I just had the BEST two days ever! I had my doula workshop/training on 1/29 and 1/30 and I wish it would have been longer. I learned so much more about the birth process and natural birth than I could even imagine. The fact that only 8% of women want a natural birth blows my mind. Found out how lucky I am to live in MN as 1:35 births are attended by a doula vs. the US average of 1:650 and that MN is rated #2 for births. It's also illegal in MN for a hospital to tell a mother that she cannot have a doula while other states it's perfectly legal for that to occur. Okay, just some random birth facts now that I figured some of you might find interesting:
1:3 birthing women end up with a c-section, your chance of having a c-section is over 60% lower by having a doula.
Before birth it's normally the mother who is very gun-ho about having the doula present while the Dad might be feeling a little hesitant as he fears he might be "replaced" during the labor and birth. After birth the Dads are quite often the doula's biggest fans and can't stop recommending a doula to other expectant couples.
By just NOT peeing every hour in labor you increase your chance of a c-section because of "failure to progress". Emptying your bladder allows several things to happen. 1: you are getting up and gravity is helping move that baby down, and 2: the bladder could be too full and not allowing the baby to move past a certain point, emptying it gives that baby more room.
A mother's emotion's are about 20 minutes ahead of where the cervix is. If a mother is acting like she's in transition and were to get checked right then she might be told she's only 4 cm. Immediately her thoughts would be, "if this is what 4cm feels like how am I going to handle 7 or 8?" Wait 20 minutes to get her checked and her body is further along and her emotions could be calming down as her body is starting to move out of transition stage.
When endorphins are released it's 100X more powerful than any drug they can give you. You can tell when they are released because that's when the mom suddenly gets really tired and just wants to stop. That tiredness is your body putting you into a more relaxed state.
Right before the baby is born Oxytocin is released, that hormone is not only important for the mother for bonding but it also goes into the baby and helps that baby fall in love with their parents. With drugs your body won't release as much oxytocin.
The greater the interventions during birth, the greater the postpartum depression.
All the serial killers have had something in common: mothers with severe postpartum depression, so postpartum support is VERY important!
Did you know that the flight vs. flight study that was done only on men? Women actually don't get that same response in reaction to high stress. Women's body automatically go into a "Tend and Befriend" mode. They immediately gather their loved ones and support people (tend) and after the event they want to talk about it a lot. How this relates to labor: Women want other women at their births, whether thats a doula, a nurse, a female midwife or a female doctor, sister, friend, mother is dependent on her individual needs. Just having another woman present in the room reduces the chance of a c-section as something in our brain makes us feel safer. After labor and delivery that mother will want to talk about her birth for days and day after to anyone who will listen, other women will share back their stories.
Women with Alzheimer's might not be able to tell you what they had for breakfast but the majority of them will be able to tell you about their labors and births. It imprints our lives that much.
If you ask an articulate child before the age of 3 what their birth was like they will be able to describe it to you. There have been children who have gone into the delivery room to visit their mother in labor with a younger sibling and they will rearrange everything in the room to be exactly how it was when they were born, including telling daddy and the nurses where to stand. That just blows my mind.
Accord to an OB in one of the videos we watched, 95% of births would be better off and safer to do in a home vs. at a hospital because of the interventions that can happen in a hospital and lead to bigger risks. A labor and delivery nurse in the same video said that often a home is a cleaner and more safe environment to birth in than the hospital.
Countries where midwife attended home births is higher than hospital births have a LOWER infant and maternal mortality rate than we do here in the United States where over 98% of our births are done in the hospitals.
Oh I have so much more but I don't want to bore you all with them. This workshop really re-enforced my decision to have a natural birth. Do you know that some of the drugs they give during birth to "take the edge off" can remain in the baby's system for up to 6 weeks and can have MAJOR effects on breast feeding and their development? We all focus so much during pregnancy about what to avoid putting in our bodies for fear of how it will effect our babies but then during labor we all throw that out the windows...what's the point?
I think I've really found my passion in life now. Even if their choices for their labor isn't what I would choose. I'll be basing my business philosphy around the quote: "Freedom of choice based on knowledge of alternatives." Eventually I would like to get certified as a childbirth educator and a postpartum doula and possibly even a lactation consultant. I'm so excited about becoming a birth doula!
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
36 weeks!
I had my 36 week midwife appointment today. I get to do the fun GBS test (google it if you don't know...) next week since I have to be at 36 exactly or past in order to do that. I'll be 36 weeks on Friday. I was all prepared to have it done today! Oh well! lol. Baby is dropping, but still fairly high. My cervix is starting to thin and I'm about 1 cm dilated already! Her heart rate was 144 and she's of course still head down. I'm really staring to get excited! I'm hoping she'll come early, but trying to not get my hopes up to high on that!
