Tag Archives: birth

the universe is testing me: on yeasayer tickets and doula commitments

Posted in doula work, i dig music by

guess what! i won tix to see yeasayer tomorrow night here in columbus. if i haven’t told you before {i have} they are my favorite band. i feel very honored to have been bestowed this gift from the universe.

the only problem is that in all likelihood it won’t be able to go.

the situation is that one way or another i’ll be supporting a momma as she brings her babe earthside.

i’ve known about the possible schedule conflict and even entered the contest with the thinking that the baby would make his way here before but you see babies operate on their own schedules.

so i think this has all transpired to test me, to say “are you sure you want this on-call life of missing out on special events, important family occurrences and yes, occasionally your favorite band?”

and i can tell you the answer is yes. albeit, at the moment it’s the kind of yes that would visually be represented by me kicking a rock in the dirt and saying yes under my breath because i reeeeeaaaalllllyyyyy love yeasayer and was digging the idea of seeing them almost an exact year later but it’s a yes. a definite yes.

and it’s ok. it’s more than ok. it means i’m in this. it means i’m committed. and that’s pretty cool for a gal like me.

birth links

Posted in birth links, doula work by

here is some birthy goodness for your weekend reading:

I did some postpartum care for a family that had this feeding system. i had no personal experience with it before but after helping feed their son with this system {except taped to my finger} i kept thinking “why can’t they send one of these home with every family from the hospital instead of cans of formula? it would promote and help breastfeeding mothers so much more.” Please read this article and learn more about these supplemental feeding systems especially if you are expecting. A system like this one requires more work on the baby’s part so he/she is less likely to become dependent on the ease of the bottle in those first few days of life when the breastfeeding relationship is so delicate. In addition this article highlights that there are a myriad of medical reasons why a mother may not be physiologically able to lactate. A feeding system like this gives the opportunity to physically perform the action and the option for donor milk is even on the table. ladies! you have options!!!

my next link is for a series on the blog the resting roost called birth place. she’s interviewing moms in three different birth settings: home, birth center and hospital to gain perspective on each setting. i’m in love with the idea of this series. here’s the first installment. and since i’m already up in mary catherine’s grill these days, i’m going to go ahead and share a link to the wonderful project she and her partners are working on called the barefoot bus. i’m also in love with the idea for this bus.

and a really good article on VBACFacts. I haven’t shared much from this site because I’ve only been a handful of times. This website is and excellent source of information for any woman looking into her VBAC options.

that’s all. happy weekend. happy solstice. happy reading!

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birth links

Posted in birth links, doula work by

some birthy goodness for your weekend reading:

1) a brief post from childbirth today about how Fear contributes to complications and adverse outcomes in birth found here.

2) published study findings that planned home births are safer than hospital births.

3) this is my favorite for sharing today! the dudes are getting some love! it is directed towards the fathers, the most common, but not only, birth partner for mom. these are some of the roles a doula can provide if dad wishes for his role to be different but I try to work with my couples and prepare partners to fill these roles in the birth space. these are very important roles. i think one of the best things we’ve done in maternity care was inviting dads into the birth room but we did them a huge disservice of placing high expectations on them and minimal information on how to meet these expectations. i hope these tips help. ladies, you can go ahead and put these in papa bear’s inbox and tell him to memorize them! talk to your partner ahead of time about how you both envision the birth partner carrying out these roles. it will be so very beneficial for you come birthing day.

as always, i’m here for labor support services as well as pregnancy mentoring and postpartum care. best wishes to you for a calm & confident birth.

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birth links

Posted in birth links, doula work by

i’ve been absent on the friday birth links for a while and i’m attempting a comeback. watch out!

first up is the Midwives Archive from Gentlebirth.org. This is a no frills compilation of A LOT of information. It’s really worth a browse as it is a wealth of information but be prepared for the sheer volume. it’s well-organized despite the large amount.

