Wisdom and Births

Being a doula entails the self-less act of supporting a woman throughout the entirety of her labor... and contrary to what you see in movies, labor IS NOT a quick event, sometimes lasting 24, 36, even 48 hours and doulas are there for most of it! As doulas we often join the mother in early labor and we don't leave until a few hours after the baby is born. So, as you can imagine, after countless hours of massaging, hip squeezing, kneeling, standing, walking... doulas are exhausted (to say the least) after providing labor support.  Not to mention trying to remember to eat and stay hydrated is often overlooked or minimally attended to as we often put the mother's needs before our own.  So not only is your body working hard for a full day (or more!), but it is doing so with less water and calories than typical.  Somehow, though, the energy of the birth keeps you going for as long as you are needed... but once the birth is over and you are headed home, the extreme fatigue sets...

Unassisted childbirth is just what it sounds like - giving birth without any 'professional' assistance. Very few women decide to give birth unassisted, it's like the 1% of the 1% of women who give birth at home... but the experiences of those who do are important - their reasons, are valid. So why would some women decide to give birth unassisted? To find out, a large group of women who have given birth unassisted, many of which have had other birth experiences with doctors, and/or midwives, shared their primary reasons for choosing a freebirth. Here are some of their reasons for choosing to stay home and give birth alone. Some women expressed anger, frustration, even resentment towards the medical model of birth as the driving factor in their decision to give birth alone. "Anger at medical professionals and trusting myself to provide better care." " I hoped I would be able to bond with my baby this time (never did before). I also hoped for less emot...

There isn't enough information on statistics and experiences of planned unassisted childbirth... so I've set out to remedy that.  Even though about 1% of women give birth at home, and therefore far less women actually choose to give birth 'unassisted', it is important to hear from these women. We should know about their birth experiences, their reasons for choosing to birth without 'professional' assistance, and the statistics that come from their births. For one, because freebirth may actually be our evolutionary 'norm' - the conditions in which our bodies evolved to give birth.   "Ideally the newborn needs to interact with a mother who has given birth by herself and is therefore in a specific physiological state... to give birth a woman needs to feel secure, without feeling observed, and be in a warm enough place... the birth process needs to be protected against all stimulants of the neocortex."   ~Dr. Michel Odent, Childbirth a...

In March of 2010 I interviewed my maternal Grandmother Ann ( Nana) as a part of my birth Doula certification project. Now, many years later and a few years after her passing, I'd like to share her story.  This really isn't a positive or uplifting birth story and it isn't meant to be. Rather, my grandmother's story represents what many women and babies experienced as routine hospital birth in the 1950s and 60s. I wish this was a positive story, but my grandmother gave birth in a country and time that did not fully respect the importance of pregnancy, birth, bonding and the experience of motherhood. My grandmother was 26 years old in 1957 when she gave birth to her first born, my Aunt M. She re-lived this experience with me 53 years later at the age of 79. Let's hear my grandmother's story... Wedding Day! I was 26 years old, pregnant for the first time and still considered a newly-wed (I married my husband less than one year before at the age of 25... I...

The percent of births delivered via cesarean section at the hospital you are considering having your baby is SO important. Not only can it inform you of your chances in having a vaginal birth at that location, but also because it demonstrates the quality of care that particular hospital is providing to birthing women.  What is an ideal cesarean section rate? There isn't a precise percent, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has recommended a rate of 5-10% with data indicating that rates above 15% do more harm than good ( childbirthconnection.org ). Cesarean sections are MAJOR surgeries and are not without risk; especially repeat c-sections. Risks of cesarean surgery include things such as infection, hemorrhage, reaction to anesthesia and more. Repeat cesareans further increase the risks to the mother and child, such as greater risk of hemorrhage in the mother and damage to internal organs due to scar tissue adhesion - looking into a provider that supports VBAC is an important...

This post is totally unrelated to birth, but since this is my blog I wanted to share how Wisdom and Birth celebrates a wedding, beach style!!!! As many of you may know, my name is Randi and I am the blogger at Wisdom and Birth. I have recently married my dearest friend and partner Chase and wanted to share our incredible union and wedding ideas with you! Follow along for our wedding story!   The Beginning... Groom's cake - a tribute to the Huskies that brought us together It all began at a dog park in Tampa, Florida. I met Chase one week after a 35 hour road-trip across the country (Denver to Tampa) to begin graduate school at USF. I was surprised to see another Husky at the dog park and quickly became friends with his owner ;) Our first date was soon after ~ we had a few drinks at The Independent as 'friends'... and the rest is history!  Over looking Lake Dillon, CO Our Engagement... I took Chase home to Denver, Colorado in August of 2013 to meet the rest of the family. Ch...