i’m slowly transitioning to a new website – it’s still a bit under construction, but has some good info already. please check it out – mama strength birth services
CD(BWI) November 29, 2011
it’s official – i can now place these letters behind my name! i got the notice yesterday that i am now an officially certified doula through birthworks international! i plan on working on a short post to explain why i chose BWI, but in the meantime, check out the BWI mission statement, philosophy, and impressive board of directors here!
and…a few other links you should check out:
Central Iowa Doula Association
doulamatch.net October 16, 2011
if you haven’t checked out the site doulamatch.net, please do! it’s a great resource for finding local doulas. you can see my profile on the site as well as client testimonials here.
Don’t Bite Your Mum! September 26, 2011
Taken from Michel Odent‘s book The Scientification of Love:
“Twelve recommendations for being breastfed successfully (with the permission of ‘Babies Anonymous’):
1. Choose your country of birth carefully. If you are born in Denmark, for example, you are twice as likely to be breastfed successfully than if you are born in France.
2. Choose your grandmother carefully. You are more likely to be breastfed contentedly if your maternal grandmother breastfed her children, particularly your mother.
3. Choose your mother carefully. You are more likely to be breastfed easily if your mum was able, given the opportunity, to give birth without drugs and intervention.
4. Be assertive from the very beginning. Try to find the breast as early as possible after being born, ideally during your first hour outside the womb.
5. Avoid anywhere that has an aggressive smell. Your sense of smell is the best conductor towards the nipple, and one of your first ways of identifying your mum.
6. Spend plenty of time as naked as possible, in close, skin-to-skin contact with your mum.
7. Keep your hands free so that you can touch your mum’s body while sucking. There is a hand-mouth connection.
8. Choose the family bed carefully. If the bed is low, you and your mum will feel more secure. Your mum will not be obsessed with the fear that you might fall out. If the bed is wide enough, there might be a little space for another member of the family, such as your dad.
9. Always express your needs clearly. As soon as your mum perceives what they are, she starts to release oxytocin which triggers her ‘milk ejection reflex’.
10. When your mum has eaten something you don’t like, let her know.
11. Constantly remind your mum about the fast development of your brain. This might influence her diet.
12. Don’t bite your mum when your first teeth grow.”
central iowa doula association September 15, 2011
i am excited to be a part of the Central Iowa Doula Association, a growing organization “dedicated to networking and development of the doula professionals in Central Iowa.” Check out the website or follow the group on facebook to learn more about the benefit of hiring a doula and to hear about upcoming community events hosted by CIDA!
have you ‘liked’ me on facebook? August 24, 2011
i’m nearing 150 ‘likes’ on my facebook page, and as soon as i hit it i’ll be giving away a book to a random friend! follow me for frequent updates, links, and upcoming local events!
parker’s birth story August 18, 2011
ashley shares the birth story of her third son
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My EDD was Monday, July 19th and we always assumed I would make it to at least that. (both of our boys were 8 days late) On Thursday, May 27th I got a phone call from my dr wanting to discuss the results of my growth u/s. I had been measuring about 3 weeks ahead. Thought it was a little weird to be getting a call from my dr and not her nurse. She informed me that I had Vasa Previa and that I would have to have an c-section around 39 weeks and that she scheduled me an appt with a perinatologist for the follow Thursday. She then asked if I had any questions. At the time I had none….I had no clue what Vasa Previa was. After doing a little google research I had a load of questions. Our biggest concern was that from everything I had researched online it stated that you should delivery via c-section between 34-35 weeks for the best chance of the baby to survive. So I called her back and she answered all my questions to the best of her knowledge and then the wait tell next Thursday began. That was probably the longest week of our lives. At that appt we met Dr.Houseburg and after after a very detailed u/s that included some awesome 3D images of our little one we were told that we did NOT have Vasa Previa and I should be able to have a completely natural full-term birth. Best news ever!
On Monday the 12th I woke up in the morning feeling a little crampy (I have never had BH or any sort of contractions before labor with either of my previous pregnancies). They came and went for the next couple of hours and then tampered off. Tuesday I felt fine pretty much all day. Wednesday morning also woke up feeling fine. Then on the car ride to our drs appt I started feeling a lot of pressure. Getting out of the van and walking in to the office was a bit of a struggle. On the way to the appt Steve guessed that I would be at a 3, stating that he thinks Monday morning probably got things started. I didn’t think I would have any progress from last week were I was at a 1. Well Steve was right, I was 3cm.
