I'm thrilled to welcome a guest author for this blog post, Dr. Betty DeLass. Betty is the founder, owner, and CEO of Reborn Pelvic Health and Wellness, and a phenomenal pelvic floor physical therapist. I'm also fortunate to be able to call her a friend and fellow change agent. You're going to want to give her a follow on Facebook and Instagram as well. :) Thank you, Betty, for writing this post! Birth Through A Pelvic Physical Therapist PerspectiveDr. Betty DeLass, PT, DPT Birth is a physically demanding activity. Period. You need to mentally, emotionally, spiritually and physically train for it. It is one of the most taxing athletic events of your life…and many of us do it multiple times! Personally, I have completed marathons and ironmans and let me tell you, giving birth is just as hard, if not harder, than doing these things! (This statement is not meant to scare or frighten, but rather put into perspective the demand that labor and delivery has on the body). As a pelvic PT, I went into pregnancy and labor/delivery with an intentional mindset. I was training for another athletic event. I read up on all the books. I took childbirth education classes (actually every single one that was offered…yes, nerd alert!) I learned how to do a perineal massage on myself. I practiced deep squats and breathing. I exercised, stretched and did prenatal yoga. I practiced mindfulness and coping strategies. I was training for pregnancy, birth and postpartum recovery. Let me tell you…whoa, that quite the event when it actually decided to happen! (With my first I was a week and a day overdue! And it felt like I was waiting forever to go into labor). I remember waking up in the middle of the night thinking…hmmm….pretty sure these are contractions, woke my husband up, got up and started laboring at home on my exercise ball and turned on my Jesus music. A few minutes later, I told my husband that I think we should go to the hospital, things were kinda getting intense… and then, I immediately threw up… Yep, definitely time to go! We arrived at the hospital after the longest car ride of my life as contractions increased in intensity with shorter intervals in between. I was thrilled to find out that I was 7 cm dilated. Sweet! I can do this! So I thought… Then another hour went by… And another… And another… Until I was exhausted… This is so hard. This is the hardest thing I have ever done. I am so tired. NO I AM BEYOND EXHAUSTED. I can’t do this anymore. I quit. Then…. Finally… After 14.5 hours of laboring…SHE WAS HERE!! In the blink of an eye, all the sweat, tears, pain, perseverance and hard work…my exhausted body forgot it all the second she was placed on my chest. Similar to crossing the finish line of a marathon or ironman. Joy, and sheer exhaustion raged through me. Thankfully, my second daughter was a tad bit faster with a 3.5 hour labor. So, I wasn’t quite as exhausted, however my pelvic floor was not as happy the second time around with how fast she came out! Let’s just say my second left a bigger mark on my pelvic floor from a rehab perspective. Postpartum recovery was hard. Where is my body in space… Abs…what are those? Oh no..I have a mom-butt (pancake buns)… Did I just pee myself…??? Am I ever going to sleep again…??? I cannot believe we just let moms go home and tell them at 6 weeks they are “cleared.” I need to change the world…we can do so much better, we can prepare better, we can birth better, we can recover and rehab better. I am going to change the world one vagina at a time. Going through two unmedicated vaginal deliveries myself was the catalyst to Reborn Pelvic Health & Wellness changing the standard of care before, during, after and beyond birth. A pelvic revolution has started. Let’s dive in a little more… Being pregnant and giving birth (regardless of medication, no medication, vaginal delivery, or c-section, hospital, birth center or home birth) is one of the biggest changes that will ever happen to a person’s body. Your rib cage expands. Your abdominal muscles get stretched. Your hips widen. Your pelvic floor supports a bowling ball of a human GROWING INSIDE OF YOUR UTERUS!!! Any underlying sub-clinical dysfunction that may have been going on gets exposed with a magnifying glass while pregnant. You get stripped down to skin and bones postpartum and have to rebuild strength, coordination and endurance. Recovery after delivery takes time. Period. It’s THE NUMBER ONE BIGGEST change in your body. BIGGER than SURGERY! During a vaginal delivery, the muscles in your pelvic floor stretch 3.5 times their length. There are no other muscles in the body that do that. During a c-section there are more than 7 layers that are surgically cut and sewn back together. These are both major musculoskeletal events. Meanwhile, you still have to pee and poop, take care of the baby and many other tasks all while recovering. For all other major musculoskeletal surgeries or injuries like knee surgery or shoulder surgery you start rehab immediately and continue for months and months. Additionally, you can use crutches or a sling to let it recover. With birth your bowels and bladder still work daily and don’t get a true ‘rest.’ Most people after giving birth do nothing. They wait until 6 weeks postpartum to be “cleared.” Then, try to resume activity, running, lifting and intercourse. THIS IS NOT OK! THIS IS NOT THE STANDARD OF CARE! THIS IS GARBAGE CARE! How have we at Reborn Pelvic Health & Wellness changed the standard of care? We see our patients before, during and after pregnancy. We set you up for success from the get go. We teach you how to stay strong and mobile during pregnancy. We keep the common (but not normal) aches and pains away. We help you prepare for birth so that you can have the best chance of success at a smooth and safe labor and delivery. We teach you how to use your hips and pelvis to your advantage during labor. We teach you how to do perineal stretching. We teach you how to get your pelvic floor to lengthen and get out of the way. We optimize the pelvis to allow for a vaginal delivery or a VBAC (vaginal delivery after c-section) by addressing limitations in your body. Planning for a c-section, no worries, we help with that too! Then postpartum, we help you get your rib cage and pelvis back into position. We get your core and pelvic floor back ‘on-line’ and activating properly to support your body’s movements. We retrain movement patterns so you can lift a car seat and give your kids a bath without low back pain. We make sure your pants stay dry even when you cough, sneeze, jump or run. We address any scar tissue sensitivity, pain, adhesions or restrictions. We make sure you can have intercourse without pain. We fundamentally and progressively load and exercise so that you can return to the activity that you love to do without pain, fear, or embarrassment. We provide true pre-hab, prep, and rehab during the biggest musculoskeletal change of your life. This is the pelvic revolution. This is standard of care. This is becoming Reborn. We love to set our patients up for success throughout this process by teaching them about their bodies. We want you to be the experts of your own body from the inside out. If you are interested in optimizing your pregnancy, birth and/or postpartum journey be sure to reach out. Remember it is never too late to start! There is always room to improve and optimize :) You can find us and contact us at www.rebornphw.com or call us at 801-216-3117. Connect with Betty and her team at Reborn Pelvic Health and Wellness: Want more Betty? Check out my interview of her in this podcast episode of Birth Words!
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What are the benefits of using a pacifier?
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Pacifier Safety
I first heard about doulas when I was pregnant with my third child. My husband was in graduate school and I was working random side-jobs. A friend who had just had a baby enthusiastically shared about her birth experience and the invaluable support she received from her doula. It sounded incredible, but it simply wasn't in the budget for us at that time.
Fortunately, we were able to invest in a high-quality comprehensive birth class and felt thoroughly prepared for my birth. We lucked out with a smooth, uncomplicated labor, and I had the incredible birth experience that fueled my desire to become a birth worker. But the conversation with my friend and our inability to hire a doula sparked something in me. I feel strongly that financial barriers shouldn't stand in between you and the education and support that you need to have a positive, empowering pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experience. That's why I offer grants for families with financial constraints. Grants are available in a variety of sizes and can be applied towards birth classes, birth doula services, or postpartum doula services. Although grants are somewhat limited, I'm usually able to offer a grant of some size to those with a need! So if limited finances are stopping you from signing up for a birth class, hiring a birth doula, or moving forward with postpartum doula support, head on over to the grant application page to apply! All of the pregnancy books recommend swimming as an excellent exercise during pregnancy. The water's buoyancy helps support your belly while minimizing swelling and supporting your joints. And it's a great workout! It always sounded so good in the pregnancy books, and I tried it out a few times... Only to remember why I've never loved lap swimming. Something about inhaling a face full of splashy water just erases the charm for me. Enter prenatal water aerobics! I first heard about this class when a doula client, who was taking the class, mentioned that she'd been attending it. It sounded like a great class and something I wanted to check out for myself and