How do you find the right childbirth class?

This is a guest post from Doogie.  She’s newly pregnant with her first and has agreed to give us some insights on what’s she’s thinking and how she’s finding info in her pregnancy.

Just so we get this out of the way quickly, I’m a complete novice at the childbirth thing. I’m the ultimate blank slate waiting to be filled with good information.
Last week, I had my first consult with my doctor’s nurse. Among the things she gave me was a list of available classes for new parents.  She circled the one about emergency childcare and pulmonary resuscitation. They do offer Hypnobirthing, but not Lamaze.  My sister in law I know did Hynobirthing and she spoke well of it, but I’ve never really had much luck with self-hypnosis, so I’ll put that on the back burner to think about while I investigate other options.

They have a prenatal childbirth class that from the description could be a crashing waste of time, or the most useful information ever.  “This five week class helps pregnant women and their partners make informed decisions about childbirth. Topics include information about relaxation breathing, realistic labor options, understanding the process of labor, and infant care.”  It’s recommended for the last trimester, so I have a ways before I have to worry about that.

In my mind, the definitive childbirth method is Lamaze.  I have a friend (sadly, not local) who is Lamaze certified, so I decide to go to their website. I went to http://www.lamaze.org to see what the lamaze class options in my area are.  I click on the provider information and get a search page where I can enter information.  I enter my zip code and come up with nothing.  I enter my area code (figuring that will give me a broader range) also nothing.  I try another entry point which tells me there are only Lamaze classes in 9 states, and mine isn’t one of them.  Well, I find that very hard to believe and eventually it turns out that those are hospital certified programs.  I go back to the original page and search again, on state only this time, and I come up with three pages of names and email address.

Names and email address.  I’m looking for class schedules, times, costs, something that will help me make an informed decision about where I should be going and what I should be doing.  Am I supposed to cold email every Lamaze provide in the towns with names I recognize as being within easy driving distance?  Do I send a mass mail to all of them at once or am I expected to personalize it?  No one has a website?  No one has a calendar?

I do a Google search on Lamaze classes in my state and get everything from yoga to cooking.  I do eventually find a link to another set of childbirth classes as another hospital near me, which doesn’t offer Lamaze, but does offer Hypnobirthing so I read the description:

This popular new course is designed for couples seeking a calm, peaceful and pain-free delivery of their baby. Hypnobirthing is a method and philosophy of gentle birthing that uses deep relaxation to reduce the fear and tension that can cause long labor and pain, replacing it with confidence, calm and comfort. In Hypnobirthing classes you will learn to work with your body as you become focused with preparing for an easier, safe and more comfortable birth through proper nutrition, good posture, fitness and an attitude of trust in the birthing process. With the Hypnobirthing techniques of self hypnosis and deep relaxation, you empower yourself with confidence that will allow you to experience the birth of your baby with relaxed expectation and joy. The course is taught by Certified Hypnobirthing instructors.

It also has times, dates, and cost.
I don’t know what a certified Hypnobirthing instructor is or who certifies the instructors, but it looks like a better class than the one offered by my hospital:

This class will teach expecting parents deep relaxation techniques that help in having a more calm and peaceful-and less stressful-birthing experience. These techniques have been shown to shorten labor and reduce fatigue.

No time, no dates, but the cost is listed and it’s 105$ more than the one at the other hospital.

They’re both roughly equidistant from me, about a 15 minute drive and they both include a number to call for more information, but none of these has answered my basic question.

What class should I be taking to help me prepare to have a baby?  And how do I find it?

Doogie is a 38 year old professional who has been struggling with infertility for 7 years.  During that time, she’s had many drugs, shots, transvaginal ultrasounds,  two miscarriages, and is now 9 weeks into what seems like a viable pregnancy.

