Postpartum care
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What is a doula?
International Doula Month What is a doula? Years ago, birth was very different than it is today. Women were surrounded and supported by other women during their labor. They brought with them experience, wisdom, and skill. They witnessed birth and knew every laboring mother had her own journey that may be different from another mother’s and even different from her own previous labor journey. In the early 1900’s, medical care began to specialize and the field of Obstetrics was formed. Birth moved into the medical arena and eventually into the hospital. With this change, witnessing normal physiologic birth, the belief in birth as a normal process, and woman to woman…
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Breastfeeding a newborn! Help!
Help! I just pushed a baby out of my body and breastfeeding my newborn is making that look easy! This is common. Breastfeeding is well…it involves a learning curve and is possibly the hardest, most rewarding learning curve ever. We want to encourage you on this learning curve. We will be posting a series on breastfeeding helps. Keep going. It will be so worth it!* We offer postpartum doula support for mothers during this very special season. Please visit postpartum doula to learn more. For our first post in this series about breastfeeding a newborn, how about a couple of recipes? By the way if you know someone expecting…
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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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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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Postpartum Recovery: It’s serious business.
Postpartum Recovery: Healing through Rest *My sweet friend and doula sister, Lauren Tate, shared this post on facebook. Because of the importance and seriousness of postpartum recovery, she has graciously given us permission to share it with you. We invite you to gather a warm cup of coffee or your favorite tea and be still. “A mother and doula on Postpartum healing not so much from an educational side but from an experienced side – With my first and second child, I was so eager to get life after being pregnant going, that I forgot to take care of myself. 4 days after having Ellie, I went to the mall…
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A Letter to My Pre-Mom Self
Life with new baby is beautiful, exhausting, and hard. Comforting post for the journey that is life with new baby.
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What is a doula?