tell my clients about. I finally got around to attending class a couple of weeks ago, and really enjoyed myself. The other class members were welcoming and friendly, even to me in my non-pregnant state. :) As we got into the water, we got to know each other a bit, and then we started with some gentle warm-up exercises in the water. I was surprised by how much difference water resistance made in doing simple exercises like kicks and steps. I could feel that my muscles were engaging, yet the workout was gentle on my joints. Later in the class, we used pool noodles for added resistance, and I was again surprised to find that a super-lightweight pool noodle acted like a light dumb bell in the water! They also made fun flotation devices for other exercises. In pregnancy, water fitness classes have many benefits. It reduces swelling, is low-impact, carries little risk of falling, alleviates spinal and pelvic pressure, and helps to improve mobility and range of motion. It also encourages increased amniotic fluid production--so discuss this exercise option with your care provider if you have low fluid levels! This class is adaptable for people with all fitness levels and can be done throughout your entire pregnancy--from first trimester through the end of third trimester! Non-pregnant participants who are looking for a gentle workout are also welcome. The class is taught by Aimee Sanders-Krause. She's a lovely, warm person and a clear, yet flexible, instructor. Aimee is a mom of three and has a bachelor's degree in exercise science. In addition to teaching this class, she teaches other fitness classes at Orem Family Fitness Center and is also a personal trainer.
Interested? Class is held on Fridays from 11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon. It's free with a membership to Orem Family Fitness Center, or non-members can pay a $5 day pass fee. Childcare is offered on-site! For more info, visit the Orem Family Fitness Center website. Information is at your fingertips. You can Google anything from round ligament pain to pushing positions. Your favorite pregnancy/birth influencers post mind-blowing new information daily. Many childbirth classes are offered online, and you can watch them from the comfort of your home on your own time. Why take an in-person childbirth class? In class, you'll build a community of support.There's nothing like face-to-face connection with other people. Pregnancy is a unique time in life, and it feels good to connect with other expecting parents who get it. Yes, there are zillions of online pregnancy groups and forums you can join, but the familiarity and connection that happen in person exceed what a virtual group can offer. Summit Birth Utah's Comprehensive Childbirth Class runs for 8 weeks, so there's ample time to form friendships. They say it takes a village to raise a child--maybe you'll meet your village in your birth class! You can have a say in the class's agenda!I've planned eight classes' worth of material about labor, birth, and postpartum, but it doesn't have to be set in stone! During the first class session, I will ask each class attendee what they're hoping to get out of the class, and will tailor the class series to meet the needs of the class participants. So start thinking about topics and tools that you want to learn, and come ready to share them. I can't wait to personalize the class to fit your needs! When you're invested and accountable, you'll learn more.
I'm passionate about evidence-based care and I've thoroughly vetted everything I'll share in class. Rest easy knowing your sources are trustworthy.
You'll have a private space to ask your personal questions.
We'll practice labor and birth positions with props like those you'll have at home and in the hospital.
You will really practice labor comfort measures.There are so many ways to cope and optimize your comfort during labor and birth. In class, you'll have hands-on practice with a wide range of them. Fill your toolbox with comfort measures so that you know what you can draw on during labor and birth! We'll practice guided meditation, using a TENS unit, counter pressure, aromatherapy, breathing techniques, sounding out your labor, and more! By handling models of a pelvis (both bones and muscles), baby, amniotic sac, uterus and ligaments, you'll learn how Baby will move through your pelvis and how your body positions can help Baby on the journey!
At each class, feel free to check out books from my lending library.I have an always-expanding lending library of books about fertility, sexuality, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, breastfeeding, and baby care. I'll bring books from my lending library to each class, and you'll have the chance to check out or exchange books each week. If you're interested in getting a taste for some of the books in my library, give this blog post series a read! We'll discuss and practice hypothetical situations as a group.
