Butterfly Kisses

I believe in total transparancy in my work and I believe as such it is my responsibility to share the statistics of my clients with you.

Bradley Clients Stats

Percentage of vaginal births 82%

Of these percentage of with no analgesia or anesthesia dring labor 86%

Percentage of vaginal births that were inductions/augmentations 19%

Percentage of cesarean births 18%

Percentage of cesarean births that were inductions/augmentations 75%

Total of successful VBACs following a trial of labor 75%

Assisted delivery 0%

Total of successful VBA2Cs following a trial of labor 100%

Doula statistics for 2011

Percentage of vaginal births 100%

Of these percentage of with no analgesia or anesthesia during labor 75%

Percentage of inductions/augmentations 18%

Percentage of cesarean births 0%

Total of successful VBACs following a trial of labor 100%

Assisted delivery 12%

Total of successful VBA2Cs following a trial of labor 100%

Fun facts about Doula babies

54% girls

Biggest baby 10 pounds 7 oz

Smallest baby 5 pounds 3 oz

One baby with short NICU stay

Babies born at Bergen Mercy, UNMC, Bellevue Medical and Home Births

One of the neatest things about this pregnancy has been to be on the 'other-side'. Even though I've been pregnant twice before, this time has been really special. It has taught me things that will make me a much better doula and childbirth educator and given me tricks to make me a much better pregnant lady :).

During my journey I've been reminded that as much as I don't frequent ultrasounds these are very difficult to resist, eating 60-80 grams of protein is really difficult, knee-chest position is really difficult at 38 weeks pregnant (and it makes your knees go numb!), telling your health care provider you don't want a test can be really hard to do (even when they support that decision 100%). I could go on and on but I am just so thankful for these lessons!

As I get closer and closer to my birthing time I can't help but think about how blessed and excited I am. I know so many women out there look forward to labor as a means to an end, but I am so very delighted to experience the joy, challenge and anticipation that is childbirth. I however am so looking forward to tapping into the strength of the 33 women whose hands I have held during their birthing times. It is what gives me so much excitement. I remember Drea and her calm disposition after hours upon hours of pushing. Jessica who had weeks and weeks of prodromal labor only to finally have labor start with her water breaking! Megan who labored for three days, never losing her hope and power. Katie who tuned into herself and trusted her body to know exactly what it was doing. I could go on and on and on. Every woman I have stood beside has given me such a gift. I have had the joy of seeing how beautiful labor can be. How strong women can be. How loving partners can be. And how snuggly those babies can be.

Over the last few weeks I have also had my friends giving me empowerment. We had my mother's blessingway a few weeks back. It is a celebration to help give the mom good energy, thoughts and blessings heading into her birthing time. It was my first time having one and it was so beautiful. My friends Jodi and Alicia hosted it and really did a wonderful job of making it symbolic. They gave me bricks to symbolize where the women before me had stood. They put together a tree with their fingerprints on it to remind me of their support during the labor and a bead birthing necklace to give me strength during the birth. Jodi dropped off the necklace last night and sitting there holding it I felt this overwhelming sense of calm and peace. I just know with all of these strong amazing women along my side there is no doubt that I will have an amazing birthing experience.

With my last birth I wanted to keep my laboring a secret. What if I failed at my natural childbirth or even worse my VBAC attempt? I didn't want anyone part of the process except my husband by my side. This time I plan to let my wonderful inner circle of friends in on the secret. Knowing they are out there thinking of me, supporting me, loving me will give me the strength to move mountain.

Baby, I am ready whenever you are!

When Heather Ramsey, CNM (Certified Nurse Midwife) called me a few weeks ago with her news I didn't even believe it at first. She had given her 90 day notice to the University of Nebraska system and was teaming up with one of my personal favorite doctors to open a birth center here in my own city, Bellevue Nebraska. It seemed like a dream. Just a few months back I had been telling one of my doula clients and friends that it would be my biggest dream come true if Heather and this doctor went into business together.

