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

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

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Sweet Peas, Pods & Papas

Placenta Encapsulation

Postpartum: Unplugged

We see the beautiful newborn pictures taken by professional photographers of sweet sleeping babies.  We ooh and ahh and maybe wish we had found someone to capture these days with our children.


Bradley Method® natural childbirth classes offered in Arizona: Chandler, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Gilbert, Mesa, Scottsdale, Payson
Here is what you do not see:  the tired mama, and probably papa, standing behind the photographer.  They are not getting sleep between adjusting to life with baby, learning how to breastfeed, and trying to figure out just how often they are supposed to feed the baby.  How do you sleep when the baby sleeps?

Meet The Doula: Crystal

This monthly series is an introduction to doulas that serve the Phoenix area.  Read more about the benefits of doula careHERE.  Read more about how to choose a doulaHERE.

Crystal Magnuson, AAHCC: Crystal and Paul, and their nine children, ages 3 months to 16 years old, live in Phoenix, AZ. Crystal is an Aspiring Midwife; Paul is a Licensed Massage Therapist. They enjoy being outdoors with their kids and helping other birthing families.

Meet The Doula: Crystal Magnuson, AAHCC  www.azfloweringmothers.com

When was the first time you heard the word, “doula”?  

Benefits of Placenta Encapsulation

Bradley Method® natural childbirth classes offered in Arizona: Chandler, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Gilbert, Mesa, ScottsdaleIn the grand scheme of planning our homebirth, there was one thing that Bruss was unsure about: placenta encapsulation.  The idea of consuming a placenta after childbirth was absolutely an eyebrow raiser for me, too, the first time I heard about it. 

After going to birth circle and researching some more, I came around to the idea.  Lots of moms testified that there was a positive effect on their postpartum period, going so far as to call them their “happy pills”.  I had postpartum blues with both Ysabella and Bryan (incidentally, both of their labors were augmented with Pitocin) and if there was a way to avoid that emotional roller coaster, I was willing to try it.

Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby

Bradley Method® Fall 2011 Series Chandler, AZBradley Method® Fall 2011 Series Chandler, AZ





I finally got approval from all the families to post the Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby pictures.  Here is a brief synopsis of their outcomes along with a birth story from one of the moms.
 
All of these are babies from our Fall 2011 Bradley Method® series.  Angelika got to be one of these babies, too!  The families enrolled in our classes with the intention of having natural births.  However, all of them took to heart our entreaty to evaluate all their decision points with the Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby filter.

Some Postpartum Strategies

OnTuesdayI posted some ideas to avoid birth trauma, mental anguish and physical distress during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding.  It is by no means a complete list, however it’s a good starting point for thought and action. 
 
As a general rule, the fewer interventions you have during your birth, the easier your breastfeeding relationship will be to establish.  This leads to a mom who recovers from her birth experience feeling competent in her abilities to nourish her child.

Planning for Baby - Part 1

Bradley Method® instructor Krystyna Bowman, AAHCC writes about planning for babyWe just had the privilege of attending our first “First Birthday Party” for one of the babies that was born to students from our first Bradley Method® class series.  She was also the first baby born in our career as Bradley Method®instructors - it was so fun to be part of the festivities!

While we were there, one of the other moms from their class mentioned that they were already trying for baby number two.  Which prompted Bruss to suggest that I write a post about things to consider when you are adding to your family.

Preparing for Variations and Complications

Last evening’s class was the topic of “Variations and Complications” during Pregnancy and Labor.  As much as we all hope and pray for an easy pregnancy and labor, for some of us, there are some bumps in the road.
 
The Bradley Method® includes a class on how to handle those “bumps” so that parents are at least aware of what the variations and complications are, what the possible reasons are for them, and the options available to them should they encounter these situations. We also encourage our students to do additional reading on these situations – it is never good enough to take an instructors word on these, especially for the decisions that impact their child.

An Inside Look: Placenta Encapsulation


The Golden Pills
The Golden Pills
Wendy shows us the finished product
Placenta Print
Placenta Print
The tree of life: the placenta provides all of a baby's needs while inutero, and can help mom overcome postpartum depression.
I know my first reaction to hearing "placenta encapsulation" was, "That sounds weird!" The more I learn about it, the more intrigued I am, and the more convinced I am that we will have this done when we are blessed with another baby.  I invitedWendy Diaz, a fellow Bradley Method® instructor who is also a Certified Placenta Encapsulation Specialist, to share about "The Golden Pills" today because I want to let our students know about this new trend in the natural childbirth movement.
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