You'll watch and participate in meaningful, memorable role plays.Discussing hypothetical scenarios, though helpful, isn't quite as effective as participating in role plays. To really help prepare for birth and make concepts stick, we'll do some role playing. Think of it as a dress rehearsal for your birth! You'll feel more at ease during labor and birth if it doesn't feel like the first time you've encountered anything like this. I've specifically chosen birth videos to coordinate with class content.Watching birth videos can be a great way to prepare for your birth. They can help you visualize a variety of ways that birth can go. And watching an empowering birth helps your mind create that expectation for your own experience! I find that birth videos are most helpful if you watch them with a specific purpose in mind, so I'll be weaving them into the class curriculum with prompts to maximize your learning. You can practice breastfeeding positions with doll models.It can be tricky to get the hang of breastfeeding! We'll go over the basics of lactation and preparing to breastfeed, and we'll practice several different ways to hold Baby. I'll explain the benefits of each of the positions, and give you a doll to practice each position with. When you have a baby in your arms, you won't be experimenting with different holds and positions for the first time! This familiarity can ease some first-latch nerves. I hope you'll join me!Have I convinced you yet that in-person birth classes are the way to go? I hope you'll join me at an upcoming series of my Comprehensive Childbirth Class. The next series starts in just two days, on October 15! It runs through December 10, so this is a great class to take if your estimated due date is in early 2023. My next class series will begin in January 2023. I hope to see you in an upcoming class!
Last week, I polled my Instagram followers. Did you give birth without pain medication? Are you planning to? Tell me why!
The reasons came rolling in, and they were as different and varied as my followers themselves. So let's consider the question: Why unmedicated birth? Some choose unmedicated birth (sometimes called natural birth) because they feel it will best connect them with their bodies. They feel confident that their body is powerful and capable, and feel that birthing without pain medication will enable them to best tap into that power. Others choose unmedicated birth because it helps them feel more in control of their body. Without pain medication, you're able to move around freely and choose the positions you labor and birth in. You aren't restricted to a bed and can walk, dance, sit, stand, kneel, squat, shower, bathe, use the bathroom... In short, you can move as you'd like! Some want to give birth without pain medication as a way to connect with their ancestors and the generations of people for whom anesthesia wasn't an option. Many believe that it is safest for them and their babies to avoid interventions in the birth process. Some are grateful for the option of medical intervention in birth when necessary, but want to avoid it--including pain medication--unless it becomes necessary. Others trust that birth will unfold in the way it is meant to only if the body has the opportunity to orchestrate its own hormonal symphony, without interruption from medication. For others, unmedicated birth isn't a choice. One follower shared her experience with me: Went into labor really fast, baby was born 20 minutes after we pulled into the hospital... Spent most of that 20 minutes yelling at the nurse that this was not my birth plan. This birth experience highlights the emotional strain of having an unmedicated birth without feeling prepared for it. For this mom, the right choice for her second and third births was to birth with pain medication, and those births were peaceful and empowering for her. Others who have had an unmedicated birth that caught them off guard choose to double down in their preparation for future unmedicated births. Whatever your reason for unmedicated birth, it will go most smoothly if you prepare both your mind and your body for the experience. There are many different approaches to preparing for unmedicated birth, oftentimes adopting a method such as Hypnobirthing or the Bradley Method. As a doula, I've found that most of my clients prefer a "toolbox" approach. Rather than learning a specific method, they learn about lots of different tools that they can use to be as comfortable as possible and manage pain during labor. These tools range from learning as much as possible about what happens during birth, to deep breathing and meditation, to using a TENS unit, to aromatherapy ... and much more! After five years of working as a doula specializing in unmedicated birth, I'm adding a comprehensive birth class series to the services I offer. This class is the toolbox. We'll begin by