Evidence Based Birth tackled the Evidence for Induction or C-Section for a Big Baby. I always love the posts and evidence EBB provides for readers. What do you think about inductions and c-sections for suspected big babies after that article?

and lastly i wanted to tip you off to the birth without fear blog. the stories on this blog are always inspiring, and real and even though they deal with the hard issues of birth and life coming earthside they are done so without the tone of fear so often forced upon us. this space truly shows how strong birthing women are.

i hope you find something that helps and inspires. Good Luck. Wishing you a calm + confident birth.

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the cesarean thing

Posted in doula work by

i wish i had something really eloquent to say in regards to the cesarean thing. i’m afraid i don’t. i know i’ve read a good deal of very good, honest & earnest writings in the past month that dig into what i feel is real about c-sections for women. i know my own views on cesarean birth have evolved and i couldn’t be more thankful. what i think we’ve gotten right about the whole situation is letting women have their own voices. women are sharing. whether it’s to process, validate, heal, inform or advocate doesn’t really matter. what matters is we are involved in a big way.

so i have a couple shirts that can help you tell your story. maybe you want to warn other women not to fall prey to the pressure of the medical machine. maybe you want women to know their options. or maybe you want to tell the natural birth cult to stop making you feel like a villain for your surgical birth because some births legitimately require a cesarean for a healthy baby to be placed in your arms. in the end, the best thing we can do for one another is honor birth. we can inform, support, care and assist and most importantly we can honor one another.

so if you feel like voicing yourself and advocating in the passive aggressive form of donning a t-shirt* to speak your message here you go. you’re welcome:

unnecesarean.american-apparel-unisex-tank.white.w760h760necesarean.american-apparel-unisex-tank.white.w760h760honor-birth-tank.american-apparel-unisex-tank.white.w760h760

i also wanted to mention the sale of these t-shirts helps make it possible for me to lower my fees for couples/mothers who want a supported birth but might not be able to afford the full fee. so thank you for supporting me and for supporting them.

basically, buying one of these t-shirts makes you a really good person. bye!

*i actually think t-shirts such as these can be great conversation starters. i am being a bit facetious above.

i need help

Posted in Momma Needs a minute... by

y’all, i just sent in my payment for my last requisite class for my birth doula certification. the class will be in April, almost 2 years from the day that i supported my first birth. i am beyond excited to be so close to having this life goal completed. beyond excited to be certified and have some credentials to add to my street cred.

i recently watched an interview with Miranda July for the Makers series in which she stated “whatever you put energy into grows. if you want something to grow you must put your energy into it.”  well, that’s a paraphrase.  the past 6 months have been a period of immense growth for me in my birth work path. i’ve put all my energy into it and i’m ready to blow up. i really want to get deep into this world and support as many families as I can. I took a minute to read my astrological profile this morning and it said When Aries sets her sights on a goal, it becomes an all-enveloping quest.

That is how i feel. I feel that i’ve been scratching away, clawing at this goal for two years. i feel i’ve almost exhausted my energy in trying to inch this goal along. In turn, it has been rewarding when movement forward has been accomplished.

but i’ve come to the point where i have to give some of it up. what i mean is i have to relinquish this feeling of doing this on my own. my astrological profile also says this: Aries strives for independence, and success is defined by a series of distinctive or high-reaching personal achievements.

So, I want to make myself vulnerable right now and ask for your help, which isn’t easy for me because the stars even state that i’m an independent lady, but we all know being strong entails knowing when to ask for help.

Please share my info, please consider me for your own labor support team, please keep me in your thoughts and send me your good energy. i will send you mine. i’m trying to focus on finding the path the universe has laid out for me and relinquishing my ideas of what that path should be. but maybe with your help, i’ll meet more families and achieve these high-reaching personal achievements.

thank you.

http://www.ColumbusBirthArts.com

http://www.facebook.com/ColumbusBirthArts

birth links

Posted in birth links, doula work by

some links that my laptop explored lately:

This first link is especially interesting to me because I didn’t even start to like {read: love} the taste of coffee until I became pregnant with Darla. Fortunately, the bakery next to my work had huge self-pour dispensers and I got through with 1/3 caffeinated, 1/3 decaffeinated, 1/3 cream concoctions and kept the caffeine to a minimum. This write-up on a decade long study highlights findings that if you have a more-than-2-cups-a-day habit you’re at risk for low-birth weight babies and prolonged gestation and labor. And check this out: “one daily average cup of coffee lengthened child labor by as much as eight hours.”  Is that reason enough to switch to decaf?