I quickly checked my calendar and saw it was not indeed April Fools Day and the more I talked to her, the more I started to believe her! It was set to open sometime in 2011, if all went well, summer time! We talked for quite some time about various ideas and my excitement just grew and grew.

Over the next few weeks I became more and more excited and it was so difficult to quell it! I wanted to shout this wonderful news from the roof tops! I managed to somehow keep it under wraps until after I met with Heather again today.

We met to discuss many things, including bringing Brio Birth classes into her facility. We also talked about the variety of support groups that I can lead there as a counselor and birth professional as well as some really big plans for down the road as the business grows and grows. I left the meeting feeling like I was on the top of the world and am just so excited for the women and babies of Nebraska and Eastern Iowa. Finally we have a birth center of our own!!

Would you like a sneak peak of the new Birth Center's Website? It is still a work in progress but it has a great deal of basic information on it! http://bellevuebirthcenter.webs.com/

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words...

Well I just received the BIG news I have been waiting for! My credentials have finally come back approved!  I am so pleased to share the addition of the newest level of services offered by Baby's Best Beginning and Beyond. Under the supervision of Terry Dischler, CPC, LMHP I am able to begin working with clients who have situations that would best addressed in a therapeutic counseling session. My provisional license allows me to work with any clients who need assistance. Eventually I hope to specialize in perinatal counseling, working with women and families during the prenatal and postnatal periods. However as I complete the requirements to become fully licensed I will be utilizing my background in school counseling to serve as a foundation in my work with children and families.

I am working to get approval from a few insurance companies so counseling services will be covered at least in part, but until that time services will be offered on a very generous sliding scale. Please contact me with specific questions or to schedule your sessions.

As I reach the end of my first full year in business I want to reflect on all the amazing beautiful births I have had the priviledge to be a part of. This year took me in directions that I never imagined that I would go and to places I never dreamed I would be fortunate enough to see. I wanted to share with you all my official birth statistics as a Natural Childbirth Educator as well as a doula. Granted I can't take credit for all my positive outcomes, I worked with some pretty amazing couples.  I also can't take all the criticism for outcomes that weren't the way my couples had hoped, some times there are just some circumstances out of anyone's control. That being said I do believe statistics can give you a glimpse into a person's practice. This year I am very proud of my statistics and I can only hope that future years will continue to hold as strong.

