My Christmas Wish

I want to thank you all for following my posts!! It makes me realize I am not just another doula out there. I am definitely humbled. Now that I got that off my chests I want to share my Christmas Wish as a Doula.
I wish for peace on Earth. I see so many bad things happening that it is hard to watch the news sometimes. I wish for peace for those that have lost loved ones, and those that are ill. I wish for more Heroes like the principal at the school in CT.
I wish for moms to be supported and feel protected as they give birth and to feel empowered to be moms. I wish for Dads who care enough to support the moms and empower them to do what they need to do as a mom. I wish for more Doctors who are willing to take the time and care for moms without jumping the gun.
I wish for more Preemie survival. I wish for comfort for the parents of preemies.
That is my Christmas Wish.
Love you all! Namaste

Hypnobirthing an psychology of birth

Hypnobirthing is about healthy women giving birth in a healthy manner, and the bond between the couple and the newborn. It’s about mind over matter. It’s a way to give birth without medical intervention. It’s a drug free pain reliever. There are things that go into birth. Women feel pain in birth because of many things like fear, tension and over-stimulation.

  There is a cycle called the fear, tension, pain syndrome where fear causes tension which in turn tension causes pain. We as a culture have been conditioned to fear birth like Pavlov’s dogs have been conditioned to salivate to the ring of the bell. We see it every day through television where the women on the shows are told everything that can go wrong in birth like baby’s death, mother’s death, Cesarean section, injury to baby/mom, etc. We are told it from other women how painful it is. Doctors give just enough information to the mother/ birth partner to get consent to do an intervention.  Doctors use scare tactics and do not give the mother information of what could happen if they wait to do intervention. 

The fear created by all this conditioning causes the woman in labor to tense up. It activates the autonomic nervous system. This makes us feel like we are in an emergency. We breathe faster, our blood pressure rises (can cause preeclampsia,) Our heart quickens, blood is shunted away from the uterus which causes the vertical muscles to constrict instead of dilate. Our hormones get involved. Catecholamines and cortisol hormones are released which makes our body tense up more. When we tense up our body it stops the progress on opening up to give birth. After all this the pressure of the horizontal muscles on the uterus pulling on the constricted vertical muscles causes us to experience pain.

When I started attending the hypnobirth class I learned about how we can use our mind to release our fears. I learned how the mind can enable a peaceful birth. In Hypnobirthing we recondition ourselves to not fear birth through hypnosis, meditation, and relaxation. We change the words normally used in birth like labor, pain, dilating, to less threatening words like birthing, waves, and opening. We get our parasympathetic system to work with the meditations, conditioned cues, and an environment that makes us more comfortable. We practice before birth so that when the big day comes we are conditioned to the cues. We have colors in our mind that deepens us into relaxation. We use meditations to make us feel more comfortable. We use our mind to make it more peaceful to bring our baby into the world. We make our environment quiet, dark and peaceful so the baby feels at peace. We use affirmations to make us feel stronger. We eat healthy like preparing for a marathon so that our body has the energy it needs. We make sure to eat and drink during birth to also give the body what it needs to be comfortable at birth because when it does not have the energy it needs or the water it needs we could experience pain again.

This reconditioning we practice before birth creates a sense of self hypnosis which is a deeper relaxation and focus. Our boy reacts to what happens in our minds. This is a psychophysical correlation. 

If you would like to learn more about hypnobirthing you can contact a local hypnobirth instructor. Local Salt Lake instructors are found on this website: http://www.hypnobirthingutah.com/ 

Our instructor was Rachel Dietrich and her website is http://cachevalleyhypnobirthing.homestead.com

Namaste my friends

Mother dies due to rare amniotic embolism

Sad news here in Utah. We lost a mother here due to an amniotic embolism. this is really rare. it is wear amniotic fluid enters the blood stream and the mother goes into cardiac arrest. the father now has to pick up the piece. not only that , but the father is losing his house and his boss so his community is rallying around him and doing fundraisers.
I think we should send prayers and positive thoughts also. but if you live near this family please feel free to donate and help in any way you can. they live in american fork.
shared from the Utah doulas page on facebook

Ladies, This mom died of amniotic embolism. You read about it but it's so rare you never expect to actually know someone who gets it! If you can please support this family.

