Do YOU deserve a medal?  I am sure you do, because you do amazing things!  If you are a new mom, then you definitely deserve a medal!

In my quest to have a fun inexpensive gift for my doula clients, I have created a new website, Moms Deserve Medals with a special medal to give to a Mom!

I am a Hypnobabies Childbirth Educator and am a birth doula. I love working with pregnant and new moms.
Most of the moms I work with are planning for a natural birth.   The original inspiration for this website and these medals is the comment “You don’t get a medal for natural childbirth.”

I started thinking, “Why Not?”

When you run a marathon, you prepare for months ahead of time and then the day of the race you run and run and run and work SO hard! I am sure when you cross the finish line you are just so happy and proud because you DID it, you accomplished your goal! You didn’t run the marathon FOR the medal.  But you do DESERVE a medal!

The comparison between birth and a marathon is not perfect, but after attending a long, challenging home birth of one of my doula clients, I thought, “She DOES deserve a medal!”  She was strong and powerful and worked longer and harder than running a marathon. So I wanted to design a medal for her.

I have a doula client who is an artist and she was kind enough to draw up the design for the medal,  using a few different pictures I had from different moms births.  I found some different options for making the actual medals and started creating my website.

Then while I was in the process of doing all of this, I had a mom who needed a surprise cesarean for a breech baby.   I realized that she deserved a medal just as much as the other mom. I thought about all the sacrifices different moms make and realize ALL moms deserve medals.
Suddenly my idea was so much bigger than what it started as.
But that is how all great things start, with a small idea. So hence Moms Deserve Medals was born.  Because ALL Moms Deserve a Medal!

I would love for you to enter the give away on the Moms Deserve Medals Blog, because you can win a medal.  You know you deserve one!

One of the benefits of having a birth blog is I get the chance to read a lot of birth books!  I also have people sending me books to read.  I love that.  I recently finished reading Birth Day: A Pediatrician Explores the Science, the History, and the Wonder of Childbirth.

It is about birth and the first few minutes of the baby’s life.   I have read a LOT of books about birth, this one was different because it was written from the pediatricians perspective, and taking a deeper look at the baby’s aspect.  I liked this and learned some new things!

Part 1 covers all about being born. You see Dr. Sloan’s progression from med student to pediatrician.  He covers what happens at birth and the first 5 minutes after vaginal birth.  There is a chapter on cesareans.  I learned a bit more about the origin of cesareans and how they came to be what they are today.  This quote is very telling

Here in the early years of the twenty-first century we have reached a point of high medical irony… it now can take more courage – or foolhardiness- NOT to do a cesarean than it takes to do one.

This is sadly so very true.

Part 2 covers Pain and Politics. The chapter on B.E. Before Epidurals was fascinating.  As women moved to the hospital to birth and didn’t have the support of family or other women, the pain became more intense and women wanted relief from that.  This eventually led to Twilight Sleep.  I remember talking to my Grandma and asking about the birth of her 5 kids.  She didn’t remember anything about their births.  Reading this section made me see how far we have really come.

I did find it interesting that feminists played a big role in pushing for painless childbirth.

Feminists saw Twilight Sleep as their due – medical men had oppressed laboring women quite long enough.

Today most feminists don’t seem to have much interest in birth.  Moms are being forced to have surgery to have babies (in VBAC banned hospitals for example), they don’t seem to care.  This seems like a very important woman’s issue to me, worthy of fighting for.

The next chapter talks about pain relief today.  This looks at why epidurals are good and also the risks associated with them.  It also has a section on nitrous oxide which is used commonly in other cultures during birth.  It is a shame it is not readily available in the US.  I thought this information was very informative.  If moms knew about this option, they would ask for it and if enough moms ask, then they can get it!

Hypnosis for birth is touched on briefly in this section.

It’s no doubt easier to find a labor hypnotist in a large city than in an isolated rural area.

Well, this is the beauty of the Hypnobabies Home Study.  It is a complete hypnosis for childbirth course and can be learned ANYWHERE!

He talks about the challenges of having a Randomized Controlled Trial for anything regarding birth.  This is the “gold standard” of medical research.  But it is nearly impossible to assign moms different things to do or take during their birth.  Moms want to be in control.  In one case moms were told to be in certain positions for a certain amount of time.

It didn’t work.  Ninety percent of the women assigned to a specific position in one study took a “hell with that” and dropped out, opting for more comfortable positions than the researchers had planned for them.

