Psi Bands

I was in the local Babies R Us the other day and I stopped for a minute to check out what they had on their rack for morning sickness. With my 3 year old I remember buying "preggie pops" to help with my nausea and very mild morning sickness. However, daily I am talking with women about what to do in their pregnancy for the nausea and vomiting and this is what prompted me to check out the Babies R Us section.

I noticed these cute arm bands. Then something clicked. I had heard somewhere, sometime, about these acupressure bands... then BAM! I remembered these were created by another mom company!  I had to check it out a little more, and low and behold I read all about it on their website:  http://www.psibands.com


pronounced "sigh" like a sigh of relief this is another, non medicine option for women with nausea and vomiting in pregnancy. I mean seriously, there is only so much ginger tablets you can take right? Or ginger snaps?

I talked with PsiBands and I was fortunate enough to get some brochures that I can now pass out to my pregnant patients.  Hopefully I will get pregnant soon so that I can test out the bands themselves!!

Let's continue to support other momprenuers and mom invented company by liking them on facebook HERE

http://www.facebook.com/psibands

Patience

One of the most important things I have learned as a midwife is patience. Not patience in the overall scheme of life, but patience with birth.

I forget about time when I am with a mom in labor. I am fine to sit in a room and just sit. I am fine to be doing something or to be doing nothing. The other day I just sat with a mom for 2 hours before a nurse even came in the room to check on us.  It was glorious. We talked, she labored, we rocked, she squatted, we swayed, she made birthing noises, we walked, she breathed. It wasn't about me at all. It was all about her.

Then when the pushing starts I still am patient. I let mama's push how they want, when they want. The nurses sometimes get a little nervous, thinking a mom might never get her baby out if she yells instead of bears down. Or how will she get the baby out if she doesn't tuck her chin to her chest or put her hands behind her knees.  Fortunately, now that I have been in the hospital long enough, it is rare when I run into a nurse who tries to convince a mom to push other than the way she feels.

Just yesterday I spent 3 1/2 hours with a mom who was pushing. I wouldn't have thought it was that long without the nurse there letting me know how long it had been. That mom who had her baby after 3 1/2 hours of pushing had a beautiful, healthy baby with 9/10 apgars. Never a drop in heart rate, never a concern for me. So why is 2 hours often a cut off? Why can't we push longer if a mom and baby need it or want it?

I wish I knew why the world doesn't have enough patience with birth.





All I know is after that baby is born, I have no patience for the placenta. I try to wait for it, but 5 minutes feels like 20 and 10 minutes feels like an hour. Seriously, I could wait all day and night (and often do!) for a baby, but that placenta- well buddy, you are a wonderful life sustaining organ, but seriously, come out already. No one wants you to stay in there.

Sick Kiddos

It is never fun to see your kids sick. However, when they have fun holding their own nebulizer, you know that they are on the upswing!

More posts to come soon.

NoseFrida

Have you heard of NoseFrida??

www.fridababy.com

When my little sister Devyn was in town her 8 month old got pretty congested. This made it hard for baby Hazel to nurse, so Devyn and I went on a hunt for NoseFrida. We found one at Buy Buy Baby and then Devyn went to town. 

 Hazel actually LOVES this product! She laughs and giggles every time that Devyn uses it to suck out her boogers and snot. The best part is that the boogers never ever even get close to Devyn's mouth, but Devyn is controlling the amount of suction being used to suck it out. 

The tube never actually goes inside Hazel's  nose, that way we know that there wont be any damage done during the process.  What an awesome product. I highly recommend it!

Body for Baby: Fail

I started my healthy diet and exercise program back in January. I wanted a good 3 months to prepare myself in order to be in the best shape to get pregnant.

Flash forward 6 months. Not pregnant yet, getting a little discouraged, and tired of keeping up all this healthy eating, smoothie making, and limiting myself on all the sweets.

Another month goes by and I am busy busy with patients delivering babies. Up all day, up all night, I have fallen off the exercise train.

This month, still not pregnant, still busy, still tired. I think I have eaten ice cream from the doctors lounge  6 out of 7 days this week. I would have eaten it all 7 days, but one day the flavor of ice cream was carrot cake.  Seriously? Who makes carrot cake ice cream. bleh.

