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9 Signs A Doula Is Right For You

10/16/2018

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I'm not going to lie. I totally stole this from another website (sorry Martha Stewart) because I just realized something...[drumroll please]...

I just realized that WEDDING PLANNERS are totally the same AS DOULAS in the services they provide!


Here is my shameless link, please don't sue me:
9 Signs A Wedding Planner Is Right For You


Wedding planners spend countless hours with you preparing for the biggest day of your life, right? So then why would we not spend as much time preparing and putting together a team of experts for our second biggest day of our lives: Our baby's birth day?!? This is just so mind boggling. 

Anyway, let's go over how important these 9 signs that completely relate to doulas and birth!

YOU ENJOY SPENDING TIME TOGETHER."Countless hours will be spent discussing sensitive details such as close family, personal funds, and other intimate topics. Make sure this is someone you are comfortable with and trust. A good rule of thumb is to hire someone you would be friends with, even after your event is over."
Omgosh, this is verbatim what I would say to a client. Is this not somebody you would choose not only for your wedding but for birth as well?
YOUR PLANNER IS OPEN TO YOUR IDEAS AND VENDOR SUGGESTIONS."Most planners have preferred vendors, but they should be willing to hear your suggestions—it is your wedding after all!"
Doulas may not have preferred vendors but we definitely have preferred local resources for you. I spend a lot of time networking with other birth professionals to ensure that you are getting the right people on your team, before, during and after birth. This is so important to establish a good community of support during all stages of becoming a parent. Also, I am completely open to your ideas of how you want your birth to unfold. And who am I to speak badly of any people on your team?
A GOOD PLANNER WILL BE HONEST AND OPEN FROM THE BEGINNING IN REGARDS TO BUDGET."Even if they aren't saying what you want to hear. I truly believe in speaking numbers from the get-go and not sugar-coating the real cost."
I discuss my costs during our initial consultation. No surprises or spooks. Straight up!
YOUR PLANNER IS ORGANIZED."The best planners keep records of details from your initial meetings and continue to bring up these details throughout the process. Your planner schedules and keeps everything organized for you and sends reminders before appointments!"
I cannot speak for all doulas, however, I have a folder for every client I currently keep, with notes, ideas, and agendas of what we will talk about during our next meeting. I bring as many resources with me so that if we have the opportunity, I have them with me. Not to mention my rebozo, just in case we want to try some funky out-of-the-box positions at any given moment!
THE PLANNER YOU CHOSE SHOULD BE ASSERTIVE, PERIOD."You want someone who can represent you in a knowledgeable way and never get pushed around."
Ditto for a doula! Birth bullying is a real thing for patients. A doula can assist by putting the power back into the mother's hand in very strategic ways that respect both you and the practitioner.
YOUR PLANNER SHOULD BE CALM UNDER PRESSURE."If your planner appears stressed out (ever), that is a problem. You (and your guests) will feed off stress, and that is not what we are going for!"
Never should your doula seem afraid or stressed out by your birth experience. If she is, she may be a new doula, of which I hope you were aware of,  and she is gathering experience. You desire a positive birth experience and if your doula is not assisting in providing the space to do that, there could be trouble in River City.
ALTHOUGH YOUR PLANNER MAY SEEM LIKE YOUR NEW BFF, HE/SHE MAINTAINS A PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE THROUGHOUT THE PLANNING."Once the wedding is over, you can start planning happy hour dates."  
Doulas must maintain their code of ethics and with that comes professionalism that is inherent in your prenatal visits and during your birth. You want to feel comfortable enough with them because, yes they will be a part of a very intimate moment. So much so that they are BFF material but not so much that you would call them during the night about a fight you once had with your spouse.
YOU KNOW YOUR PLANNER IS THE CORRECT FIT IF YOU ARE RELAXED AND ENJOY THE PROCESS."You don't want wedding planning to feel like a stressful whirlwind. Enjoy each meeting. If your planner is doing his or her job, this will be a piece of cake (no pun intended!)."
As a doula, I am not doing my job if you don't leave our visits feeling more empowered, at ease, and excited for baby day!


I hope this article was helpful to you all! Sorry about the length. I found it utterly hilarious how similar wedding planners are to doulas. It is even more shocking that we don't value doulas as strongly as wedding planners. However, the tides are shifting! Doulas everywhere are spreading the good news (not the Gospel guys, lol) about how we can greatly shift the impact on births worldwide! Help us spread the news by sharing this article, share with a friend what a doula is/does. Maybe hire one for your upcoming birth! We are caring people who love to make an impact on the world around us. For us, it starts with birth and we support you every step of the way!

