Doula Blog
All about Pregnancy, Birth, & Postpartum
![]() Birth is a powerful, transformative process. Unfortunately, many people in the United States grow up believing that birth is simply something to be feared. It is hard work and emotionally & physically exhausting, but it doesn't need to be shadowed by fear but can be enveloped in peace when we mentally & physically prepare for it. It requires an openness to the journey & allowing your body to soften, open, release and surrender. Birth can be an empowering, sacred, beautiful experience. Birth is a natural part of a woman's life. The pain of contractions can be reshaped in our minds as power, pressure, intensity, energy, surges, rushes. Those strong sensations mean progress. One step closer to meeting your baby! All those years of cramping during periods have paid off! Your uterus has been preparing all your life for this moment of contracting and relaxing in a synchronized fashion to birth your baby. The muscle fibers of the uterus tighten and relax by the direction of a complex web of hormones that are purposed for labor.
These hormones are naturally occurring in our bodies and are most present when labor occurs without medications for augmentation or pain relief. If you are low risk, waiting for labor to occur when your body and baby are ready is the best chance of not needing to initiate, augment labor or use pain medications for the strong contractions brought on by artificial induction methods. The use of opioids or epidurals during labor can decrease these naturally occurring hormones from working effectively. Research shows that the effects of naturally occurring oxytocin and endorphins can be more powerful than morphine! For more info on oxytocin check out my blog post “Is Pitocin the same as Oxytocin?” I found it interesting to learn that women who have received pain medication in labor share more stories of how painful birth is compared to women who decided not to get an epidural or use other IV pain meds. In the hospital setting pain medications are readily available and it can be really difficult to turn down the offer of them during the intensity of a contraction or a long labor- even if you wanted to labor naturally. It can be helpful to include in your birth vision for your birth team that you'd like pain meds only by request and wouldn't like to have them offered routinely. Labor works best with privacy, a feeling of safety, and a total surrender to the process. Most mammals deliver in the darkness, where it is felt to be safe and intimate. Simulating this in modern birthing spaces can be done with thoughtfulness and care. Consider keeping the curtains pulled, having a sign that says “please knock” and if possible, choosing a birth location that allows for more privacy and a cozy atmosphere. Many cities have birthing centers or home birth midwives who are skilled at attending to low risk pregnant women. There is a lot of fear-based-advice & judgment surrounding many decisions about pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum and parenting. People tend to be quick to vent about their negative stories & hard moments and it can cloud the reality that every birth is unique. Every woman deserves to make her own informed choices and be free from judgement- no matter what she chooses! Practicing birth positions, relaxation techniques and learning about how your body was designed to birth your baby, during pregnancy can all help facilitate this release of tension & fear. There is no one size fits all approach to birth. You can choose to let go of other’s opinions and continue to trust your body, your carefully chosen birth team, your mama instincts, & the research you’ve put into making informed choices. Let’s stop the judgment projected over every choice & over sharing of negativity to new and expectant mamas and instead offer to help, ask if they are okay, if they need anything and support each other in peace, love & care and not fear.
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I believe in the power of story to transform and inspire. I hope you can enjoy positive, unique, birth stories and join in the community of women who are striving to let go of expectation, fear and welcome change, strength, relaxation & new life.
✨Hearing positive birth stories before and during pregnancy (through podcasts, books, friends & family) can be a helpful way to mentally & physically prepare for birth. ✨You have the power to prepare for your birth by inviting in peace and releasing tension & fear. ✨ You can choose to let go of other’s opinions and continue to trust your body, your carefully chosen birth team, your mama instincts, & the research you’ve done to make informed choices. ✨I highly recommend the book Ina May’s Guide to Childbirth. It completely opened my eyes to the possibility of birth filled with peace & not shadowed by fear. The @happyhomebirthpodcast is also my favorite podcast for learning about positive, natural birth stories. Women from all different backgrounds are invited to share their stories & learn from each other. It’s a beautiful, inspiring, & calming group of stories 💐 ![]() Creating a birth vision rather than a birth plan can empower you to envision what you'd like your birth & birthing space to be like knowing that birth is unpredictable. It can help you to learn about the risks and benefits of different interventions, make informed choices, and think through what you’d like to include in your birth, without focusing on controlling the birth but allowing the birth to unfold naturally. Patience for the journey & confidence in your body’s ability to birth are helpful to bring with you in labor! Let’s get started! You and your family deserve to have an empowered, beautiful, birth experience! If you’d like to learn more about the choices you have and would like help navigating the current research to make informed decisions, hiring a doula can be helpful! Envisioning your baby’s birth…
Some things to consider:
-Medical professionals skilled at attending low-risk births in the hospital, home or birthing center. Midwives can be found in many cities throughout the US, but in other developed countries Midwives are highly integrated into the health system caring for low-risk women during pregnancy, labor & postpartum, such as Germany, Canada, Denmark, Norway, and England, France and Australia to name a few. - Usually has a nursing background but not always. - Typically has a more holistic approach to childbirth and sees it as a normal part of a woman’s life and that it works best when left to unfold naturally. - Midwives are skilled at managing a variety of complications and transferring care to an OB if the mother becomes high risk. Obstetrician: - In most developed countries Midwives care for women in normal childbirth and work with OBs when the mother needs a physician to manage difficult births and complex situations because of their vast training in medicine! OBs also perform Cesarean births. - Due to the highly skilled training of labor and delivery, the focus is usually on the medical management of birth. Some interventions are not based on best practice for low-risk women and some of which can lead to what’s called ‘a cascade of interventions’ when not medically necessary (ex. Epidural or induction increases chances of using Pitocin which increases risk of fetal distress which can lead to requiring a Cesarean birth). Family Physician: Medical doctor who works primarily at a family practice and delivers babies in the hospital as well. . . Remember, this is your body, birth, & baby. You always have a choice for interventions, place of birth, midwife/OB, and you can always change your mind (Really, you can!) Creating a Birth Vision instead of a Birth Plan may allow you to be open minded to the unpredictability of birth. You can write this the way YOU WANT to. You can go into as much or little detail as you’d like. Sometimes, it is helpful to keep it less than one page double spaced and include only what you’d really like the doctors, nurses, midwives to know about you and your wishes. Medical providers, especially in the hospital, generally have multiple pregnant women in labor so the more concise the more likely they are to read it, remember it and respect your desires. Consider including a line that says something similar to: THANK YOU to my nurses and doctors/midwives for taking such good care of me! . . If you’d like to dive a little deeper...Check out the interesting, current research below! Midwives & Evidence Based Maternity Care: As you can see from this chart below, the only two developed countries listed that have more Ob-gyns than midwives are the US and Canada. (2) “In the U.S., certified midwives and nurse-midwives must hold a graduate degree from an institution accredited by the American College of Nurse-Midwives, and certified professional midwives must undergo at least two years of intensive training. This is designed to make midwives experts in normal physiological pregnancy and birth. Thus, for women with low-risk pregnancies who wish to deliver vaginally, it often makes sense to employ a midwife rather than a more costly surgeon. Yet only about 8 percent of U.S. births are attended by midwives.” (1) There are many medical interventions that are standard practice for birthing women. The research shows that what is commonly done in the US maternity care system is not based on best practice. See below for a chart from midwifery care Archives - Evidence Based Birth® that outlines some of these practices! References: |
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May 2023
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