Doulas are an investment, too

Doulas are an integral part of the new mothers life, yet many mothers reject the aid, assistance and comfort that having a doula can bring.

Anyone who has experienced the joys of a new baby can also attest to the steep learning curve that comes with the responsibility of the new little one. Pile on the lack of sleep, the getting to know your baby's personality and clues, the struggle to heal after childbirth and to adjust to your new body and new role, and this can be a delicate time for the new mother.

At this time, a doula is equipped to provide immediate relief and to lend a sympathetic ear. Her experience with babies proves invaluable when applied to the situation of the new baby at the home.

It is prudent to be careful with resouces, but weigh carefully being overly cautious against getting a best start to motherhood.

Doula Angelita writes a column for the San Jose Examiner on birth, parenting, nutrition and women's issues.

Please visit my column http://ekahnav.notlong.com, subscribe and comment!

Looking forward to hearing from you! http://ekahnav.notlong.com

The recent answer to "Who Am I?"

I am a trident doula/parenting coach/nutrition guide/women's issue advocate firmly committed to helping women wherever they are along the childbearing continuum. I pride myself on being San Jose's Community Doula! and love to offer all my knowledge and expertise to them, and love working with other birth professionals to help women blossom into the mothers they secretly want to be.

Born to a Caribbean family of healers and women's advocates, I have found my path and vocation as a doula. I am also studying to be a midwife; have EMT training and nurse assistant experience, constantly learn/lecture/write about birth and have a wonderful time being both wife and mother in beautiful sunny San Jose!

A new tool for my doula bag!

Now, friends and family laugh at me when I say this, but I really am crazy about the new KGB text information service. Not only are the commercials cute and snappy, but the service itself is quite impressive. However, what does KGB have to do with being a doula?

When you have a question, are unsure about something, or need clarification, you turn to an expert, right? Well, KGB has a plethora of experts just waiting to fulfill your every whim, enquiry and query.

Still not clear on why it's my new BFF? Well, recently I was in hospital with a client, and the doctor recommended that she take a certain medication to help ease/slow down her contractions. The doctor then left, and the client asked me what medications would the doctor prescribe? I texted 542542-and for .99 cents I received a list of them. Now, usually I have my nurse's drug reference with me, but didn't on this occasion. Thus, the client was prepared with options, the doctor could focus on specific concerns, the nurse on duty was able to continue with her other clients undisturbed, and I was able to to provide information to my client in a timely fashion.

Other uses I could forsee in the future: pediatrician appointments, product comparisons, looking for doulas in the area....the possibilities are endless!

KGB542542: it's my new tool and I feel 2cool4school!



To contact Doula Angelita, especially now that she's the #1 fan of KGB and really ready to help you to be superinformed, be confident, and be empowered in birthing and parenthood, contact:

DOULA ANGELITA
RESURGAM BIRTHINGWELL8899
DOULA4HIRE@GMAIL.COM

Babies are aware-and they are listening!

Dr. Timothy Johnson presented a news segment for Good Morning America(ABC news) in which researchers discovered that a foetus at week between 30-34 is able to retain memory for up to four weeks. Researchers placed a buzzer on the abdomens of consenting mothers. The noise was repeated until the foetus no longer reacted, then repeated at intervals.

On subsequent days, the foetus, accustomed to the noise, reacted at first and then settled down. When researchers shortened the duration of the noise, the foetus reacted, even if the noise had not been heard for some days. The longest period that the foetus remembered and responded to the noise was four weeks after last hearing it.

The findings, besides adding another layer to the abortion debate, highlights the vast importance of prenatal care, something that I stress repeatedly to my clients, and the one area that many busy, harried women find difficult to comply with. Many women feel that as long as they take a prenatal and make most of their appointments, that they are golden. Some women simply feel that the heavy lifting of motherhood begins after the baby is born. Other mothers ignore or stretch recommendations to rest as needed, exercise daily, keep hydrated, wear comfortable, supportive clothes and shoes, and practice stress management techniques.