That night I had my soon to be SILs bachelorette party. Steve was a little worried about me going. He had previously texted both my SILs telling them to watch me and that I wouldn’t tell them if anything was going on.. He was right…I was having contractions off and on that night. I made it through a good chunk of the party before I had to have him come pick me up.. I went home and went to bed.
The next morning, Thursday, July 15th, I woke up again feeling really crampy. So I once again let Steve know that I was filling off but since we both still assumed that baby would be late like its brothers he went off to work.. We are in constant contact through out the day, through IM, so I kept letting him know that my contractions were still coming. I tried laying on the couch watching GH, I tried laying in the bed while Cole played on the computer which ended up turing in to the boys jumping on the bed while I was having contractions. Which was not working for me. So after talking we decided I would call my mom and see if she could pick them boys up so I could rest and we could stop by home on his lunch break. By the time I got a hold of my parents to come get the boys I had found an app to start timing my contractions and they were about 45 secs long and 10mins apart. So I told Steve and he said he was coming home. By the time he got home, a little after 11, they were about 5mins apart and still 45 secs long. So I called the dr office to let them know what was going on and the nurse told me to head on over to the hospital. We still had to pack our hospital bag so we did that and headed on over.
We got to the hospital around noon and went straight to triage the nurse checked me and said I was a really stretch 7 and that we were having a baby today. That is the most surreal thing to hear. With both of the boys were knew we were having them that day. So this time I was a little nervous to get to the hospital and find out I was still at a 3 or that I wasn’t really having contractions. She asked what I planned on for pain management and I told her I didn’t plan on getting any type of meds. I went ahead and let them put a heplock in just incase…after the whole Vasa Previa scare I wanted to be ready for an emergency. (a week and half later my arm is still bruised from the heplock I had in for about 5hrs!) She left to call my dr and we waited while they got my room ready. Steve ran to the car to grab the camera and called our parents to let them know I was getting admitted. Before they got even got me in a labor and delivery room my dr had shown up and then they moved my down to my room.
Once situated in the room my dr asked if she could break my water. I agreed but made sure she knew that I was very nervous about that. (that is when babies with Vasa Previa usually pass away) She reassured me that if I had it she wouldn’t be able to feel the babies head. So we went ahead, fluid was clear and we were good to go. She checked me and said I was an 8. The L&D nurse also asked what I planned on for pain management and I told her the same thing I told the triage nurse that I didn’t want any meds. Her response was perfect she said, ‘That is the way I did it, you can do it’ and no one brought up meds the rest of the time. Shortly after that my MIL showed up unannounced and walked right in to the room. Steve quickly told her to go to the waiting room and then went and told her to go home and we would call her once the baby had arrived. It is very well known in our families that we don’t want anyone there during the labor and delivery.
Around this time is when the times start getting a little fuzzy. The contractions got harder and extremely close together. They told me to let them know when I felt like I needed to push and right around 8-9cm is when that happened..same thing happened with Gavin. So I told them my dr checked me once said I was at 9, 100% and -1 the nurse checked awhile later said I was at 8, 100%, and -1. A little discouraging. I am pretty sure I was in transition at this time. I really tried to concentrate on relaxing and visualizing the baby dropping, keeping my eyes closed through most of the labor really helped me to focus. My favorite or most comfortable way to labor is sitting straight up on the bed with my legs out in front of me. They wanted to see if we could speed things along by me laying on my side. Ugg very uncomfortable. I laid on both sides for awhile the nurse and Steve took turns pushing on my back, depending on what side I was laying on. I told them a few more times I felt the urge to push and I was still at 9cm. Then all of the sudden I felt it for sure…there was no doubt in my mind the baby was coming right then. I told the nurse ‘I feel the head’ and her response was we will check you in another contraction or two. So I reiterated a few more times, ‘No, the head is coming out now.’ (I guess at this time Steve was pretty angry at the nurse….he knows that from the boys labors that I delivery very quickly) At that time I was laying on my side and she lifted up my leg and that is when everything got a little hectic. Luckily my dr happened to be right outside my door the nurse quickly got her in there and they helped me roll back over on to my back. They were telling me to not push but I was not pushing at that time, my body was just doing it’s own thing. After the dr got her gloves on she had me grab my leg and I pushed one time before Steve told me ‘It’s a boy’ They didn’t have time to break down the bed, my dr only had time to get her gloves on, and the baby nurses were not yet in the room, they weren’t even sure what time he we was born at until they looked at the monitors to see when he went off them. So little Parker Jonathan made his way in to the world at 3:11pm, he weighed 8lbs 3.9o, and was 20.5 inches long. They let me hold him for as long as I wanted which was amazing I don’t really remember getting to hold the boys for very long. So far he’s done great he took to bfing way quicker then the boys did and he sleeps pretty good.
