Recently while I was at the beach, I found myself sitting watching the waves. ON this day the waves were very calm and slow. Just the day before they had been quite rough and almost dangerous. My brain started to think and reflect upon birth and labor.
We are conditioned to think that we NEED contractions to be fast and furious. We are told they MUST be 2-3 minutes apart and over a minute long to produce a baby. And as I sat and watched the waves, these calm slow waves, it hit me!! The tide was still going to come in. Even with very little wave activity, the tide would still come in.
In my mind I often equate labor pain and waves as very similar. There is the start , the height and then the ride down. This is known. This is unavoidable. This must happen.
BUT, do we NEED the peak to be super crazy high and out of control? Do we need the contractions to come so close together to bring about a healthy baby?
As I was thinking these thoughts, I was reflecting back on my last doula client’s birth. This Momma was in control. She stayed on top of her contractions. She rode the waves like a seasoned surfer. (She was a first time momma). As each contraction came, she relaxed down into it and took it on head first.
y the time we got to the hospital Momma was 8 cms, and still in control. BUT! Momma was only contracting every 6-9 minutes!! How could this be? How could she get to 8 cm and only contract 6-9 minutes apart?
Momma went on to achieve a drug free beautiful birth. All with contractions that never got any closer together. Now this goes against everything we are conditioned to know. But it goes back to simplicity. Simply put, if left alone, our bodies know what to do. If left alone, our bodies will get the baby out. If left alone, we CAN achieve our goals.
Much like the ocean… it can be rough and have waves coming back to back.. or it can be still, and only have a wave here or there. Either way, the tide will come in and go out. In much the same way, our body will get the baby out……

“We’ve put birth in the same category with illness and disease and it’s never belonged there. Birth is naturally safe, but we’ve allowed it to be taken over by the medical community.” -Carla Hartley, Ancient Art Midwifery Institute

I often find I wonder what we have done to birth in this society. In our society we are sort of brainwashed to believe our doctors know everything there is to know about birth.
When in reality, WE, as women, as the experts on our own bodies. How can a Dr. who has met us a handful of times know when conception has occurred? As women, we should know our bodies enough to have an idea as to when this would have occurred. And based on this knowledge we should be able to figure out an accurate estimated due date. Sadly, Dr.’s base our EDD on a general cycle length, and give out a general EDD. This leads to a time line being put on your pregnancy. In most cases it is already decided that you will have your baby before 42 weeks gestation. (But remember, this is based on every woman having the same exact cycles.)
From the minute we step into the OB’s office, we are “treating” pregnancy. But the question is, what are we treating it for? Pregnancy is not a disease. It is not an affliction. It is not something that can be “cured” or treated. It is something to enjoy. To relish. To savor. Each woman should take the time during pregnancy to read. To educate themselves on what choices they have while they are pregnant. Each woman needs to know that she can choose where she wants to give birth, who she wants to be there and most importantly HOW she wants to birth. It does not make one difference weather she wants to have an epidural from the first contraction and be in a hospital or if she wants to go completely unassisted in the middle of the woods. As long as each woman educates herself and knows what to expect and is happy with the birth outcome, THAT is what matters…
We need to remember that birth is safe. Birth is natural. And we need to bring it back to that. We need to stop “treating” it and start empowering ourselves. Start taking that control back. Start to have faith in ourselves again. When we do that, we will see a change in our birth culture. And it WILL be for the better.

Thought this was too good not to share:

http://www.bloomspokane.com/2009/07/05/hiring-a-doula-a-husbands-perspective/

“”Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers…strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength.” -Barbara Katz Rothman

For so many women, we get pregnant and think all about the baby. What will the baby’s room look like. What will the babe be(boy or girl) What will the baby’s carseat, stroller, crib etc… be.
But we forget, with this birth we are not only birthing a baby, but a mother, a father, a family.
For this moment, we are focusing on the mother. For the mother has to do most of the work to bring the baby into this world. By the end of pregnany many women are tired. They are exhausted! They have sore backs, aching feet, cramping legs….There is no sleep, as one can not get comfortable. And looming up ahead? BIRTH! Now when you have never had a baby before you are faced with this daunting expirence.. and wondering how you will accomplish it! I just had a client who was in tears because her back hurt so badly. And she said “How will I manage contractions, If I am such a baby about my back hurting now?”
And I could relate. Boy could I realate. There is nothing like the end of pregnancy. But the thing is, pregnacy and birth, they bring out our strengths!! Only we may not know it until after it is all over with. Birth bring out such a poweress.. such an ability to just DO. It is amazing!!!
If you can just trust yourself. Trust this body that was made for birthing, trust your gut…. you will be ok. You will have an amazing birth. You will surpass all expectations you set. And you will have a beautiful healthy happy baby in your arms, so that then you can enjoy your new family that was just born.