Lastly, sign up for my email newsletter and receive a FREE labor cheat sheet to get you through your next birth!


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7 Birth Factors That Stall Labor

8/24/2018

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I'm going to address the elephant in the room...labor is challenging! When you're in it, you wish that life would stop. You wish that you blinked, and in the next moment, you would open your eyes and find yourself lounging on a beach with an umbrella drink.

Although that kind of wishing is nice and can distract you from your current situation, it's not going to effective get that baby to be born. So here are 7 things you can watch for to get labor progressing naturally, safely and effectively.

1.) Full bladder
Now I know in regular circumstance, if you gotta go, you go, right? In labor, many things are happening in the body that we tend to ignore basic instincts, like peeing. Having a doula or a partner remind you to empty your bladder often is an understated factor. Urinating tells your body that you are making room for baby. There is nothing like a full balloon-like bladder that will get in the way of baby descending into the birth canal.

So make many trips to the bathroom. Better yet, stay in there and enjoy all the amenities a bathroom has to offer for laboring! Amenities like:
  • Tub
  • Shower
  • Squatting forward on the toilet
  • Turning off the lights and making it a den for your animal brain
  • Finding peace and quiet from the nurses who are constantly bombarding you with questions, pokes, and adjustments.

It's a glorious place to labor my darlings!!!

2.) Medications
Normally I don't vouch for labor-inducing medication but at times, they can be helpful and indeed save lives. Pitocin can help increase contractions to assist the uterus in pushing that baby down. However, once you begin medications, your risk of having more induction measures increases drastically. And you are destined to be on bedrest of the remainder of your labor and delivery. So take heed there. 

3.) Immobility
If you're sitting in a bed, hoping your baby will pop out, chances are you either have had an epidural or you're not in labor (deepest sympathies to my lovely 36-42 Weekers). In any other case, you should be moving around to urge your baby to come down his or her comfy womb space.

If you've had an epidural, you can have nurses, your doula, or partner adjust your positioning every 20 minutes so that movement is still present for labor to do its thing. We call this movement in bed  the Rotisserie Chicken! If you're in bed, this is IMPORTANT, not only to keep labor from digressing, but also to move the medicine around in your body. If you lay on one side for too long, the medicine will travel to that side of the body.
 
4.) Ineffective contractions
How can a contraction be ineffective you say?
O’Driscoll et al believed that primigravida uterine action[ineffective contractions] is ‘‘often insufficient to overcome the soft-tissue resistance in a woman having her first vaginal delivery.’’ The treatment for this is artificial oxytocin drip, or Pitocin, due to what medical practitioners call "Failure to Progress". Typically when I encounter a situation like this, I encourage mom to find ways to release her own oxytocin (see infographic). Oxytocin is influenced by, and influences feelings and behaviour. It is a hormone cocktail that enables mother and baby to form a bond and attachment. Since Pitocin only affects the uterus and does not cross the blood brain barrier, only oxytocin produced in the brain creates these psychological/emotional effects.

5.) Unfavorable presentation or position of baby
Nobody knows how your baby will react in labor and delivery. Just as all of our fingerprints are never identical, neither are laboring bodies. Fun fact: even the way a uterus contracts is different from woman to woman! How fascinating!

Let me give you the rundown on baby positions. Occiput anterior (OA) is when baby is face-down, spine facing your belly. This is the optimal fetal position. Occiput transverse (OT) is when baby is sideways inside your womb and can be the cause of a slow and more painful labor. Occiput posterior (OP) is when baby is face-down, spine facing your spine, which is the leading cause of back labor.
 
To help prevent pain, decrease pain or to help encourage your baby into a better position for delivery, you can use a variety of positions, including:
  • Hands and Knees
  • Lunges
  • Pelvic Rocking

​In addition to moving the baby, specific comfort measures can include:
  • Counter pressure
  • Massage
  • Rice Socks (heat packs)
  • Cold packs
  • Bathtub or shower (water)
  • Movement (swaying, dancing, being on a birth ball)
​
6.) Dehydration and lack of nourishment
Never would I deny a marathon runner a drink of water midway through their run. Nor would I ever deny a laboring woman water and nourishment. In hospitals, they want to minimize consumption in the case that surgery is needed. It is also to lessen any chance of messes like throwing up. But a popsicle and honey sticks can be just what mama needs to get her through those last few stages of labor.