building a deep understanding of labor and birth. (Knowledge is power! ... And it helps provide pain relief.) Then, we'll learn about alllllll of the tools that will help you be confident, calm, and open during your labor. We'll spend a while learning about communication and decision-making, giving you the skills and practice you need to make informed decisions you feel good about and to advocate for yourself in the birth space. We'll finish out the series by exploring the postpartum phase, newborn care, lactation, and building a community of support. Are you preparing for to birth without pain medication? If you'd like to learn about all of the tools and skills I've honed as a doula over the last five years, come join my Comprehensive 8-Week Childbirth Class. This class is interactive, engaging, memorable, and ... Dare I say it? ... Fun! Watch for next week's blog post that will give a sneak peek into some of the activities we'll be doing in class. I hope to see you there! My path to becoming a birth worker started with Clomid. Clomid is an ovulation-stimulating drug. After a year of trying for a baby, normal test results, and a diagnosis of “unexplained infertility,” my OB prescribed Clomid to increase our chance of becoming pregnant. The good news? It worked! The second month of taking Clomid, I conceived two babies—my wonderful twin daughters. My husband and I were ecstatic that our dream of becoming parents was coming true! I love these sweet girls and their twin bond and am so grateful they came to our family when they did. The bad news? This approach to fertility treatment did nothing to help my confidence or trust in my body. After a few blood tests that ultimately didn’t turn up any real reasons for infertility, my doctors stop trying to find a “why” and just moved ahead with a “Band-Aid” approach. I was already regularly ovulating each month, but my OBs figured that if I ovulated more eggs, there’d be a higher chance of me getting pregnant each cycle. They weren’t wrong. But I started my pregnancy feeling broken and confused. And I’m confident this affected the choices I made during their birth. After my twins were born and we were ready to start trying for another baby, I really wanted to figure out why it had been so hard for us to conceive. Turns out, trying to get pregnant the second time wasn’t really any easier. But I had a thirst to try to figure out why. One day, I was reading an email newsletter and saw that a local fertility educator was hosting a free one-hour workshop on fertility awareness. I really had no idea what that meant, but I knew I wanted to be more aware of my fertility, so I went to the workshop. It was eye-opening. The teacher talked about all of the signs our bodies give us to indicate how fertile we are at different phases of the menstrual cycle. I had heard about temperature charting—and had it dismissed offhand in a doctor’s appointment as something that didn’t actually work! But I had no clue about the other cues she was talking about: cervical position, firmness, openness, fluid, vaginal wetness, and more! I got my hands on a copy of Toni Weschler’s Taking Charge of Your Fertility and dove in. TAKING CHARGE OF YOUR FERTILITY: AN OVERVIEW Taking Charge of Your Fertility is a comprehensive book that describes fertility signs, how to identify them in your own body, and how to use this knowledge to either avoid or achieve pregnancy and be informed and empowered about your own body. The book begins with a review of the current common options for birth control and bodily awareness that are offered for women: the long list of birth control options and their accompanying side effects do nothing to help us take charge of our own fertility, and they leave us with a long list of negative side effects! The Menstrual Cycle Weschler then offers a detailed overview of female and male internal and external reproductive anatomy. With that groundwork laid, she describes the menstrual cycle in detail, including the hormones that trigger each phase. In the first portion of the menstrual cycle, Follicle Stimulating Hormone encourages the maturation of 15 to 20 eggs in each ovary. The follicles that hold each egg produce estrogen as the eggs continue to mature. Eventually, when your body reaches an estrogen threshold, the most dominant follicle that cycle releases an egg, and the others disintegrate. This can happen anywhere from day 8 to day 21 or later in your cycle. As your estrogen levels peak, this also triggers a surge of Luteinizing Hormone (LH), which causes the mature egg to pass through the ovarian wall. This is called ovulation. After ovulation, fimbria (little fingers at the end of the fallopian tubes) gather the egg and carry it from the pelvic cavity into the fallopian tubes. The follicle that released the egg becomes the corpus luteum and releases progesterone for 12-16 days. This