“Reconnection to one’s most core self…”

I read this fact-filled and inspiring article about epidural anesthesia and remembered again why I am a midwife, and why midwives do what we do and why homebirth is so important! So good for mothers and babies!

If you are thinking about natural birth, making decisions about home or hospital, whether to have an epidural, how to prepare for your labor, birth and postpartum, you will want to read Dr. Kelly Brogan’s article at The Healthy Home Economist.

http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/epidurals-wolf-sheeps-clothing/#wellness

There are birth stories and testimonials at the HypnoBirthing of Southern Oregon blog and you will be able to find out about the latest class series for expecting parents.  You can take sure steps toward learning to relax and enjoy the transformative power of labor and birthing.  We are offering a substantial discount on HypnoBirthing to our homebirth clients because we think it is SO IMPORTANT.  Enjoy!

Pay Attention to those Critical Moments After Birth

I found this article this morning and had to take a moment to share it.  Jennifer’s research is solid and her heart shines with the passion of a mother who has experienced the joy of natural birth.  We are proud to have Jennifer Margulis living right here in our own community of Ashland!  Thank you so much!

Your Baby is Born….. What happens Next?

 

BabyMoon Ideas – How we can help new families

I just found this great article by Gloria Lemay at wisewomanwayofbirth.com.  Gloria has many many years of experience helping hundreds of families.  What is so great about this article is that she lists, quite specifically, the things that we can offer a new family.  These things are SO BASIC and yet will be SO APPRECIATED by the new family.  If you have ever had a baby, you will know that this is true.

For some of us, it’s difficult to ask for what we need.

If someone asks “How can I help?”  “I’d love to help you after the birth.  What do you need?”  we don’t really know how to respond, or maybe feel temporarily overwhelmed by the question itself.

 

A simple solution would be to just send them this article:

After the Birth – What a Family Needs

and they will understand and be grateful for the simplicity of it.

People really want to help

but they don’t want to intrude, and we don’t really have a cultural tradition that guides us.  Can it really be so simple as bringing groceries, toilet paper, folding laundry, doing the dishes, vacuuming the rug, making soup?  Yes!  Having had four babies and four postpartums I say a HUGE RESOUNDING YES!  If this can be coordinated among a circle friends, then all the better!

Remember, you will want to think about your postpartum time now, while you are pregnant, and create a BabyMoon for yourself and your little one.  You will be providing an opportunity for people to make a meaningful contribution to your baby’s beginning and giving yourself some little moments of rest that can add up to happier mama, more bountiful breastmilk, and a few moments of integration time for the whole family.

BabyMoon 40 days! Here are some more important concepts to help you prepare

Please check out Peggy O’Mara’s article on Ayurvedic Postpartum – So important!  Does it sound like a long time to you?  To rest with your newborn, to stay home, to receive help from family and friends for 40 days?  It is worth doing your best during the pregnancy to investigate how you can set this up for yourself.

It’s interesting to me how the Ayurvedic diet suggests no raw veggies.  When I was in my BabyMoon time with my fourth child, I used to sit my salad on the woodstove because when it wilted it tasted just perfect to me.

BabyMoon!

BabyMoon up close and personal = Happiness

 

I just returned from a 4 week baby wellness check and home visit with one of our moms. I was thrilled to see how rested, happy and bonded with the baby she was. It was a treasure too watching Dad holding and communicating with his son, all the while, the baby making eyes and baby sounds for him. They were all so in tune! Baby was completely comfortable in his body and parents were obviously adept at “reading” his cues, for nursing, for changing and so many other little things. Hardly a drop of stress in the house! They wanted to share so much of what they were learning – As if they themselves had been birthed into a whole new life.
Last week I witnessed a similar thing at a 4 week postpartum visit: mom was tucked away upstairs enjoying nap time with her baby. Dad and younger sibling were downstairs making food and generally bouncing gently around the way younger kids need to do. Both of these moms felt really comfortable in their bodies, had energy and felt “recovered” from the birth and both were dedicated to spending as much time as possible focusing on baby time, nursing, resting, enjoying. The babies were totally thriving! I was told they hardly ever cried. Parents could tell what the babies needed before crying ever happened.
The most prevalent energy in these homes was JOY!

But It can be DIFFICULT

I remember a much different picture with my own first baby. My husband went back to work the day after the birth. I rested as much as I could, but there was still food to cook, dishes and clothes to wash and all the various household chores while I was caring for a newborn, learning how to breastfeed and recovering from the birth. Labor and birth were a true vision quest for me, unimaginably transformative, and then suddenly, boom! that’s all over, now get back to normal life. I understand now that I really needed time to rest and integrate what I had just gone through. It was certainly the biggest experience I had ever had. My other challenges included outrageous fatigue, screaming muscles, basic overwhelm with everything being so new (I had never done this before!) and no one to share it with. I felt so alone but didn’t even know how to talk about that. Was I supposed to be enjoying this? My saving grace was the love I saw in my son’s gaze and my overwhelming desire to mother him.

