Sweet Peas, Pods & Papas
Sweet Pea Births - ...celebrating every sweet pea and their birth
RSS Follow Become a Fan

Delivered by FeedBurner


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

Most Popular Posts

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

Categories

Acupuncture
Allergies
Amniotomy
AROM
Artifical Rupture of Membranes
Avoiding harmful substances
Baby blues
Baby Concierge
Baby games
Baby-led weaning
Babywearing
Back Labor
Bag of Waters
Bedtime Routine
Belly Cast
Berman's Law
Birth center
Birth Centers Phoenix AZ area
Birth Circle
Birth place options
Birth plans
Birth Story
BLW
Bradley Day Family Picnic
Bradley Method®
Bradley Method® birth story
Bradley Method® for next baby
Bradley Method® for second pregnancy
Bradley Method® outcome
Bradley® Coaches
Bradley™ classes and the next baby
Bradley™ classes for next pregnancy
Bradley™ classes for second pregnancy
Breast Pumps
Breast Pumps and Workplace
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding 101
Breastfeeding Challenges
Breastfeeding in Public
Breastfeeding support
Breech presentation
Breech turning techniques
Cassandra Okamoto
Cephalo-Pelvic Disproportion
Cesarean Birth
Cesarean Support Group
Cesarean Surgery
Child Spacing
Childcare
Children's Books
Chiropractic Care
CIO
Circumcision
Co Sleeping
Coaches
Coaching
Coach's Corner
Comfort Measures
Communication
CPD
Cry It Out
Crying
Dairy Allergy
Debbie Gillespie, IBCLC, RLC
Dehydration and Pregnancy
Depression
Doulas
Drinking during labor
Due Date
Eating during labor
Eclampsia
ECV
Engorgement
Epidural
Exercise
External Cephalic Version
Failure to Progress
Family Bed
Fetal Distress
First Birthday
First Foods for baby
First stage labor
Flower Essences
Fluid Retention
FTP
Full term
Fussy baby
Galactogogues
Going to your birthplace
Grief Counseling and Support Services
Healing
Healthy, Low-Risk
Hearing Screen
Heat Comfort Measures
Herbalist
Homebirth
Hospital Birth
Hyperemesis Gravidarum
Hyperthermia and Pregnancy
In Their Own Words
Increase Breastmilk
Infant Classes
Infections and Pregnancy
Information Center
Informed Consent
Jaundice
La Leche League
Labor Marathon
Labor Sprint
Labor Support
Lactivist
Managing or coping with natural labor
Maternity Keepsake
Meet the Doula
Midwife
Midwifery Care
Midwifery Scope of Practice Committee
Milk Supply
Miscarriage or Stillbirth
Modern Mommy Boutique
Mommy-Con
Monitrice
Morning Sickness
NAP
Natural Alignment Plateau
Natural birth
natural labor coping mechanisms
Natural labor coping techniques
Nausea
Newborn Care
Newborn jaundice
Next baby
Next pregnancy
NIP
NPO
Nursing
Nursing and Maternity Bras
Nursing In Public
Nursing Strike
Nutrition
Obstetrical Care
Oxytocin
Pain
Pain management
Pain management natural labor
Parenting
Past due date
Patient Bill of Rights
Perineum
Phoenix Mommy-Con Mini
Photographer
Placenta Encapsulation
Planning for Baby
Playing with baby
Postdate
Postmature baby
Postpartum
Postpartum Depression
Postpartum Doula
Postpartum Plan
Pre-eclampsia
Pregnancy
Pregnancy Loss
Premature Ruptture of Membranes
Pre-term Labor
Prolonged Labor
PROM
Relaxation
Relaxation practice
Repeat Bradley™ classes
Rights for Homebirth
ROM
RSV
Rupture of Membranes
Scavenger Hunt
Second Stage Labor
Sensory games
Sibling Preparation for Newborn Arrival
Sling
Soft-structured carrier
Starting Solids
Support Groups
Sweet Pea Births
Swelling in Pregnancy
Tandem Nursing
Teething
The Bradley Method®
The Bradley Method® classes
The Bradley Method® pain management
Tongue Tie
Tongue Tie Procedure
Toxins, pesticides, chemicals and pregnancy
Traditions
Transition
Use of vacuum extraction
Uterine Rupture
Vaginal Birth After Cesarean
Vaginal Birth After Multiple Cesareans
Variations and Complications
VBAC
Weaning
Webster Protocol
Why we chose the Bradley Method® childbirth classes
Wrap
powered by

Sweet Peas, Pods & Papas

Information Center

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.

