The Wellness Doula

A phone call can tell a doula a lot! 📞

We know how to tell by listening to you cope during and after the contraction, how things are going. (In most cases 🤪)

Reason a phone call is helpful?

•This can be a good way for us to determine if we should join you to provide additional support.

•If you’re giving birth at a hospital birth or birth center, it can help determine if it’s a good time to head to your birth location.

•It allows for us to give other suggestions and coaching.

Sometimes people are having consistent contractions that follow that suggestion of 4-1-1 but the contractions have not picked up and are not all consuming. If they haven’t reached this point it’s still a good idea to ride it out at home. ❤️

🚿🛁💦Hydrotherapy💦🛁🚿

•Reduces pain
•Allows for easier movement due to buoyancy
•Encourages relaxation
•Lessens the use of medical pain relief
•Increases natural pain relievers (oxytocin) from relaxed and comfortable state

Time and time again i’ve seen what a game changer water can be in labour. Immediate relief for some as soon as they get in the water. It’s always worth a shot because if you don’t like it, you can just get out.

What worked for you? What tools allowed you to cope in labour ?

Share in the comments for the mamas to be! 🤍🩵

Please give a warm welcome to Kendra!
Kendra has joined our team as a birth doula and we are so happy to have her! 💕🌸

Kendra is a multi-faceted health and wellness practitioner with a number of certifications in the healthcare field,including massage therapy, fascial
stretch therapy, personal training, and energy healing. She comes with a wealth of knowledge and a tool kit of skills that enhance her work as a doula and how she is able to show up for her clients. Her commitment to a whole-body approach to health radiates in her passion for helping each and every client she works with feel great —physically, emotionally, and energetically. Kendra’s light hearted personality is sure to have you feeling relaxed and at ease during your pregnancy and birth. Exactly the vibes we need for labour 🤗

Reach out if you want to schedule a consultation with us! Kendra is taking on clients solo and in a shared care team approach with myself. 💕🌸

Please give a warm welcome to Tasha! She may be a familiar face to some of you as Tasha’s introduction is long over due. We have been working as a team for approximately a year now. She is an incredible birth and postpartum doula.

Tasha enjoys and appreciates the emotional side of pregnancy. She excels in holding space for families and supporting them to navigate all the feelings that come with the wild ride that is pregnancy and birth. She views it as an opportunity to come into a deeper relationship with oneself. Tasha feels strongly that birth is a rite of passage and is a time in someone’s life that is so special. She has a warm and caring nature that shines through in her work.

Tasha is expecting her second baby in the near future and has finished her work with clients currently. Her work and presence on this team was in much need of being highlighted.

If Tasha was a part of your team this year, leave her some love in the comments!
💕✨🦋

Hello hello! It’s been awhile since I shared about myself and what led me to become a doula. I’m Emily, owner and team lead at The Wellness Doula.

✨What brought me to birth work?
For as long as I can remember I’ve loved babies and was one of those people who enjoyed (& was fascinated by)pregnancy.
After my own birth experiences I knew there was a lot I didn’t know. I certainly wished I had taken a birth class and now know I certainly could have used a doula for additional support and knowledge at my births and during those early days with a newborn. (The blur of trying to figure out breastfeeding and adjusting to lack of sleep🫠). I learned what a doula was and I knew I had to jump in.

✨Parts of this work I especially love right now
Prenatal classes/ prenatal visits, witnessing you learn & unlearn about birth while finding what matters to you, supporting you on the big day & seeing your family grow, being the person who you reach out to when you get home and are needing reassurance, nourishing and caring for Y O U.

It is such a pleasure to be invited into peoples lives at such a vulnerable time. The goal is always to provide people with information so they can feel informed and confident. It is such a transformative time of your life and I’m so grateful to be there with you!

Stay tuned to meet some of our wonderful team members 💕

Managing early labour. This is always crucial information I go over with my clients or else sometimes the default can be panic. Use these tips and lean on your support people. Rest, nourishment, and keeping stress low are the key pieces for allowing labour to unfold. 🔑❤️

Share with your partner so you can discuss how you’ll manage early labour together.

Hormones drive labour. The mental piece of birth has a huge impact on how you cope in labour and how labour progresses. It may feel uncomfortable at first to try to “practice labour” but I promise it’s worth it. Having various tools to use is so important and finding what rituals feel right for you allow you to get into a relaxed rhythm when labour does begin! ✨

We plan extensively for birth but often don’t plan or discuss the postpartum period. This is a time when there is the most drastic shift in hormones. Heading into this time with thought and consideration can alleviate some of the mental load and make the transition a bit more smooth.

What do you wish you had discussed before baby arrived? Let’s discuss in the comments ✨🍼

Sometimes having these conversations can be what makes a positive birth experience. Going into birth feeling like a team and understanding the process of birth, and how each other feels is a big piece of allowing birth to unfold how it needs to. No one expects you to be an expert but there are definitely ways to prepare to feel more confident.

