Your Sister Doula

06/06/2023

06/06/2023

Fresh 48, Newborn, Monthly Milestones and Smash Cakes
20 minutes
$50
10-15 photos back
Your Sister Doula

05/12/2023

04/10/2023

Most twins do not need to be born via cesarean section. Period. You have choices and deserve explanations when those choices are resisted.
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We need to normalize photos like this and take fear out of twin birth!
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Link in bio for one of my blogs about a birth center twin birth.
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11/05/2022

10/28/2022

At birth, the newborn's skull consists of five major bones:

2 frontal
2 parietal
1 occipital

These are separated by connective tissue junctions known as cranial sutures.

These cranial sutures function as seams and they are highly necessary to facilitate the movement and molding of the cranium through the birth canal during labour. They also allow for rapid postnatal growth and development of the brain.

However, the bones that shape the cranium begin unfused, leaving several gaps between the individual bones of the infant's skull.

These gaps are composed of membranous connective tissue and are known as fontanelles. (Lipsett et al, 2020)

Baby's fontanelles, also known as 'soft spots' should be relatively firm to touch and when you keep your fingers there you may feel a pulse It should also curve ever so slightly inward. If the soft spot has a very noticeable inward curve it's known as a sunken fontanelle. This often indicates dehydration.
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10/28/2022

Our babies are designed to thrive and you can trust yourself to know if your newborn needs a little extra help immediately.

You can learn to do a newborn exam yourself.
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10/28/2022

Nuchal - neck
Cord- referring to the umbilical cord.

When asked about the safety of home birth, I often get questions about what happens if the baby's umbilical cord is wrapped around their neck. In medical term, it is called a nuchal cord. In the second photo you can see the cord wrapped around not once, but twice! A double nuchal
cord. Nuchal cords are actually very common, with
research showing that they occur in roughly 1 out of every 3 births. They are very common and rarely problematic, as cords are soft, slippery, and padded with what is called Wharton's jelly. All it takes are a few maneuvers to unravel the baby so that they can be brought easily up to their
mother's chest. Nuchal cords are often resolved within a few seconds.

I know it can look a bit scary, but the cord is designed to be squished. The cord is coiled and covered in Wharton's jelly which protects the cord and if the cord manages to get itself in a knot or wrapped around a baby's neck it protects it from tightening and stops the vessels inside being restricted.

Babies receive oxygen via the cord, so remember that your baby is not breathing through their mouth yet, and is receiving oxygenated blood via the placenta and will continue to do so until after birth.
Delaying the clamping of the cord in this instance is
extremely beneficial to allow baby to receive oxygen from both the inside and outside world!!

Nuchal cords are too often used as a scapegoat for
unnecessary interventions.
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Photos:.evans.photographybirth

10/28/2022

Did you know that when mothers receive
epidurals during labor that Fentanyl gets passed to their baby?

Fentanyl and other medications administered in an epidural (usually lidocaine) do get to the baby and in fact do affect the newborn.

Since fentanyl is usually included in epidurals, a team of researchers at Women's Hospital in Boston, set out to determine whether getting an epidural during labor impacts urine drug test results in newborns.

Mothers treated for more than 10 hours with a cumulative dose of >100 ug had children with positive fentanyl tests.

In a separate study conducted by 2 doctors in Sweden and 2 doctors in the states, sixty-three mothers were studied to labor with or without intrapartum analgesia. Split into groups; these were the groups:

Mother administered fentanyl and synOT
Mother administered fentanyl only
Mother administered synOT
Mother administered neither fentanyl or synOT
Babies with no exposure to fentanyl or synOT (control group) had significantly longer birth cries than babies in all three other cohorts:

Babies in the cohort exposed to synOT without fentanyl spent significantly less time resting than the control cohort with no exposure to synOT or fentanyl.

Babies in the controlled cohort were significantly faster at crawling to the breast than those in the cohort with exposure to fentanyl without synOT.

Babies in the cohort exposed to both fentanyl and synOT spent significantly less time in the Familiarization Stage than babies in the controlled cohort.

Babies exposed to both fentanyl and synOT were
significantly less likely to reach this stage and begin
suckling than babies in the control cohort with no exposure to fentanyl or synOT.

A strong inverse correlation was found between
intrapartum exposure to fentanyl and synthetic oxytocin and normal behaviors of newborn infants during the first hour after birth, as measured by the length of time spent in each of the various instinctive Stages of Newborn Behaviors and the likelihood of progressing through all 9 of the Stages of Widström's 9 Stages during skin-to-skin in the first hour after birth.

10/28/2022

Having a doula has the following PROVEN results.

•28% less likely to have c-section
•31% less likely to use Syntocinon
•15% more likely to have a spontaneous vaginal birth
•10% decrease in the use of any medications for pain relief
•35% less likely to have a negative birth experience
•Overall shorter labours
(courtesy of Evidence Based Birth + Dona Intl.)
Research shows the best results are achieved when the support is being given by someone who isn't the birthing person's partner or part of their medical staff. I can help you to begin your journey to parenthood feeling.
- Empowered: Maybe you have nervousness or fears around labor and what to expect. I can help you identify those fears and eliminate any worries you have through education and empowerment.
- Equipped: I won't ever make choices for you BUT I will provide the most unto date evidence-based information to support you in your decision making.
- Supported: I provide continuity of care, which naturally reduces anxiety. I provide hands-on comfort measures and emotional reassurance. I don't replace a partner; I demonstrate techniques and model comfort measures to help your partner feel confident and skilled to help ease and soothe labour.
~ Every parent-to-be can benefit from adding a doula to their birth team.