What keeps you motivated? How can I get back on track? I am still taking my prenatal vitamins with DHA, my vitamin d, probiotics, and folic acid. I am maintaining my ideal weight but just not exercising and the food I eat is not the best. I have added in a lot of sweets.

Don't tell me to look at pinterest... there is only so much motivation I can get from pinterest... I look at all these work out plans and pins that people have put up, but I usually fall asleep before I finish reading a work out plan because it sounds so boring and I am tired. Plus, who really could ever look like that? Do I want to work that hard to look like that? Absolutely not, I want to work hard to get a big baby bump!
IMAGE FROM PINTEREST

I don't make this up

I walked inside this morning from a short hike and my girls are sitting watching a movie. Dad was still upstairs sleeping and my daughter says, "Daddy said that if we are really quiet and don't wake him up then we can have a baby brother!"

My husband claims he didn't say this, so these little girls have quite the imagination.  Seriously though, I don't make this stuff up. 

Busy Births

As a midwife I took a 2 year hiatus from delivering babies. I had a 1 year old and a 3 year old, I was burnt out by some unfortunate circumstances at my last practice, and a few other reasons that made it the best decision for me and my family.

But recently I was itching to get back to the births. I always missed them, but I started to yearn for the opportunity to labor with moms, to support and help them in ways that no one else could. I have spent enough time with moms to know when they need that extra word of encouragement, when they should change positions, when they need chapstick or a drink of water. And also I have learned when they just need someone to fill the space. To reassure them to know that someone is there even if they aren't doing anything. 

So, the doctor in the practice that I work with decided that it would be a great opportunity for me to get back into the game.  An amazing blessing happened to our practice and our births per month doubled almost over night!  Now I wasn't just there to be with my patients, but I was really needed to help the practice survive and thrive. 

In June I attended 25 births. 25 glorious births with healthy moms and healthy babies. Moms that I felt honored to be there with and other moms who I felt like a long time friend coming to spend some time with them.  All of these babies born were in the hospital. (I don't deliver babies at home, not that I don't want to deliver babies at home, but in my practice I deliver babies at the hospital.) The only way I could possibly be at 25 births a month is by being in the hospital with the wonderful support of the hospital staff and labor and delivery nurses. 

I don't think it would be very wise or very safe for a homebirth midwife to deliver 25 babies a month. Am I correct in that thinking? I was exhausted after just a few days of this, and I only spend a fraction of the time with each mom as a homebirth midwife does. 

Anyway, in the month of July I was present at 26 births. Seriously? I had no idea I could get any busier. And I took a week off!!  From this past Thursday to Sunday I was able to greet 14 babies. I was able to gently lift each baby to its mother's awaiting arms and chest. Each birth was different and special. Some of the births are fuzzy and when I think of those births all I think of is the beautiful mother's that anxiously awaited to hear their newborn baby cry. 

Some births stand out as births I will never forget. I remember the mama who didn't think she was strong enough to birth her baby after having a previous c-section. She cried when she held her baby close, skin to skin, and checked to make sure it was a little boy. 

I remember the mama who was so strong she didn't need anyone with her while giving birth. She prayed and smiled as she sent her husband away to tend to her two other daughters. Quickly, peacefully she birthed her baby and her husband returned when the morning came to have his wife introduce their newest daughter to her big sisters and her daddy. 

I remember the dad who didn't think the baby could be born without me.  He was at the door waiting for me as his wife slowly breathed down her baby that was born seconds before I entered the room. He was shocked when he realized he missed video taping the birth all because I wasn't there in time. The next two days he gave me quite the hard time by teasing me about letting him miss his baby's birth. I in turn teased him back because he thought the midwife was the key to having a baby. (which I hope you all know that is NOT the key!)

I am off call tonight. Basking in the idea of sleeping through the night. However, while this last weekend was a whirlwind, I wouldn't trade it for the world. 

Thank you mothers. 

Here was a rare moment that I had at home this weekend with my girls. They were missing their mommy, but they know what I do and they love that I do it.