Blissful Birth Doula Services and Placenta Encapsulation

Pregnant or in the postpartum? Near the Santa Rosa area? Come check out this new event hosted by the Soco Perinatal Network!
Early bird tickets until next Saturday 8/12 at only $14 each! $20 after early bird closes.
More info at https://www.facebook.com/events/1514671902619779

**Have you heard of using a TENS to help with pain management during childbirth? TENS, or transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, is a non-invasive pain relief method that uses electrical stimulation to block pain signals from reaching the brain. It is a safe & effective way to reduce labor pain, & it has a number of benefits:

It is non-pharmacological. This means that it does not involve the use of drugs, so there is no risk of side effects or drug interactions.

It is adjustable. You can control the intensity of the stimulation so you can find a level that is comfortable for you.

It is portable. You can use a TENS unit at home or in the hospital.

It can be used in combination with other pain relief methods. This means that you can use TENS along with other methods, such as medication or massage, to get the best pain relief possible.

It can help you feel more in control of your labor. Some find that using TENS gives them a sense of control over their pain, which can help them to relax & cope better with the contractions.

The effectiveness of TENS in reducing labor pain varies from person to person. Some find that it is very effective, while others find that it is not as helpful. However, TENS is a safe & effective way to reduce labor pain, & it is worth trying if you are looking for a non-drug option.

Here are some additional tips for using TENS during labor:

Start using the TENS unit early in labor so that your body has time to adjust to the stimulation.

Place the electrodes on the lower back, over the sacrum. This is the area where the pain signals from contractions are transmitted to the brain.

Start with a low intensity & gradually increase it until you find a level that is comfortable for you.

You can use the TENS unit continuously or intermittently. If you find that the stimulation becomes uncomfortable, you can take a break & then resume it later.

Book your TENS unit rental for your upcoming birth today at www.blissfulbirthdoula.com !

"Many women come to me and say "I want a peaceful zen birth like the ones I see on social media".
"What would that look like?", I ask.
"I want to be in a pool of water, breathing my baby out, staying in control and not yelling".

They tell me about these "zen" births on social media- often just snippets of the labour put together with some relaxing music over top (I must admit, I like to watch them).

In reality tho, in all of births that I have witnessed, yes there is some breathing and zen moments, but there is also a lot of roaring, sweating, moaning, crying, vocalising, wild movements and noises. Lots of acting "out of control". Lots of pure instinctive expression. It is so important not to inhibit any of this!

To be fully expressed during labour helps us to release the energy that builds in the body. Vocalising is a wonderful way to cope with the intensity of labour and helps us to free tension. We know that tension creates more pain. This is one of the tools we practice in my classes.

We have been well conditioned in society to behave in certain socially acceptable ways. When we act "out of the norm" we can feel shame or embarrassment. Repressing our expression keeps our bodies rigid and keeps us living in our minds and not in our feeling heart.

As part of your birth preparation I recommend you start to express yourself more. Vocally express your pleasure more when making love. Let your body move in ways it wants to- close your eyes and feel. When you feel sad, allow tears to come. When you feel angry, roar into your pillow. Sing loudly when your favourite song comes on. Laugh without inhibition. Make noises- even "inappropriate" ones.

Labour is not something to be controlled. It is for letting go."

📷: Monet Nicole - Birthing Stories

Words by Mothers Circle

Happening tomorrow in Santa Rosa! Sonoma County Doula Care Collective will be out with a table so be sure to say hi! 👋

I love to simplify things so that I can remember them more easily. How about you?
Well, take a look at the vessels of the cord. They kind - with imagination - make a smiley face!

💪 SHOW THEM WHO’S BOSS 💪

So last night I was chatting to a family member about their newest grandchild, who is 4 months old. We talked about the usual things. Reflux. Teething. Naps. How said baby is a normal baby who likes to be held and wakes up and cries if you put them down. And then they said...

“I just put him down and let him cry. I think they need it. You have to show them who’s boss.”

Show them who’s boss. Can we just unpick this for a second?

Aside from the standard arguments about babies needing to be held (they do) and whether we need to exert total control (we don’t), what the f*** do we mean by ‘show them who’s boss’?

Are our ideas about what it means to be a ‘good boss’ really as outdated as our ideas about what it means to be a ‘good baby’!?

My day job involves managing people. I am, by definition, a ‘boss’. I like to think I’m quite a good boss.

You know what being a boss means?

It means making sure my team have the tools they need to do their job.

It means making sure they have the support to do their job.

It means making sure they have the confidence to do their job.

It means being present, and making time to listen.

It means modelling and prioritising emotional well-being.

You know what it never, ever means? Leaving a team member in distress without ensuring they have the tools and support to pick themselves up.

Now let’s apply this ‘boss’ thing to babies.

Babies cannot pick themselves up. Not physically. Not emotionally.

And a baby’s job is to grow. Physically. Emotionally. Mentally. It’s pretty important stuff.

You know how you show a baby who’s boss? By providing them with the tools and support they need to get on with their important baby work.