Childbirth Education Stats 2010

Total vaginal births: 87%

Of those percentage unmedicated: 96%

Percentage of cesarean births: 13%

Total percentage of successful VBACs 90%

Doula Stats 2010

Percentage of vaginal births: 92%

Of these percentage of unmedicated births: 91%

Percentage of inductions/augmentations 16%

Percentage of cesarean births:  8%

Total percentage of successful VBACs 100%

Fun Facts about my Doula Babies

Girls 83% Boys 17%

Biggest baby 10 pounds 14 ounces

Smallest baby 4 pounds 3 ounces

One baby short NICU stay

Babies were born in every hospital in Omaha except for Immanuel

June was a stressful month for us. We were supposed to move (and then had paperwork problems) we had the boys' second birthday and their birthday parties and then we had Becca's due date all wrapped together. Becca's due date came on the 23rd of June...and went. Over the next 13 days I analyzed every 'sign' I got that I was in labor. Sadly these were few and far between. On our anniversary June 27 I had contractions that were close together and steady for several hours but eventually they puttered out. I even lost my mucous plug but nothing else. For the next week I did lots of visualizations, 'Come out baby' from hypnobabies, red raspberry leaf tea. We tried sex, pineapple and spicey foods. The only thing I didn't try was castor oil since I felt pitocin was better than castor oil! I would have contractions off and on but nothing really steady or close together until July 4th. That night I had pretty consistent contractions until 3 am, but eventually they once again puttered out and I went to bed. On Sunday July 5th I had contractions pretty much all day but only about 2-3 an hour. Around 3:30 or so in the afternoon they started to get more and more regular however it wasn't until around 10ish that things started to really pick up. It was then that I started to realize this really might happen. Dave was going to go to sleep but I was in enough discomfort that I asked him to stay awake. I took a bath but it really didn't help much. I ate, drank, walked around and tried (unsuccessfully) to sleep. Nothing was helping. Between eleven and twelve I took to lying in bed while Dave just rubbed my lower back. I would say 80-90% of my pain was in this tiny spot in my lower back. Nothing made it feel better but Dave made it bearable. He was the most amazing coach ever! Every contraction hurt so much. They were right on top of eachother with only 2-3 minutes apart. It felt like non-stop pain. He kept massaging and talking to me and assuring me that I could in fact do this. He believed in me long after I stopped believing in myself. Around midnight I started my 'obsession' with the toilet as David later called it. I felt like I had this horrid diarrhea. I was also so nauseous. I never threw up but man I thought I was going to. Sitting on the toilet felt good. It was also during this time I felt like I needed a break from everyone. I was in such intense, never ending pain that I thought to myself there was no way I could make it any longer. I was still convinced these contractions were just going to fizz out like the others had. I thought there was no possible way that I could do this anymore. I even tried to figure out how I could get medication without having to leave the house since I was in too much pain to even do that! Around one I decided that it was time to go to the hospital. Not because I thought it was time for us to go, but because I figured with the intensity of my back labor pains that perhaps I could get some sterile saline injections to help. David, knowing my plan was to stay home as long as possible (and knowing my 'secret' plan to plead with him for drugs) discouraged us from leaving, however I put my foot down so he called his mom to watch the boys and she showed up about 1:30. We left immediately. On the way we called our doula to meet us at the hospital and the midwife's answering service to page her. I somehow wobbled to the car and we made the 20 minute or so drive. It took us forever to get into the building. Since it was after hours it was nearly impossible to get it! Once in the contractions were about a minute apart so we found a wheelchair since that was the only way we could make any time! I still had to stop for every contraction! We got to the L&D floor around 2:30. It took them forever to check us in. They finally took us back to triage. They asked a bunch of questions but I just ignored them and let David answer. He was still doing such a great job of supporting me! He would still massage my lower back for every contraction and continued to praise me the whole time. Once we got to triage they were asking if I wanted an epidural. Everything inside of me was screaming YES but somehow I found the strength to say no. She asked me to rate my pain, I said about an 8...she asked how intense I have ever had pain without taking medication, I told her 'we passed that about three hours ago'. So the brand new fresh outta med school resident wanted to check me for dilation. I made them wait out a contraction and let her go ahead. She took forever feeling around (okay like a minute but it felt like forever since I only had a minute between contractions) then the chief resident wanted to check me also. I told them to wait til after the contraction. Once he was able to check they were shocked (as was I) to find I was between a 7-8. I was so relieved to find out all that pain had been worth it! I could DO this! I didn't need drugs I could handle this! So they paged the midwife and took me to the room. They were telling me how I would be able to use the whirlpool or walk the halls and such (I kept thinking to myself, ummm I am a VBAC I don't think I am allowed to do any of that) but I decided to keep that all to myself! The nurse wanted me to lie on the bed so they could get some baseline measurements and to get my heplock in. For some reason or another the chief resident checked me again and said something about my bulging bag of water. It was about 30 seconds later that I had another contraction and my bad BURST. It was shocking to me just how obvious it was when that happened. Things started moving much faster then. They checked and saw that there was meconium in the fluid so the nurse called down to the NICU to have their staff come up for deep suctioning. The nurse was sounding kind of panicky. She kept telling them to hurry because this baby was coming! I remember thinking: It is?? AWESOME! I am almost done. My doula and my husband were both so encouraging during this time. The nurse told me to let her know if I was feeling 'pushy' so I said okay and then with the next contraction I said "Oh...I'm feeling pushy" that's when things moved into crazy high gear. There was so much movement around me they asked me to stop pushing and I totaly ignored them. They got the chief resident and the other resident gal in the room and made sure I was completely dilated. They were trying to break down the bed and I just kept pushing along with the next contraction. The nurse was paging the NICU staff to report to my room stat to be ready for suctioning. With contraction number three they told me I could start pushing. I pushed throughout that one and her head was almost all the way out. It burned so much but I kept trying to relax as much as I could. To be honest I was feeling kind of panicky. I'm not sure how to explain it, but I felt out of control, my body was just acting instictively without worry or care to what I mentally was contributing. Since everything was happening so fast and because of the meconium they wouldn't let Dave catch the baby or to cut the cord. So he stayed by my side while my doula rubbed my cramped foot. Next contraction came and I pushed with everything I had. I squeeze Dave's hand so hard. He told me 'you are doing it!!' and all of a sudden I felt it! The head came through, I took a deep breath and out came her body. She was all covered in green meconium...they cut the cord and handed her off to get suctioned. Dave went with her. They wanted to start pitocin since I was bleeding 'too much'. I asked if it was necessary (yes) could it wait til after I started nursing (no) did they have to do my stiches at the same time (yes). They then put in an IV for fluids (not really sue why they did that, I started to argue with them about it but decided to pick my battles and let it go). Then Dave carried Becca back in and handed her to me so I could nurse her. It had been a short few minutes but it seemed like forever. It felt so great to nurse my daughter. She took to it so fast. During this time I learned I had a second degree tear that they were stitching up. Eventually it got quiet in the room They checked out the baby mostly while she was in my arms. I refused the eye goop and vit K shot. I asked them to save the placenta (there was a pregnant pause with that question) but they did so. At some point they weighed her 8 pounds 4 ounces. 20.5 inches long. Her apgars were 8 and 9 due to color. It was around then that the midwife showed up and was very apologetic. The call center never called her when we had left the house. They didn't call until we were checked into our room (a little after three) which didn't give much time for her to get across town since she was born at 3:17! I really hate that she wasn't there. I think had she been there Dave could have caught, we could have avoided pit and the unnecessary IV, but in the end it didn't matter. Our baby girl came into this world nearly two weeks late but in a blaze once she decided it was time to get here!