In addition to my doula work, I also babysit. On Monday I get to start watching a little 5 month old! I am very excited about this. I am also excited that her mom an I have similar parenting philosophies and feel the same about many things. Baby is exclusively breastfed.
Right now the baby goes to daycare at the Mom’s work. Mom and I were going over things the other day and mom asked if I needed a red band around baby’s bottles. She informed me that the daycare requires this, as breastmilk is a bodily function/secretion, and is considered a biohazardous material.
I told mom that there was no WAY I wanted her to do this. I could not believe this was done!! Honestly I feel formula would be more of a biohazard tan something that is created specifically for a baby!
I am so bothered by this. I think alot of younger unmarried women tend to work at daycare centers. And this is something that could totally put them off from breastfeeding their own child one day. What are we teaching our children, our young adults? We are conditioning them to think that what our body does is gross!!
Why do we do this? Now don’t get me wrong, I feel formula has a place. I do feel everyone should have the choice on how they feed their own child. But I just wish that we would give good balanced info and not condition our youth to think this is a gross practice.

http://www.fertilitycarefriends.org/hoperetreat.html

This sounds like an awesome day, set up by a good friend. If you are suffering from infertility, you should look into going!!

Newborns like to be close to their mom, dad, older siblings, grandparents… There is no better way to keep them close than to wear them in a baby carrier. There are many different types of baby carriers. The Sleepy Wrap is one of the many wonderful options you have. Please go to their website for more information.
www.sleepywrap.com

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/8483149.stm

A three-month pilot of the Care Bundle scheme found 73% of women given it did not need any clinical intervention to deliver their babies.

The Caesarean rate was 13.5%, compared to 37.5% among mothers who did not take part in the pilot in the Swansea area.

The package has been shortlisted for a Royal College of Midwives award.

It was devised by consultant midwife Maggie Davies and senior midwife Elizabeth Rees at the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Trust, which covers hospitals in Swansea, Neath and Bridgend.

Six actions for the latent stage of labour
L - Look and listen
A - assess maternal observations
T - Time
E - Encouragement
N - Non-pharmalogical pain relief
T - Telephone

Source: ABM University Trust
The early stage of labour is known as the latent phase, and the midwives believed if this stage was managed well, the woman had a better chance of having a normal delivery with less pain.

The care package offers plenty of one-to-one time to women either in person or by telephone.

The midwives listen to the mother’s concerns, offer information, care and support and help boost their confidence in their ability to give birth without intervention.

Ms Davies said: “We introduced it as a pilot across ABM between August and October 2009 and the outcomes are very encouraging.

“Not only have we had very positive feedback from the women who received the care, but midwives have also seen the benefits.”

Following the pilot which ran from August to October last year, 40 mothers’ deliveries were reviewed.

Of those who took part, 11% did not use any pain relief at all, and 21% used paracetamol to take the edge off the pain.

More women also used natural pain relief like birthing pools.

Catrin Roberts, 34, from Swansea, gave birth to her first child Jac Dafydd at the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend.

She said: “I can’t praise the service enough. The midwives were reassuring and made me feel they knew what they were doing. I felt like I was having individual care.

“This was my first baby and I didn’t know what to expect and I was frightened. But they reassured me that everything was going to be OK and helped make the experience much more pleasurable.”

More ABM University Trust midwives will now be trained to use the Care Bundle, and the approach will be adapted for other areas of care for new mothers.

The RCM awards are taking place on Wednesday evening, with the ABM project in the running for a “Research into Practice” category award.

“Birth is not only about making babies. Birth is about making mothers ~ strong, competent, capable mothers who trust themselves and know their inner strength.”
Barbara Katz Rothman

Quick, think of birth……. what comes to your mind first? For many it is pain, screaming, lots of time, hospitals, water…
So many things go through my mind when one saus birth. But ultimately I would have to say it is baby. For many birth = baby.You get pregnant, you go into labor you have a baby. Every year you celebrate this baby.
But we forget… we forget that a mother is born with each baby. We need to remember that within that first moment we find out we are pregnant, a mother is being formed, just as surely as the cells inside are forming a baby.
With each birth a strong, intelligent, smart, amazing mother is born. This mother needs to know that she knows her baby. She is the expert. She holds the answers to this tiny being.
Every year the baby is celebrated on it’s birthday, as it should be. But the mother should be celebrated too. The strong, competent, capable mothers should to be celebrated also.

As I prepare for a prenatal visit with a client today, I thought I’d brush up on a few common questions thatare asked. One question is always : “Why would we NOT do the Vit. K shot, if it is routine?”

I always answer this with:
“You need to do your research, and find out what you are most comfortable with.”
And then we go into the pros and cons of this routine procedure.
As I am not perfect, I like to make sure I am as educated as I can be in my job. So I am often googling, and reading and researching.
Often it is hard to find balancedarticles to read. There seems to be alot of black, and alot of white, but very little grey. It can get very frusterating, as I feel my job is to present the black and white, but I also need grey.

So to get to the point, I came across this article today and found it interesting.. read it for yourself and see what you think!

http://drbenkim.com/vitamin-K-shot-baby.html