Everything you taught me was so very helpful during both of my labors and having you by my side made it easier for me to stay focused on welcoming my daughters into this world surrounded by love, peace instead of fear and pain.

Suzette

Hi Debra,
The day I went into labor I wasn’t sure it was labor, but from what I learned in your prenatal yoga classes and the hypnobirthing course helped me through the whole process. Sunday night I was walking the dogs with my husband & my mom when I felt – what I thought to be at the time – a Braxton Hicks contraction. That was around 10 pm. It was more intense though, but I had read that as your due date approaches, these get a little more intense, so I didn’t think much of it. Then at around 11 pm I felt another one, so we just thought maybe I had been doing too much that day running around as EDD was not for two more weeks! So I decided to call it a night, take a shower and go to bed. When I went to the bathroom the mucus plug released, but I wasn’t sure. I was planning on calling my doctor the next day, so I took the shower and went to bed. Around midnight, what I felt in my belly was more intense so I got out of bed, then the contractions (waves) were coming one after the other. My body was also shaking, not from cold or pain, I just couldn’t control it. It was a strange sensation to me. My husband called the doctor and decided it was time to go to the hospital. We decided to call 911. When they came they confirmed I was in labor. On the way to the hospital the paramedics gave me an iv solution that stopped my shaking. When we got to the hospital I went into labor & delivery. Upon checking, to my surprise, I was 9 cm dilated, all thinned out and my baby was at -2, still needed to come down. I think that was around 4 am, and at 8:04 am my baby was born!! I did it with no drugs, no pitocin, of course, because I wouldn’t have needed it anyway, but also no epidural!! The water broke by itself at around 6 am as baby moved down, baby ended up with cord around his foot. I learned every woman is different and sometimes labor will not come to you like it says in the books, you just need to be prepared for whatever will come to you. Thanks again Debra for all of the knowledge you bestowed upon me to help me be prepared for my birthing day! It happened surprisingly early at 38 weeks when most girls in class were going up to their 40th or 41st week. I felt I had everything in me that I needed to be prepared for my labor and birth. Thank you!
See you soon in Mommy & Me!! Stephanie

My natural VBAC (vaginal birth after c-section) around lunchtime after 9-10 hours of labor and arrival to Jackson South Hospital, together with my amazing husband and doula debra (birth assistant) helping me along every second of the way! Big Sis Teah came to visit the next day asking; “Mama is that the new baby?, let me see your belly, is it empty now?”
Alexyi and Mom are very Happy and Whole, Hooooray!!!!


My birth experience was all natural and drug free just as I had wanted it. I had a minimal tear, no episiotomy. My Doctor also, was very supportive of me and my loved ones, including Debra. After birth, I also took my encapsulated placenta capsules which were prepared by Debra. These supported my quick recovery after birth and also increased my milk supply. My husband and I know for a fact that having Debra as our Doula made all this possible, and we are looking forward to repeat this experience for our second child in the near future.
Thank you Debra for your love and care during my birth experience!
Natasha Yazici, Volcan and Derin Efe Yazici
Debra,

Namaste my friend.
Little Ariana, baby two!
Blanca, Alex, Alvin and Ariana Acosta
And Now, one year ago today I gave birth to my baby girl, Ariana. With you by my side, I put all of my faith in you. It’s like everyone else didn’t exist and all that was there was you and me. If I was not so old I would have at least two more children just to experience what I did with you once more. Debra words cannot express how blessed I felt to have you by my side. Had you not been there during this “unusual” delivery I don’t know how I would have handled it. My children are my world. Nothing can compare or even come close to the love one feels for their children. Happy Birthday Ariana and thank you my friend. You will always remain in my heart. God Bless You. Blanca & Ariana

This was my second birth experience with Debra as my doula, and just as with the first, she and my husband helped me achieve exactly the kind of birth I hoped for! Being my second child, it was much quicker, however, just as powerful if not more. Late on a Wednesday night labor progressed normally throughout the night. By 9am Thursday they were quite strong but still manageable. All were front contractions, no back labor like the first time. By 12pm Debra and I had been in touch and I told her of my progress and told her I was still doing fine at home with my husband. Because of the education & training during my pregnancy, I was very calm, and handled all contractions with my deep breathing and focus on the baby. I wasn’t sure if I would know when to go to the hospital, as the contractions were so different than with my first labor/birth. I remember Debra told me,