The third section is titled:  Significant Others, it covers:  Dads, midwives, OBs and doulas.

By the 1940’s, non-medical birth attendants had largely disappeared; childbirth became a matter of a doctor, a nurse, and an often unconscious laboring woman.

By the 1980’s dads were back in the picture, but

the nurses themselves began to disappear

Thanks to EFM the nurse could sit and watch a screen instead of going into the mom and dad every 5-15 min to check on baby and reassure them all was well.

Doulas help fill that gap.

Her job, in sum, is to support a woman’s prenatal desires for the birth of her child while helping her adjust to the realities of the actual labor.

I thought that was a nice definition.

My favorite section was the 4^th: Looking at Babies

Chapter 8 looks at what the baby is experiencing in utero.  This section was really fascinating for me to read.  It is amazing all that a baby can do well before they are born.

He talks about how babies are born knowing how to find the breast and nurse (breast crawl)

It can take a half hour or more, but eventually he succeeds in scaling Mount Mama.  Cradling his mother’s breast between his arms, he moves his head back and forth, licking and smelling her nipple.  At last he latches on and begins to suck, all the while watching his mother’s face.  Kission accomplished’ in less than an hour he  has figured out where the food is, how to make it appear , and who he can count on to make more of it.  HE uses all his senses in that journey; a newborn sees, hears, smells, feels and tastes his way to his mother’s breast, guided by the sensory learnings of the womb.

Chapter 10 was a guided tour of the newborn body.  I learned that newborn babies can swallow and breathe at the same time for the first four months of life.  Their bodies are made to do this!

He talks about circumcision and I think does a good job.  He covers the pros and the cons and basically says he doesn’t recommend his patients have it done, but let’s the parents make an informed choice.  Looking like Dad isn’t a good reason, he adds.

The most striking thing to me after all these years (3000 births) is how often such an incredibly complicated process goes right.

In conclusion:

I think this is a great book for anyone working in the birth field to read.  There is a great review of the history of childbirth and the part of the baby’s experience in the womb and with birth are very informative and enjoyable.

I think many expecting moms would learn a lot by reading the book.  However I would suggest that an expecting mom skip the first section.  As with almost any birth book, there are scary stories inside.   Authors share the exceptional stories, which is what make books exciting and in this case show that a pediatrician is needed at some births.  I think pregnant moms shouldn’t read these stories.  They have enough to worry about.  She could safely read parts 2, 3 and 4 and save the first part of the book to read after her baby is born!  (Hypnobabies Moms should probably skip section 2 as well)

I am sharing this story of a birth I attended as a doula, with permission from the mom.

Charlotte’s Birth

Jennifer had a few weeks of pre-birth pressure waves, it was a bit surprising to us all when she kept getting closer and closer to her guess date, as her first daughter was born at 37 weeks.  But this baby was waiting until she was ready!

Jennifer called me around 6 pm on Monday saying that this was probably the day.  They had spent the day enjoying Irvine Regional Park and now were home.  Her pressure waves were every 4 minutes or so, one would be strong, the next would be smaller then the next one strong again.  I suggested a shower and then call back to update me.

An hour later I called Jennifer and asked if it was ok if I came over.  She said yes, so I headed out.  Ryan called soon and said Jennifer was craving Cinnamon Rolls.  I tried our neighborhood Cinnamon Productions but it was closed!  So Ralphs Bakery Cinnamon Rolls would have to do.  I got to Jennifer’s around 7:40 and she was resting in the chair.  She was still having pressure waves pretty regularly.  She ate her cinnamon roll while we chatted.  We decided we should probably get ready to head out and call Grandma to come over.

Jennifer was busy getting things ready, having pressure waves and then her water broke about 8pm.  Jennifer got a little emotional, but we reassured her, she was doing great!  I let her know once she got settled in the car and listening to her CD it would help.  She WAS doing great!

I called the OB to let them know we were coming.  I met Jennifer and Ryan in the main lobby.  Jennifer was in the bathroom and I went into check on her.  She was excited that today was the day!  We made our way up to triage, arriving about 9 PM.   She explained her water had broken and we asked if she could skip triage.  They wanted to be sure her water had broken, so sent her into triage.  They only allow one person back there at a time, so Ryan hung out with her and then after awhile, I went in for a little bit and then Ryan went back in.

Jennifer was doing well, but the nurse would talk to her and distract her and sometimes it would make things slow down, not to mention make it harder to stay focused!  I was getting pretty frustrated that they weren’t getting her settled into a room.  It was evident she was in her birthing time, but they were not able to determine if her water had broken.