I've had a busy day. After my appointment I met up with an old friend who had a contour changing pad, a tummy time mat, a bouncy seat and a screened in bassinet type thing. I met with a photographer and it went really well, she's really excited to be able to capture our birth on film and I'm really excited as well! She's just starting to do birth photography and she's actually doing our labor and birth pro-bono for her portfolio and website. I also plan on putting her down as a referral on my website once I get my Doula stuff started. Later my Dad came over after he was done with work and we got the mirror on the dresser really secured to the back and hung all the decorations and now the nursery is finally looking complete instead of just a storage room for baby stuff. I took a few pictures!
Tomorrow and Friday I have my doula workshop from 8am-6pm! It will be a long couple of days but I'm super excited about it!
The stickers say: Dream; Fly with the angels; and dance with the stars.
Ha! And you thought I was going to cave and share the name! Nope! But that's what's behind the photoshopped smudge!
I've had a busy day. After my appointment I met up with an old friend who had a contour changing pad, a tummy time mat, a bouncy seat and a screened in bassinet type thing. I met with a photographer and it went really well, she's really excited to be able to capture our birth on film and I'm really excited as well! She's just starting to do birth photography and she's actually doing our labor and birth pro-bono for her portfolio and website. I also plan on putting her down as a referral on my website once I get my Doula stuff started. Later my Dad came over after he was done with work and we got the mirror on the dresser really secured to the back and hung all the decorations and now the nursery is finally looking complete instead of just a storage room for baby stuff. I took a few pictures!
Tomorrow and Friday I have my doula workshop from 8am-6pm! It will be a long couple of days but I'm super excited about it!
The stickers say: Dream; Fly with the angels; and dance with the stars.
Ha! And you thought I was going to cave and share the name! Nope! But that's what's behind the photoshopped smudge!
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Trip to labor and delivery!
I've been so busy this month that I forgot to update everyone on the little adventure we had the other day!
I ended up in L&D on Tuesday January 13th. I felt off most of the day with sharp pains into my cervix and then eventually in my lower abdomen. The midwife on call wanted me to come in to be checked for an UTI and monitoring to be safe. Turns out I was having contractions but not feeling them. After being monitored for about 2 hours they started subsiding but then the little girl's heart rate was erratic. So I got an IV for fluids in the hopes that would stabilize both of us. They also sent us for an ultrasound to check on her and she passed with flying colors. Her heart rate ended up stabilizing but then my contractions were erratic again. They gave me a shot of Terbutaline to stop them and monitored me for another hour or so. Seemed to have worked. They sent me home with something to take to counteract the jitteriness I got from the shot and said it should help me sleep. Otherwise no restrictions thank goodness!
With the ultrasound we were able to see that she has hair already! And the tech said there was no mistaking it that we were having a girl. She said it was MORE than safe to take the tags off the clothes and wash them!
I did have a midwife appointment the next morning and baby hadn't dropped at all and I wasn't not dilated either which is good news that she likely won't come too early. Just kind of one of those weird things that happens. My midwife also commented that she doesn't feel like a big baby, but she does feel long. At that appointment she had a heart rate in the 150s, she was very active that day.
I have my 36 week midwife appointment this Wednesday and I'll be going every week from now on! Pretty exciting! We have one more class as well, which is a newborn preparation class on 2/9. I will be 37 weeks on 2/6 which means that she can come at any point after that and she will no longer be considered a premature baby. Because of the class on 2/9 we're hoping she'll hold out till 2/10. But let me tell you, the minute that class is over on the 9th we'll be trying every little old wives tale in the book to get her out! We're getting so excited to meet her and to be able to share her name with everyone!
In other non-baby related news, I'm now 28! My birthday was the 19th, we went out to eat over the weekend and on my actual birthday I didn't do anything honestly to celebrate it. I have my doula workshop this Thursday and Friday and I'm SUPER excited for that. Brandon also is starting in a first shift position on Monday!!! I'm so happy about that, even though it means I have to give up the bed which I've blissfully had to myself for the past 3 years! It will be so nice to have him home in the evenings and when the baby is here I think he'll really enjoy that as well because he'll feel like he'll have more time for her. And something else...oh yeah, TOMORROW IS OUR 1ST ANNIVERSARY!!! We're going out to eat at Water Street Inn in Stillwater to celebrate. We're exchanging cards but that's it with the budget we're on, but I'm so excited to have been married to this man for one year now tomorrow. :-)
I ended up in L&D on Tuesday January 13th. I felt off most of the day with sharp pains into my cervix and then eventually in my lower abdomen. The midwife on call wanted me to come in to be checked for an UTI and monitoring to be safe. Turns out I was having contractions but not feeling them. After being monitored for about 2 hours they started subsiding but then the little girl's heart rate was erratic. So I got an IV for fluids in the hopes that would stabilize both of us. They also sent us for an ultrasound to check on her and she passed with flying colors. Her heart rate ended up stabilizing but then my contractions were erratic again. They gave me a shot of Terbutaline to stop them and monitored me for another hour or so. Seemed to have worked. They sent me home with something to take to counteract the jitteriness I got from the shot and said it should help me sleep. Otherwise no restrictions thank goodness!
