Page 2 - Pregnancy & Birth
Go Lightly & Follow Your Babe
Take it easy and rest as much as time allows. The trick? Follow your babe. Try sleeping when your babe sleeps. Short power naps during the day will restore your energy quickly and make attending to your little one in the weehours of the morning much easier. If you’re not into naps, try what I call an ‘active-rest session': Pop on an audio book (maybe that parenting book you didn’t get the time to read) and let your mind unfurl for a moment.Delegate
Let others know how they can best help you, including your partner. If your partner is going to be home with you during your maternity leave, consider delegating certain responsibilities to one another. It’s a great conversationAs a doula, I often get asked if I only work with women that have postpartum depression. To the contrary, postpartum doulas have a positive effect that has been proven to reduce the incidence of postpartum depression. The word doula is usually associated with birthing women, however, there are also postpartum doulas that assist families after the birth. After having a baby, many women feel quite vulnerable and unsure of their new role as a mother. Postpartum doulas are there to emotionally support the new mother and their family. They offer a non-judgemental ear and provide a safe environment for the family to express doubt, joy, frustration and concerns about the newborn. In addition to providing emotional support, postpartum doulas will educate the new family on basic topics such as feeding, bathing and sleeping. Doulas are not health care professionals and do not give medical advice. Having a doula will help parents discover how they want to parent. Mother after mother has told me how
Dear Matthew, This is the story of your birth, from my perspective as your parents doula: Contractions started early Friday morning, about 1:30am. After a bit your mommy woke your daddy up and then called me around 3am. I was so excited to hear you were on your way! I told your mommy to try to sleep as much as possible to save her energy and to call me when she wanted me to come. Around 4:45am your mommy called me back. She had some bloddy show and was too uncomfortable to sleep - every time she did get comfortable, a contraction would start. I packed up my stuff and started for your house. I arrived about 6am. Desty barked when I knocked on the door which woke up your daddy. Your mommy was doing a great job coping with the contractions. She learned on the birth ball, or got on her hands and knees while using deep relaxed breathing. I rubbed her back a little bit and hooked up the TENS unit for her to use. We relaxed in the living room watching the news and patiently waiting for you. Your
When I found out I was pregnant I was fairly certain that my plans on ever having a natural birth were out the door but nothing prepared me for the roller coaster ride my son birth turned out to be. I was born with a uterus what was split in two that required reconstructive surgery and even after the surgery I was told I would probably never have children because my FSH levels were too high. Six months after my surgery I was PREGNANT!!! I could not believe it. I was automatically considered high risk and I was fairly disappointed that I wouldn't be able to have a natural birth, and that I wouldn't get to feel labour. To add insult to injury my placenta was covering my cervix. At 20 weeks we scheduled a c section for June 20, my due date was June 30th and even the doctors were skeptical I would make it that far so I was put on bed rest. I was jealous of all of my friends having babies and home births but I was happy I was having my little miracle baby so I did what ever it took to keep him
My beautiful Marcella was born in the early morning hours on a Spring morning. This is her story.
I awoke Saturday morning at 4am, March 21, 2009 to a trickle of water. My husband, Josh, wanted to call the midwife but I assured him labor had not begun.
We went back to sleep and woke up around 8am and called the midwife. Per her instructions, we headed over to the birth center a couple hours later.
The midwife gave me a strip to check the fluid and it was indeed amniotic fluid. We left to do some walking around and get some lunch since labor had not started yet.
Around 2 pm the midwife recommended we go home and get some rest since I was still not in labor. After a couple stops (one for Red Raspberry leaf tea), we went home and did just that.
Around 7pm, I went and laid down. Contractions had begun. I had remembered from my Bradley Childbirth classes that if the contractions fade out after a bath, it isn't real labor yet. So my mom got the tub ready for me. The water felt wonderful. My mom 
WhileAt 37 weeks, I’m considered full term. This means that even though I’m not due until October, my baby could come any day now and be considered “on time.” In my opinion (as a first time momma), this is equally exciting and terrifying. However, in the last week, I have scrambled to prepare myself for what’s to come and surprisingly found peace with the whole process. Here are a few things I wish I’d known from the very beginning that probably would have brought that peace on much sooner!
Don’t wing it. This is one of my biggest regrets and quite possibly the reason I felt the need to blog. When I found out I was pregnant, I instantly felt the urge to buy tiny little items, but failed to buy any books, sign up for classes or do much of anything to prepare myself mentally for labor and delivery. I looked at it in a very primal way - women didn’t have the internet, classes and books to prepare them before, so why should I have them? While I’m still pretty sure my body will go into an animalistic
When I got engaged, it seemed everyone felt the need to share their opinions on how to be a wife. While it sometimes made me feel as if I had no idea what I was doing, in all actuality, not one of the unsolicited advice donors knew my husband or what he wanted in a wife more than I do.
- Keep in mind that they mean well. I recently went through a long lecture against teaching my chid why we’re vegan from an acquaintance that just so happens to be one of the nicest people I know. Everything
When I was a first time mom, I got a lot of advice. I even got advice about people's advice! Now that I've been through three years of motherhood and have just become a new mom again, I suppose I've earned my turn to give some advice. Take what speaks to you, and leave the rest, but most importantly, enjoy the journey!
- Take the first 2 weeks and lay in bed with baby. Have other people in place to do everything else that needs done. Freeze some meals ahead of time so you don't have to worry about food (and have full instructions on each meal so you don't have to look that up and anyone will be able to just follow the instructions.)
- It's okay if baby sleeps in bed with you. It's okay if baby sleeps in a crib. The key is that mama and baby are both getting some sleep. I found it a lot easier for me to get sleep and for baby to sleep happily (read: not wake up crying in the night) if we shared a bed and it was a lot easier to nurse her as well. But your baby may be different.