Hi Noelene!!! Things are going AWESOME with the little one, thank you for asking! She's already almost 8 months. Can you believe it? Time just flies! I don't have your email address, but mine is "birth with confidence @ comcast . net" (without all the spaces, don't want spammers!). Tell me how your progress has been and if you're taking the exam this month and all that stuff! I'm not taking mine until October (because of the little ones mostly) and my progress has had a lot of bumps along the way, but I'll tell you more in email. :)

I use it in both a coping with labor pain class, runs two hours, and I start it a bit into early labor (let it start about 15 minutes before class and stop it before pushing) as well as almost the full two hours in a prenatal visit with doula clients. (also stop at pushing) I find it VERY effective in conjunction with ice. I am happy to share more info on how I do this, if anyone is interested!

Sharon
April is Cesarean Awareness Month

Sharon Muza, CD (DONA, PALS)
Birth Doula, DONA Approved Doula Trainer
Birth and Family Educator
New Moon Birth
www.newmoonbirth.com
sharon@newmoonbirth.com


< replied-to message removed by QT >

By the way- Hi Angie! it's been a year but I hope that everything is going will with the "new" little one.

Edited by author 04-16-2008 04:29 PM
Has anyone used the Labor Simulator during class? I think it would be a great teaching tool. If you have used it, do you use the 2-hour version, 80-minute version, or 60-minute version? Thanks

Edited by author 03-30-2008 06:04 PM
In preparation of the Laamze exam, I have been reading the study guide again. One thing that really stood out yesterday was from Comp I, "Home Birth: Safely Protecting and Supporting Normal Birth," by Judith Lothian.

There is such rich information in there. As a woman who has had three hospital births, the first a pretty good show of the cascade minus a cesarean (but a full pit-induction, I wanted an epidural and I wasn't able to get one, so I had to reorganize my brain at 7 cm so I wouldn't be a puking, crazy mess; I pushed for three hours in dead cockroach position only to have my doc walk in and say, "Why did you call me, she's not ready yet. Then I had my baby vacuumed out of me and I was left with a 3rd degree epi/tear that took 10 weeks to heal -- and a baby who became septic 24 hours after birth, most likely an iatrogenic result of 50 million vag exams after my water was broken. It was not pretty, but boy, did I learn a lot!), and two more fabulous births with no interventions and midwives assisting, I have not been ready to know in my heart if homebirth could ever be for me. I know it is safe. I know there are so many benefits, and as a doula, I love attending homebirths because of the change in atmosphere. I just wasn't sure I could ever do it.

After reading that article, I know, if I ever have another baby, it will only happen at home.

I was recently talking to a friend (who is an L&D nurse and had one of her babies at home), and she just had her 3rd baby at the hospital where she works. There weren't any interventions. He was 37 weeks, and he was having trouble breathing on his own -- weak white boy lungs. They had to send him to a bigger hospital 2 hours away, and when he finally came home a week or so after birth, he still had O2 to help him out.

We discussed how, when your baby is in the NICU, it's not like he is your baby at all -- it's like he belongs to the hospital. What is interesting for me is, my first stayed in the hospital for 11 days to receive IV antibiotics due to his sepsis. I was discharged on day 2, and the only place for me to be was in a hard, wooden rocking chair, on my very sore bottom. Needless to say, I didn't feel there was a place for me, like I wasn't supposed to be there all the time, and I was trying to nurse my own body as well. So I only came every three hours to nurse him.

One time at midnight I worked hard to get there to nurse him, and the nurse had just fed him a bottle of formula. I tried not to let the tears show as my face burned with fire. There he was, all asleep, contented in his plastic cage with a tummy full of milk that wasn't mine. I actually didn't care about the formula so much as I worked hard to get there and they didn't wait. "But my baby was crying, and I couldn't let him starve." Who said that? The nurse. I didn't even pick him up because I felt like I wasn't allowed to.

That's how the hospital can make you feel. After reading Judith's article I realized it is not just when you have a sick baby, it's the whoel experience. We are too easily made to feel we are messing with things that will harm us or our babies.

I don't want that, and if I have another baby, I will not go to the hospital. If I get the opportunity to birth another baby, that's just what it will be -- my opportunity.

Okay, talk about long-winded!

What an incredible website! I just emailed them to see what it would take to get an ICAN chapter here. The closest is in Baltimore. I called the mom and let her know it was there. She's goign to check it out when she gets off work. Anyway, thanks Teri!