Timeline Photos

If you live in or around American Fork... mark your calendars!!!! :)

By: Melissa Straw Smith

Sometimes I wish

As a doula and a mom there are times I wish that I could take a vacation. I wish I could take a break from my kids. I wish I could take a break from housework. I wish I could take a break from learning and teaching. As it is a mom I can't take a break. I need to be awake and alert to watch out for the dangers. The older the kids are the more you have to be aware of the dangers because they become more independent. As a wife I can't take a break from housework. My husband does help, but both of us have to work together to be able to have fun time. As a doula I can't take a break from educating. I want my friends to be aware of their bodies. I don't want to see people go through unnecessary interventions. It makes life more stressful. Life is short though so I will live it up by loving my kids no matter what. By enjoying my clean house while it lasts and by caring for those soon to be mothers. I will continue to learn so as to better help these women. Namaste

A new week and I am getting ready for summer. I take my finals tomorrow and Friday. after that I am available May, June, July and August for births. I will be able to assist with two births a month. and you can book through Labor Support Births are amazing for me. I love seeing the new life that has been created from two single cells. My own births were amazing. my babes are beautiful.
I think its amazing how the body knows what it is doing I have heard of women giving birth even though they were in a coma. How the placenta can feed the baby. I love helping women achieve their full potential!

Doula Week

Wow I can't believe it!! It is Doula week starting tomorrow!!! I could not be a mom without my doulas!! If they were here I would hug them!!! I love being a doula, I help women find there strength, transition from being a person to being a motherhood, help the father to be there for his wife and support the family in choices!!
I have learned so much from other mothers, Doulas, and from school in childbirth and the changes we go through.
We earn our stripes in pregnancy and childbirth. We earn our dreams from becoming a mother!!
Much love and respect for all of you!
Alicia

Thoughts on Childbirth

I love reading blogs from other doulas and mothers. well one such blog talks about things ob's say. one day they stated that one such ob stated to "lie on your back because it opens the tailbone" It got me questioning does the tailbone really move. I decided to ask my anatomy instructor to find out more. #1 I know lying on the back in childbirth is horrible. it does no justice in labor because it does not allow gravity to assist in the birth and makes it harder for the baby to turn and such. #2 I am training to be a midwife so I wanted to know more about the tailbone. Well my instructor did correct me and told me that yes the tailbone does move but it is not substantial enough in childbirth to assist. its more the hip bone moving away from the sacrum and the pubis opens up.

Today I got to talk to a couple of people on childbirth. talked to them about the difference between hospital birth (which I have experienced) and home or birth center birth (which I hope to experience one day) We talked about how hospitals have liability and only allow for laboring so long with the water broken and how if you are not progressing the use of pitocin we talked about how epidurals can slow down labor when used to soon, we talked about how at home or in the birth center you can labor a lot longer with water broken and how you could even deliver the baby in its sack of water. All these things I am still learning about I do not claim to be an expert, but hopefully I will know a lot more when I become a midwife.

I write this as my healthy happy kids run around the house destroying my house. My oldest hanging on the fridge. I just have to think back on both my boys births and I am happy with both. They were both born in a hospital with midwives and doulas, both breastfeed wonderfully ( had to struggle at the beginning, but did finally succeed) and both were a healthy 6 ibs 11 oz and 21 in long.
Life is good. Live it large.

Yoga and Zumba

Today I had Yoga and then Zumba. I sat here after the classes just soaking up the goodness of the benefits of both these exercises. first yoga is so wonderful it increases flexibility and helps in the bodies ability in homeostasis. It is great in pregnancy because it helps open the body and bring the awareness to the body and mind. Second Zumba increases energy warming the body and helps to increase weight lose because you are using your body's energy stores to do this aerobic exercise. I also had a great laugh today. One of my friends posted a picture on Zumba (this will be down below.) It made me laugh because it is so true.
What fun I had though. I am making friends through both these classes and losing weight as well as getting fit and getting more energy.