Intuitive Eating in Motherhood

After speaking with my midwife the other day, we came to the conclusion that I may need to eat more foods rich in iron. I did not take a formal test or anything but just have been feeling tired again lately. In a pregnant woman’s second and third trimester, it is really important to increase her protein intake because this is when the baby is growing the fastest. This will also help keep the mother’s energy levels up.

I am proud to say that this had been on my radar before my midwife suggested it. And that in general, pregnancy has made me a better eater. I was never a bad eater, always leaning towards the healthy side of things. There was an 8-year stint where I was a vegetarian after declaring one day in junior high school that I didn’t like meat. And I was a strict, young vegetarian, never consuming ANY products with meat (including fish) in them. During that, there were short times when I tried to be vegan because I love animals so much but I love cheese, chocolate, and ice cream more. Then there was a long stretch of college where I thought I was superwoman and worked full time and attended school more than full time (18-21 credits per semester). This ended the vegetarianism. I was too burnt out, and too poor to afford expensive veggie protein to feed myself properly, and too busy to be creative with meal choices to increase my protein so I turned to the dark side and ate some chicken. Fast-forward about 7 years and now I enjoy all foods equally and still have a soft spot in my heart and belly for veggie delights!

My point is; through my life of relatively healthy eating, I have never felt as healthy as I do since becoming a mom (which I count as finding out I was pregnant with my first baby). From that point on, my eating changed from what I want to eat, to what my baby needs to eat and what foods my baby needs to nurse and grow big and strong. I have developed a way of eating that I call “intuitive eating”. I did not read a book about this though I know that they exist. I literally, just plan out my meals, shop for foods, and stand in front of my refrigerator and think “what does my body need right now?”, “what does the baby need right now?” “Have I had my protein for the day?” “My grains?” “My fruits and veggies?” etc…I eat really clean, part for my love of the farmer’s market and part because it’s easiest for me. I buy a bunch of fruits and veggies for the week, protein for each day in the week, and dairy (and dairy alternatives). I always have healthy fats (peanut butter, avocado, olive oil, butter, etc ) and grains in stock. Each day I put together whatever combination of what I have based on my hunger and nutritional needs for the day.

When I was pregnant with daughter #1, I gained 35 lbs. I did not try/ try not to gain this amount of weight, I just listened to what my body needed and in return it gave me an easy natural labor and birth process and a healthy baby girl. My midwife said that “every woman’s body is perfect for her baby” when women get snarky comments from observers for “looking too big, too small, etc. I love this. Anyway, after she was born I lost 20 lbs of it almost instantly (baby’s weight, uterus, fluids, placenta) and then breastfed her. In addition to the 35 lbs I gained, I lost an extra 15. I did not “work out”. I just listened to what my body needed, ate healthily, consciously, and the weight came off. There were times where I would pass on dessert and that’s pretty much it.

When you have a baby that you nourish through nursing, you are responsible for how they are growing. Even if I wanted to, was tempted to, for my daughter’s well being I could not develop an unhealthy way of eating. It truly saddens me that women are blasted with media that talks about “getting your body back after baby” and that celebrities flaunt their bikini-ready bodies weeks after birth. In my experience, there was no way I was going to work out on a consistent basis with a newborn. AND there was no way I was willing to try ANY kind of diet. What I look like in a skimpy outfit is not important, what is important is the health of my child and myself. What worked for me is truly listening to my body’s needs, my baby’s needs, and making conscious choices.

Preparedness

Preparedness refers to the state of being prepared for specific or unpredictable events or situations. Preparedness is an important quality in achieving goals and in avoiding and mitigating negative outcomes.

While working on a mural I am painting for my daughter’s room this week, I was thinking about how I am in the “nesting” phase of pregnancy. I am actually preparing a new space for my older daughter and the new baby will move into the current nursery after a period of co-sleeping with my husband and I.

This got me thinking about how women prepare for birth. Do many pregnant women feel they are prepared for labor? Do women enter labor in a calm state of mind and feel confident that they know what to do, their partner knows what to do, and they have full trust in their care providers?