Of course, there are many wonderfully concientious mothers, and it is easy to sympathize with the high-powered career woman or single mom working daily for enough money for food and rent. It is not easy to find the time to take care of yourself, and just take care of yourself and your baby without yielding to the tempation to multi-task. However, your baby is just as important as everything else, if not more so.

In our rough-and-tumble, it- was -due- yesterday culture, where practically everyone has a Blackberry IV in their veins, , this news, this uncomplicated study, has wider ramifications. All mothers, whether bearing their first child, or their fifth, ought to carve out a cave of time in which to take care of themselves, bond with their infant through talking, singing, and reading, and preparing themselves to become mothers. That elusive element of time spent with the baby before birth is not a waste of time with no result, but active steps on the pathway to bonding with the your baby.

Whether high-powered career woman, or single mother living check to check, it is advisable for pregnant women to hire a doula. Antenatal or antepartum doulas provide emotional support, practical life advice and coaching, and hands-on support for mothers-to-be. With a doula, the decision to focus on bonding with the baby is easier, as an extra pair of hands are available to assist with housework, cooking, etc. Many antenatal doulas will provide the guidance necessary to help the mother begin to place quiet oases throughout the day. Some antepartum doulas will even provide massage, or guided meditation. An antenatal doula is an invaluable asset and ally in the strategy of bonding with the aware foetus.

This study leaves no doubt that the transformation from woman to mother begins at conception. If you factor in elements such as the need for pre-pregnant women to take 400-800mcg of folic acid daily to prepare both their bodies and any eventual foetus for a healthy start in life, then the circle of life is presented and the evidence is quite difficult to ignore that the embryo then foetus is much more than a lump of inert tissue. It is a vital life force, teeming with possibility, and the best thing that you can do is to make time to welcome your little one. Babies are listening to you, and aware.

Quick Survey: I, Redundant?

I recently spoke with some pregnant women from the community. Extolling the virtues of being a doula, and waxing ecstatic about how wonderful it is to provide one-to-one help, I did notice that some members of the birth circle were less than thrilled. Breaking out of my cocoon of happiness, I stopped my presentation and enquired as to what was wrong.

May I say that I was blown out of my shoes when one individual spoke out loudly and said, "You can save your breath. I ain't getting no doula. My mom didn't have one and her mom didn't have one, I am going right to the hospital, they can give me an epidural cocktail, I won't feel nothing!" There was general laughing and agreement, with some members volunteering that they didn't know that women needed help during labour, other women who are "weaker" needed doulas to hold their hands, the nurses and doctors would take care of everything for them.

Faced with this outpouring of sentiment, I asked them for a few moments of quiet. I thanked them for sharing their views with me. I then asked them to do a visualization with me: imagine that you have to carry a heavy box, up a steep hill full of potholes, and over slippery slopes. It is 95 degrees. There is no shade. It is humid, the goal is far and getting farther. You thirst, there is no water. You must go on; your feet are blistered, every bone aches.

Now, imagine the same scenario: a heavy box, a steep hill. Halfway up the hill, you meet a stranger, who wipes your face and hands with a cool cloth, and pours out a tall glass of iced lemonade. The stranger smiles at you, and holds the box while you stretch and refresh yourself. There is even a green tree to sit under; you plop, thankfully underneath the verdant shade and lean against a root and close your eyes. After a time, the stranger bids you to rise, and continue your journey. To your surprise, the stranger takes the box and walks with you. When you stop again, you are surprised to see how far you have come...

I concluded the imagery by saying that doulas have been around since after Eve, that slaves in Egypt and in America both used experienced older women to give birth(see the story of Moses), that every culture on earth uses woman-centered care, that it is the exception for "women to give birth alone in the rice fields and keep on going". I then reminded them, the child that they carried along in their wombs, needed them, needed them to be strong, and that the strong and the clever are always the first to ask for help.

I will not boast of success or of failure; the important thing is that those women had a new perspective to contemplate.

If I were an octopus....

Unless you are an octopus……..

you need a doula!

Doulas are a helping hand when you need them!

Resurgam Birthingwell Support Services Ltd is a multi-service doula agency dedicated to the care, support, and assistance of women in the community during the childbearing years.