Evidence Based Birth is live-blogging the NIH Consensus Conference on Diagnosing Gestational Diabetes.

I’m considering swinging into the old stomping grounds in September for the Rally to Improve Birth. September will be my month off birthwork due to other commitments so why not just make the most of it. Or maybe Columbus will have their own rally. We’ll see!

and lastly,

Who loves infographics? Lovely graphic on birth settings and research in the US. Let’s just go ahead and include it. pay special attention the average cost of birth in a hospital vs. a birth center. i’ve been in lots of lovely hospitals now that have provided great care to moms but i think we can agree that lowering the average cost of birth is something our healthcare system desperately needs:

Source: iom.edu via Elaine on Pinterest

bizness of being born

Posted in doula work by

well, this week was a fantastic one in my world. i supported two couples in three days and saw two sweet baby boys born into the world. i’m so thoroughly excited to do more of this work.

my lessons this week were about the institution of birth. yes, the business of being born. the care providers, nurses & doctors, i interacted with this week were some of the best i’ve worked with thus far. these births lifted my heart and left me feeling “yes, this is the way it should be. we really are all in this together.” in short, it gave me a little hope for the future of birth. {i’m still fairly new so just let me bask in these hopeful moments. i need them right now.}

these doctors really let these mothers birth their babies. i tell you there is nothing more awe-inspiring than watching a mother tap into her instincts and bring her baby into the world. it feels great to witness nurses, women who see birth many times a day, discussing how inspired they were by a client’s birth. having experienced some callous and controlling doctors with my daughter’s birth, it fills me with hope when i witness doctors go to lengths to honor their patients’ wishes and treat them with respect.

i’m just happy to be part of the equation, making a difference where i can. please keep making babies people. i hope you’ll invite me in to help. it’s a real honor. and yes, birth work truly is my jam.

Source: skreened.com via Elaine on Pinterest

birth linkz

Posted in birth links, doula work by

just a few birthy links and reads for you for some weekend reading pleasure:

A new article highlighting the findings of the National Birth Center Study II. the study shows profound evidence that more of our mommas should have access to birth centers:

Evidence for Birth Centers – One of the most important findings of this study was that more than 9 out of 10 women (94%) who entered labor planning a birth center birth achieved a vaginal birth. In other words, the C-section rate for low-risk women who chose to give birth at a birth center was only 6%—compared to the U.S. C-section rate of 27% for low-risk women.

and some more good news that the number of birth centers and parents opting for birth center care is on the rise: 5 Reasons Birth Centers Have Met Their Moment – According to the AABC, the number of centers in the United States has grown by 27% in just the past 3 years, accelerating a growth trend that has been seen for decades. 

and lastly, a W. Eugene Smith photo essay from LIFE magazine from 1951 about Maude Callen, a South Carolina nurse and midwife. I hope people can see past the “poor porn” aspect of these photos because what i see is a great sense of community. Maude was a pioneer nurse midwife. My favorite photo is #8 and also #29.

happy reading. have a fantastic weekend.

birth story

Posted in doula work by

i went to see A Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin & The Farm Midwives last night with a bunch of birthy folk here in Columbus. I just wanna put it out there how grateful I am to the women of CHOICE for making that screening possible. we are very lucky indeed. If you’re interested in learning about what these women did for the modern natural birth movement then i highly recommend the film. as a person who dreams of living communally, it really tugged at my wish strings.

i’ve included the trailer here. just as a fair warning, if you consider a woman’s exposed breast for nursing purposes not suitable for work, then this trailer is NSFW. if you consider a woman’s naked body during birth not suitable for work then this is probably NSFW. really, it’s got moments NSFW but maybe they shouldn’t be is what i’m saying.

also, little factoid, Robin Pecknold was the composer for the film so, yeah, there’s some of that indie music cred in there. Robby P, just when i thought I could not love you more.

if you’re lucky enough to live near one of these screenings go see it!