Milwaukee Doula Martha at Doula Woman posting on virtual doula support

Virtual doula support is a needed option sometimes. So far I have attended one birth in which I supported virtually, part of the time.  Most of my prenatal meetings, educational sessions, consults, and listening support are now on zoom, facebook, or google-hangouts.

How does doula support work virtually?  Well, there is no standard.  Doula support can be almost all in-person (distancing, PPE, health assessments, etc when we are in a pandemic), almost all virtual, or all virtual, or some other combination.  It will depend on your preferences, if your doula’s  policies, and for in-hospital clients the current rules at a given hospital.   You and your doula figure out how set up prenatals, labor support, and postpartum support specific to your situation.  You may a do a rehearsal meaning that you use one or two methods (such as Facebook and Zoom) and get used to the logistics. Then, you switch easily from in-person to virtual support as you move your labor from home to hospital.

What I did so far is to create  virtual doula support that is similar to what I would do  in-person.  I kept a close watch in case something happened quickly such as a surprise in hospital protocol, or to clarify a vaginal birth time limit so as to pro-actively suggest things my client could do in the moment to meet that time limit. I went in the background for much of labor as I would do in hospital when  a patient is resting with an epidural, has time alone, has time with her partner, etc.  I also demonstrated acupressure while standing up a chair so that I could be seen. When there was something I would have done physically, I asked my client her view, and if she was up for it, then she asked the nurses or her partner to do the physical work such as position changes.  I had my little phone self held up to my client’s ear when things got super emotional. As for prenatal meetings, the energy felt somewhat similar to in-person,  A few things I demonstrated may have looked a bit odd.   So, things are being worked out, and I am thankful for this opportunity.

Preference so far for both my clients and me is that  on average in-person doula support is preferred.  That said, this is new.  Doula support v. none is a top priority now since skipping or minimizing in-hospital time for all people, and especially newborns and birthing people is extremely important to stay physically healthy.  And, physical health is very connected to mental and spiritual health for pregnant and birthing people and for postpartum .

Sincerely, Milwaukee doula Martha at Doula Woman 262 902 8714.  Reach out any time!

 

 

 

Postpartum doulas by Milwaukee Doula Martha at Doula Woman 262 902 8714

What is a postpartum doula?    This post is about doulas working for you when are home with your newborn baby.

This is an opinion and sharing of information blog.  This is not medical advise or evidence based.

Short definition of postpartum doula: “A postpartum doula provides evidenced based information on things such as infant feeding, emotional and physical recovery from birth, mother–baby bonding, infant soothing, and basic newborn care. A postpartum doula is there to help a new family in those first days and weeks after bringing home a new baby.” by American Pregnancy.

This is a limited definition.  When you are looking to hire a postpartum doula, I suggest choose one with whom you fee comfortable and open. You may need freedom from judgment.  Evidence based support works for some people, not all people. 

When your lifestyle and parenting style differ from “evidenced based” practices you may choose a postpartum doula who supports you, listens to you, and offers fluid support according to your lifestyle. In this way, you are not judged and your confidence builds. For example, until very recently co-sleeping was a “no no” and how to place your baby down to sleep varied from tummy to side-lie to back-lie within about one generation. In each phase the way to place your baby such as “tummy only” or “on his back” was credited as evidence based and pushed on parents with the fear that to do otherwise would increase baby’s risk of SIDS. Breastfeeding, an intimate and timeless bond is also under scrutiny of “evidence based practice.”  On the one hand, moms are pressured to breastfeed constantly if necessary as it is “best for baby” while simultaneously being told to never co-sleep.

A postpartum doula who supports you non-judgmentally will serve you regardless of your feeding, sleeping, eating, and other habits.

What I have done as a postpartum doula:  listening, breastfeeding help, baby calming tips, mom calming tips, referrals to area professionals such as chiropractor, pelvic floor specialist, talk-it-through sessions with partner, hugs, wiped tears, baby-wearing set up, cleaning, meal prep, errands, walks, sibling care, day-care, sounding board for mom to process her birth story, emotional story, or personal challenges, reassurance, and more.