We prepare everything else for a new baby. We buy mass amounts of baby gear after doing hours upon hours of research about the “safest” and the most functional brands. We gather tons of baby clothes and blankets and wash them before hand. We buy an infant seat and put it in our car weeks before our due dates AND we prepare the baby’s nursery.

But do many American women feel prepared for labor? How about the ability to labor naturally, without intervention?

The answer is no. American women are scared of birth. Fear has been set into us at an early age. Pitocin, epidurals, and C-sections are part of our culture. Why would we try to birth naturally when we don’t have to be prepared? We go to the hospital and they take care of things for us. The job is out of our hands once the heavy contractions start. And we aren’t allowed to make decisions when we are “in that state” anyway.

What if we made child birthing classes mandatory? What if we showed all those wonderful natural birthing videos that birthing advocate mommas and caregivers have seen? What if women left feeling empowered to have the strength and courage to labor naturally? There may be less medical interventions and c-sections! There may be less premature babies and babies may be born in a less traumatic way! Breastfeeding may be easier! Why, it may just turn the healthcare industry upside down!!

Fear and helplessness is running our birthing community. Shout it from the rooftops, and educate women that they are strong, birth is empowering, and most importantly, that they have a choice. Tell them it is a good idea to prepare your mind and body for birth, just like you prepare the baby clothing and a place for the baby to sleep.

Preparedness refers to the state of being prepared for specific or unpredictable events or situations. Preparedness is an important quality in achieving goals and in avoiding and mitigating negative outcomes.

My daughter's mural

Getting Closer to your Partner During Pregnancy

We are with the baby at every moment. The baby feeds off or our nourishment, we feel them wiggle, hiccup, and kick. They listen to our voices, they feel comforted by our warmth, nutrition, movements, our heartbeat, and our breath. The momma instinct kicks in quickly. We bond with our pea-sized fetus and fall in love almost instantly.

What about fathers? What about partners that are not carrying the child? They are much more distanced from the entire pregnancy than the birth mom. It is a time for profound early attachment and family bonding to begin. It is also a time of an emotional rollercoaster, for both parties involved. I’d like to explore emotional changes during pregnancy, and questions to sit down to discuss with your partner to create a closer pregnancy experience.

1st Trimester Emotional Changes:

Momma: ambivalence, lack of sex drive, fears of miscarriage, disturbing dreams, begins to assume role of caregiver, begins to identify as mother, feeling trapped

Partner: pride, has difficulty communicating with mom, feels mom is withdrawn, tenderness, sympathetic, new sense of responsibility, feeling trapped.

2nd Trimester Emotional Changes:

Momma: accepting body image changes, baby assumes more important role, may feel changes are out of control, overwhelming responsibility, more dependent on partner, possible increased sex drive, sensitive to comments, criticism, especially from partner.

Partner: anxiety over economics, future thinking, baby becomes more real as movement is felt, dealing with mom’s changing body, sex drive often hampered over fear of hurting mom and baby, may be alarmed as mom’s sex drive increases, often feels over- protective.

3rd Trimester Emotional Changes:

Momma: ambivalence about labor and birth, increase interest in baby, insomnia, vivid dreams, concern over ability to mother this child, needs reassurance and signs of love from partner, fear about baby’s health, concerned with discomforts, feels link in history of humanity, pride, joy, humble.

Partner: worries about labor and birth, worries about health of momma and baby, feels tenderly protective, vivid dreams, memories of own caregivers, worries over ability to parent, heightened sense of responsibility, economic worries, heightened interest in process of labor and birth.

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Because many of these emotional changes may not be considered “positive”, parents tend to steer away from discussing fears, worries, negative dreams etc….