With the ultrasound we were able to see that she has hair already! And the tech said there was no mistaking it that we were having a girl. She said it was MORE than safe to take the tags off the clothes and wash them!
I did have a midwife appointment the next morning and baby hadn't dropped at all and I wasn't not dilated either which is good news that she likely won't come too early. Just kind of one of those weird things that happens. My midwife also commented that she doesn't feel like a big baby, but she does feel long. At that appointment she had a heart rate in the 150s, she was very active that day.
I have my 36 week midwife appointment this Wednesday and I'll be going every week from now on! Pretty exciting! We have one more class as well, which is a newborn preparation class on 2/9. I will be 37 weeks on 2/6 which means that she can come at any point after that and she will no longer be considered a premature baby. Because of the class on 2/9 we're hoping she'll hold out till 2/10. But let me tell you, the minute that class is over on the 9th we'll be trying every little old wives tale in the book to get her out! We're getting so excited to meet her and to be able to share her name with everyone!
In other non-baby related news, I'm now 28! My birthday was the 19th, we went out to eat over the weekend and on my actual birthday I didn't do anything honestly to celebrate it. I have my doula workshop this Thursday and Friday and I'm SUPER excited for that. Brandon also is starting in a first shift position on Monday!!! I'm so happy about that, even though it means I have to give up the bed which I've blissfully had to myself for the past 3 years! It will be so nice to have him home in the evenings and when the baby is here I think he'll really enjoy that as well because he'll feel like he'll have more time for her. And something else...oh yeah, TOMORROW IS OUR 1ST ANNIVERSARY!!! We're going out to eat at Water Street Inn in Stillwater to celebrate. We're exchanging cards but that's it with the budget we're on, but I'm so excited to have been married to this man for one year now tomorrow. :-)
Monday, January 12, 2009
Baby Showers and Painting
Well now that I've had my second (and last) baby shower figured I should let you all know how they went!
Shower number one went okay. I was honestly pretty worried about it going in and probably shouldn't have agreed to the date in the first place. Every year my parents invite my Dad's side of the family up to their house to celebrate New Year's Day. Normally quite a few of the aunts/uncles come and some of the cousins. Well it was brought up that since we were all going to be there anyway that we should have my shower that day as well. I agreed as it seemed convenient for everyone...on the condition that the shower was made a separate event and not just thrown upon my mother and honestly I wanted the attention since it took us so long and I wanted a specific baby shower! My aunts agreed and promised that it would be a separate event, things would be planned, and invites would go out in advance with a specific time for the shower.
Fast forward to the WEEK before and we find out that invites have NOT gone out until that day, meaning another day or two before they would get the invites. That means that a ton of my cousins who would have made an effort to make it to a baby shower for me but don't always come to my parents for NYD weren't going to be able to make it. For all my other cousins invites are always out at the minimum of 2 weeks before the shower and honestly I felt neglected and cheated out of a real baby shower. We weren't sure if anything special was going to be done at all or if it was just going to be "look, here are baby presents, now we're moving on".
So my Mom asked one of my aunts 2 days before if anyone was planning anything specific or bringing a baby cake or anything like that. The response was, "oh, I don't know, but I suppose I can pick up a cake!" I was dreading the worst at this point. The day of everyone shows up around 1:00 (the invites said 12:30) and things were fairly disorganized. Luckily the aunt who brought the cake also brought some cute decorations and we hung them up to make it look somewhat like a baby shower. Then we opened baby gifts and I was amazed at the generosity that was given toward us and I'm very thankful for that! They had everyone put their name/address on envelopes (saves time for those thank yous!) and I drew some out of a hat and they won a "prize". Then...that was it. It didn't go as bad as I feared, but I did still feel kind of cheated. Not to mention that I felt bad that several people who normally would have come weren't able to make it. I don't mean to sound ungrateful as obviously we received some wonderful gifts and I'm very thankful to those who came, but I just wish it would have been more "baby showerish."
