Planning a Day To Remember
People spend years imagining their weddings. Months go into planning every detail. We invest our time, money, and energy because this will be an event to remember for a lifetime. We don’t often think of it in the same way, but our child’s birth is also an event that you will remember forever. It makes [...]
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Fear and Birth
“Worrying is using your imagination to create something you don’t want” We all have fears about birth, it’s only natural. But fear can manifest itself in many negative ways during labor: including anxiety, anger, frustration, and irrationality. It can even disrupt the birth process itself. Knowing this, it’s important for expectant parents to identify and face those fears [...]
Why I Chose a Home Birth
I never imagined myself having a baby at home. In fact, I was pretty sure home birth was something only hippies did. However, it turns out home birth is on the rise and there are many reasons to give birth safely at home. After the birth of my daughter, which was a wonderful hospital birth, [...]
Delivering a Baby: Just as Easy as Catching a Ball but Way Scarier
We had planned on our second son being born at a home with an experienced midwife, and a friend to babysit our firstborn (18 months at the time of the birth). But the best laid plans being what they are, I had the joy of delivering our new baby while our older son watched Blue’s Clues [...]
Why I Chose a Hospital Birth
When I was pregnant for the first time I thought long and hard about my birth location. With so many hospitals, birth centers, and home-birth midwives to choose from in the Spokane area it was no easy task. In the end I decided to birth my son “the old fashioned way” (vs the VERY old [...]
Do Epidurals Affect Babies?
In making your decision to use or not to use an epidural for pain relief during labor, have you wondered what effect the medication can have on your baby? Turns out that is a difficult question to answer. A recent article on Suite101.com titled Do Epidurals Affect Babies? says, “While it is clear that epidurals cross the placenta and reach the baby and can both indirectly and directly affect babies, we still don’t know exactly how epidurals can affect the baby in every situation and for every mother and baby.” Probably not what you wanted to hear! [...]
Introduction to Pregnancy Class
If you are thinking about trying to conceive or are newly pregnant, you might be interested in a new introduction to pregnancy class being offered in the Spokane/Coeur d’Alene area. Starting Your Birth Journey will help you make sense of the overwhelming amount of information you’ll encounter as an expectant parent and think through critical decisions you’ll have to make regarding your health and that of your new baby. Which books should you read? Where will you give birth? Breast or bottle? You can see there are a lot of things to consider that you have likely not given much thought to up until now. [...]
Changing Prenatal Care Providers
How do pregnant women and their partners go about choosing a prenatal care provider? Often, they have not given it one bit of thought until they see two pink lines on a pregnancy test. Then it’s a mad dash to find someone you can trust to care for you during your pregnancy and give you guidance about how to birth your baby. You are not alone if somewhere down the line you realize that maybe you hadn’t initially given enough thought to who that person should be (I’ve been there!). Perhaps half way through your pregnancy you have become more educated about birth than you were when the baby was conceived. You may have changed your own views about what type of birth is right for you and now require the guidance and care of a provider who will support your vision. [...]
The Risks of Epidurals
I have recently talked to a few women who are concerned about having an epidural during childbirth and want to know the risks and benefits involved with this type of anesthesiology since it has become “the norm” in most hospitals today. I’m no expert on the subject and have never had one myself, but I know that women need to educate themselves about this medical procedure before they arrive at the hospital to have a baby. The decision to have an epidural or not is completely personal and it is up to each woman to decide what is right for her.
As Kim James, a certified birth doula in Seattle, says, “There are obstetrical situations in which an epidural promotes a healthier labor and thus indirectly helps the baby. But there are instances when an ill-timed epidural interferes with the normal progress of labor and therefore may negatively affect the baby. Before you take a leap of faith and sign the consent forms, obtain information from reliable sources about the safety of any drug or procedure for you and your baby, and learn exactly what it will do for you.” [...]