“You want to hire a do-what-a?” I still remember my husband rolling his eyes at me the first time I mentioned hiring a doula. He thought I was crazy and the topic was tabled for a few weeks. Then we began taking our childbirth classes. There was a doula in the class with us working on her certification. She explained what a doula did and I talked my reluctant husband into adding this third person into our equation.

Fast forward to birthing day. Our doula was amazing. She got the call around 1:30 am and was at the hospital before I was checked into my labor room. She supported my husband and I both. She made she he was taken care of so that he could provide support for me. She was another source of information for us and could be someone to remind us of what we learned in our childbirth classes as well as what our desires were. During pushing she helped to support my body physically as well as massaging out some horrible tension in my foot turning my contractions. When Becca was born they feared she had some meconium in her lungs so baby girl and my husband went into the next room for deep suctioning. If it weren’t for my doula I would have been left alone with some doctors and nurses I had never met before (my midwife hadn’t been paged until it was too late). During that time I was having some repair work done and couldn’t go with her. I was afraid for my daughter and sad that she wasn’t with me. This is where my doula really shined. She was right there, explaining everything that was going on. She helped me to find the strength to advocate for myself when I was too tired to remember my original desires. I know for certain that if we hadn’t hired a doula I would have had a very different birth experience.

After Becca was born I became a childbirth educator and eventually a doula myself. I often find a misconception in the public about what exactly a doula is and what she does for a laboring mother. I wanted to take a moment and explain this.

A doula is a textbook of information, a loving set of hands, an unwavering cheerleader, a sympathetic ear, a guide, an advocate, an expert in relaxation, really a walking heart that happens to have hands.

In your labor you need your ‘people’. The ones you know are the just to support you. They don’t have to worry about arbitrary rules, getting sued or time limits. They don’t have other patients to attend to. You are their only concern and their shift doesn’t end. Their only goal is for you to have the best possible birth experience for you and your baby. Within this goes without saying we want mom and baby to be as healthy as they can be.

