Sweet Peas, Pods & Papas
Sweet Pea Births - ...celebrating every sweet pea and their birth
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Recent Posts

Time To Rally Around Our Midwives
Rights For Homebirth - May 2013 Update
Natural Oxytocin Boosters
10 Wishes For Your Birth and Beyond
Postpartum: Unplugged

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Planning for Baby - Part 1
Hyperemesis Gravidarum In The News
An Inside Look: Placenta Encapsulation
An Inside Look: Modern Mommy Boutique
Stay Safe and Cool Through Your Summer Pregnancy - Part 2

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Sweet Peas, Pods & Papas

Hospital Birth

Natural Oxytocin Boosters

I readTHISarticle this morning about how oxytocin helps to reduce stress and promote peace.  No surprise that this is the same hormone that is released when we make love, arguably a great stress reliever and a promoter of peace for couples.  A lovely consequence: welcome, baby, some 36+ weeks later!


In addition to being the “love” hormome, oxytocin is also produced in great quantity when a woman is in labor.  The hard contractions can only happen if the woman’s body is producing ample oxytocin.

Meet the Doula: Zabrina

This month I would like to introduce you to one of my Bradley Method® colleagues, Zabrina Pell.  She is a wonderful instructor, and as you will read, a doula and a lactation educator. I hope you will enjoy getting to know her through her interview.

About Zabrina:  My husband and I are blessed to have had five beautiful children.  My first child was born in 2001 having had no childbirth classes or training at all.  Although it was an uncomplicated natural birth for the most part, it felt very chaotic.

The Family-Centered Cesarean


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The natural caesarean: a woman-centred technique
An inside look at a planned cesarean that honors the MotherBaby dyad and let's fathers participate, too.
A "Family-Centered" cesarean?  Woman-centered?  What?  Did you just read that correctly?  

Meet the Doula: Kimberly

I am so pleased to introduce our students and readers to Kimberly Flake in this month’sMeet The Doulafeature.  Kimberly has been a doula for a few of our students, all of whom have had great experiences with her.  I wanted to feature her in April, Cesarean Awareness Month, since she, herself, is a VBAC mama, and she specializes in VBAC support.

When was the first time you heard the word, “doula”?
The first time I heard the word doula was when I read about it just weeks before I sat in a class to become one.

Planning Your VBAC – Where to Begin

I open today's post with the reminder that April is Cesarean Awareness Month. The World Health Organization and evidence-based practice only supports a cesarean rate of 15% or less.

While a cesarean birth can be life saving and necessary, and we are so grateful for the technology when our students need this intervention, we encourage you to know the difference between a variation and complication. Is Mom okay? Is Baby okay? If yes to both questions, asking for time can spare both Mom and Baby from an "unnecesarean".

Labor Support: Meet the Monitrice

I am so excited to announce a monitrice service for couples that want to have a natural birth outcome in a hospital setting.  Jennifer Hoeprich, LM, is now extending her skill set to families who want to stay home as long as possible before heading to a hospital for their birth.


What is a monitrice?
A monitrice is a professional, medically trained, labor support person, who provides clinical monitoring within the home environment, including cervical dilation exams, auscultation of fetal heart tones, and monitoring of general well-being of mother and baby, during labor.

Coach's Corner: Why Take Childbirth Classes?

Coach's Corner
Bruss shares some coach's insight to questions asked in our classes

We were asked a question in a recent class regarding the *natural* birth process.  To paraphrase the question, why not just turn your birth experience over to the medical professionals and trust them to do the best job for you, since they have had years of training and more years of experience in attending births.  Why get educated in the birth process, since you will never know as much as the professionals.

Meet the Doula: Dianne

One of our Fall 2011 students had a wonderful birth experience with her unwavering support through their “marathon” birth.  I had the pleasure of meeting Dianne at the Bradley Day Family Picnic last year.  I hope you will enjoy getting to know this month’s featured doula!  

Bio: This past summer, I celebrated being married to my wonderful husband, Craig, for 30 years! We have four grown children who I loved being a mom to and now I have the amazing privilege of being a Grammie!

Blueprint for your Birth Plan

We taught the class on writing birth plans last week.  I know my perspective has changed as we have seen other couples write plans and definitely my knowledge has expanded since the very first birth plan we wrote as consumers eight years ago.

A birth plan, or your Wish List, is the blueprint for your birth, if you will.  What do you expect to happen?  What will your birth look like from the outside?  Just like a house, you need to lay a foundation first.

Foundation: Research
The multiple-choice, check the box birth plans are a tool for the smart consumer.

Pregnancy Options: Certified Nurse-Midwives

Another group is calling for a week of recognition – this time it’s the American College of Nurse-Midwives.  October 7-13, 2012 is National Midwifery Week "...created by ACNM to celebrate and recognize our members.”  Read more about their organizationHERE.

The Bradley Method(R) Series03 Family with Belinda Hodder, CNMI am happy to participate in their campaign to bring the awareness of midwifery care to a larger audience.  We had an epiphany when we experienced midwifery care, and we are delighted to see many of our students making the choice to have midwifery care for their pregnancies and births.
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