I am now including a list of questions that may help bring couples together in this emotional time. Please find a time and a quiet and peaceful space to discuss these with your partner. The series of questions has been included to start a discussion about feelings during pregnancy. If at any time you need assistance to discuss these questions as a couple, please seek the help of a mental health professional in your area. Below you will find a link to a mental health search engine.

http://therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms/

1) When I found out we were expecting a baby I felt:

2) Now I feel:

3) When I feel the baby move I feel:

4) I have had the following dreams about the baby or birth:

5) The biggest fear I have about having a child is:

6) The biggest question/ uncertainty I have about being a parent is:

7) The thing I like best about being pregnant/ about my partner being pregnant is:

The thing I like least about being pregnant/ about my partner being pregnant is:

9) I think/ I think my partner’s body is:

10) Early in my pregnancy my sexual feelings were:

11) Later in my pregnancy my sexual feelings were:

12) The thing I feel most women worry about in childbirth is:

13) The thing that concerns me about labor/ childbirth is:

14) The worst thing I could do in labor/ childbirth would be:

15) The biggest question/ uncertainty I have about being a mother/father is:

16) I think of my parents as:

17) The main way I would like to be different from my parents is:

18) The thing I like least about my partner is:

19) The thing I like most about my partner is:

20) The pregnancy has affected our relationship as a couple by:

Much love, Amy

In Control

When a pregnant woman shows up for her first prenatal appointment, the doctor presents her with a long list of tests that she will undergo in the coming months.  He might also give her information on what’s okay to do, eat and inhale during pregnancy… and if he doesn’t, she will surely know from the 9 different online pregnancy newsletters she signed up for as soon as she saw the two pink lines.  Everyone knows a pregnant woman shouldn’t drink alcohol or caffeine, shouldn’t smoke, shouldn’t eat sushi.  But she will soon discover that the list is much longer than she had thought: many types of herbal teas, unpasteurized cheeses, meat or eggs that are not thoroughly cooked, deli meat, hot dogs… and let’s not forget, you’re pregnant now, so you better start eating right.  It’s all whole-wheat and rabbit food from now on.

I have often seen this turn into hysteria.  It’s one thing to eat right and avoid foods that may be harmful.  We all should.  It’s another to fly into a panic over the rumor that eggplants can stimulate labor.

And then she goes in for her tests with her heart pounding every time.  She needs to know that everything will be okay with this baby.  She can’t wait to find out the sex so she can start planning the nursery and decide on a name.  Towards the end of her pregnancy her doctor will keep close tabs on the baby’s weight and position to make sure all will be smooth.

Let’s not even talk about what happens during the birth itself.

Control.  It’s all about control.  The modern pregnant woman is infused with this totally disproportionate sense of responsibility.  Because what if something does go wrong?  What if her baby is born with a defect that wasn’t detected by the multitude of ultrasounds and blood tests?  The first thing she does is blame herself.  This is my fault.  It was because I couldn’t resist and ate sushi at that wedding.  I knew I shouldn’t have.  And those old ladies there told me, they wagged their fingers and said it would be my fault and I laughed them off.  I will never forgive myself for this.

And maybe once she works past that totally false guilt, she’ll turn her anger against the ultrasounds that “should have seen this”.  They should have told me.  How dare they not have told me.

You are not in control. And the medical establishment is even less so.

Yes.  It’s important to take the necessary precautions and try to keep yourself and your baby from harm.  But even if you do everything right, eat all the right things, get all the right exercise and make all the right choices–it doesn’t mean that nothing bad is going to happen.  And on the flip side, if you slip up or shrug off “the rules” once or twice, that doesn’t automatically mean that something is going to be wrong with your baby.  And it also doesn’t mean that if something does, it was your fault.

This attitude carries over into childbirth in such a profound way.  How many C-sections have been performed for the sake of control?  “To be on the safe side”?  How many women have chosen induction at their convenience so they could know exactly when the birth would be and plan accordingly?  How many women walk into the hospital announcing that they want an epidural NOW because they are deathly afraid of facing the excruciating pain everyone has told them awaits?

