Hi there!
I’m Lynette, a wife, a mother, a nurse, and most importantly, a woman who has been rescued by God. Since God is such an important part of my story, you’ll see my Christian perspective come out frequently as we talk about life.
I live in Louisville, KY with my husband, son, and two dogs. I love camping, swimming, waterskiing, and being a mom.
I’ve always been amazed by the birth process. I think it started when my mom talked about how great her birth experiences where when I was a little girl. In nursing school, I witnessed one birth. I remember the atmosphere of relief and joy in the room when that little girl was delivered.
After graduating from nursing school, I worked in the emergency department for almost four years. I witnessed birth there, too. But emergency department births were often traumatic.
I’ve witnessed things I wish I could forget – the feeling of sheer helplessness when we’re unable to resucitate a baby, and that perfect little body is lying motionless on the blue-sheeted, adult-sized stretcher. I have heard more then one mother’s wail of sheer grief echo through a too-quiet department when she realizes she’ll never get to raise her child. I’ve hugged and cried with other staff as we realize that it could as easily have been our own child’s body being transferred, alone, to a cold morgue.
I’ve witnessed “uncomplicated” labors in the emergency department, too. But often even those births come with their own trauma for mothers and babies.
I gave birth to my first child in the shadow of those emergency department experiences. I had so much fear going into my labor – not for myself, but for my child. When my son was finally born and had been laid, screaming, on my chest, I sobbed, but not with happiness. I was profoundly relieved that he was alive, and that my experience would be different than all the mothers I’d seen grieve their children’s death.
I remember thinking, amazed, in that moment, “Somehow, it’s not happening to me. I’m not one of those mothers who watches their child die. I’m so lucky.”
That birth experience healed a part of me I didn’t know was broken. I thought, “If healing secondhand trauma could be so powerful for me, how could it help women who have experienced birth trauma firsthand?” And so, Bravehearted Birth was born.
I love to use my nursing knowledge and personal experience, as well as research, to learn how to best support a mother’s body as it labors to delivery a baby. This often happens best in a relaxed, dark environment, with minimal interventions. My mission is to educate and support you as you look forward to labor and birth. I want to encourage you as a mother and a Christian.
(By the way, if you don’t have a personal relationship with God, please visit this page to learn more. If you don’t know God, this is the most important thing you could ever learn from me.)
Join me as we learn to be courageous mothers. Welcome to Bravehearted Birth!