*sigh*

We've all heard these stories before, but this one in particular tugged at my heart. I saw a lady yesterday that I met in the hospital's birthing classes last summer. She gave birth to her baby boy 8 months ago. She is a "poster child" for the cascade of interventions to a spectacular degree, but also, where obstetrics goes wrong. At 5 days beyond her due date, her OB chose to induce her. Baring in mind that the childbirth classes at our hospital does nothing to discuss options, evidence based decision making, or informed consent, this mom thought that she didn't have the ability to protest. She was in the low risk category and there were no other indications for induction. So she went in at 7 am, they started her on pitocin and she failed to progress beyond 3 cm by mid afternoon. The doctor decided that if by 6:00 she still hadn't progressed much further, the doctor would perform a cesarean. By 6:00 she hadn't gone much further so they did the cesarean. The baby was healthy, but mom didn't get to see him until after 2 in the morning. The hospital chose to feed/supplement the baby in spite of the moms wishes to breast feed. The supplementation was continued throughout the whole stay because the following day it was determined that the baby had become dehydrated. Also the next day, mom began to lose a lot of blood and was given 2 units of blood. Her stay at the hospital was filled with personnel being rude to her and very unaccommodating... and anyway, you get my point. It was a terrible experience, and as she was telling this to me, more than 8 months later, her eyes were filling with tears and she was telling me that she was battling depression on occasion because she felt so robbed of the experience of birthing her baby. She said that her friends thought she was crazy for wanting to experience labor as opposed to a cesarean, so she's had little support to help her through her PP emotional difficulties. I gave her my phone number and email address and asked her to contact me because having someone who understands may help her process this experience better. She wants to have another baby sometime soon but is afraid of not being allowed a VBAC (something the OBs here wont even consider). She's also recently been experiencing pain in the last few months near where her incision is, which the doctor says is nothing and she may experience pain there the rest of her life.

I'm sure you ladies have heard horror stories not unlike this one. As educators, how to you help comfort these women? There are very limited resources around here for PP support, and I want so badly to help this young woman get through this experience that haunts her! Anything thoughts would be fantastic, and thanks for reading this lengthy story!

Stella - if you send me an email with what town you live I will be happy to see if there is anyone nearby who has gone through Passion for Birth. Typically it takes abut 6 - 9 months to finish - some have a place to teach already so it is quicker - others have things that happen like getting pregnant, moving, etc that slow them down.
Ask any questions you have!

Hello!

I have been interested in pregnancy and birth for many years and since I don't think that I could be a doula because of my job, I am really looking into becoming a childbirth educator. I just found out about Passion for Birth tonight and I am very interested. How long would you say it tipically takes for people to do the whole program? (Not including the wait for the exam since it's only twice a year)

And also, is there a way to check if there already are childbirth educator in my area that trained with Passion for Birth?

Thanks for your answers ladies.

I didn't catch it, I have had a busy doula week with a baby on Tuesday and a baby on Thursday. I have seen them before, and I have been in with mom's before. It is certainly...different.

I really like the images Mothering Magazine had in their January edition of the cesarean birth procedure. I actually copied, enlarged, and mounted them on cardboard to share with my classes.

I have a question for you guys: I am a thrift-store shopper. What I always see are crib bumpers. I am trying to see if, for $1.50 each (on a half-off day, lol) I could sew them together in such a way that they create a mat of sorts for moms or partners to sit on or kneel on during class and/or activities. What do you guys use? I think mats would get expensive, and the office where I teach only has chairs thus far.

Stacie

Anyone here get to watch the cesarean? I can't believe anyone would CHOOSE that!!!

how exciting!!!!
 
Christy Shields, CLD
_www.MothertheMother.com_ (http://www.motherthemother.com/)
_www.OperationSpecialDelivery.com_ (http://www.operationspecialdelivery.com/)




**************It's Tax Time! Get tips, forms, and advice on AOL Money & Finance. (http://money.aol.com/tax?NCID=aolprf00030000000001)

My friend Liz, www.birthzone.com, has generously offered to provide the Labor Simulator DVD free to the first two people from each state in the US and each province in CA who submit an electronic entry on her website:
Entry form is at http://birthzone.com/products.htm

Spread the word so that many people have the chance to enter from all around the US and Canada!

And, I am happy to share with you how I use it for both doula prenatals as well in class.

Best,
Sharon

Sharon Muza, CD (DONA, PALS)
Birth Doula, DONA Approved Doula Trainer
Birth and Family Educator
New Moon Birth
www.newmoonbirth.com
sharon@newmoonbirth.com


< replied-to message removed by QT >

I use one when I teach a coping with labor pain class, (along with some other tricks,) but it is VERY effective!

As a doula, I also use it in a prenatal!

Liz rocks www.birthzone.com and would be happy to answer questions, as would I.

Best,
Sharon

Sharon Muza, CD (DONA, PALS)
Birth Doula, DONA Approved Doula Trainer
Birth and Family Educator
New Moon Birth
www.newmoonbirth.com
sharon@newmoonbirth.com


< replied-to message removed by QT >

Thanks, Teri. I will check it out. Right now I am watching the Educational Edition of Birth As We Know It to see if I can use any clips in classes. The creator lives here in Chico so although I am familiar with the regular version, I have not seen this edition.

Anyone use that in classes?