And don’t think that natural birthers or homebirthers escape it.  How many of us have pounded our chests over not getting enough exercise, over giving in to that ice cream craving, over not drinking red raspberry tea in time?  “Now my birth will be ruined.”  No it won’t.  It’s not in your control.  Not everyone who drinks red raspberry has a five-hour labor.  Not everyone who eats ice cream has gestational diabetes.  Not everyone who misses a yoga practice is going to demand an epidural.

And then these surges of immense power and energy take over your body.  Your uterus is doing this all on its own.  You are not in control now.  And the more you step out of the way and let your body do its work, the better it will do.  When I was very young I asked my mother what giving birth was like, and she told me it was kind of like lying on a raft in a very fast river.  “If you can just lie there and let yourself be carried by the flow, you will be fine.  The more you try to fight it and control what is happening, the more everything will spin out of your control.”

If you have spent your entire pregnancy obsessively setting up everything to be perfect, it’s going to be very hard to let go at these moments.

So start letting go a little now.  Breathe.  Smile.  You’re doing great.  Everything is going to be fine, as long as you have faith in yourself to face whatever comes your way.

Domestic Violence and Pregnancy

Recently, more attention has been brought to the abysmally high rate of maternal mortality and morbidity in the United States. As we work to raise awareness of causes of death during pregnancy and the postpartum period, it’s important that we do not overlook one of the greatest risks to the life, health, and well-being of pregnant women: domestic violence.

Domestic violence exists in every socioeconomic group, among every race and culture. Though it can be an uncomfortable topic for discussion, it’s also an extremely relevant one for this blog, as many women are abused for the first time during a pregnancy or the early postpartum period. Violence by prior abusers frequently escalates during pregnancy and postpartum. Homicide, usually at the hands of a domestic partner, is one of the leading causes of death among pregnant women.

Despite the prevalence of domestic violence, many women are surprised or even offended when they are screened by their care providers for domestic violence during pregnancy. One reason for this shock may be the rarity of thorough screening for domestic violence. While the ACOG currently recommends that all patients–pregnant or not–be screened for domestic violence, in reality, care providers often either ignore this recommendation entirely, do not meet the recommended frequency of screening (at the first prenatal visit, at least per trimester, and at the postpartum visit), or gloss quickly over the questions. Midwives, who typically spend more time with their clients, may in a better position to identify women at risk for domestic violence, but the social stigma and feeling of shame over the abuse keeps many victims silenced, even under more rigorous questioning.

Preventing the first incident of domestic violence or the escalation of previous violence is a necessary step in ending DV-related deaths during pregnancy. Knowing the warning signs of a potential abuser can go a long way to preventing domestic abuse (during pregnancy or at any other time in your life). Warning signs of potential abuse and behaviors of current abusers may include:

• Controlling behaviors, like taking over the finances/limiting your access to money, limiting your contact with friends and family, requiring you get permission to leave the house, or expecting frequent updates as to your plans, location, and who you are with.
• Exhibitions of jealous, including accusations of unfaithfulness.
• Destruction of your property, especially items with sentimental value.
• Hurting or threatening to hurt pets or other animals.
• Threatening to harm you or your loved ones.
• Threatening to commit suicide if you leave.
• Calling you names, degrading you, or humiliating you.
• Forcing or coercing you to have sexual intercourse or engage in sexual acts.
• Blocking doorways/exits or physically restraining you to prevent you from leaving the room.
• Blaming you for angry/violent outburst.

If you believe you are at risk for domestic abuse or if you have already been abused, you don’t have to face it alone. Many larger police departments have domestic violence units, which deal specifically with abuse within a family or living community. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is open 24 hours a day, 365 days a week, providing help to women in the United States, Puerto Rice, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The numbers for the NDVH are:
1-800-799-SAFE (7233)
1-800-787-3224 (TTY) for the Deaf, Deaf-Blind and Hard of Hearing

Women’s Aid provides a 24-hour domestic violence helpline for women in the UK. The free number is: 0808 2000 247

Canada also has a tollfree National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-363-9010

For more information on domestic violence during pregnancy, please visit the CDC’s page on Violence and Reproductive Health. The Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University also offers a comprehensive list of resources for healthcare professionals, victims of domestic violence, and the families of those affected by domestic violence.