Feel like you need help navigating the information and learning some skills for your birth? Message me and set up a prenatal class.

✨Tag your birth partner so you can take a moment to start the conversation! ✨

It’s natural to fear something that is unknown or even feel fear if you’ve experienced labour before. But by gaining knowledge, support, and surrendering to the process, it can make it can feel less scary. You have the strength to birth your baby, you just have to trust in that 💚

This can be such a great technique! I have used it in the past and it seemed to work well. Have you tried this?? Comment and let me know

The Abdominal Lift and Tuck is one of the most effective early labor techniques for engaging the baby in the pelvis. This technique is to help the baby into the pelvis and through the pelvic brim (the baby may be -3 or -2 station).

The Abdominal Lift was introduced by Janie McCoy King, a Texas Engineer who wrote Back Labor No More. I learned it from Penny Simkin at her Birth Doula Training. I added the words “and tuck” to remind the user to tuck their pelvis. By this, I mean do a standing Posterior Pelvic Tilt (flatten the lower back).

Note: The Abdominal Lift and Tuck must be done during a contraction. You will want to move into position as soon as—but not before—the contraction starts. If you start too late it will be uncomfortable, so just wait to start with the following contraction.

As a contraction begins, link your fingers and lift your belly about two inches.
Bring your belly in (towards your spine) by one or two inches, depending on your size. Try to be as comfortable as possible.
At the same time, flatten your lower back. Your knees should be bent. Bending the knees, even just a little, is necessary to do a Posterior Pelvic Tilt.
Hold your belly up through the entire contraction. It’s okay to sway or rock a little on your legs during the contraction, but hold your belly in one place to avoid being uncomfortable.
When the contraction ends, lean forward slightly and slowly let go of your abdomen. Move your legs to encourage circulation.
Repeat the Abdominal Lift for ten contractions in a row, resting in between and circling your wrists and ankles for circulation.

Want to learn more? Head to the link: https://www.spinningbabies.com/pregnancy-birth/techniques/abdominal-lift-tuck/

Birth Partner Support

One of my favourite things to discuss is partner support. Educating and encouraging a partner or loved one who is there to support you benefits everyone..including the labour process.

Building confidence by teaching some skills and providing “jobs,” eases their own worries, and allows them to feel like they’re involved in the process. This ultimately allows you to feel supported and then allows the oxytocin to keep flowing.

Every partner feels differently in their knowledge of birth, their role, and how to support their partner. If you want to feel like you’re ready to work through labour together, sign up for a prenatal class to understand the process of labour and how to have a solid team mate for birth!

How to book a class?
Email ➡️[email protected]
Or
Inquire➡️thewellnessdoula.ca

My last post I mentioned how much labour is a mental game. How important your own desire and dedication to your birth is. Preparing yourself is a great way to try to achieve a positive birth.

A birth where you felt you had some control, you didn’t feel lost, and could feel confident in your decisions. All while understanding your emotional responses and then what brings you comfort.
Practice these things before the big day. The more you practice the more you can get into the zone and naturally work through different means of comfort.

The mind body connection is key. The mind and body work together simultaneously during birth. —> The natural process of labour depends on it.

Many people have fears surrounding birth. Determine those fears you have and try to understand where they’re coming from.

Want to learn more and work through these topics? Reach out and book a prenatal class with me!

I wish I could describe the ambiance and do it justice. Making the hospital your own is SO important. I promise it makes a *b i g* difference.

How to create the best setting for you? It comes from you figuring out what brings you comfort(your pillow, blanket, your fav oil, fav playlist, your support people)and practicing coping techniques before the big day. This incredible client of mine knew how to make her birth her own. She brought things that bring her comfort. Tuning into different senses. Utilizing the water for distraction and comfort, diffusing scents that aided in her relaxation, and music. Hospital bathroom turned mini spa.

No matter what your birth “plan” is, you need a variety of tools you can be ready to use. One of the biggest ones? Your drive and desire to prepare and want to use them. As much as birth is physical, it requires mental prep and dedication.

Did you know dates can be beneficial for labour?

A study found that when dates were consumed starting at 36 weeks there was
✨Higher chances to go into labour spontaneously
✨Shorter first stage of labour
✨Higher rate of intact membranes

Another study found that eating dates from 37 weeks led to
✨greater success of cervical dilation upon admission
✨higher success rates of labour induction when needed

If you’ve been advised to monitor your sugar levels or have gestational diabetes always refer to your healthcare provider.

Don’t like dates on their own? Try them in a smoothie or add them into an energy ball! DM me for a recipe!

Here’s what you all shared! These were the ways in which the majority of you felt supported in the fourth trimester!✨

The more and more families i work with during this emotional transition holds all of these true. Taking some of the burden away in at least one of these areas allows you to have a little more room to breathe, slow down, and focus on you. After all you’ve been through, nourishing your baby for months, delivering your baby, you deserve to be taken care of too. To enjoy time with a friend to remember that part of you before all things baby, to spend time with the people who get you. To sleep! It isn’t always as easy as sleep when the baby sleeps. But find rest in ways that you can.