Thank you! Denise and Danny Fernandez
I want to thank you for all your words of wisdom throughout the months I attended your classes. I put them into practice and I could not be happier!
My birth story…

She is perfect!!!
Thank you,
Sabrina, Greg and Sophia

Thanks to you, Debra, I survived this never ending waiting time, as well as the pressure I felt in having to make the decision every day whether to wait for her to arrive naturally in this world or give into the pressure of being induced – which was enormous. It was worth waiting, every second! I know you leave the decisions and choices to us but being in classes with others and having the knowledge and support really helps!
My son Nicolas, 2 1/2, woke me up at 7 in the morning, the 28th of October, when I felt a very light pulling in the abdomen, and could not believe the contractions finally were there! After getting Nicolas to school, I went for a long walk and saw Debra at noon who used some acupressure points with me at yoga class. At that time, I still made a joke of the acupressure being more uncomfortable than my early labor! At 2 pm, feeding lunch to my son, I felt the contractions getting stronger and I retired to concentrate on myself, the breathing and the business of birthing. My husband came home from work at 3 pm, and we called Debra who arrived at our house by 4 to continue the labor with me.

Keep on doing what you do Debra! Pregnant women need exactly the knowledge, love and support you give us and allow us to give each other!
Thank you so much again for everything.
Love, Friederike

I want to thank you so much for supporting me throughout my pregnancy and with my decision to have a home/water birth. Helping me figure it out early on and encouraging me to pursue what I truly wanted. This was the most perfect birth! It was pretty much exactly how I envisioned it, natural and pain-free.
My Birth Story
At 8:22pm Tuesday, June 23, 2009 my water broke. I began having some slight cramping about an hour later. I was very excited and anxious because I knew that this was the beginning and that I would get to meet my son soon. I called my midwife to let her know. She told me it would probably be a long night so to try and get some rest. I figured that these cramps were a part of the first signs of labor and didn’t give them much thought. I sat on my rocking chair and talked with my cousin as my husband and her husband went to go get some groceries.
At 11pm I tried lying down to rest but was uncomfortable (it had started getting uncomfortable to lie down a few days earlier) so I went back to the rocking chair. I put on my HypnoBirthing CD and decided to calm myself to see if there was some pattern to these. After practicing the meditation, I realized that there indeed was a pattern and asked my husband to start timing them. Well at first they were steady at two minutes apart and then became inconsistent. I tried the birth ball, and also tried leaning against the bed on the birth ball and began pacing and walking back & forth which felt comfortable for me. Then as the surges got closer together I told my husband to call the midwife again and that this felt more active. I began taking a deep breath in, filling the belly like a balloon and then humming out for the duration of the surge. This helped.
Then what seemed like no time, I felt my tailbone move and my hips shifting and within seconds after that felt a strong urge to push and bear down. I told my husband to get on the phone with the midwife and tell her that I felt like pushing. The midwife told Markus to tell me to blow out like I was blowing out a candle. It was getting difficult so she prepared Markus in case he had to deliver the baby. Markus got very excited at the thought of “receiving our baby” and wrote down what he needed to do.

Thanks to all of the preparation in the yoga classes and the education, I was able to remain calm and relaxed. The classes not only strengthened and prepared my body for the physical aspect of the birth, but they also helped prepare me emotionally to believe in myself and trust in having a natural and beautiful birth. Spiritually I was able to go within myself and become one with my body to experience the birth that I had visualized and envisioned for both my son and myself. During the labor I felt as though we were working together, he gave me cues and I followed so that we could finally meet and hold each other and continue our bond outside the womb. Thank you and see you soon.
Margarita
We are back in Kingston and I wanted to say ‘THANK YOU!’ again for joining the birth of Farley. It was wonderful having you with us and you helping me with such an amazing experience. With you and Chris there, I felt perfectly safe in every way. I am sooo happy I managed natural un-medicated childbirth and am very grateful for the support, encouragement and information you gave all along the way in the prenatal yoga and childbirth education classes. Now that I’m starting to join playgroups here in Kingston, I hear moms moan about their birthing experiences and I think every time: for me it was such a wonderful and amazing experience, which I think of only in the most positive light – o.k., maybe not the internal examinations and the fainting! I already recommended you to a yoga mate: Leticia from Spain. She’ll be in Miami in a few months. Little Farley is doing well. He’s a wonderful little person, taking all new experiences in stride. I find him generally quite uncomplicated and easy going, which is great and makes my life easy!
Big Hug and all the best from Jamaica,
Marion, Chris & Baby Farley