Anyway...I had shower number 2 today. This one was thrown by my mother's side of the family by my aunts Kay and Barb. The invites for this shower were out about 3.5 weeks before so plenty of advance notice there! They arranged a diaper raffle...anyone who brought a package of diapers got put into a drawing for a grand-prize. The food was wonderful (and plentiful!) and the cake was adorable. It was a "duck pond" complete with blue frosting and little rubber ducks. Each of the ducks had a number under it and I got to pick one of them to find out who won the diaper raffle...of course my mom won! We played several games, the traditional dice game (always fun!) and the guess the size of Shana's belly game! Haha! String was passed around and everyone cut off a piece that they thought would equal the distance around my stomach. Almost everyone OVER guessed by several inches! My friend Tricia however came in at 1/4 of an inch! We opened gifts and again I'm amazed at the generosity. Our little girl is NOT going to be short of adorable outfits for sure, especially pink ones! The shower was a lot of fun and I'm so glad it went well!
So since getting all the gifts we've been organizing the nursery a bit more. We painted back on January 3rd and it looks adorable! We actually painted the room kind of an aqua blue because everything else is pink and we didn't want to go to overboard with the pink. My Dad and Brandon did most of the painting, my mom helped paint around the edges a bit. I kept getting kicked out, they were worried about me being around the paint fumes too much. It turned out so cute and we still have to hang stuff up (waiting to get a mirror attached back to the dresser and waiting on our glider/ottoman set before hanging stuff.) Things are getting organized otherwise!
We're pretty much set as far as stuff but still need some basics, like some baby care items, bottle nipples, diaper changing contour pad, a boppy, breast milk storage system and some other small things. On another exciting note, I've been jonesing after a specific baby swing since BEFORE I got pregnant. It's the Graco Sweetpeace Newborn Soothing Center. Well it's around $180 at Target and Babies R US, you can get it through Walmart for slightly cheaper, but still expensive. Several online baby stores sell it cheaper and I've been watching their prices. This weekend one of them put it up for $99.00! I googled coupon codes for their site and also found a $10 off coupon so I ordered it for $89.00! With the shipping it's only costing us $102.81...take that Target and Babies R US! I'm so completely excited about this swing! Now watch...she won't even like it! lol. If she just sleeps in it I'll be happy!
Alright, this has been a LONG post...I'll end it with some pictures of the nursery and from shower #2. I forgot the camera at home for shower #1.
Shower number one went okay. I was honestly pretty worried about it going in and probably shouldn't have agreed to the date in the first place. Every year my parents invite my Dad's side of the family up to their house to celebrate New Year's Day. Normally quite a few of the aunts/uncles come and some of the cousins. Well it was brought up that since we were all going to be there anyway that we should have my shower that day as well. I agreed as it seemed convenient for everyone...on the condition that the shower was made a separate event and not just thrown upon my mother and honestly I wanted the attention since it took us so long and I wanted a specific baby shower! My aunts agreed and promised that it would be a separate event, things would be planned, and invites would go out in advance with a specific time for the shower.
Fast forward to the WEEK before and we find out that invites have NOT gone out until that day, meaning another day or two before they would get the invites. That means that a ton of my cousins who would have made an effort to make it to a baby shower for me but don't always come to my parents for NYD weren't going to be able to make it. For all my other cousins invites are always out at the minimum of 2 weeks before the shower and honestly I felt neglected and cheated out of a real baby shower. We weren't sure if anything special was going to be done at all or if it was just going to be "look, here are baby presents, now we're moving on".
So my Mom asked one of my aunts 2 days before if anyone was planning anything specific or bringing a baby cake or anything like that. The response was, "oh, I don't know, but I suppose I can pick up a cake!" I was dreading the worst at this point. The day of everyone shows up around 1:00 (the invites said 12:30) and things were fairly disorganized. Luckily the aunt who brought the cake also brought some cute decorations and we hung them up to make it look somewhat like a baby shower. Then we opened baby gifts and I was amazed at the generosity that was given toward us and I'm very thankful for that! They had everyone put their name/address on envelopes (saves time for those thank yous!) and I drew some out of a hat and they won a "prize". Then...that was it. It didn't go as bad as I feared, but I did still feel kind of cheated. Not to mention that I felt bad that several people who normally would have come weren't able to make it. I don't mean to sound ungrateful as obviously we received some wonderful gifts and I'm very thankful to those who came, but I just wish it would have been more "baby showerish."
