Happy Birthday Gloria!

My most recent birth was an interesting one. I met Charice when she was 37 weeks pregnant after her doctor suggested that she might be interested in having a doula at her birth. Myself and a fellow doula went to her house to meet with her. We met her and her lovely husband and had a wonderful talk about what it means to have a doula and how we might be able to help her get the birth she wanted. Problem was, she didn't really know what type of birth she wanted. Together we gave her a mini childbirth education lesson and by the end of the visit, she seemed more confident in her birth plans, and excited about the thought of giving birth with a doula by her side. My doula partner and I agreed to work with her and went on our way.

A couple of weeks later, Charice started having contractions. My partner, Silvie, went to her house to help her through the early labor contractions. Silvie said Charice managed them very well which was very good news considering one of her biggest concerns was that she would have an anxiety attack during labor because she was very prone to anxiety. Her contractions started and stopped and ended up being a case of a false alarm. When her due date came and went, the doctor said he would have to induce Charice a week after her estimated due date. That day came and I was on-call. So I met Charice and her husband at the hospital 16 hours after they started her induction.

At this point, Charice had been induced with cervidil (a synthetic prostaglandin tampon inserted to help soften and hopefully dilate the cervix), a folly catheter, and pitocin. Her contractions were about 4 minutes apart and she was handling them beautifully, breathing deep and staying calm. I encouraged her to continue doing this as it seemed to be working for her. She was 1 cm dilated, a slow start to a long labor. I stayed by her side, helping her to remember what she was doing and that she would soon get to meet her baby. Every single person who walked in the room said "have you gotten your epidural yet?" and she just shook her head and kept breathing. At one point, one of the doctors tried so hard to convince her to get an epidural, he said "You know, these contractions are NOTHING, you just wait and you will see how painful it is. I don't know why you're doing this without pain medication." Charice just told him that she was doing fine and kept trucking. I was so proud of her for sticking up for herself! Charice's husband supported her decision to try to go as long as she could without an epidural and held her hand through the intense contractions.

15 hours later, Charice was only 4 cm and not feeling great. She hadn't slept since the induction began and was just exhausted from managing the tough pitocin contractions. The doctors were being patient but things weren't looking like they were going to change. They finally convinced her to get an epidural, hoping that she would get some rest. 30 minutes after the epidural was placed, she had an exam which helped the doctors determine that Charice's baby was presenting ear first, which meant C-section.

A half hour later, Charice's baby girl was born, weighing 6 pounds, 1 ounce. Charice was overjoyed to finally meet her daughter. The new family fell in love right away and are doing great. Charice said she was a bit disappointed that her birth ended in C-section but happy to have a healthy baby. Doctors promised her that a VBAC for her next baby would be a possibility, and I think that put Charice at ease.

Always a learning experience...

Woman's Way Doula Group

Woman's Way is coming along!!

Our group is now offering birth doula services to women and families in Westchester and NYC. Please visit our website here.

Formula Fed America

A new documentary about the lack of breastfeeding in the United States. Click here check it out!

Does birth change us?

I am really lucky to be living with my wonderful mother for many reasons. One reason is because we've had the chance to sit around and talk about all sorts of issues and topics, including birth. She is my biggest cheerleader when it comes to my doulaing and I love that I can talk to her and tell her just about everything! She always listens, supports and gives me great feedback.

Birth has been an ongoing discussion of ours since I moved home in January 2009 and started working on learning everything I can about birth. One of the best things I've learned are the details of my own birth, and those of my sister and brothers. I feel so lucky to have heard all about my mom's experience because I think it is an important talk to have, one that many women do not have with their mothers.

So recently my mom and I were reflecting on our birth dicussions and realized how we most likely never would have had these in depth conversations if I hadn't become a doula and learned about birth the way that I have. This is when we realized: why don't we have these discussions more? Why is birth not talked about more amongst women??