Then they did a swab to see if that would help them determine.  I saw the nurse at the microscope examining, for what seemed like forever.  Then the OB was there, looking in the microscope.   Then he came in and said he couldn’t see any amniotic fluid on the swab they took.  He watched her relax through a pressure wave.  He explained that he could tell she was in her birthing time, but he would like to do a vaginal exam to see what was going on.  Jennifer said ok.  This was about 10:30, an hour and a half after getting there!

Ryan and I went out of the curtain area.  Then I see the nurse getting the ultrasound and I was wondering what was up.  I heard the word breech and my heart sunk.  Ryan and I went in and Dr. Winter explained that Jennifer was 6cm and doing great, but the baby was breech.  He showed us the baby’s position with the ultrasound.  I asked if they could do a version.  But because her water HAD broken and she was having pressure waves, it wouldn’t be safe.

He said, had it been 20 years earlier she would be an ideal candidate for a vaginal breech birth, because she had already had a baby and her birthing time was progressing well.  He was impressed at how well she was doing.  But now the hospital doesn’t allow vaginal breech births, because of an increased liability to the hospital.  He said we had time to get used to the idea, it wasn’t an emergency situation.

I read the change of plans script.  I was near tears at the beginning.  It is such a hard situation, to be faced with a cesarean when it is such a surprise.  But by the end of the script I felt calmer, I hope Jennifer and Ryan did too.  Then it was a flurry of activity.   The nurse tried to put in an IV.  The Anesthesiologist was explaining things and answering questions.  Jennifer would have to pause for pressure waves.  Then about 11 Jennifer and Ryan walked to the OR and I went to the room to wait.  I prayed that all would go well and wondered, WHY?

Then about midnight, they came back to the room.  Charlotte was SO cute.  She was 7 pounds 2 oz, which is smaller than her sister had been.  Jennifer was a bit shaky, but once she had Charlotte in her arms she was good!  Charlotte latched right on and nursed like a champ.

That night when I went home, I couldn’t sleep and was up writing and pondering about Jennifer’s experience.  What I came up with was that even though it wasn’t ideal, I could see God’s hand in the process.  I was so surprised and irritated that they couldn’t tell her water had broken.  But if they had, then they wouldn’t have checked her until she felt like pushing.  Imagine the chaos if they determined the baby was breech while Jennifer was starting to push.  They would still want her to have a cesarean and then there wouldn’t have been time for a change of plan script and a much more emergency situation.  So it made me grateful that God knew what was happening and made it so that the OB felt the need to check her.

Though as an educated Childbirth Educator and Doula I know that she was a great candidate for a vaginal breech birth, I also know that sadly that option wasn’t really available to her.  It is FRUSTRATING!

I am in the process of making medals for moms.  You know the saying, “You don’t get a medal for natural birth.”  But I think moms DO deserve medals.  Every mom does, especially Jennifer, who worked hard to prepare for a natural birth, was DOING it and would have made it all the way, but for the safety of her baby agreed to a major abdominal surgery!  She totally deserves a medal!  (When I get them, I will bring one over for you.  You will get on of the first ones!)

Edited to add over at the At Your Cervix blog, she posted about a similar tale.  I wonder how often this happens?

I am so excited.  I am going to be launching a new website with a fun gift for new moms in the next week or so.  (More info and a give away coming soon!)

I created a badge for my new site and then realized I need a badge for this blog!  So I created one.  It is simple, but I think nice.

What do you think?  Does it need more?

Add one to your blog!    It is easy, just cut and paste the code beneath into your widget section of your blog.  For wordpress you do it in a text box.    I am not sure how to do it on other blogs.  But you guys are smart! 

This is a situation a mom on the Hypnobabies Group shared with a mom facing induction for low fluid.

I just went through a huge ordeal with my fluid levels. I am 39 weeks today, and my baby has been measuring small. (my other daughter did too and she was 7 lbs. which was bigger than any of myself, husband or our siblings.) Anyways, I had an US last Wed and the baby’s growth had looked to have slowed by quite a bit. My fluid levels were 8…not a concern. I had a bio physical profile (in depth US) and non stress test done the following day. Baby was perfect. However, my fluid was at 4. Scared me.

