Hi!
So if you haven’t already guessed it, my name is Mélanie.
Most people call me Mel, and this is me! (well, a part of me)
Together we have two babes,
plus our angel boy,
and Forrest Gump, our four-legged pup.
I’m a Birth Doula, and if you asked some people, they’d add an enthusiastic photography dabbler. So, what’s my story? How did I end up here, in the world of birth work?
Well, it all started when I met the man of my dreams and we both knew we wanted to have a big ol’ family together with lots of kiddos. I know, I know, it sounds corny but honestly, we’re corny, so it only makes sense that we wound up together : )
It wasn’t too long after we were married that we got pregnant for the first time. Our excitement was palpable. Then, a few weeks later we had a miscarriage. It came as a shock because it wasn’t until that moment that I realized I had been operating under the false assumption that ‘it couldn’t happen to me’. We took a moment to catch our breath, but that moment didn’t last for very long because shortly thereafter we got pregnant again & went on to have our first baby, an amazing daughter.
My pregnancy with her was for all intents and purposes completely ‘normal’. We chose to have with a midwife and decided we’d deliver at our local birthing centre, but beyond that we had no set plan. I went into labour at 41.5 weeks and after an 11hr unmedicated water birth, miss Penelope May Gelineau was born.
Life didn’t slow down for us after that,
though we were having so much fun
(sprinkle in some sleepless nights + poop and puke covered days).
When miss P was 6 months old, we found out we were pregnant again. This part wasn’t as much of a surprise to us, as was the fact that this time it was TWINS! We never imagined being pregnant with two babies at the same time.
Talk about being in shock. Ya, you betcha!
Then, everything changed again. We started learning more about twin pregnancies..
(Did you know there’s more than one type!?) Because we didn’t. Not until it was our reality. Monochorionic Diamniotic twins. That’s the type of twins our boys were. We learned we were up against some serious obstacles. Terms like sIUGR & TTTS were being thrown at us and we were terrified.
Looking back now, I can say that it was in those dark moments that I really wish we had had a Doula. Someone to hold our hands (literally and figuratively) through the ups and the downs. Someone to help make sense of all the medical jargon and keep track of the specialists we should visit. Someone. Someone who was consistent. After seeing so many new faces week after week, it would have been comforting to know our Doula would of at least been consistent through it all.
At nearly 18 weeks pregnant one of our twin boys, Wyatt Asher Gelineau, became our angel boy. Later on at 37 weeks pregnant I was induced, and with little intervention, delivered both our boys in hospital.
Now just to quickly address the question I’m sure most of you are thinking. Yes. I still had to carry both boys to term. This is part and parcel of the complications of carrying twins.
It was, and still is, an incredibly painful memory and yet, it’s one equally filled with love, joy, and hope, because through our tragedy we have our mighty little man, Michael Wyatt Finn Gelineau III.
Through it all, what did I learn? I learned that no matter the type of pregnancy you may have, no matter how you end up going into labour and bringing your baby into the world, above all else, you need support. They say it takes a village, and they’re right. No matter how big or small your village may be, you need one.
“Let me be a part of your village”
– Mélanie Gelineau
Taking the steps to become a Birth Doula felt like a natural extension of my passion for motherhood and all that it entails. I really do believe that with a lot of loving support and gentle guidance, every person has the opportunity to birth in their own perfect way.
As a Birth Doula, I support hospital births, home births, cesarean births, VBAC’s, HBAC’s, non-medicated births, medicated births, singleton’s or multiples.
I support b i r t h.
Mel The Doula 