I’VE MOVED! Holistic Doula NYC’s Blog

Read the rest of the article here: Holistic Doula NYC Website

Baby wearing dads = a very good thing

{via:shiningstar:sade}

Great deal on 100% organic cotton onesies.

Oh, and this just happens to be a love-infused green-wear and gear line I co-founded.

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Interesting overview for people checking out all the options for labor support.

HDNYC just launched a Meetup group: Holistic Mamas NYC, as another way to support the ever growing population of pregnant women in New York City who want information about their pregnancy and birth from a holistic perspective. Meetups will be in both Manhattan and Brooklyn — Brooklyn meetups will likely be in or near the Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill neighborhoods.

Click on the pic for more information and join the meetup!

This video from GritTV was inspired by the recent closing of Bellevue Birth Center, the only birth center in New York City serving women on Medicare. Bellevue Birth Center had a <4% cesarean delivery rate vs. the greater than 30% rate in other New York City hospitals. In addition to discussion of the birth center, this video includes discussion of induction of labor, our topic of the week, doula labor support, and many other topics that are popular here.

Key takeaway (one of many): Inductions don’t work if the cervix isn’t ready anyway. (Google “Bishop Score” for more information on how cervix favorability is measured)

Great quote from Elan McAllister, president and founder of Choices in Childbirth when describing a natural birth center, ”You’re gonna be surrounded by a staff that fully supports your choice to birth naturally….Every face that you look into believes in you. Everyone who’s in that room knows that you can birth this baby. Culture of confidence and belief and faith that is, I believe, the single most important ingredient. You can pretty up a room, and that’s one thing, but it’s that culture of faith…”

By the way, the movie clip at the very beginning is from the documentary Orgasmic Birth, an HDNYC top 6 book and dvd pick. It is an amazing film with great information and positive, realistic images of natural childbirth.

Excellent handout for anyone who does have an induction:

Tips for keeping your birth as healthy and safe as possible when induction is necessary

Speaking of induction…great video discussing why it is beneficial to wait for labor to begin on its own.

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Interesting critique of a new brochure about labor induction by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Questioning the rational for induction and exploring it’s increase is reasonable given that the labor induction rate in the US has more than doubled since 1990. In 2006, 22% (more than 1 in 5) of all pregnant women had their labor induced. Although there are appropriate indications for induction, there are also risks associated with labor induction. Pregnant women need to understand the benefits, risks, and alternatives related to induction of labor so that they can give truly informed consent for this (and all) medical procedures.

Great video from birth educator Amy Maclean about gravity, positioning, state of mind, and use of a birthing pool during labor.

Here’s a great site where you can compare and order phthalate-free water birth pools. Great resource!

Found the pic above (originally from this funny Onion post) and the post below on the blog Angry Feminist Doc while searching for some new charts for my upcoming Truly Holistic Pregnancy and Birth Series at the New York Open Center. I found it funny (unless this guy is your doctor, not so funny then) and oh-so-telling. Angry Feminist Doc, thanks for the gem and the STELLAR visual. Love it.

Side note, when I was a labor and delivery nurse in a hospital in NYC I saw exactly zero deliveries in anything but the laying-on-the-back position.

Monday, November 23, 2009
Medical Student Gem
While discussing the “classic” childbirth position (on back, feet in stirrups) as a risk factor for perineal tearing:

“I didn’t know women could give birth in any other position.”
-Kid from my population health class

Admissions committee FAIL.

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Delayed cord clamping is something that not a lot of people know that much about, or have even considered. Turns out, the standard practice of cutting the cord right away may not be such a hot idea. Educate yourself and if the logic behind waiting makes sense to you, make sure you find a practitioner who shares this view. I’ve worked with women who have asked their ob/gyn at the time of the birth to wait to cut the cord and honestly I haven’t seen it go that well. The ob/gyn author of the linked article describes the typical scenario perfectly:

For the majority of my career, I routinely clamped and cut the umbilical cord as soon as it was reasonable. Occasionally a patient would want me to wait to clamp and cut for some arbitrary amount of time, and I would wait, but in my mind this was just humoring the patient and keeping good relations. After all, I had seen all my attendings and upper level residents clamp and cut right away, so it must be the right thing, right?

Luckily the author was open to another point of view and is now sharing it with others. The article is well-researched and definitely worth a read, enjoy!

From a new documentary called Babies. This is awfully cute.

TRULY HOLISTIC PREGNANCY AND CHILDBIRTH SERIES

If you are a holistic mama in NYC this HDNYC course is for you. If you aren’t in the market for childbirth education right now, but may know some families that are, please help spread the word! All of the details and online registration can be found here.

As a holistic RN, doula, and former labor and delivery nurse, I created this unique series to cover all of the content you would expect in a childbirth education course in an unexpectedly fresh and engaging way. Holistic perspectives on health and healing are woven throughout to provide an integrative perspective that is up to date, and evidence based.

The course format and companion materials are designed to make the the subject matter easy to grasp, and memorable enough to recall.

A special feature of this series is weekly demonstrations by yogis, massage therapists, acupuncturists and other experts in holistic health to give participants hands-on experience with self-care techniques that are perfect not only for pregnancy, labor and postpartum, but for a lifetime of well-being.