hormone stops the other follicles from releasing their eggs, induces thickening of the endometrium (inner lining of the uterus), and triggers a shift in basal body temperature, cervical fluid, and cervical position. If the egg becomes fertilized and burrows into the endometrium (lining of the uterus), your body starts producing HCG, which signals for the corpus luteum to continuing releasing progesterone so that the uterine lining doesn’t disintegrate and shed itself during menstruation, as it does in cycles that don’t result in pregnancy. If you’re like me, after getting to this point in the book, you’ve probably learned 10 times what you’ve ever been taught about anatomy, fertility, and menstruation. And we’ve only covered the first tenth of the content of Taking Charge of Your Fertility! (I won’t go into as much detail about the content of the rest of the book in this blog post.) The Three Primary Fertility Signs After gaining a firm understanding of your anatomy and menstrual cycle, you’re ready to learn about how you can take charge of your fertility, by learning about, identifying, and charting the three primary fertility signs: cervical fluid, basal body temperature (or waking temperature), and cervical position. There’s so much more detail for each of these signs than I’ll be able to give here (which is why Toni Weschler wrote a 400 + page book about it!), but let me give you a quick overview. Cervical Fluid: Your cervical fluid, which presents itself to you as vaginal discharge, changes consistency throughout your cycle. The consistency of your cervical fluid is a big clue as to whether you’re in the fertile portion of your cycle. Everyone’s fluid is slightly different, and it may take you a while to identify your pattern at what influences it, but here’s the general pattern: at the beginning of your cycle, you have menstrual discharge. When that ends, you may have a few days of vaginal dryness, and then you’ll likely start to have some secretions that are sticky. With this type of discharge, you’re potentially fertile, but it’s unlikely that sperm would survive in this type of fluid. After a few days (it’s different for everyone and can vary from cycle to cycle), your cervical fluid will likely become more wet and creamy or slippery. You’re more fertile when your cervical fluid is creamy. Then, your cervical fluid starts to resemble eggwhites: it stretches and is clear, and creates a lubricative vaginal sensation. This eggwhite-quality cervical fluid indicates that you’re in the most fertile part of your cycle. If you’re hoping to get pregnant, take advantage of this time! If you’d rather not, use barrier method birth control or abstain from intercourse during any pre-ovulatory days with cervical fluid of any consistency. After ovulation, as estrogen levels drop, cervical fluid tends to dry up quickly, and progesterone kicks in as the primary hormone of your menstrual cycle. Basal Body Temperature (Waking Temperature): As hormones rise and fall during your cycle, your basal body temperature shifts in response. During the first part of your cycle, pre-ovulation, your temperature will be lower, around 97.0 to 97.7 degrees Fahrenheit. After you ovulate and progesterone is the primary hormone of your cycle, your temperatures will shift and remain higher throughout your cycle, with an average basal body temperature of about 97.8 degrees. Tracking basal body temperature is pretty easy, but there are a few things that make it even easier—nearly effortless! In order to ensure that your temperature is accurate, you’ll need to use a thermometer that is accurate to the tenths place. Choosing one that is specifically marketed as a “basal body thermometer” will ensure this accuracy. Typically, you must also take your temperature at about the same time every day, before getting out of bed, and after three hours of uninterrupted sleep. As a mom and doula, I know that regularly aligning those three requirements can be tricky! Personally, I’ve opted to use TempDrop, a wearable thermometer that has uses an algorithm to account for sleep disturbances or inconsistencies. I just put on the armband when I go to bed, take it off when I wake up, and sync it to the app on my phone, which uploads my temperature data to a graph on the app and makes it easy to see when I’ve ovulated and my temperature has risen! If you opt for a different thermometer, there are several other apps that will chart your temperatures for you, such as Femometer, CycleProGo, and many others. They also offer places to write notes and keep track of your cervical fluid quality and cervix position, firmness, and openness, as well as any other notes that may impact your fertility (illness, stress, etc.). I started charting my cycle years ago with pen and paper, and let me tell you, these apps are game changers! Cervical Position: Weschler describes cervical position