new books May 15, 2011
i have added a lot of books to my lending library - they are available for current or former clients (or fellow doulas) to borrow at any time. i have several more on the way, so i’ll add those when i get them!
childbirth educator program May 11, 2011
i am so so so excited to announce that i am now in the birthworks international childbirth educator program, as well as the doula program that i am still working through. i will be both a certified doula and a certified childbirth educator! i am one step closer to my dream, of working ‘full-time’ with women, their partners, and their babies!
i also need to update my library soon…my bookshelf is growing!
ella and jovie’s birth stories May 6, 2011
from ally
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Ella’s Birth Story
It all started September 17th, 2007. I had been on bedrest for almost 6 weeks already due to pre-e and had been thrown in the hospital at least a dozen times for monitoring. Needless to say, I was ready to meet my baby girl. My induction was scheduled for 7am on September 18th, so the 17th was like any other day to me, you know, lots of laying around! I had just finished my shower around 1:00pm when I realized I have 8 missed calls on my phone, 3 were from Mercy and 5 were from my husband because Mercy was now calling him. They were having a slow day in labor and delivery, so my induction was NOW.
Adam came home to get me and we journeyed to the hospital, got checked in, hooked up, and ready to go. At around 2:30 the doctor came in, broke my water and the pitocin was started. I was dialated to 2cm before starting this whole process. I had heard horror stories about inductions and at this moment I was thinking, ‘this isn’t too bad.’ Due to my lack of preparation, and bedrest, I did not get a chance to take any birthing classes so my WONDERFUL nurse worked with me on how to breathe and explained how things were going to happen. Having pre-e there wasn’t much I could do except lay on my back, so no tub, walking, or birthing ball which kind of bummed me out at first, but I figured ‘hey, this is my chance to get some rest.’
They came in every 30 minutes to up my pitocin and my blood pressure was being taken every 5 minutes (ANNOYING). Adam and I were both able to watch movies, talk and rest as I was feeling nothing despite the constant pitocin increase. Around 7:30pm I finally started to feel the contractions, not bad, but they were there. I still dozed off and on and kept a hold of Adam’s hand for support during the more painful ones. At 11:30 I asked for something to take the edge off because they were coming strong and one on top of the other now, but I wanted to go as long as I could without the epidural. They checked me at the same time and I had made it to 4cm…yay for progress!
That medicine ended up making me dizzy and didn’t last long. At 12:15am I knew it was epidural time. They had the pitocin really high and I could barely breathe in between contractions anymore. They got that in, and after moving it a bit I was feeling just a little pressure, but was able to sleep. I was hoping for a few hours rest before the real fun began, but after 45 minutes of rest I was calling my nurse. My body was telling me it was time to push. She was thinking that was nearly impossible since I was just at 4cm. Lo and behold, I made it from 4-10cm in just 45 minutes!
Baby girl was still very high so we tried to avoid pushing until she came down a bit more so I wouldn’t get so worn out, but my body was screaming for me to push. Around 1:15 I started pushing, but only when I felt comfortabl e to. At 2:45am they turned down (felt like off ) my epidural because the delivery doctor likes it when the mom can direct her pushing and feel it. My doctor got in there around 3:15am and watched me push for a while. At around 3:40 they could see the head, but she wasn’t quite there yet. I had been working for a long timeby this point and was getting quite tired. The doctor was quite sure that I wasn’t going to be able to finish it out, so he called for the vacuum and forceps and at that moment all that went through my mind was, ‘hell no, I will not have a coneheaded baby.’ So I pushed with all I had left at the next contraction and her head was out. By 3:46am Gabriella Rose was born weighing 7lbs and 18 ¾ inches long. I had a 3rd degree tear, but within just a couple hours I was feeling great!