7.) Exhaustion or stress
Labor can be fast and furious or long and arduous. At times when labor hours have been trying, it is best to allow mom to rest if at all possible, keeping her comfortable and relaxed. There is always a time for movement but also for resting, letting the body truly relax into this journey.

Stress can play evil tricks on labor. First, it slows down oxytocin because fight or flight mode is turned on. For first-time moms, labor in and of itself can be such a stressful event for the body, mind, and spirit. For tips, see the above #4 section about releasing oxytocin to foster positive psychological/emotional outcomes.


Well, there you have it! I hope this was helpful for you! Let me know in the comments what you found insightful, helpful, and exciting. If you have any questions, please email us!

As always, keep your love in motion!

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Peaceful Childbirth Tips: Part 3!!

4/26/2018

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Part 3: Let's bring this baby home!!

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We have been diving into the three R's that all work wonderfully when done in sync with each other to ensure a peaceful childbirth experience.

We began with RELAXATION. Then we felt the RHYTHM. Now let's bring this baby home and discuss the last R: 

RITUAL
Creating a ritual for birth is icing on the top of your baby's birthday cake. Ritual helps you sink deeper into Laborland, noticing the big picture rather than all the distractions, sensations and chaos around you. Here are some rituals that are catalysts for any birth.


1) Meditation & Prayer --
Question: What do the brains of a person in meditation and a woman in labor have in common?
Answer: Their brains are both in Theta.
Theta brain waves in the brain are exhibited when a person is in deep relaxation or mental imagery. In this stage, we also dream. This stage is just after Alpha waves, which are when we have a relaxed focus, increased seratonin production, and experience pre-sleep. During labor, it is best to optimize the stages between Alpha and Theta stages of brain waves.
We can do this through meditation or prayer. If you already have some type of similar practice, challenge yourself by calming your mind every day until baby arrives. You can also attempt your practice with distraction, like various noises around you that your mind can jump from one to the next (also called non-focused awareness). Another distraction is the ice cube contraction: hold ice tightly in your hands and time a minute contraction. Try different techniques during your ice contractions and see what helps you not focus on the intensity of the ice in your hand but on other things, like other sensations or breath.
Feel free to contact me for more tips on how to do this fun exercise!



2) Affirmations -- 
When you have positive affirmations showering you during labor, time seems to pass by and contractions have a purpose. It is easy for the mind to wander, thinking that something is wrong and that contractions are too painful to go on.
Affirmations are just sayings that have meaning to you. You can find them in books or come up with them on your own. I have clients write out affirmations on colorful notecards and stick them all over their laboring space. That way, when you need a word of encouragement, you don't need to ask for them. You can look around your room and find a message meant just for you.
You may check out Hynobirthing for Affirmations. They are sensational!


3) Breath
We live in a world where control is king. As women, we want to control the labor process, so we will read and research until our brains are numb. We create the ideal birth plan, hoping that much of it will happen the way that we want it to.
I want to be real with you ladies. The day your body decides to go into labor is the day you lose all control. Labor is all about surrendering! Surrendering to your body, your baby, and the process it is going to take to deliver a healthy and happy baby, and a new mama!
The one thing we can control in labor is our breath. Focus on the breath and learn some different breathing techniques for the stages of labor. Breath is paramount to maximizing those contractions to urge that baby down. Use what you have, YOUR BREATH, to your advantage.


4) Hire a Doula --
There are many evidence-based reasons for having a labor support person with you during your birthing experience. Doulas have the expertise to assist you with physical comforts, emotional support, and information. A doula provides a wealth of support that you wished you had. With all the up's and down's that labor entails, it is worth having someone in the room with you that has a calm demeanor and a sound mind to help you make informed decisions and make you feel safe during your journey through Laborland.



Final Thoughts --
If what you are seeking is a natural birth, and all you have is today to prepare for labor, I have only one piece of advice:
Ground yourself in love and let all the rest go.
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    Author's Philosophy


    I am a doula. I love labor, I love birth! But most of all, I love witnessing the beautiful transformation of women becoming mothers. My job is to facilitate that transition easily and with JOY!!

    ​My greatest goal is to ensure that you and your family feel safe and secure with me by your side, ushering you into a brand new heroic journey that is motherhood. It is my highest honor to serve women in one of the most splendid moments of their lives!

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