March 19th was a pretty special birthday in the Family Treatment Program (FTP).
Shanae
That morning, FTP client Geri* welcomed her first child, a baby boy. Geri didn’t even make it to the hospital; her son was born right in the unit with a midwife, two doulas-in-training, and FTP therapist Shanae Harvey assisting – a first for the program!
Geri began feeling contractions very early Sunday morning. She called Shanae, who went over to the program home and called a midwife in to assess Geri. She was told to rest as she was in the very early stages of labour. Around 8 a.m., the team went to the hospital to have Geri re-assessed. She was sent home because of lack of space, but by 9:30 a.m. she felt like she had to push, leading the Shanae and the doulas to place a call to both 911 and the midwife.
“At that point, we weren’t really sure where things stood,” Shanae explained, but a few minutes later the midwife arrived to see the baby’s progress.
“When the midwife returned we were still just thinking that Geri was in the early stages of labour,” Shanae said. “But the midwife looked and said, ‘no – we’re having a baby, right here and right now.”
Geri was concerned, feeling as though she needed to go to the hospital to ensure her baby’s safety, but there just wasn’t time.
“I’d say 15 minutes after the midwife arrived, there was a baby born in our family treatment house – right on the living room floor,” Shanae said.
After the birth, both Geri and her son, weighing in at 9 pound 1 ounce, were taken to the hospital to be checked out and found to be 100 per cent healthy.
“Geri is really happy – she has a really cool story to tell – not only an unplanned home birth, but it was right on baby’s due date, and that’s really rare.”
“Geri is doing awesome. She’s bonding so well with her little guy, and she’s just a natural mom. It’s really beautiful to see,” Shanae added.
Geri’s progress in treatment has really taken off since the birth of her son as well, Shanae said.
“I’ve noticed a big change. Now that mom has baby, it’s almost like priorities have now shifted – treatment goals are really understood a lot more. She’s showing such a commitment (to achieving her goals).”
“She really just wants to create the best life for herself and her baby.”
*name changed to protect the privacy of client