Anyway...I had shower number 2 today. This one was thrown by my mother's side of the family by my aunts Kay and Barb. The invites for this shower were out about 3.5 weeks before so plenty of advance notice there! They arranged a diaper raffle...anyone who brought a package of diapers got put into a drawing for a grand-prize. The food was wonderful (and plentiful!) and the cake was adorable. It was a "duck pond" complete with blue frosting and little rubber ducks. Each of the ducks had a number under it and I got to pick one of them to find out who won the diaper raffle...of course my mom won! We played several games, the traditional dice game (always fun!) and the guess the size of Shana's belly game! Haha! String was passed around and everyone cut off a piece that they thought would equal the distance around my stomach. Almost everyone OVER guessed by several inches! My friend Tricia however came in at 1/4 of an inch! We opened gifts and again I'm amazed at the generosity. Our little girl is NOT going to be short of adorable outfits for sure, especially pink ones! The shower was a lot of fun and I'm so glad it went well!
So since getting all the gifts we've been organizing the nursery a bit more. We painted back on January 3rd and it looks adorable! We actually painted the room kind of an aqua blue because everything else is pink and we didn't want to go to overboard with the pink. My Dad and Brandon did most of the painting, my mom helped paint around the edges a bit. I kept getting kicked out, they were worried about me being around the paint fumes too much. It turned out so cute and we still have to hang stuff up (waiting to get a mirror attached back to the dresser and waiting on our glider/ottoman set before hanging stuff.) Things are getting organized otherwise!
We're pretty much set as far as stuff but still need some basics, like some baby care items, bottle nipples, diaper changing contour pad, a boppy, breast milk storage system and some other small things. On another exciting note, I've been jonesing after a specific baby swing since BEFORE I got pregnant. It's the Graco Sweetpeace Newborn Soothing Center. Well it's around $180 at Target and Babies R US, you can get it through Walmart for slightly cheaper, but still expensive. Several online baby stores sell it cheaper and I've been watching their prices. This weekend one of them put it up for $99.00! I googled coupon codes for their site and also found a $10 off coupon so I ordered it for $89.00! With the shipping it's only costing us $102.81...take that Target and Babies R US! I'm so completely excited about this swing! Now watch...she won't even like it! lol. If she just sleeps in it I'll be happy!
Alright, this has been a LONG post...I'll end it with some pictures of the nursery and from shower #2. I forgot the camera at home for shower #1.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
33 week ultrasound
Well...it looks like I'm going to have a rather large baby!
I'll be 33 weeks tomorrow and she's already measuring 35 weeks and about 5 lbs 7 oz. I believe the average weight for babies at 33 weeks gestation is 4.23lbs...I'm growing a monster! The tech didn't give me an estimated length since she said she was so squished in there that it was hard to get that at this point, but did mention that she had really long legs. Everything about her was measuring 35 weeks, her head circumference, leg length (actually 36 weeks there), abdomen, and arms. Brandon is of course holding out that this means she's going to arrive early, which who knows, but I'm trying to not get my hopes up! Her heart rate was 132, so it's starting to comedown a bit, which is normal at this point, plus she was sleeping at that point and their heartrates are higher when they are awake.
She was pretty sleepy the whole ultrasound and like all the others kept her hand up over her face so it was hard to get some decent shots. I have two to share though, she has some chubby cheeks already!
The solid circle above her nose there is her hand on her forehead. I bet she'll sleep like that after birth! And she definitely has Brandon's nose, mine is MUCH bigger, Brandon's is nice and small and round like hers. (yay for that!)
I'll be 33 weeks tomorrow and she's already measuring 35 weeks and about 5 lbs 7 oz. I believe the average weight for babies at 33 weeks gestation is 4.23lbs...I'm growing a monster! The tech didn't give me an estimated length since she said she was so squished in there that it was hard to get that at this point, but did mention that she had really long legs. Everything about her was measuring 35 weeks, her head circumference, leg length (actually 36 weeks there), abdomen, and arms. Brandon is of course holding out that this means she's going to arrive early, which who knows, but I'm trying to not get my hopes up! Her heart rate was 132, so it's starting to comedown a bit, which is normal at this point, plus she was sleeping at that point and their heartrates are higher when they are awake.
She was pretty sleepy the whole ultrasound and like all the others kept her hand up over her face so it was hard to get some decent shots. I have two to share though, she has some chubby cheeks already!
The solid circle above her nose there is her hand on her forehead. I bet she'll sleep like that after birth! And she definitely has Brandon's nose, mine is MUCH bigger, Brandon's is nice and small and round like hers. (yay for that!)
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Belly Pictures!
Just a quick post, I'll have to update on the shower and the painting later. I just wanted to show off these pictures!
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