as an optional sign gives more information about how fertile you are at different signs of your cycle. To remember the cervix’s position during fertile times, Weschler introduces the acronym SHOW. When you’re in a fertile phase of your cycle, your cervix becomes Soft, High, Open, and Wet. (You can imagine that this would create an ideal environment for sperm to pass through to achieve pregnancy!) Applying Your Fertility Knowledge After describing each of these signs, Weschler gives detailed instructions on how to observe each of them within your own body, and how to chart or keep track of them. As you put these principles into practice, you’ll be able to gain valuable information about your own body and use this information to help you achieve or avoid pregnancy. Throughout the rest of the book, Weschler describes various circumstances during which you may not ovulate (adolescence, breastfeeding, PCOS, etc.). She gives information about how to use fertility awareness to avoid pregnancy and to help become pregnant. Beyond avoiding or achieving pregnancy, she discusses how an increased awareness of your fertility is helpful in staying informed about your gynecological health, appreciating your sexuality, navigating PMS and menopause, and enhancing your sense of self-esteem and self-efficacy. In short, fertility awareness is useful throughout your life! After the primary content of the book, Toni closes with tons of helpful appendices, ranging in topic from using fertility awareness while breastfeeding, troubleshooting hard-to-read basal body temp charts, how to research fertility clinics, and much more! Last Thoughts This blog post has been a (comparatively) brief overview of how to better understand your body’s fertility cues, which you can use to avoid or achieve pregnancy. But it’s not comprehensive! I hope you feel empowered by the information you’ve read here, and that you’re motivated to go and learn more! Especially if you’re using fertility awareness to avoid pregnancy, I highly recommend that you get your hands on a copy of Taking Charge of Your Fertility and get familiar with all of the details that I didn’t go into here! (I have multiple copies in my Lending Library!) I also recommend that you take several months, off of hormonal birth control, to get familiar with your body and your fertility signs. If it’s not something you’ve been used to paying attention to, it can take some time to read your body’s cues. So use a barrier method of birth control while you’re learning! If you’re using this information to become pregnant, you’ll still learn a lot from reading Taking Charge of Your Fertility. The things you’ll learn will help you navigate fertility challenges, time your pregnancy, and be confident in your estimated due date based on your unique cycle and day of ovulation. Whatever your circumstance, I can’t wait for you to learn more! When I first learned about the children's book Nine Months by Miranda Paul and Jason Chin, I knew before even reading it that I wanted to add it to my bookshelf. Paul (author) and Chin (illustrator) collaborated on a family favorite picture book, Water is Water, that poetically teaches about the water cycle and water phases. That book is done so masterfully, with such beautiful illustrations, that I was giddy to discover that Paul and Chin had collaborated on a book about pregnancy! As of right now, this is the only book in my Lending Library written for children. But I feel it's the perfect book for big sisters- and brothers-to-be. Each two-page shows what happens during a month of pregnancy: through poetry, simple facts about the growing baby, and beautiful life-size illustrations of the baby in-utero and a fictional family preparing to welcome the baby. The language and paintings appeal to the youngest children as well as older children and the adults reading the book. Here's a taste of the beauty of this book: I love how the simple, rhyming words, paired with paintings of what's going on inside and outside the uterus, come together to tell the beginning of this incredible story of new life! The side-by-side illustrations of the fetus growing and the family preparing help kids make sense of doctor's visits and mom's growing belly. Aren't those illustrations beautiful?! For especially curious young (or older!) minds, the book ends with four small-type pages of information of how a fertilized egg grows from embryo to fetus, detailing when each body system forms and develops. It gives additional information about fetal skills and abilities, compares human gestation to other mammals, and explains multiple gestation (twins and more), prematurity, and miscarriage.
Truly, if you're looking for an info-packed, thoughtfully-made, accessible, gorgeous book to help older siblings prepare for a new baby, Nine Months is it! This is the sleep book I wish I'd had when my kids were babies.