So who are the best people to surround yourself with? You need to have people who care about you, are invested into your birth and who support your goals for your best birth. If you desire a natural birth having someone constantly telling you that you look like you are in so much pain and you need medication is not helpful. You need to have people who know your goals, support them, and will do everything in their power to help you achieve them.

This is where a doula comes in. One of the biggest misconceptions about doulas is that they are only for people wanting a natural childbirth. This is not true. While people desiring a natural childbirth are a big part of the client population they are by far not the only ones! It can be a long time between labor starting and the point at which an epidural can be administered depending on your situation! In other cases you may have wanted an epidural but there is a situation preventing one (low platelet level, not enough time) or maybe it just didn’t work! Having an expert in pain management techniques can be key. It can also be very hard to effectively push when medicated and a doula can help physically support you in a variety of pushing positions as well as offer alternative suggestions on ways in which you can push to move baby more effectively.

Another confusing point about doulas is how they are different from a certified nurse midwife. A midwife is your primary healthcare provider, you see her for all your medical needs. She will see you once a month for your prenatal care, she can write prescriptions for morning sickness medications as needed and with your nurse, handles all the clinical aspects of your birth. If there is a tear she will stitch it. She can also order an epidural or pitocin as you wish. Simply because you choose a midwife doesn’t mean you are locked into a natural childbirth. They see many women who desire a more medicalized approach.

A doula doesn’t do clinical tasks. She will not check your blood pressure, she will not check your cervix and she will not monitor fetal heart tones. She instead tells you what typical readings mean. She can assist you with managing the difficulty of a contraction while a blood pressure cuff is squeezing your arm. She can explain to you about cervical dilation, what a particular number means in relation to childbirth and more importantly what it doesn’t mean. She can help with positioning and hold the monitor in place so that the doctor or midwife can get an accurate reading and you don’t have to be tied to the bed. She can work with your healthcare provider to discover their goals for certain procedures and how they mesh with your desires and often times find middle ground. It has often been joked that doulas are so skilled at the art of careful negotiations that given the chance they could solve the war in the Middle East!

A lot of people fear that hiring a doula would be ‘weird’ or that they would replace your partner. This just isn’t true. It is a lot less weird having someone there for you who knows your goals and desires than it is to have some nurse you’ve never met before. It is not weird in the slightest when you get to know your doula in the same way that you get to know your healthcare provider. In fact most people report feeling more comfortable birthing in front of their doula because they knew she truly understood birth and she supported them without pause the entire time. As for replacing your partner, this would be impossible. There is never going to be a doula who knows you as well or loves you as much as your partner does. Period. A skilled doula knows how to support your partner in their goal of supporting you. It is not about replacing, it’s about enhancing.

We all know that the best weight loss programs are the ones where you have a solid source of support. The best fitness regimens are supplemented by a professional trainer/couch. In almost everything we want to do in life it is only enhanced with good support. This is even more so on the most important event of your life the birth of your child.

No matter what your idea is when you envision your childbirth a doula only can strengthen it.

Do you think that if you were to wake up tomorrow and someone offered you 20 million dollars to start a marathon that day and you had to finish it but there was no time limit could you do it? It might not be pretty, but most of us could manage to finish that darn thing even if it took us a month. Now contrast this to someone who has been carefully preparing for this same marathon. They have been eating and training with the marathon in mind for months. They have prepared physically, emotionally and mentally. While the marathon is still hard work they are able to accomplish it with significantly more ease and grace (and typically in much shorter times!)

How does this relate to labor and delivery? Childbirth is a marathon and of course you can simply show up on your baby’s birthday and know that eventually that baby will come out one way or another. However if you thoroughly prepare and train for it you will complete it with much more ease and grace (and once again typically in much shorter times!)