I had intended to stay home exclusively for 21 days to give my baby time to “totally come into his body” and feel 100% secure, safe and thriving. I couldn’t do it. By two weeks I was getting “cabin fever” and went out into the world with him on some mundane errand. It was obviously a big mistake. He cried. I cried. My errand didn’t get accomplished. We both needed the slow calm attention and flexibility available at home in our nest. The simple act of driving and trying to “get something done” were moving us in the wrong direction.
During those early postpartum days, I talked to my mother on the phone (we were more than 3000 miles apart) and told her how sore, aching and tired I felt and she responded “Oh yes, I remember that’s how it is.” And that was it. This was just “the way it was.”
No one had told me how to create a BabyMoon time for myself and my newborn. I didn’t even know I would need it! I didn’t know that I would really really need this thing I had never even heard of. The new mom needs TIME. Time for recovery, rest, healing, bonding, adjusting, integrating – These are very real needs in the days and weeks after birth. There are physical and emotional costs when these needs are unmet.
For my second, third and fourth babies, I was more prepared. I had helped many other women plan their postpartum “lying-in” time experience. I did my best to create a BabyMoon experience for myself and I got better at it with each baby.
I was so happy to see Veege Ruediger’s great blog post at Moonstone Midwifery about this earlier in January.  She succinctly outlines why postpartum matters and gives 10 tips for how to honor your “recovery.” Veege is a mother and a midwife too, so I know she has walked her talk. If you are expecting a baby, you will want to check this out.

How to get started ~  Find out more about creating your own BabyMoon ~

 

We are creating a BabyMoon Project that you can benefit from right now. We want to spread the word until BabyMoon is a cultural tradition. As a community we can help each other. When you sign up for the BabyMoon project, you can receive newsletters with information and resources about how you can create your own BabyMoon. We are gathering a circle of women who can mentor and support other women to create and sustain their BabyMoon time.

Contact us to find out more

Nurturing Prenatal Care at Three Sisters Midwifery

Let me tell you about what you can expect to experience at a typical prenatal visit with the midwives at Three Sisters.

When you come into the office, there is often a midwife present to greet you and offer you a cup of tea. If there is a wait, it is rarely longer than five minutes. As you transition from our waiting area to the prenatal room, two of your midwives will join you. You’ll have the chance to settle onto our comfortable couch and the midwives will ask how you are doing. Our prenatal visits have the feel of a conversation among friends as we chat together, checking-in about your diet, your sleep, and your energy level. We will ask about any discomforts you may be experiencing and we will want to know about your stressors, and your joys, challenges, and changes too. We will offer counsel and feedback where needed. We will make diet suggestions or help you brainstorm ideas to address any concerns that have come up. Most of all, we will listen. So much of our care is about getting to know you and your family. We want to learn about who you are and what you desire from your pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experiences. We are here to support you in creating what feels optimal and authentic to you.

In some prenatal visits, a significant portion of time is spent in discussion around choices that come up along the way. We take plenty of time for questions, making it possible for you to make the informed decisions that feel right for your family. Because each prenatal visit is an hour long, there is ample time cover all that is important to you.

In the last part of your prenatal visit, we will check-in with you on a more physical level. We will take your blood pressure and pulse and have you step on the scale. We will measure your growing belly, listen to your baby’s heartbeat, and palpate your baby’s position. This is also a special time for everyone to tune in with baby who has his or her own unique experience of the process.

Our midwives know pregnancy can be an incredible journey when a woman is nurtured and cared for in the way she deserves. We know babies are at their healthiest when they are acknowledged and welcomed in a gentle, safe, and loving way by their families and care providers. Our midwifery care goes above and beyond what is offered in most other maternity settings. For me, choosing homebirth midwifery care was a gift to my baby and myself and I am still reaping the benefits today.

Childhood Vaccines: A Topic on Every Parent’s Mind

Next week, I will be teaching a class about childhood vaccinations. It is a topic that is of great interest to me as both a mother and a healthcare practitioner. Childhood vaccines are at the forefront of mainstream medicine these days. Well-child visits are typically scheduled based on the vaccines a child should receive and the vast majority of medical practitioners advise parents to follow the current schedule recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

However, many parents have doubts about the current CDC schedule and find themselves conflicted about what is best for their children. Furthermore, in our modern world, it is difficult to find reliable information about vaccines that is scientifically-based and not simply someone’s opinion. Often as parents, we have to do our own research on topics such as vaccines and be an advocate for our children in the healthcare setting.

I believe parents have a right to accurate, unbiased information when it comes to making important healthcare decisions for their children. Education is a significant part of what I do as a naturopathic doctor and a midwife. At Three Sisters, all of our midwives spend a lot of time educating clients. When it comes to choices that need to be made around a baby’s health, we do our best to provide thorough, unbiased information so parents are able to make the decision that best suits their family and their child. My upcoming vaccines class will be held at Three Sisters Midwifery in our classroom space and aligns well with our practice’s emphasis on education and choices.