How to achieve these things?

Set boundaries. Don’t feel obligated to have everyone over right away. Ask for help. Hire help if you’re able. Surround yourself with the people who support you.

Looking to expand and build a team of passionate, caring, doulas to support more families! Please email me your resume 💌

A baby goes through a huge transition once they’re born. After all, they’re learning to live outside the womb. If your baby is needing some help to settle you can give the 5 S’s of soothing a go!

➡️Swaddle (allows baby to feel safe and secure)

➡️Side position ( hold baby along your arm it can help with gas as well)

➡️Sway (your baby was used to movement from you, this is soothing to them)

➡️Shush (your baby had many sounds to listen to as they were in the womb. An alternative to “shushing” is some white noise, fan, or waterfall sounds)

➡️Suck (non nutritive sucking)

Did any of these help soothe your baby? Let me know in the comments what you found worked the best. ✨

Did you know a doula can work with a family before baby arrives, during labour/birth, and postpartum for up to a year? Interested in learning more about my role as a doula? Have questions about how I may be able to support your family? Come see me at the Bump, Baby, and Toddler Expo May 28/29, Ancaster fairgrounds.

Did you know your pelvis can move and make room for baby with different movements?✨ You may not want to move much but I’m telling you it’s worth it! You need to move and try different positions to help baby find their way through the pelvis.
Squatting sound tiring?
➡️Try a supported squat with a support person.
➡️Tie & knot a long sheet to then throw over a closed door and use that to support you in a squat.
➡️Some hospitals have squat bars for the bed.
➡️Birth ball is another less straining option.

These options are great to to give you some support while using movement.

Birth Prep! ✨

1.) If you don’t ask questions or educate yourself it’s very hard to know what options you have. Don’t be afraid to ask questions. Find a provider who takes the time to listen and answer those questions. Ensure your birth team is supportive!

2.) Birth can be challenging. Take the time while pregnant to learn to refocus, center yourself, and find techniques that help you cope and allow yourself to stay determined and grounded. You don’t want to leave this until you’re in the thick of labour! Practice now

3.) Movement is key. During pregnancy it allows for baby to be positioned well. Stretching allows the muscles to be ready to be relaxed and released and of course learning movements and positions for labour that can help encourage the natural process of baby descending.

Do yourself the favour and prep!

Did you know? ✨The Apgar score is a scoring system that assesses newborn babies’ well-being using five different factors:

heart rate
breathing
muscle tone
reflexes
skin colour

The newborn baby is given a score between 0 and 2 for each factor, and the highest possible score is 10. The reason the Apgar score is checked at one and five minutes is to give an idea of how well the baby is doing following birth and whether their condition is improving or not.

Don’t hesitate to ask your care providers if you have questions about your baby’s assessment.

Source: About Kids Health

World Doula Week ✨

I have been able to support incredible families and be a part of monumental moments in their lives. I’ve been able to coach parents and help them adjust as their family expands. I’ve met incredible families, co-workers, and community partners. I recognize the responsibility I have as a doula to continually grow, learn, and listen. By continuously learning it allows me to have the skills and resources to help parents feel empowered through their birth and postpartum journeys.

To all my fellow doula peers! Here’s to celebrating you and all the amazing things you do 🎉

Dilation Station ✨In the birth world you know this means the toilet. Sometimes it can be hard to relax and release your pelvic floor muscles. Where do we do this work with out much thought? The toilet!

You can sit forward or backwards but backwards allows for pressure to be off the sacrum. Get a pillow and get comfy. It helps to give it a decent amount of time in this position. Try this if labour has stalled a bit and needs a nudge to get going again. If you’re at the hospital and there is no tank for you to rest a pillow on, sit forward, get your partner on the birth ball in front of you and lean forward resting on them.

Sometimes the last thing you want to do is move positions when you’re trying to work through contractions. I promise you movement and different positions will serve you well. That’s my job as your doula, to gently remind you of this and coach you to that next position.

Share this with your pregnant friends and tell me your fav position for labour in the comments!

These are a few of the benefits to birthing in an upright position. ✨ What are some of the birth positions that you can try?

-> standing or squatting
-> birth stool/seat
-> kneeling upright or hands and knees

Many people will end up pushing on their back or a semi reclined position which could make birthing your baby more challenging. Can you be successful pushing and birthing your baby like this? Yes. But having the knowledge to know there are other options if this isn’t working is so crucial. There are so many benefits to birthing in an upright position and adding movement to help baby maneuver their way out. Researching options, evidence, and having knowledge of the birth process is so important.

Did you know I offer one on one birth prep? Email me and we can set up a personal birth prep class.

Source: Evidence Based Birth