And what does that look like? It looks like comfort. It looks like warmth. It looks like touch. It looks like reassurance. It looks like holding them while they sleep which LITERALLY MAKES THEIR BRAINS GROW MORE.

So please, go ahead and show that baby who’s boss ♥️

Just finished up encapsulating this heart shaped beauty! Largest I've had in awhile weighing in at 1 pound, 9.8 ounces! Mama is getting 174 berry flavored placenta pills of postpartum wellness~❤️

🤣

This week I had the honor of helping to welcome baby A. Her birth took her mama and Dad through many a unexpected turn, but I got to watch one fierce women, supported by her rock of a partner roar baby earthside. Little baby A. waited until 42 weeks, and was still quite comfortable hanging out where she was, but at long last and with the help of a few Latvian lullaby's, she was welcomed to beautiful January afternoon~ Happy birthday beautiful baby A!

There’s a lot of memes floating around regarding the presidential inauguration yesterday stemming from how some attendees presented themselves. And for those of you who have experienced respectful midwifery care, you may get a chuckle out of this one! 😁

Midwife/photoshopper: Kaye Rashigo of Community Midwives of Kingston
Birther: Rachel Melissa
📷: Lindsay Foster Photography

Pieces Of A Woman: Midwives on the accuracy of the home birth scene Canadian midwives discuss what the Netflix movie Pieces Of A Woman gets right and wrong in its portrayal of home birth and parental grief

Pregnant people with bigger bodies CAN and DO have healthy pregnancies and births. BMI is not a rule out for home birth. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The amount of in perinatal care (and medicine in general) is totally astounding. One of the primary ways this comes out is the assumption that fat = diabetes and bight blood pressure, aka . When in fact CORRELATION (higher rates in the population) does not equal CAUSATION (that you will develop a condition because of your size). ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
So how do you have a in a bigger body? The same way everyone else does - getting lots of nourishing foods and good protein sources, drinking water, moving your body and getting your heart rate up a few times a week, finding joy and relaxation, and educating yourself about your options!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
My favorite resource is - they have an amazing guide on their site about what to expect from prenatal care, what fatphobia can look like in provider assumptions and recommendations, and how to choose a size friendly provider.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Photo of .and.pregnant from ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Super important REPOST via Boulder Valley Lactation👇🏽

“IV fluids are given when an epidural or any type of anesthesia is given during labor. One side effect of anesthesia is blood pressure dropping. IV fluids keep the blood pressure up. The longer the IV fluids are flowing, the more impact they can have.

Here are 2 impacts I see over and over and what to do about them.

ENGORGEMENT:
This is when breasts feel very hard, not just full. It can be due to ineffective milk removal or very commonly - swelling from IV fluid build up in the breasts. After IV fluids, some mamas see edema in their feet, others find all that fluid goes to the breasts. can make it hard to latch because ni***es become flatter, harder to shape and make it harder to remove milk because fluid is in the way. If baby isn't able to latch or isn't able to remove milk well, supply can take a nose dive quickly.
SUGGESTIONS
✨Reverse Pressure Softening (RPS). Everyone getting anesthesia during labor need to know about RPS. It is a type of massage where you press and hold near the ni**le, so it's easier to latch onto. This should be done before feeds as much as possible until the breasts are no longer hard. (will post some good videos of this on my stories).
✨Lymph Drainage Massage: This is massage to encourage the the extra fluid to go toward the armpit to exit out the lymph system. (Will try to post a video of this as well).
✨Hands on or feeding - massage those hard areas gently while milk is being remove
✨COLD compress - cold will help the inflammation go down and is much more effective than warm in this situation.
✨Gentle Hand Expression

SKEWED HIGH BABY WEIGHT
If are given the baby will take on extra water weight and his weight will be skewed a little high after birth. After she pees off all that extra water weight, it will look like he lost more weight than is reality and supplementation may be pushed.
SUGGESTIONS
✨Go by his 24 hour weight as birth weight if you had hours of IV fluids.
✨Learn signs of effective beyond weight.
✨Be your own and your child's advocate. Knowledge is power”

Product Break Down - Newborn Hats

What does almost every newborn image have in common...? A newborn hat. Hospitals supply them and even most home birth midwives provide hats within their birth kits. Seems so normal and honestly, like a “non-issue”. Gotta keep the baby warm...right?!

But do newborn babies NEED hats?

Here’s a few reasons to ditch the hats:

👶 Smelling your newborn releases oxytocin, which stimulates your uterus to contract, which slows your bleeding postpartum, helping to prevent hemorrhage. The newborn scent and release of oxytocin also help you to bond with your baby. When possible, choose at least an hour or two of undisturbed, hat-less cuddle time. Smell and kiss your baby’s head and soak your body in the love hormone (oxytocin). Pitocin (artificial oxytocin) not only does NOT support bonding, it actually stops your body from naturally producing its own oxytocin. Which is why some are suggesting Pitocin could be linked to higher rates of postpartum depression, anxiety, rage.