Please look after yourselves, your babies, and your other children. Look after your sisters, your friends, and your daughters. Just as we can work together to improve maternal healthcare, we can work together to put an end to domestic violence through education and awareness.

Distortion of Natural Birth

I was so happy to follow up on Ashley’s Midwife Vs. Medwife post because I really feel as though this will be a little piggy back on the subject. Last night I tuned into ABC’s hit series Private Practice, and during the episode I seriously started to wonder why I continue to watch the show that makes my blood boil.

But what really ate at me was they way they portrayed a mother who was working towards a natural birth. Which made me think about the way that the public views the natural birth community, as well as women who simply want a natural birth for themselves.

They treated this woman in the episode like the butt of all the jokes in the episode until the emotionally charged climax of her birth viewed by perfect strangers that would have been a major HIPAA Violation.  The episode shows this woman with a multi-page birth plan, grinding on the door frame of the birth suite trying to squat to help her labor, joking about how she had been in labor for 3+ days, all of which as a mother who has labored naturally, I found offensive.  The character was essentially the comedy of the episode.

It made me think about the perception the American public is going to get from this message, as well as their views on women who do choose to give birth naturally. Do they think we are all just a bunch of hippies that bite on sticks until we drop a baby out in the middle of a meadow while singing show tunes?  Come on!

The problem is shows like this.
The problem is the myths about who has natural births.
The problem is typical stereotypes.

Where do we start?
How do we start to re-educate and properly educate the public so they don’t think all moms who want to have a natural birth aren’t ding bats like this character was?

I really hope that shows like this, and Grey’s Anatomy, and other medical drama’s take the time to fix the American stereotype of birthing naturally. Women from all walks of life do it!

Just on a side note, the character who was attending this woman’s birth “Dell” a “student midwife” came off as a Student OB/GYN if anything. He had no type of midwife qualities in him what so ever and I think that is another huge slap to the natural birth community. He at best was a “medwife” if that!

Reducing Anxiety in Early Pregnancy

With home pregnancy tests, many women now find out they are pregnant much sooner than ever before. This can be good because the mother can start preparing herself for a new baby; she can start eating healthy, taking her prenatal vitamin, making sure she is getting enough folic acid, and she can quit smoking or drinking or taking any medications that would not be acceptable in pregnancy. This can also have it’s downside however, as now women get to obsess and worry and be anxious about their pregnancy during the very early weeks when the likelihood of miscarriage is much higher. How can women reduce the stress and anxiety of early pregnancy?

First, take some time to plan when you will tell people and what you will tell them, and make sure that you and your partner are on the same page. You will need to think about when you will share the news of the pregnancy. Some women like to share the news right away, others like to wait until they are in the second trimester, or have heard the heartbeat, or have had an ultrasound. This is an individual choice and one you might want to give some thought to before deciding. You also may want to think about if you will tell people the exact due date of your pregnancy, and the exact week you are on. Now is the time to think about how you may feel in later pregnancy and if you really want the pressure of many excited friends and family members weighing on your mind – and on your phone, and your email, and your front door – when you are inevitably a few days (or more) past your due date. Some women choose to give a due month or a due time period instead of a due date. If you choose to go this route, you will also need to give out your month of pregnancy and not your week, otherwise people can easily calculate the week of your due date. You might also want to consider whether you will be sharing the names you are thinking of for your baby, and if you choose to find out, whether the baby is a boy or a girl. What you choose to share is up to you and there is no right or wrong choice. It is worth giving a little thought to though before you announce your pregnancy.

