birth
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Coronavirus and Your Pregnancy
Updated 5/02/2020 There have been some very reassuring changes in the past week. With any problem, knowledge can empower even with viruses such as COVID-19, the newest Coronavirus. Doulas are now back as your second support person at Vanderbilt. Some hospitals that continued with doula support have lifted some of the restrictions surrounding that support. Doulas are allowed to leave the birthing room during your labor. Mothers-to-be have many things to be concerned about without coronavirus. With knowledge and planning, you can be empowered to have your best supported birth experience possible. This blog post plans to keep you up-to-date on local hospital and birth center policies. We also discuss…
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Postpartum Doula: A day in the Life
Have you ever wondered what it would look like to have a postpartum doula? You may be surprised! It looks different for every family because every family is uniquely different! A postpartum doula has been trained and read stacks of books, but her intuition is one of her greatest assets. She does not bring her own agenda. Her job is to help the family transition after birth from surviving to managing to on its way to thriving. How might a postpartum doula’s day look? With The Seasoned Mama: “Julie” just gave birth to her 4th child. She is an experienced mom, but wonders about meeting the needs of her 3…
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Power Imbalance in Labor: Allowed vs Supported, Remember the Mother
How does an imbalance of power in labor happen? It is pretty common in the birth world for women to ask if their care provider will “allow” them preferences. A few examples are: Will I be allowed: movement during labor and pushing to wait on spontaneous labor to begin until 42 weeks to eat and drink during labor intermittent monitoring Why is the difference in language between allowed and supported so important? Why does it matter? Support imparts dignity, and allow takes it away. Support humanizes. Allow dehumanizes. Support restores balance of power. Allow leads to imbalance of power in labor. When we use the language of “allowed”, it is…
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Doula’ing the Doulas
When the doulas need replenishing Why doula’ing the doulas? As clients know, sometimes labors can be quick and intense. Sometimes, they can be long and intense. Sometimes, labor can be traumatic. Other times, everyone present is floating on air. While we don’t get to choose what will happen during each birth, we do get to validate and value each birth and family. I love my job …pretty much everything about it. If there was a contest for best clients, I would nominate mine. They are a pleasure! If I there was a contest for the cutest babies of clients? Well, it wouldn’t be fair to other doulas. Refresh Sometimes, it…
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The Postpartum Doula
In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order-Carl Jung The Postpartum Period Melody, a new mom who had just given birth, described her postpartum experience as difficult: She had a Cesarean section and described lifting as a challenge. She went on to explain the difficulty of breastfeeding and how she had to rely on other family members to help her with household chores while she battled postpartum depression. Melody is just one example of what many women experience after giving birth. Often described as chaos, the postpartum period deserves reflection. In the U.S, women are sent home with a newborn just briefly after giving…
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When the Bough Breaks -Documentary on Postpartum Depression
Review of When The Bough Breaks I recently had the opportunity to view a documentary on postpartum depression and psychosis. As a doula who provides support to women during the perinatal period, the information in this film provided a great starting place for the recognition of the characteristics of postpartum depression, an important and lesser recognized condition found in approximately 20 percent of women who have given birth in the United States. What is Postpartum Depression? This documentary addresses the difficult subject of recognizing and managing postpartum depression and the less common but more severe symptoms of postpartum psychosis. Throughout this film, different women struggle with postpartum depression…
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Freedom to birth with your unique female pelvis
Your Unique Female Pelvis I had the opportunity to attend an interesting midwifery class discussing the 4 different female pelvic shapes. Each woman is endowed with her own unique shape – variations of these 4. The midwife giving the discussion was quite experienced in recognizing pelvises. It was funny how she could identify whether a woman had an Android, a Platypelloid, Anthropoid,or a Gynecoid pelvic shape based on how she walked and moved. The take away from the discussion was encouragement! A woman can successfully birth a baby with whatever type of pelvis she possesses. The midwife further demonstrated optimal positions most women naturally chose to birth in with…
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Sad State of Postpartum Care in the U.S.
Why am I writing about the uniquely U.S. state of postpartum care and recuperation? When a woman carries a baby and gives birth, her body undergoes great changes. There are visible signs of those changes, but that only shows a very small part of what her body has done. Her blood vessels have changed in order to accommodate twice the blood volume. Her lung capacity has changed, and it will take most of a year for it to return pre-pregnancy way of operation. Her muscles separated for the expansion of her womb, joints and connective tissue all became looser in preparation for delivery. All of her abdominal organs were…
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After Birth – The Golden Hour
The Golden Hour – What it is, what it is not Many changes for the better have been happening in the labor and delivery ward. New terms such as Baby Friendly Hospital and the Golden Hour are becoming a part of the new jargon. What do they mean? We have written an article describing Baby Friendly Hospital designation. Briefly, it encourages polices that support the mother-baby dyad, promotes policies that support breastfeeding and remove policies that interfere with breastfeeding and the mother-baby relationship. The article is available here. One of the policies that is part of the baby friendly designation is honoring the Golden Hour following birth. The Golden Hour…
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Birth – The design is not broken
This has been on my heart a good bit lately. I hope it will that not only encourage, but also empower the belief that indeed your body was designed not only to grow a baby but to birth a baby. The design is not broken. For the mothers who birthed through c-section: your body works. You birthed, recovered, and cared for newborn while recovering from surgery. You are so strong. Dear Mama and Supporters of Mamas, About birth – The design is not broken. Medicalized birth can give a very subtle, covert message to women that the design of birth is broken. It is much more powerful than many women preparing…