Doula Angelita provides wraparound care before-during-after birth wherever you want: home-hospital-birth centre.

Doula Angelita
resurgam birthingwell support services ltd
p.o.box 240506* boston ma 02124*doula4hire@gmail.com
http://doula6angelita.blogspot.com
http://resurgambirthingwell.wetpaint.com

A tragedy in San Antonio

Otty Sanchez woke up Sunday morning, looked at her three and a half week old baby boy, took two swords and a steak knife, dismembered and ate parts of her child.

Is this the plot to a horror movie? Yes, a horror movie that a good percentage of postpartum women endure. Otty Sanchez is a troubled young woman who fell through the cracks of the medical system.

The stories are now emerging and are heartbreaking: she was on meds, she wasn't. She was hospitalized, she left without her medications. No one seemed concerned about her mental outlook-or the safety of her newborn. Her family seems to have known something was amiss, but stayed quiet out of guilt and shame. Her partner, himself a schizophrenic, says that she was allright since she was breastfeeding.

There was at least one incident with the police. Something was wrong, but no one thought that leaving an unstable mother in a house decorated with samarai kitana was not a good idea. When the horrific deed occurred, there were two people asleep in the next room, yet she was screaming and swearing and covered with blood.

Whatever the truth, the absolute fact is that NO ONE, not the maternity care team, the pediatrician, the family, the partner, the police, seems to have realized that Otty Sanchez had gone to a dark place of madness, where her psychoses multiplied and her baby was the target of insanity.

People knew what was going on, and simply shrugged, hoping for the best. Others were too busy to delve below the surface. Still others were not ready to accept what was in front of their faces.

As a mother, as a doula, I am truly horrified, horrified that once again a mother was allowed to be alone with a defenseless infant. Tears come to my eyes. The statistics state that there are some 14%-20% of women who experience some sort of postpartum reaction, from baby blues to a whole spectrum of postpartum disorders.

The partner of Otty Sanchez blames her, as the mother, says she should be executed. When in the grips of an altered mental state, people do not know, and/or do not care what they do, or say. This is why an outside observer is necessary to spot the signs that inadequate care and bonding are occuring. The mother may not notice, may think she is being rationale, or is beyond the beyond and cannot care.

As a doula, I screen every woman in my care for postpartum reactions-especially if there has been a history of depression or other altered mental state, including from drug/alcohol use. This is to the mother's benefit, as early and vigilant interventions can save both her and her child(ren) from grief and heartache.

Working together with the mother and the mother's care providers, as well as the pediatrician, and other support providers, the doula is a part of that care team who all have the goal of optimum mental health for the mother in mind.

Mothers suffering in this vulnerable state are not left alone, where guilt, shame and loathing compound the situation. All care providers are there to help, not compound the issues.
There was a tragedy in Texas, and the baby was only one victim, the smallest, the most vulnerable, the one who should have been uppermost in the minds of all.

6 care practices that I believe in!

Six Care Practices from Lamaze I believe in
Q. What types of care should I expect when I go to the hospital? Are there any specific things I should look for in terms of the care practices?
A. In my estimation, the guidelines put forth by Lamaze International are sound. Of course, each individual mother needs to follow the recommendations of her care provider, and the situation varies from hospital to hospital, and of course from hospital to birth centre.That said, here is my take on how birth, uncomplicated by medical concerns, should proceed if conditions augur:
1. Labour should begin on its own.
2. Labouring women should have the freedom to move about during their labour without restraint.
3. Labouring women should have continuous support during labour(woo-hoo for doulas!)
4. No routine interventions, or as I like to say, interventions only when and if necessary for optimum maternal-foetal health.
5.Women should not give birth on their backs. Again, my provision is unless there was an unavoidable Caesarean.
6. A. Mothers and babies should not be separated at birth.

B. Unlimited opportunities for breastfeeding should be given. Again, my provision is if the mother wants to breastfeed, then that is fine. I most certainly am NOT going to force the mother to breastfeed if she wants to use the bottle.
So, my take on number 6 is that mothers and babies should have the time and space to get to know one another through the feeding process.That was a great question, and I encourage more questions! Ask away!