The next thing you may want to consider is when you will go to your first prenatal visit and what you will have done there. The latest trend in prenatal care seems to be getting women in as early as possible and giving them one or more ultrasounds in very early pregnancy to determine their dates. It is important to know your dates so that if you go into labor early you will know if the baby is premature and needs special treatment, or if you go past 42 weeks you may need to have special monitoring to assess whether the baby is still doing well enough to continue with your pregnancy. However, there are more ways to date a pregnancy than an ultrasound. If you know the first day of your last period, or if you know the date you ovulated or conceived, then these dates will be sufficient in determining gestational age. As your pregnancy progresses your care provider will also measure fundal height and this will confirm your dates. There is also generally a routine ultrasound offered around 20 weeks to check for birth defects. So, when you combine the first day of your last period or the date of conception along with your fundal height measurements along with the measurements of the 20 week scan if you choose to get this, your care provider should then have a pretty good idea of what the gestational age is. Therefore, you may choose to forgo any early dating ultrasound unless you have some medical indication for one.

It can be exciting to see your baby on ultrasound, but you may want to consider a few things before having very early ultrasounds done. Though I feel ultrasounds are relatively safe, some people worry about the number or duration of them. Having many ultrasounds in early pregnancy when the fetus is still developing isn’t proven to cause any harm, but some women still feel that they may not be entirely safe and choose to avoid them. Some women choose to get just one or two ultrasounds throughout their pregnancy. Other women only get an ultrasound if there is a medical indication to do so. The reason that I might recommend not getting early ultrasounds though is that it often can contribute to anxiety instead of alleviating it. Many women who have early ultrasounds find themselves being highly worried for weeks over findings that were out of the range of average, such as slower growth than was expected or not being able to find a fetus or heartbeat. In most of these situations, any issues work themselves out and later ultrasounds show all is well. Why worry yourself over a very early ultrasound when the discrepancy of how the fetus grows may vary widely at that stage? Of course, if you have any indication for an ultrasound such as cramping, bleeding, or a medical history that might require one, then this is a different situation.

Most women in early pregnancy have one major concern; miscarriage. Pregnancy loss can be a very sad event, and it is understandable why women fear this happening when the chances are much higher in the first trimester. There is no way to prevent miscarriage in early pregnancy, and this lack of control or ability to stop it can really produce a lot of anxiety in some women. It is important for women to aware though that no matter how many times they visit their providers in early pregnancy, or how many ultrasounds you get, there is still no way to prevent miscarriage. Women will need to decide for themselves what may reduce their anxiety or add to it in early pregnancy. Some women will want a lot of reassurance by a care provider, others will not even visit a care provider until the second trimester. Whatever you decide, you may want to factor in anxiety levels when you make your decisions about how you will handle early pregnancy.

Healthy Eating During Your Pregnancy

I can certainly say, when I got pregnant with my oldest, I thought pregnancy was a free ticket to pig out and live on junk food, but I quickly learned through my reading, that is not the case at all!! Another misconception of pregnancy nutrition is that Mom should be eating for two, nope! Not at all. But one of the most swept under the rug, neglected, and black listed parts of pregnancy is nutrition.

We do not see Obstetric models of care including nutrition counciling, or really taking the time to say skip on this, or add that. You get a sheet of things not to eat and most are sent on their way. Which is one of the reasons I am intrigued to write about this.

According to The March of Dimes, women should be including the following into their diet on a daily basis :