Bébé Concierge: J'aime la vie by Victoria Antoinette

Here is a neat business I would like to introduce you to – baby concierge is an emerging industry that is of particular interest to our students and readers.  Stephanie Antoinette is the Founder & M.O.M. (Master of Multitasking) at J’aime la vie by Victoria Antoinette Mommy & Bébé Concierge.  She is like a wedding planner, except for all things mom and bébé!

BIO:  I am the mother of two beautiful girls and have a baby on the way! My husband Andrew is an incredible father, he is my best friend and number one fan!

Labor Is More Than Dilation


As we close out Cesarean Awareness Month, I want to share this link to a post that I wrote about "Failing To Progress".  So often, these are the words of doom to a couple that is working towards a natural labor.  

There are other things that are going on when a woman is in labor.  The more birth stories I hear, the more convinced I am that labor is about surrender.  That concept is not measurable, nor is it graphed anywhere.

Please take a minute to revisit the post about

The Family-Centered Cesarean


You need Flash Player in order to view this.
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?  

Thresh’s Birth Story Part 2

Today is a continuation of my birth story from earlier this week. You can read Part 1here.

Thresh's Birth Story
Thresh's Birth Story
Out of the tub & resting in bed
There is a lot that happened right after Thresh made his entrance into the outside world: getting into bed, skin to skin between Thresh and his daddy, cutting the cord, delivering the placenta, eating Greek yogurt with almonds, diapering Thresh, being made a smoothie with a piece of my placenta, trying to breastfeed, my midwives and doula cleaning up and later on being stitched up; but instead of detailing the events I want to reflect more on how I felt that night and beyond about my son’s birth.

A New Chapter: Meet Cassandra

Bruss and I would like to welcome Cassandra to the Sweet Pea Births Family.  She will be a regular contributor to the blog and you will start seeing her around the internet on ourother social mediaplatforms.  I am looking forward to sharing her areas of expertise with our students and readers.  Bienvenidos, Cassandra! ~KRB
 

Hi, I am Cassandra Okamoto and I am a new contributing writer here at Sweet Pea Births! I thought I would tell you all a little bit about myself & then share my birth story, which just happened to take place almost exactly one year ago.

Mama Time

     The baby you have always dreamed of is here!  They are precious, tiny, and completely dependent on you!  You cherish the opportunity to nourish them, teach them, and wait for the day when they begin to interact with you by smiling at you, making and keeping eye contact, your first shared laugh together…all of these moments are priceless.

     Then something occurs to us - "when" is a matter of time.  They are here with you forever.  You will never go back to your life before baby.

Keeping Sweet Pea Healthy 2012

December is here and it’s time for my yearly PSA on protecting your baby from respiratory viruses.  When there is a newborn in the house, everyone wants to come over to meet the baby!!  They are pretty hard to resist.

Bruss and I are big advocates for our children, especially the youngest members of our family, during cold and flu season.  Our Night Owl had a life-threatening experience with RSV when he was three months old, and that has made us painfully aware just how fragile our sweet peas can be.

Holiday Meals and Your Milk Supply



In lieu of a Friday post, I thought I would take some time to post about herbs in holiday food that *might* affect your milk supply.  I had someone ask me about this over the weekend, and thought that this info might be helpful to all the mamas that read our blog.   We kick of the season of good cheer with Thanksgiving in the United States – tomorrow is the big day for home chefs all over the states.

As I was researching, a couple of the articles mentioned that these would have to be consumed in large quantities to affect your milk supply.

Silicone Necklaces for Teething

It’s amazing how the “can’t live without” products end up being the little ones.  I recently had a friend call me, looking for the “wow” gift she could purchase as a baby shower gift.  I laughed out loud because my favorite, go-to gift is a “wow” gift – just not the way she was thinking of.
She asked me which one baby product I could not live without, and it’sTHIS ONE.  As a matter of fact, I had just pulled it to the front of our bathroom closet the day she called in preparation for the cold and flu season.
Website Builder provided by  Vistaprint