Feel free to contact me.

Sincerely, Milwaukee doula Martha at Doula Woman 262-902-8714

Milwaukee doula Martha at doulawoman.com post on DOULAS and EPIDURALS.

Yes, doula support goes with epidural births.

If you are in the midst of labor and your primal feel is to get an epidural, then you get one.  While epidural rates are much lower at doula attended births, the numbers are such that many times you will have both a doula and an epidural.

Feel free to ask me about examples of how I worked with women who planned, and got their epidural asap, women who planned and got their epidural after a long “natural” labor, and women who changed plans to get an epidural as the situation evolved.

It is always an honor to be your doula.

Sincerely, Martha at doulawoman.com

262-902-8714.

Southeast Wisconsin doula and Milwaukee doula Martha at doulawoman.com:

DOULA SUPPORT AND QUESTIONS

Questions are a great way to figure out what is best for you.

I noticed that for many questions about pregnancy, childbirth, and  parenting that the answers are similar.

• Is natural birth better than getting an epidural?
• Why does it matter who my provider is?
• How does a doula help?
• Why does it matter what happens at my birth?
• At what point in labor should I head to the hospital?
• Should I just agree to an induction when it feels wrong for me?

For all of the above excellent questions the answers are similar:  When you keep your power, and keep your voice, gain information, and trust yourself your pregnancy and birth bring a strong foundation to you as a person and as a mother.  So, for the above questions the answer involves what does keeping your voice mean for you personally.

For example, if your care provider respects you, listens to you and avoids fear tactics then it is much easier to keep your self trust.  When you keep your self trust, your body listens too, and you open for birth.

Example again, what happens at your birth is sacred, the emotional, spiritual, and physical happenings set the base for you as a mother. When you keep your voice and power, instead of giving these away, you move forward with strength, love and confidence.

Sincerely,

Milwaukee doula Martha at doulawoman.com 262-902-8714

Doulas near Milwaukee Doulas Southeast Wi., Doulawoman.com Martha post : Why to labor at home prior to hospital birth.

You know you will birth in-hospital and you wish to minimize trauma, drama, and to

• 

  Labor at home in Milwaukee

  birth vaginally.  If this describes you then laboring at home prior to birth in hospital is of great advantage and here is why:

•   YOU CAN ESCAPE THE  CASCADE OF INTERVENTIONS. (The cascade causes increase in  c-sections, forceps, vacuum, and hospital complications such as infection, baby in ICU, breast-feeding challenges, etc. It means you  get Pitocin to augment your labor, need an epidural or pain meds early in labor, feel out-of-control).
• YOU AND BABY STAY IN SYNCH HORMONALY.  You get the effect of naturally produced oxytocin which speeds up labor, helps baby position best for anterior presentation, and ups likelihood of vaginal birth because your baby can make the moves needed to “fit” through your pelvis as you move and breath from instinct.
• IT IS MUCH EASIER TO COPE WITH THE INCREASED INTENSITY OF YOUR BIRTHING WAVES AT HOME.  When you stay inner-focused your hormones take care of things and labor moves along. Oxytocin crosses to your brain, the pain lessens, more oxytocin is released, and opening for birth happens. At the hospital you are questioned, epidurals are the norm, your ability to move about is impeded, lights are bright, exams are mandatory, you are attached to machines. All this causes stress, unnatural hormone responses and can present in you as elevated blood pressure, more painful contractions without corresponding opening, stalled labor and in baby as fetal distress.
• SPHINCTER LAW and means that when you go to hospital in early labor or prior to labor instead of in active labor then your body instincts to keep baby in.  This means labor slows way down or it could present as a stall at some point.  This then causes the cascade, self-doubt, and the shift to having things done to you  where as when at home you labor from within.  You greatly increase your chance of c-section for “failure to progress” when you arrive in-hospital in early labor.  Women dilate in unique ways almost never mimicking hospital protocol.  When you arrive in early labor, are checked, then checked again and do not dilate within hospital protocol time-frames then you  “failed to progress.” A tiny percent of Milwaukee area providers will send women home in early labor. The vast majority will keep you in-hospital once you arrive.
• LABOR PERCEIVED AS SHORTER. When you stay in your primal zone, you do open more efficiently. Also, because you let go of  “time” you let go of thinking mind.
• YOU ENJOY THE COMFORTS OF HOME. So as you walk about, lie on your side, get food and drink, listen to music, stay naked, stay on the toilet, go in the tub, you do so in a familiar place and you do so freely.
• YOU CAN DO INTIMATE THINGS WITH YOUR PARTNER TO ENCOURAGE ACTIVE LABOR. You are home, use the privacy to your advantage.
• TRUE EXPEDIENT LABORS ARE EXTREMELY RARE IN REAL LIFE.  Yes, there are exceptions and unlike on TV when water breaks or one labor pain happens everyone rushes around this does not happen in real-life. Pre labor can be hours to days. Next is early labor and especially in a first birth this can be from days to about 5-6 hours.  Then, active labor, too, takes time.  Active labor defined as birthing waves increasing in both intensity and duration for at least an hour will last usually two to 8 or so hours in spontaneous labor.  Active labor almost always also presents as contractions close together: about 3 minutes a part from start-to-start with  3:1:1 pattern.
• CONSIDER LABOR AT HOME UNTIL 3:1:1. You transfer to hospital when contractions last about 1 minutes or more and start every three minutes. And this has gone on for at least one hour.  And when your gut says to  go in, then go.  If you are still in your chatty phase it is way to early.

Your doula can encourage labor at home with her knowledge of birth, instinct, and relative emotional distance.

Sincerely, Martha at doulawoman.com.

 

Doulas southeast Wisconsin Doulas hospital birth

Birth doulas support women physically, emotionally, and spiritually during pregnancy, labor, birth, and post-birth. In Wisconsin about 99% of births happen in-hospital. So, YES DOULAS ARE HERE FOR YOU WHEN YOU BIRTH IN A HOSPITAL. We work for you. As your doula, I learn your cues, offer education and bring my knowledge of birth and medical management to you. You labor and birth as you know best for you.  The vast majority of doula attended births are in hospital. Sincerely, Martha at doulawoman.com.

Doulas Milwaukee area Doulas southeast Wi. ” What is a doula?” by Milwaukee doula Martha at Doulawoman.com.

Dictionary definition: “A woman who is trained to assist another woman during childbirth and may provide support to the family…”

The above does explain the modern definition of a birth doula. As a working doula, I assure you your doula does much more than this.

A sampling of doula services:  information on local care providers,  in-depth explanation of ways to get the birth you desire, ways to self-advocate and keep you power and voice, bridge to care provider, up-to-date info. on medically managed births, ways to involve your partner, summary of what to expect during pregnancy and labor, ways to release fear of childbirth, breast-feeding support, acupressure, oils, massage, reiki, placenta encapsulation, referrals,  emotional and spiritual support specific to you, a woman in your corner-an-extension-of -you in this ancient tradition.

It’s about this:   you and your doula (and if you have a partner he/she as well) are connected such that your labor, birth, and post-birth are about you, your family, and your baby in a beautiful and primal way.  If you choose, your pregnancy and birth are much more than you as a patient in the medical system.

Peace,

Martha at doulawoman.com and doulawoman@gmail.com.

Doulas Milwaukee Doulas southeast Wi Martha at Doula Woman on: Birth without Fear. Email for free consult or to schedule reiki: doulawoman@gmail.com.

Many of you are familiar with the Birth Without Fear movement and that releasing your fear of childbirth can likely lead to a less painful, healthier, smoother and safer birth.