Do any of you remember the Seinfeld episode where George talks about how he does a ‘leave behind’ to arrange for a woman to see him three times “What's the difference? You know they way I work. I'm like a commercial jingle. First it's a little irritating, then you hear it a few times, you’re hummin’ it in the shower, by the third date it's (sings) "Cos-tan-za!"” Preparing yourself mentally is a little like this. If you do not have faith in your ability to confidently birth your child it is just short of impossible to do this in most cases. Attitudes and habits take weeks of reinforcement to change. Often times I have students who are so self confident and assured in their abilities during the early weeks of class. Then about halfway through the week they need a pep talk about it since other influences in their life have caused them to question their innate ability. By the end of the class my students are no longer doubting themselves, they are secure in the knowledge that their body was made to do this and that they will have their best birth!

An important aspect of a childbirth class is information. That’s what you are going there for in the first place. There are a lot of things out there to wade through in terms of understanding childbirth in America. We have a lot of arbitrary rules out there that originally intended to provide for safer outcomes in childbirth however much research doesn’t support these routine protocols. In 12 weeks I barely scratch the surface of these issues and still expect my couples to do outside readings and homework. I cannot even begin to fathom how someone is able to cover even a fraction of the relevant material in a class that isn’t even half as long.

Another key component of a childbirth class is the introduction of techniques and time to practice them. In a twelve-week series you are given an entire toolbox of ideas of how to manage your labor and exactly how to use them. Then you are given time in class to practice them so you can feel confident that you are using them in a way that will maximize the benefits your receive from them. Many couples report this time in class is the only time they find to truly focus on these activities in their busy lives.

In order to have your best birth you need to be in your optimal physical condition. Obviously pregnancy isn’t the time to try to lose weight or start an intensive exercise routine however you do want to be in your best condition in order to stay low risk and to have an easier labor and delivery. This includes eating a balanced diet and adding moderate exercises including pelvic rocking, light squatting and something for overall fitness like walking or swimming. Building physical strength and stamina takes time and we want to encourage you over the course of twelve weeks to be in your optimal health.

The biggest reason behind 12 weeks of classes is that it works. Statistical analysis done by the American Academy of Husband Coached Childbirth shows us that couples who completed a full and continuous 12 weeks of classes were significantly more likely to have an unmedicated birth. The fewer the weeks of class the higher the rate of medication. You deserve your best chance at your best birth. Do not settle for less!

Some information taken from www.bradleybirth.com

I received a phone call the other day asking for information about my childbirth education classes. The woman was very interested in all the information that I was providing and seemed to really think the class would be just what she and her husband needed to prepare for their birth until she asked how many weeks the class would last. “Twelve weeks!” she exclaimed “You expect me to spend twelve weeks on something so simple as giving birth?” I was truly at a loss for words. Something as simple as giving birth huh? I reflected on these words for a couple of days and soon found myself getting angry. Was twelve weeks really too much time to ask someone to plan for one event? I started thinking about other events I have taken time in my life to prepare for. The only thing that came to mind was my wedding. For over fifteen months I planned. I was on wedding planning message boards, would interview every single person who was recommended to me and spent countless hours agonizing over the colors, the music, the flowers, the dress and everything in between. Most couples I know do the same. Of course at the end of the day all that really matters is that they are able to marry their partner but very few people say ‘well the minister/priest/rabbi etc is the expert on marriage I will just do whatever they say in regards to my wedding’ yet when it comes to birth so many couples simply defer to whatever their doctor tells them is best even when there is no medical evidence supporting those choices. We invested 15 months into planning our wedding which only lasted about 7 hours from the march down the aisle to the last dance. The average labor for a first time mom is 12 hours. Even if you are planning a medicated birth doesn’t it make sense to put even a quarter of the effort into the plan as you did your wedding day?

Is 12 weeks of childbirth preparation really too much time to invest in preparing to bring your child into this world? Honestly I don’t think its long enough and find myself supplementing my materials with emails, articles and research throughout the week. When you really start looking to how to prepare for such an extraordinary occasion I suggest you find the longest, most through childbirth class you can find and then supplement it with as much reading material as you can. When it comes to bringing your child into the world this is truly not a case of less is more.