I am planning a homebirth, and this just didn’t fit in with that. I had to stay overnight with IV and get retested the next morn. My levels were at 5. Still low, but not an emergency. I refused to make a decision that day, as the baby was doing fine. I went home, didn’t get off my bed, Visualized fluids filling all around my baby, and drank all the water in sight. I went back the next day to retest, as well as retest for her size (different US tech. much more thorough.) My level was at 11 ! Also, the baby showed to be a week and a day bigger than the previous US three days prior. That meant her growth was completely normal all along. I just feel that you really need to ask questions, and go with your gut. My gut was very vague because of all of the fear, but I did know that Today is not the day for me to decide. Unless it’s an emergency, you have options! You will do what is best and what you are most comfortable, just regroup and trust yourself. Hope that helps a little.

I asked this mom if I could share her experience on my blog.  Here was her response:

Sheridan, please do share my story. I would love to encourage women to use their instincts. I will admit that they almost had me. I had a lot of fear that was blocking my ability to trust myself. And like I said, my only gut instinct that was kicking in was that Today is not the day to make this decision. I had a c-section with my first daughter, so if I had to resort to a hospital birth, they would not induce me. They just wanted to repeat c-section. That definately didn’t make me happy, as I am planning a homebirth. I am so glad I trusted myself, and just as much, didn’t trust that their technology is always correct. I went from a very high risk patient to a non issue in one day.
Good luck,

Amber

It doesn’t get any better than this! 

Mariana was planning a VBA2C and used Hypnobabies to help prepare.  She hired a doula and was planning to birth at a hospital 30 minutes away that allowed VBACs.  Because she was so relaxed her doula didn’t realize she was so far along and they had to go to the hospital 5 minutes away and the baby was born 30 minutes later.  Vaginally at this hospital which prohibits VBACs. Maybe that was because there wasn’t time for them to figure that out!

You can read the whole story yourself at The Crafty Work At Home Momma!

This is also a nice reminder that if you are doulaing for a Hypnobabies Mom, don’t expect the normal signs to know how far along mom is!

What does a budgeting program have to do with birth?  Well in some ways nothing, but really in life it can help a lot!  For moms planning a home birth, having a budget can help them reach their goal.   But I am really only posting about this on my birth blog, because I love it.

I have always been a big fan of Quicken.  I have used it since we were first married almost 15 years ago.  I am kind of crazy about it.  I could tell you how much we spend on kleenex each year.  I would have to really search to figure it out, but I do put it in the memo line.  I say this to let you know I am not really a normal person. 

So Rob and I have always been pretty good about our money.  When we were both working we lived off of his salary and saved what I earned.  This helped us in 2 ways:  1.  I knew I wanted to stay at home when we had kids and we figured if we never got used to living on two salary’s it wouldn’t be a sacrifice for me to stay home.  2.  We had money saved for a down payment for a house when we were ready to buy one.

We have only gotten loans for cars and our house.  Other than that we pay cash.  (Well, we charge things to get the miles, but we pay off our credit card in full each month.)  Quicken was a great way to see our Net Worth grow and to see how we were spending our money.  The thing I didn’t like about Quicken is it has built in obsolescence.  You have to buy a new program every 3 years in order to continue downloading information from your bank.  That really drives me crazy.  I am a saver and it is such a waste to have to buy something new, when the old thing SHOULD work.

So, when Quicken became obsolete for me this year, I was researching my choices.  The new Quicken had horrible reviews and I didn’t want to buy it and need to buy a new one in 3 years.  What were my other choices?  What was my goal?  I wanted to see where my money was going and how much money we had.  There were a lot of free online choices for tracking how much money I had.    But they didn’t have what I was looking for in tracking where my money was going.

Then I found YNAB – You Need a Budget.  The free 7 day trial made it worth it to try.  It created this whole new way of thinking for me too.  It wasn’t like Quicken, where I could see where my money went, instead it helped me think about where my money was GOING!  I had tried budgeting before, but it wasn’t really fun.  But with YNAB it is all built in, it is intuitive and fun to me.  (Of course I am a little special as mentioned before.  I sometimes create excel spreadsheets just for fun.)

There is also a money management mentality.   4 Rules to help you succeed with money.

1.  Stop living paycheck to paycheck (Rob and I already had this one down, but still SO important to do.)  The great thing is, with YNAB you figure out how to do that.

2.  Give every dollar a JOB!   I loved this part.  This was new to me and very helpful.

3.  Save for a rainy day.   While we are good with money and always had a buffer in savings. It was always a bit of a shock to get our Car Insurance Bill of $800 every year.  Luckily it didn’t stress me out, because we had a nice buffer, but it still was a shocker.  Well now I have $75 going every month into the car insurance category, waiting there for that bill next Feb.  So it won’t be a shocker at all.