Jovie’s Birth Story
On Friday, March 5th, 2010 I went in to the doctor for one of my two times a week checks to see if my blood pressure was still high. My due date for Jovie was March 4th, so I was thinking it was definitely time to go! On Friday’s the only doctor I liked that is in the office is also one that is VERY cautious. They took my blood pressure and of course it was on the rise again. He sent me over to labor and delivery for monitoring. The on call doctor was my favorite, so I was thinking since my blood pressure was high and I made it to 40 weeks they would for sure tell me it was time to go. Nope, I laid there for 5 hours with perfect blood pressure and got sent home. Very frustrated and needing to keep my mind off of things, we decided to go shopping and get some walking in.
At our last stop, Fareway, I started to feel funny, but at 40 weeks along, I think everything is funny and weird, so I thought nothing of it. We were checking out with our groceries and my oldest, Ella, wanted to be held. I picked her up and all of a sudden I felt like I had just peed myself. Still thinking it was a bladder leakage problem we just checked out and went home. All of a sudden I was going to the bathroom, not kidding, every 2 minutes AT LEAST. I knew something had to be going on. It was finally about 9:15pm and Jovie moved just a tiny bit and *gush*…there it was, my water broke!
We took our time leaving since I was having no contractions that I could feel at all. We packed up, Adam put towels on the seat of his car and we took off. The same front desk lady was working that had been working that morning, so getting checked in was a breeze. At 10:15pm we were in our room and they were going to do the test to make sure my water broke…yeah, definitely broke. I was still dialated to 2cm, so no progress and still no pain. I was bummed. They called the on call doctor, still the same one from the day and he said to give me until 12:30am and then start pitocin. I wanted so badly to avoid the pitocin, but nothing was happening. 12:30 rolled around and they came in with the pitocin, the contractions started almost immediately. Sadly though, they could not read them from the belly monitors, so they had to put an internal contraction monitor in and sure enough they were coming like crazy.
I labored for a bit without meds and let Adam rest. I finally asked for something to take the edge off around 1:30am because I was getting really tired. I tried my hardest to rest, but I just could not. I think the nurse was in there every 5 minutes because we kept losing baby on the monitors or he heart rate was dipping too low. Finally around 2:45am I couldn’t take the pain anymore and was REALLY hoping for some rest that I asked for the epidural. They came in to do it and I thought it would be so easy just like last time…boy was I wrong. They put it in and all of a sudden I felt like my heart was stopping and I was about to vomit. They kept taking my blood pressure and it was only running about 45/36…WAY LOW. I couldn’t believe it, last time was so easy and this time I was definitely regretting my decision. They got it set, laid me back down and they had to take my blood pressure every 3 minutes (no sleep). Oh, and lucky me, Adam almost passed out too, so I was relying on the nurses to help me out because my husband was about to go down!
All of a sudden baby’s heart rate kept slowing so they had me trying different positions to help her out and to get her to turn since she was facing the wrong direction. So, with numb legs, I was up on all fours and turning every which direction. It was difficult, but I knew if I couldn’t do it I would end up with a c-section and that was the last thing on my list of things to do. We finally got her cooperating after about 2 hours of trying different things and she had turned her face, yay! I laid comfortably for a few hours just watching TV and talking to the nurses when they came in about every 5-10 minutes (so muuch for my rest).
At around 5:00am I made it to 10cm, but had no desire to push yet and baby was still high, so we just let it go. Around 7:00, nurse shift change too, I decided I was almost ready to push. The nurse I had through the night wanted me to do a few practice pushes to see if we should page the doctor or if it would be a while. With one practice push she was telling me to stop and calling for them to page the doctor. Baby had definitely made it low and I was ready to push her out. I stopped pushing while they paged the doctor and I got a new nurse. At 7:30am the new nurse came in and introduced herself and she too wanted to see a push. I gave one good one and baby’s head started to crown already. She called for more help and more nurses and finally my doctor came running in. I gave it 2 more pushes and baby was out at 7:46am! They gave her to me right away, but sadly she wasn’t breathing correctly, so they whisked her away after my 5 seconds of holding her, but she was perfect! Jovie Irene was born weighing 6lbs 13oz and just 18 ½ inches long with a ton of dark black hair. They let my epidural wear off and brought me downstairs. My baby was in my arms again by 10:00am and I never let her go after that.