👶 Many think newborns need blankets and hats to keep warm. Especially since babies are born wet. Your body has a magical ability to cool or warm your baby up. This is why skin-to-skin is so important. If the area/room you are laboring in feels too cold, warm the environment up and baby will likely be fine. Skin-to-skin improves breastfeeding success rates, release of placenta quicker, and decrease in postpartum depression. immediately after the birth. Carla Hartley coined the phrase, “No hatting, patting, or chatting!” to encourage birth keepers to stop disrupting the third stage of birth. Undisturbed birth is literally life saving.

Obviously, if a baby is struggling to maintain body temperature even with a warm environment and skin-to-skin...a warm blanket around you and baby is typically enough but hat them if you must. Just remember to remove it once they are warm enough 😉

They don’t love 2020 either and they JUST got here 😂😂😂

❤️❤️❤️ this!

I love everything about this

🔥Act now: Petition CA Gov Newsom to Include Birthing Mothers In New Food Program for the Vulnerable Let’s get to 33 signatures by the end of today - can you add yours?

N.J. hospital is 1st in U.S to try placenta therapy on critically ill coronavirus patient A New Jersey hospital is believed to be the first in the nation to try placenta therapy for the coronavirus, an experimental approach that's been tried in Israel.

Israeli COVID-19 treatment shows 100% survival rate - preliminary data Not only have all the patients survived, according to Pluristem, but four of them showed improvement in respiratory parameters.

"This is not what you had planned. This is not what you’d envisioned. There are no visits from friends, no loving doula bringing you soup, no “mommy and me” yoga classes, no coffee dates, no stroller walks through the park. There is empty space where you had planned comfort and company. There are long days with no one but your little one to talk to and this big transition to navigate all alone.

I know it’s lonely, mama. I know the walls of your house feel tight and the days feel so long, and you crave a warm hand on your knee and the soft embrace of a friend. You wish for someone by your side to marvel at this beautiful baby of yours and to wrap an arm around you when the feelings get too big and scary.

We were never meant to do this alone. Motherhood has never been a solitary sport. And yet here we are, in this odd chapter of isolation and distance, with no choice but to do it by ourselves.

But mama, know this- We are alone. Together. You are surrounded all the other mothers who are navigating this tender time in isolation. You are held by all of us who have walked the path before you and who know how much you must be hurting. You are wrapped in the warm embrace of mama earth, as she too settles into this time of slowness and healing.

This too shall pass. And when it does, hugs and coffee dates and visits from friends will taste so much sweeter. Soft kisses on your cheek and arms around your waist and gentle laughter in your ear will be the joyful medicine after this trying time.

Until then, hunker down mama. Find the coziest, warmest spot on your couch, sink into the pile of unfolded laundry, and sleep the Spring away, with that sweet babe warm on your chest."

You are not alone mama.

Image and words by the stunning Spirit Y Sol
https://www.instagram.com/spiritysol/?hl=en

COVID-19: How Breastmilk Helps Protect Your Baby From Viral Infections - Latched Mama Although everyone is well-aware of the global presence of the coronavirus pandemic, because it’s a novel (new) strain of the virus, there are still many unanswered questions in regard to the physiological impacts of this illness. Along with all the additional confusion that COVID-19 has brought us...

Pregnant Women Turn to Home Births to Escape Virus “Would you want to go to a hospital right now? It’s pretty terrifying.”

Midwifery linked to better birth outcomes in state-by-state “report card” - UBC Faculty of Medicine States with higher midwifery integration, like Washington and Oregon, generally had better results,

Most women are subject to routine pelvic exams during pregnancy...early, late, and during labor. But did you know these are often NOT necessary?

Early in pregnancy, cervical exams are used to "confirm" pregnancy. A simple, non-invasive urine test can do the same thing.

Late in pregnancy, cervical exams are used to "predict" labor. While a pelvic exam *may* benefit a woman who is pre-term and having signs of impending labor (via the "Bishop score"), there is no benefit to women who are full-term and simply wondering how many more days it will be!

During labor, there is also little benefit. Most providers use cervical exams for their own knowledge, so that they can try to predict when they'll be needed for delivery. It doesn't impact the progress of labor or improve the outcomes for mom or baby.

Pelvic exams can also introduce foreign bacteria and increase the risk of infection to both mother and baby. Some women find the exams extremely uncomfortable mentally and physically, especially if they are performed frequently or by different providers. They also immediately shift the vaginal flora, which can impact the baby's gut development (but no studies have been done to see what the long-term impact might be).

One situation in pregnancy where an exam may be advised is if a woman has had a previous second-trimester loss, or is having symptoms of very pre-term labor. Cervical shortening is highly predictive of early labor, and women can get progesterone supplements to help sustain the pregnancy until they are full-term. However, "repeated" exams do not improve outcomes with pre-term labor. (An ultrasound may also work to detect a shortening cervix.)

If you don't want a pelvic exam, you have the right to say NO (until or unless you change your mind or something goes wrong). You can also learn how to check yourself for dilation during labor, if you want to know. Whether or not you have an exam, baby *will* be born. :)

Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20159393
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5503468/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23857468
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3560273/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20556763
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10076131
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28475099
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21551402
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3647734/