4.  Roll with the punches.  When you overspend in a category, it keeps you honest.    Eating out is our biggest weakness.

One thing I LOVE is I used to do a monthly report with Quicken, but I would have to download it and create an Excel spreadsheet to make it work right.  It was time consuming and not totally helpful, because the month was over by then.  With YNAB I print our budget each week after downloading things from our banks and credit card.  This takes a few minutes each week to download and 1 minute to print the report.  Then Rob and I look at it and review and discuss anything that has popped up and adjust for the month.  EASY.  Much easier than the way I used to do it.

I get tips via e-mail from YNAB and they have been helping me too!

So if one of your goals this year is to be better about your money, check into YNAB!

Enjoy. 

Here is the link to part 1.

Extra Fun Birth – I had attended Hannah’s Sister’s Birth a few months before and a lot of the same people were there, so it was like a reunion of sorts.  I was so glad that I was able to attend Hannah’s birth!

Being in Town – It was pretty amazing that I ended up being at this birth.  Hannah knew I was going to be out of town for a week during her guess month, but she wanted only me and no back up.  So I let her hire me, with us both knowing full well I may not be there.  It apparently was meant to be that I was there, because baby stayed in until after I was home.   I had tried this 2 other times and the moms had baby’s while I was away.  I felt bad even though they KNEW.  For one I wish I had insisted she have someone else and actually had back up lined up that she could have called.  (She was a VBAC hopeful and ended up with a repeat cesarean)  This is one of my dilemmas of being a doula, what do I do with moms who want to hire me while I am out of town for part of their guess month?

Low Fluid – luckily Hannah, Doug and I had met the day before her NST and I had talked to them about low fluid, to ask the exact amount if they were told it was low.  So they knew that 3 really WAS low.  It was a necessary induction.

Life as a Doula - A stressful part of the birth for me.  We were supposed to sign loan docs that day for our refinance.    When Doug called we still hadn’t heard from the loan doc people, so I was a bit stressed as we were supposed to sign that day or we would lose our great rate.  This was hanging over my head until Rob texted me around 6 saying it would be ok as long as we signed the next day, but I was worried, what if she was still birthing the next day?  1^st time mom, being induced, that can take 24-48 hours.   I just put it out of my mind.  I had prayed on the way over that it would all work out and just tried to put it in the Lord’s hands.   It all worked out just fine.  But this is just an example of the craziness in the life of a doula.

I love the Change of Plan Script!  I love all of the Hypnobabies tools, but this particular script is perfect for situations like this.

Lots of People at the birth - It was great that Hannah had so much support there, but also knowing that birth is not a spectator event, sometimes it is better to have people clear out of the room so mom can really relax and let go!  Sometimes as the doula or main birth partner, you have to help make this happen.

When all the ladies came back from their walk after getting a snack that night, I asked if they had a plan?  Were they all going to hang out there until she had the baby?  It would have been ok I think, except I was feeling bad for Nana.  There were not really enough seats for everyone and I just had no idea how long Hannah’s birth was going to last.  Things might really not get started until the next morning!  They didn’t have a plan.  So I suggested they get a hotel room nearby and we could call with any changes.  They were open to that.  So I went to ask Hannah what she wanted.  She was fine with them going to a hotel.

I felt like the birth was AMAZING for a hospital induction until we got to about 9cm.

Here is where I got a little frustrated, here was this great birth, un-medicated mom with pitocin doing SO well.  Now is where the whole hospital/fear base came to interfere.

Peeing – I wanted to get Hannah up and to the potty one more time before she started pushing.  The nurse was nervous about this and said she didn’t really need to.  She would bring a bed pan and she could pee right there on the bed, she didn’t want her pushing the baby out in the toilet.   I really was pushing for Hannah to get up, but after the nurse said that, Hannah didn’t want to get out of bed.   (I later found out this was the first un-medicated birth this nurse had seen in 10 years of nursing, so maybe she did think the baby was going to pop out of a first time mom at 9cm if she sat on the toilet.)

Pushing - I told the nurse she wanted to push in an upright position because laying down really hurt her back.  Hannah was on her knees on the bed at this point.  I asked if she could push like this.  The nurse said that if the OB was ok with it and the baby looked fine then it should be ok.

