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

The Bradley Method®

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.

Mommy-Con Ticket Giveaway Take 2

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MommyCon Phoenix At the Mesa Convention Center
http://mommy-con.com/event-registration/?ee=4Mommy Con is coming to Arizona.April 14th from 9am to 5:30pm at the Mesa Convention Center in Downtown Mesa.This is a boutique style convention ded...
Have you heard of Mommy-Con

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.

Top Ten Reasons To Take A Bradley Method® Class

Top Ten List:Reasons To Take A Bradley Method® Class

    We had the privilege of starting two new Bradley Method® Class Series last week.  We are teaching a Friday night series with First-time parents, and on Sunday we are teaching our Bradley Method® "Next Class" with alumni families who are expecting baby number two. 
     Some of the thoughts shared when we asked our students "why are you here today" inspired today's post.

Bradley™ Classes and The Next Baby

We have had parents take a Bradley Method® class series with baby number two (or three) when they had never taken a series with previous children.  The question is: is there value to taking a class series when you are pregnant with other children, when you
have already taken classes with another pregnancy?
 
I think that depends on the individual couple.  We made the choice to take a second complete class series because we only took 9 of the 12 classes in our first series.  Bruss also traveled; while I attended 9 of those classes, he only came to five or six of those.

Relaxation Practice

Standing position
Standing position
Leaning forward is a position for managing back labor - it helps get a posterior baby with the hard part of baby's head against mom's back off of her sacrum and ease some of the nerve pain that makes back labor so uncomfortable.
Rocking or Rhythmic Motion
Rocking or Rhythmic Motion
Some couples find it feels better to rock and sway in rhythm to her breathing - obviously not in labor in this picture - it's the closest I could find in my images!
Seated position
Seated position
Another choice for back labor that has mom leaning forward; also good for rocking and rhythmic motion when you use a birth ball or a rocking chair. This particular scenario allows access to massage mom at many different points.

Natural Labor Coping Techniques

Here are some of the ways we recommend our students manage their labor without analgesics or anesthetics.  Even when they are used in labor, we are so happy that our couples use them as tools to manage a long labor and their children are born nursing vigorously and with high APGAR scores.

Bradley Method® natural childbirth classes offered in Arizona: Chandler, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Gilbert, Mesa, Scottsdale, Payson  Mom and Coach are informed. 
Through the course of The Bradley Method® class series, parents are taught about what to expect as “normal” in labor, what the variations on normal might be, the different options and interventions in labor, and how to recognize a complication that warrants a change in the plan for a Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby outcome.

Failing to Progress or Naturally Aligning

Bradley Method® natural childbirth classes offered in Arizona: Chandler, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Gilbert, Mesa, Scottsdale, Payson  We have had a couple of students have had textbook “NAPS” in the last two classes…and since we still have several couples waiting for their babies, I thought this might be a reminder and an inspiration to them for their labors.  NAP – no, they didn’t take epic naps in labor (although I am a big advocate for sleeping in labor)…what it means is that they were very patient in their labors.   

One of the cornerstones of The Bradley Method® is a Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby outcome.  All of the discussion below only applies if Mom and Baby are not showing any signs of distress through labor.

Labor Readiness

Bradley Method® natural childbirth classes offered in Arizona: Chandler, Tempe, Ahwatukee, Gilbert, Mesa, Scottsdale Coach's Corner
Labor readiness

With The Bradley Method®, the labor Coach has lots of responsibilities.  During pregnancy, Coach must ensure that Mom's diet is great and that she's doing regular exercise.  Coach is encouraged to work with Mom on various relaxation techniques and practice.  These are added to the weekly Bradley™ classes (12-week course) to absorb a wealth of information on pregnancy, birth and beyond.

But it doesn't stop there.

There are Coaches that tell me, 'I'm not sure what to do.

Let's talk about Cesareans


In honor of Cesarean Awareness Month, I am going to devote the next two Tuesday posts with some information on cesareans.  I am not going to write a lot on how to avoid one in the first place or the specifics of a Vaginal Birth After Cesarean (“VBAC”) since there is already a wealth of information at the International Cesarean Awareness Network (“ICAN”) and Childbirth Connection websites. Instead I will offer an introduction to the topic for people who are not aware that cesareans are performed at an alarming high rate, and offer a quick look at causes and precautions.
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