You  keep moving, focus on your health and strength, take in positive birth stories only, refuse to hear horror stories and advise, skip Facebook posts, TV, etc…that show birth as scary and show women being rescued from their own bodies (usually just in time) by medical staff. You can use this “positive replacement” thinking in every day life too.

Repeat to yourself only positive affirmations such as “My body and baby know just what to do” or “I trust myself” or “My body is just the right size for my baby and my baby will come at just the right time” or “I am strong enough for this.”

Consider that women have done this forever and that while hospital births in the U.S.  became relatively safe around the 1950’s that with medical interventions soaring the rate of fetal and maternal mortality is about the same as when the c-section rate was  10%.  High-risk mom is a relatively new term and prior to this these women birthed spontaneously and vaginally the vast majority of the time.

Women all over the world are with you in this and you can draw on that primal love and energy.

Ways positive lifestyle and self-affirming thinking help you:

• Movement and healthy eating during pregnancy mean you are more likely to be healthy in general and more likely that baby will gravitate to optimal fetal positions.
• When you trust yourself your stress-hormone levels decrease meaning increased steady  blood flow to yourself and baby.
• As a self-advocate you trust yourself to find and keep a care provider who listens to you and who trusts women.
• You follow your instinct as to aim for a physiologic birth, medically managed birth or one with elements of both.
• Knowing that you can trust yourself to birth  your body-mind connection works in your favor. So you “release” when your baby’s hormones change as he/she is ready. This causes spontaneous labor,  and the love hormone oxytocin which decreases your pain sensations and causes your uterus to contract efficiently.
• Listen to your body and know when to say yes or no to tests. As you know the more tests the more interventions.  When you say “yes” to a test do so knowing this is the best choice for you.
• Know that your pregnancy, birth and role as a mom are about you and not something being done to you.

Sincerely, Doula Woman at doulawoman.com.

 

Doulas near Milwaukee: Milwaukee doulas at Doula Woman post about due date.

A first full-term pregnancy naturally is about 41.4 weeks on average.

I looked up some studies and learned the way “due dates” are prescribed does not quite add up. Apparently some guy…a hundred plus years ago devised the “your period” plus seven days method. It was unclear, however, if that meant from start  of period (used now) or end of your period. 

Day of sexual intercourse and day of conception are not always equal either. Sperm can easily live up to 5 days or so meaning conception could be close to a week after sex.

And some women ovulate before or after mid-cycle or before or after 14 days from start of last menstrual period.

Put all of the above plus what you intuitively know together and two women with the same due date could easily be  two weeks apart in gestation.

Why is this important you may ask? The reason is most women get many tests during pregnancy and these tests cause more tests and often interventions such as induced labor and c-section. The tests cause the interventions and medical reasons for the interventions are usually given.  Many of these tests in full or in part are based on the premise of due date and on the premise that all fetuses and women should follow a predetermined course of development.

Just to consider…should you care to.

Sincerely

Martha at doulawomen.com or 262-902-8714 or doulawoman@gmail.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Doulas in Milwaukee: Milwaukee doula at Doulawoman.com post on motherhood.

Now that I am a seasoned and spunky doula at age 50 “some” I share that I still remember the births, first few days, and the first few weeks and months of parenting each of my children.  To say something is “so unique” is redundant but applicable here. As a new mom to your baby, this particular baby, your emotions, highs, lows, bodily appearance and functions, mental state (if you can de-fog enough to find your mental state), etc. all smoosh and slosh and blend and diffuse and combat in ways never known before.

What this means is  the plans you made, the classes you took, the stories you heard a, the you-tube videos…well it may be that little or none of those apply.

So, it’s up to you. You can just go with it. You can do what ever is needed to  maintain basic sanity. Or you may  just crash. In any event  remember that you you are not alone. If you feel to be alone then reach out…reach out to a stranger if you need to. YOU are important: for yourself alone and for your baby.