• 6 Ounces of Grains Per Day
  • Slice of wheat bread
  • Wheat Tortilla (6 inches)
  • 1/2 cup of cooked rice or pasta
  • 1 cup of cereal
  • 1 large pancake (about 4 1/2 inches)
• 1 1/2 to 2 cups of fruits per day
  • 1/2 cup of 100% fruit juice (be careful of the amount of sugar in fruit juices)
  • 16 Grapes
  • 1/4 cup of dried fruit
  • 1/2 of fresh, canned or frozen fruit (My best pick would be fresh fruit since you often do not know what canned products are being preserved with)
• 2 1/2 Cups of Vegetables per day
  • 1 Cup raw or cooked veggies
  • 1 Baked Potato (skip or go light on the butter, sour cream, or bacon)
  • 2 Cups of raw leafy greens
  • 1 Cup veggie juice
• 400 Micrograms of Folic Acid
  • Most likely found in your pre natal vitamin
• 5-5 1/2 ounces of Protein per day
  • 1 Tablespoon of peanut butter
  • 1 ounce of lean meat
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup of nuts
  • 1/4 cup of cooked dried beans
• 3 cups of Milk products per day
  • 1 Cup Milk
  • 2 ounces of processed cheese
  • 1 Cup yogurt
  • 1 1/2 ounces natural cheese

It really doesn’t sound like a lot of work does it?

We know the typical things to avoid… soda, sugar, caffeine, raw fish, unpasteurized foods, and make sure to keep your water intake up. This was a big one for me in both of my pregnancies. 6 to 8 glasses of water a day!  That is what I hated most of all and often got dehydrated. Which is something you want to avoid!

Remember, everything you eat, so is your baby!
You want to give your baby the best start at life, so just be picky and careful for your pregnancy.
It will pay off in the end!

Why Our Women are Afraid of Birth

Deliver Me

It is Tuesday, at 10pm while I settle in after getting my little ones to bed. I flip through the channels and settle on discovery healthy which is a personal favorite of mine, but it really has only recently become a favorite because of shows like I didn’t know I was pregnant. It fascinates me that women could make it though a full term pregnancy and not know they were pregnant, but that is just me, and the experiences that I had with my children is what makes me wonder how the heck women could not know they were pregnant.  But that is completely besides my point today.
So as I watch this show, I am noticing a trend. High risk, high risk, high risk, previous cesarean section, scheduled cesarean section, high risk, healthy first time mother, scheduled cesarean, high risk. Well I mean, that is how it is in Los Angeles right?  You would think so!  But apparently because only these crazy, scary, uncommon births make something called ratings, that is all they are going to feature on TV. Because in reality, no one wants to watch a natural birth or a home birth because no one is running around with a scalpel screaming about the emergency that childbirth is. Nor is the mother screaming for her epidural because she just cant deal with the pain of the 3 hours of labor so far.
But what we should be thinking about most importantly is the message this is sending. What is this teaching first time mothers or even young women that may not be planning on having children soon but will some day?  It is teaching them how scary, dangerous, and medical birth is supposed to be. But is that really how birth is? Of course not. Anyone who has taken the time to read the studies, and just not follow what mainstream society thinks is the right way to handle pregnancy will know that birth is not scary or dangerous or a huge emergency. While it can be in some cases, in most cases it can and will be beautiful when just left alone.

When a woman becomes pregnant today, if they do not already have an Obstetrician they have been seeing for well women care since 16, or whatever age their parent decided it was the right them for them, what is the first thing that they do? They ask around their circle of female friends for the best Doctor out there because isn’t that what we all want? We want the one who is the BMW of pre natal care. Little do women know that they are really going to end up with the 1990 Dodge Dynasty when they take this route because hands off is better.
But because our society has told us this is the way things should be, they run off like lemmings right off the cliff of medical interventions landing in the valley of cesarean sections.

Maybe if the television channels like Discovery health followed a dozen home births or even aired The Business of Being Born they could get a popular, and controversial other side to what they are constantly airing. Maybe it will boost their ratings even more, maybe not?  But what it will do is give the other side of the whole issue. Let’s get Marsden Wagner to do a half hour special on Birth in The United States and see how many women run off to the midwives.  Instead they air these disgustingly inaccurate “Freebirthing” shows. They find the one idiot who is going to make women who choose unassisted birth look like a bunch of uneducated yokels.  Which is exactly what they did with their special on Unassisted birth.

I guess in the end, like anything else the television airs, it is biased and we shouldn’t expect much different.