In the class, we will cover topics such as:

• naturopathic approaches to vaccination
• immune and brain development in early childhood and how this relates to vaccination
• the community impact of vaccines
• the pros and cons of the current CDC schedule
• alternative vaccines schedules
• how to best support your child’s immune system if you do choose to vaccinate
• and much, much more

Join us next Tuesday, October 15th at 6:00pm for an in-depth 2 ½ hour class and discussion about vaccines. The cost is $20 per family.

Please class Katie to register: 542-778-6173

Hope to see you there!

Essential Fatty Acids in Pregnancy

EFAs for healthy moms and babies!

In our practice, we spend a large portion of each prenatal visit educating each pregnant mom about how to take optimal care of herself and her growing baby. We talk about nutrition, exercise, and sleep. We talk about her support network and her relationship, her stress level, and her changing emotions. Another important area we address is whether supplementation would be helpful for supporting wellness. A particular area I emphasize in our prenatal care is a mom’s intake of essential fatty acids.

Unlike other fats in our diet, essential fatty acids (EFAs) are a type the body cannot make on its own. They are considered essential because we must get them from a food or a supplement. In all people, EFAs are needed to make hormones, keep inflammation at bay, support our mood, and ensure proper functioning of our nervous system. EFAs are of great benefit to a pregnant woman because they reduce her risk of preterm birth as well as her risk for postpartum depression. Moreover, what we see in practice and what we know from clinical research tells us that in pregnancy, EFAs are of great value to the baby because EFAs:

• Build strong, healthy cells and tissues
• Support optimal brain and eye development
• Reduce the lifetime risk of allergies and diabetes
• Are associated with increased intelligence in childhood and lower rates of anxiety, depression, and aggression
• Are associated with a healthy birth weight

EFAs can be obtained in the diet by eating certain animal foods. While some plant foods such as walnuts and flax seeds contain small amounts of EFAs, these fats are considered precursors to the desirable EFA forms and only small amounts are actually converted within our bodies. Organic grass-fed beef and bison, pastured chicken eggs, butter from grass-fed cows, and wild Alaskan salmon are all great EFA sources. I advise every pregnant mom to include these foods in her diet. I often prescribe a daily EFA supplement too unless a mom feels she is able to get ample amounts of these foods on a very consistent basis. I prescribe daily fish oil, typically in the form of cod liver oil, to pregnant moms for a well-absorbed, reliable EFA source. This supplement is taken daily and should be continued while breastfeeding. Small amounts of cod liver oil can even be given to your baby once solid foods are introduced.

Unfortunately not all brands of fish oil are created equal so it is important to ask your midwife or naturopath which brands are free of chemical processing and contamination. Also be sure to check-in about dosage because this is individual for each pregnant woman depending on her diet and health history.

Here’s to healthy, nourished moms and babies!

Important Precautions for Fire Season

Even without tuning in to the Air Quality Index ratings, its obvious the current level of fire smoke in Southern Oregon is hard on the whole system.  Smoke is the mixture of airborne particulates and gases. Symptoms of smoke inhalation very and depend on the length of exposure, density of smoke, and our predisposition to respiratory sensitivities. Common symptoms associated with smoke inhalation and decrease of oxygen intake include sore or hoarse throat; itchy or burning eyes; difficult, shallow, or painful breathing; headache; dry or wet cough; runny, congested, or painful nose.  At Three Sisters Midwifery we’ve been wondering, what can be done to protect pregnant mama’s and new babies? We called the public health department and consulted with a local obstetrician and naturopathic physician to gather the following recommendations.  Please protect your sweet selves, and your little ones, whether they be in your arms or in your bellies.

– On 7/31/13, the AQI in Medford was around 270, in the “VERY UNHEALTHY” category.  Based on this rating, pregnant women and children should avoid time outdoors, especially ALL physical activity outdoors.

– Check updated information at AIRNow.

– If you have a newborn, as long as the AQI is above 100, avoid prolonged periods outside with your baby.

– To learn more about the AQI rating system and the health risks associated with smoke pollution, refer to this brochure from the Environmental Protection Agency.

– If outside during smoky conditions, wear a mask or respirator at all times, one that filters particulate pollution and that is “N95 approved”.

– When inside, keep doors and windows closed.

– Consider investing in an air filter for your home, one that has hepa and active charcoal filters.  If you have a cooling system in your home, check that the filters have been replaced recently.

– Breath through your nose.  Its your bodies natural air filter!

– Drink lots of water and eat extra antioxidants to protect your cells from the pollution and keep your immune system strong – fresh fruits and vegetables!  Berries and dark leafy greens are especially good sources.  Foods with anti-inflammatory properties will also support your lungs and prevent irritation, such as ginger, turmeric, and pineapple.

– Warm liquids help clear bronchial passages.  Consider brewing tea with some of these immune and respiratory-supportive herbs: Red Clover, Calendula, Mullein leaf, Elder flowers, Elecampane, Lemongrass, Rose hips, Licorice root, Rosemary, Fennel Seeds and Thyme.

– Talk to your midwife about any discomforts or symptoms you are having to develop a treatment plan.