Best Wishes! Chris & Mel
Sorry I missed the class last Thursday, little did I know that I would go into labor the next day. On Friday morning, Jan. 30th I woke up to some light contractions. I got dressed to go to work and while at my desk, the contractions began to be about 15 – 20 minutes apart. Around 11am, one of my coworkers found me on the floor of my office, on my hands and knees doing my big hip circles and breathing. I sent a couple of emails and got some work done, but I could not get comfortable in the office chair. My husband was having some cell phone issues, so I could not get a hold of him. I did not have my car that day so I got a ride home and by 1:30 pm. My contractions were steady at 10 minutes apart.
I made myself some lunch and got comfortable. I began using the ball and other poses to get me thru the contractions. My sister-in-law was very impressed with my demeanor and how I was breathing thru them. Tell the girls, Breathing is so Key!!!! At 2:15 pm, I felt a strong contraction, I got up and felt a the baby’s head had dropped even lower. I realized that my water broke. I got into a hot shower and practiced our pose against the wall like when we give our massages to each other in yoga class. It felt great to do that. I called my Dr. and he said that even though the contractions were only 10 minutes apart, since the water broke, I should come to the hospital.
Here is where my story gets unique and a bit crazy. My husband can panic easily and “loose it” so I was careful of what I was telling him on the phone. I asked him to come home so we could go to the hospital. He was conducting business on Fisher Island which meant he had to take the ferry back and then beat traffic.
So now its 2:30 pm and my contractions were about 7 minutes apart. I kept breathing thru each contraction and concentrating on the 3rd eye. By 3:00 pm they were a steady 5 minutes apart. My husband was getting frantic sitting in Miami traffic on a Friday afternoon. He went into a panic and even got lost trying to find “short cuts” to make it home. At 3:40 pm the contractions were starting to come every 3 minutes, … steady. At 4 pm, I realized that with this traffic I wasn’t going to make it to the hospital with him.
So, I called 911, the paramedics and my husband arrived at the same time. They inserted an IV & were convinced I would give birth in the truck. They were really nice and were breathing with me thru the contractions. They even told me that they were impressed I was doing this all on my own. At this point, I wasn’t going to make it to Mt. Sinai and went for the closest hospital to my house – South Miami. In the rig, I was 2 minutes apart, I could feel the head so low. We arrived around 4:30 pm to the ER, got checked for 2 seconds and the nurse said…”Take her straight upstairs!” The paramedics got me up to the 3rd floor and next thing I knew I was meeting another Dr. who would deliver my baby (he was kind of good looking too). At that moment I said, Great, get that epidural going! Everyone in the room laughed and said, you are going to start pushing now…you are 10 centimeters dilated! So I had 2 minutes to tell this Dr. my entire Birth Plan!
I began to push at 4:40 pm and my baby was out by 5:50 pm! Please tell the girls how important those SQUATS are that we do! The nurses had a name for me…”Strong Legs!” I do have to say that I felt prepared. The best thing I did was the Yoga classes and walking. I needed ALL MY ENERGY. The baby was placed on my chest immediately, the umbilical cord pulsed out, husband cut the cord, then he was cleaned up and back in my arms 15 minutes later. I kept him on my chest for about 45 minutes more before he had to go to the nursery. I was in my own room by 9:30 pm and the baby came back around 10 pm. We kept him in our Room all night so that we could breast feed.
Debra, I did it! NO DRUGS! ALL NATURAL! YAY!!!