Being a new parent is tough! Adjusting to a new sleep schedule and meeting the seemingly-constant needs of a new baby is exhausting. Worst of all, when you Google anything about baby sleep, you get experts on all sides disagreeing about the best way to teach kids to sleep! No matter how you proceed in trying to get some more sleep for you and your baby, someone out there will tell you that you're doing it wrong. As a new parent, I also struggled with guilt when we resorted to cry-it-out methods, desperate to get more sleep for our babies (we started with twins) and ourselves. While one or both of my babies cried themselves to sleep in their room, I, myself, was crying in our room, wishing there was a better way to get everyone some more sleep! I wish I'd heard then about The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. That's what I needed! No tears, for either of us. The book begins with important information for getting started, like basic sleep facts for newborns through two years, and safe sleep practices for newborns. (If you're reading the first edition, which I have in my library, some of the safe sleep recommendations do need updating. I've annotated my copies with sticky notes.) Pantley then describes the in-depth process of creating sleep logs, then reviewing your sleep logs and choosing solutions to improve your baby's sleep patterns. Solutions are divided into those for newborn babies (up to four months) and those for older babies (four months to two years). Pantley cautions that, in order to have an impact, you have to try out new solutions for at least two or three weeks. This approach to a better night's sleep isn't a quick fix, and will require dedication and persistence. Pantley recommends continuing to keep detailed sleep logs and analyzing them every ten days and making any necessary changes. Throughout the book, she gives examples of possible solutions, when they are likely to be effective, and alternatives to try if they are not. And she ends with a reminder that sleep patterns continue to change as children grow up, so keeping these tools and the book handy in coming months and years will continue to be helpful! Although I can't vouch for the efficacy of this baby sleep approach from personal experience, I've heard this book highly recommended by a very experienced postpartum doula I trust. And, though I didn't get the chance to try out any No-Cry strategies on my newborns, I did use its wisdom to navigate a sleep problem with my four-year-old, who still slept with a pacifier. I knew it was time for him to quit the pacifier habit, but all of my ideas of how to do it without lots of crying (from everyone!) were falling short. Then, using an idea from The No-Cry Sleep Solution, I wrote him a picture book--starring him, as the main character. It told the story of him growing up and saying goodbye to his pacifier (with compensation prizes to salve the hurt). When I read it to him, he did cry a bit about having to say goodbye to his pacifier, but only briefly. He didn't stormily protest (as he was in the habit of doing), and the whole transition went far, far better than I imagined it would. This experience, plus recommendations from professionals I trust, gives me confidence that Elizabeth Pantley knows what she's talking about when she writes about no-cry (or low-cry) sleep solutions. Ready for your baby to sleep better? Or preparing to have a baby and wanting to get things right from the get-go? I'd love to lend you my copy of The No-Cry Sleep Solution in my Lending Library. Penny Simkin writes, "How a woman gives birth matters--to her baby's long-term health, to her family (including her relationship with her partner), and to her mental and physical health and her self-confidence and self-esteem as a woman and a mother" (The Birth Partner, Fourth Edition, p. xi). Because this is true, Simkin also asserts that "How a woman is cared for and supported during birth is a major influence, not only in how she gives birth but also in how she feels about it" (p. xi). Quality support during birth is important. The way women are supported during birth affects how they birth, how they feel about it, and how the experience impacts their roles and relationships for a lifetime. Given the importance of high-quality support during birth, wouldn't it be nice if support people (husbands, partners, family, and doulas) had a manual for how to give high-quality support? The Birth Partner answers this call. The book is a comprehensive go-to for support people during the last week's of pregnancy and birth. It's written by Penny Simkin, the co-founder of DONA International, the largest and oldest doula training and certifying organization. In The Birth Partner, Simkin writes to spouses and partners to help them prepare to be an active and supportive participant in the birth process. She describes in detail what to expect in the final weeks of pregnancy and through each stage of labor, and how birth partners can be helpful at each stage, while also caring for their own physical and emotional needs. Throughout the book, Simkin also briefly discusses the doula's role during labor and birth and how it complements the husband/partner's role. She then describes some of the common tests, interventions, and procedures that may be recommended during pregnancy and labor and gives a framework for making informed decisions. In this section, Simkin does normalize some interventions that aren't necessary in many healthy pregnancies, but that's my biggest (and most nit-picky) complaint about the book. The book closes with a section on the first few days postpartum, and Simkin again shares helpful information and tips about how to be a supportive help at home in the days after birth. In all, The Birth Partner is an info-packed and accessible guide for preparing to support someone through the experience of giving birth. I keep multiple copies of it in my Lending Library so that my clients can benefit from reading it! If you'd like to get a taste for an abridged version of The Birth Partner, Penny Simkin also published a pamphlet, "Comfort in Labor," that touches on many of the same topics covered in The Birth Partner. If, after reading "Comfort in Labor," you feel that you want more, then The Birth Partner is probably for you! |
AuthorHi, I'm Sara. I'm a childbirth educator and birth + postpartum doula serving Utah county. I'm a twin mom (plus one!), natural VBACer, and birth lover! Archives
February 2024
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