Pushing scare tactics – When the OB got there he said she could push in any position she wanted, but he couldn’t protect her perineum in that position.  But it was up to her, but she might tear that way, more moms tear in that position.  UGGGGHHHH…. let’s scare mom into doing what we want her to do.  Hannah of course then wanted to be in the “right” position despite the fact it caused discomfort in her back.

Pushing power of our words – Hannah started pushing around 1:20.  The nurse had her in a pretty good position in the bed, but when she was ready to call OB in, she got the stirrups out and took the bottom of the bed off and got mom into the “proper pushing position”.  She also said something along the lines of “This is a pretty big baby and so we need to have you in this position.” Also “This baby is posterior, so we are going to have to work harder to get her through your pelvis”   She said comments like this a few times.  I think this is a great example of how nurses are not aware of the negative power of their words.  When she was pushing with the nurse, the nurse was doing some perineal support and massage and this had reassured Hannah.

The OB came in and sat on his stool between her legs up in stirrups, closed his eyes and kept taking cat naps between pushes.  When she started to push she asked for perineal support.  The OB looked confused.  I wanted to yell at him!  “DUDE, you said she couldn’t push in the other position, so you could support her while pushing and now you sit there SLEEPING!”  He told the nurse to do it.

So she was pushing and the nurse kind of made me mad because she would say, ‘If you push hard then the baby can come out next push.”    So then Hannah was frustrated and worried because the baby wasn’t coming out.  She thought that she wasn’t pushing well enough because the baby wasn’t coming out.  I reassured her that it took time, that she was doing great.

Also while she was pushing she wanted to be sitting up more and the OB made a comment “Gravity doesn’t really help in situations like this, your uterus is much more powerful than gravity.”  I explained she wanted to be more upright because her back was uncomfortable in that position.

At one point Hannah said, “Never mind.  I just want a cesarean.  What if the baby is too big?”  I reassured her she was doing fine.  The baby was good, she was good, her baby was the perfect size for her!  She could do it!    Lots of positive affirmations!  I think it helped her let go of the fear, which the nurse had planted in her mind.

Sticky Shoulders – ???  Well, it seemed weird to me that before the babies head even came out the OB moved her into the position and told her she had to go into this position to do the whole push on her stomach to get the baby out.   She had been pushing for less than an hour and was making progress.  Then when the baby’s head crowned, they didn’t let her rest, they yelled at her to push the head out.  So she did.  Then she didn’t even have another chance to rest, when they dropped the bed, called sticky shoulders and started all their stuff.

The baby was out within 20 – 30 seconds before the other nurses stormed the room.  I can’t help but wonder if we had taken a break when the baby’s head crowned.  Waited for the next pressure wave to push the head out if we could have avoided that.  What about pushing on hands and knees like she had wanted to?

Can you really tell you may have a possible shoulder distocia before baby crowns?

Overall Feelings -  Except for being made to push in a position she didn’t find comfortable and the scary last few seconds (which caused her to get a 3^rd degree tear, which took 40 minutes to repair) she had an incredible birth.   I can’t help but wonder if she had been able to push on her hands and knees like she wanted if that would have actually helped the baby just slide out easily and help prevent the tearing.

She overcame great odds, hospital, pitocin, posterior baby and did it un-medicated and was calm and did amazing!  I just wish she could have pushed in a different position.  I also wished I had MADE her get up to pee.  Being upright and walking to the toilet, sitting on it for a few minutes could only have helped.  That nurse totally undermined that.  I am sorry but that baby wouldn’t have fallen out in the toilet!  And if she did, that would have been nicer than what did happen.

Peeing Again – After I left the nurse wanted her to pee before she went to the postpartum room and Hannah couldn’t.  Her sister suggested she get in the shower (remember, Hannah is a shower peer) and the nurse said NO and did a CATHETER!  Seriously, you won’t let mom hop in the shower so she can pee?  Having a wonderful natural birth and she has to get a catheter, instead of going into the shower? Ugghh.

Breastfeeding - When her sister went back to visit the next day and the NURSE was feeding the baby a bottle of formula.  That pissed her off and she made her stop and said if the baby isn’t latching on, let’s get a pump for mom and finger feed the baby.  Baby actually wouldn’t latch on for 3 days.  I suggested a chiropractic adjustment might really help, with all the pulling they did on the baby.  So they arranged that and she latched on easily after that.

This one is for you.  How much would you spend on a gift?

If you are a midwife, doula, childbirth educator, nurse, etc

Do you ever give gifts to your clients?

How much would you be willing to spend on a cute gift?