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

Rights For Homebirth - May 2013 Update
Natural Oxytocin Boosters
10 Wishes For Your Birth and Beyond
Postpartum: Unplugged
Bébé Concierge: J'aime la vie by Victoria Antoinette

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

Postpartum

10 Wishes For Your Birth and Beyond

It’s hard to believe…and I know, I say this every three months – Time Flies!  We are almost finished with another class series.  As we get ready to send another set of Papas and Pods off into the world to prepare for the arrival of their Sweet Peas, I wanted to write our “Wish List” for their Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby outcome.

What we hope you will remember:
1.  You are a team.
As a couple, you lovingly conceived your child.  You have attended a trimester of Bradley Method® classes together to learn about the normal, low-risk process of pregnancy, labor and birth.

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?

VBAC: The BIG picture of the risks

Uterine Rupture.   

If you have had a previous cesarean, this is THE “drop” word for many care providers when they have their “informed consent” talk with patients for consequent pregnancies.

Today I want to take a look at several other complications related to labor and delivery.  If you are going to be influenced by risk factors for uterine rupture, I think it is fair to look at all the other risk factors in order to create a bigger picture and put things into perspective.

Pregnancy is generally considered a healthy time in a woman’s life.

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.

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.

Postpartum Period: 0-6 weeks

On Tuesday I shared the things we have in our “Postpartum Kit”.  Last night’s birth circle topic was about the postpartum period…specifically the six weeks after baby was born.  Here are some gems from last night to share with you: 

Breastfeeding:  Some moms set up a “nursing station” in the nursery.  They stock it with water, snacks, books or magazines to read while nursing, nursing pads and nipple cream.  One of the mom/Bradley™ teacher/doula suggested to set up more than one station because in her experience mom’s get tired of nursing in the same spot.

Postpartum Kit


Bradley Method(R) classes offered in Arizona: Chandler, Tempe, Gilbert, Mesa, Ahwatukee, Scottsdale, Payson
We said best wishes to another class last night...it's always hard to believe our group has been together for 12 weeks, and that the gatherings are over until reunion time.  

I have never shared what is in our postpartum kit before, so here is a visual of what I put together to show our couples for them to consider keeping handy in the first few days after baby arrives:

Bradley Method(R) classes offered in Arizona: Chandler, Tempe, Gilbert, Mesa, Ahwatukee, Scottsdale, PaysonWater:  We suggest that coaches bring mom a tall glass of water or a full water bottle every time she settles down to nurse.

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.

Postpartum Ideas

Bradley Method® classes offered in Arizona: Chandler, Ahwatukee, Tempe, Gilbert, Mesa, ScottsdaleIt breaks my heart to hear desperation in a new mama’s voice, or to read that they are struggling with breastfeeding, or to know that they are not getting enough sleep.  It’s a harsh reality check after the first few hours of euphoria after the baby is born.
 
After a baby is born and the female body is flooded with endorphins, a mama who has had minimal interference with the natural process will be completely alert, awake and responsive to the needs of her newborn child.  Hopefully she gets some sleep after the endorphins wear off.

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.
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