Sex, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, and mothering are all things we MUST discuss in order to feel comfortable with the fact that they are all an extremely important part of human nature. We cannot deny that our experiences during sex, pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding and mothering change us as women.

My mom has pointed out that these intense discussions have also made her realize how much her pregnancies and births changed her as a woman and person. She said that after she had my sister (her first baby), a friend came up to her and said "something about you has changed since you had a baby..." and now she knows more specifically what that change was. She has explained how empowering pregnancy and childbirth were for her. She was ready to be a mother when she got pregnant and therefore accepted her pregnancy as a blessing from a higher power. She cherished her growing fetus and even kept a detailed journal of the entire pregnancy. My mom said that she didn't even need to do research or much thinking to decide that she wanted a natural, un-medicated birth. "Why wouldn't I want to do it naturally?" is how is she explains her thinking. I am fascintated by her strength. She had a wonderful pregnancy, birth and experience breastfeeding. That was the beginning of her new life as a mother. It's beautiful! She, a 25 year old woman, could find her natural mothering instincts and make the best of them. I feel blessed to have a mother who has cared to share her experiences with me. Hearing her stories give me strength and hope that we can all take advantage of the extraordinary gift we are given - to give life!

If you can, talk to your mother about her experiences as a woman. If you can't, talk to other women.

One more benefit

Burning caloies: just one more benefit of breastfeeding.

Read the NYT article about it here

New cousin!

My cousin had her first baby - a baby boy - yesterday at 1:42am. When I talked to her today, she sounded very happy and of course, tired. She said she was very pleased with the way things went - a speedy 5 hour labor and delivery - with minimal intervention and wonderful support from her husband and midwives. Congratulations Julia and Matt - welcome baby John! I am so happy for you guys!

Running on empty

I was so not in the mood to work out yesterday but forced myself to go to spin class. 10 minutes in I was feeling tired and not in the mood because I was winded, exhausted and thinking about other things. One of the things I was thinking about was the new doula group and how I really hope we can attract clients and then it occurred to me..."I'M TIRED?? EXHAUSTED??" yeah...okay. After witnessing 7 amazing childbirths, how could I really think this way!? So I kept reminding myself of the strength my clients had before, during and after their births and suddenly wasn't tired at all. If I'm running on empty in spin class for unknown reasons, how could these women have the energy to deliver an infant? Oh...right. That was all it took. Pretty soon spin class was almost easy and flew by quickly. Thank you to every woman who has every given birth, you radiate strength and power!

chilling with my 6 month old friend

Seeing a baby being born is an amazing gift. When I have the opportunity to see them grow, I am filled with joy and amazement. Mom, Mary, has been so great about keeping in touch with me and has given me the chance to become her friend and we've gotten together several times since Ben's birth. I feel a special bond with Mary and Ben and am glad to be a part of their life and want them to know how special they are to me!

The Business of Birthing

Click here to watch a video about the business birthing in the US. Sad but true.

"Be the change you wish to see in the world" -Ghandi

Woman's Way Doula Group

We've started a doula group - Woman's Way Doula Group. I am super excited to get back into doula work after 5 months of not doing anything doula related! I miss helping women through this amazing time and have realized it is definitely a passion that is not going away. Check us out: Woman's Way Doula Group

Birth Controversy.....

Controversy

I guess its all about the choice. Be informed, make a choice.

Quote

"All over the world there exists in every society a small group of women who feel themselves strongly attracted to giving care to other women during pregnancy and childbirth. Failure to make use of this group of highly motivated people is regrettable and a sin against the principle of [subsidiarity]."
— Dr. Kloosterman, Dutch Obstetrician/Gynecologist

Laura Gigantino, CD(DONA)

Finally! I am a certified birth doula(DONA International)

I am so excited that my certification is complete. It took just over a year to finish my certification process and I couldn't be happier. The only sad thing is that I'm not practicing at the moment. Hopefully I will be practicing again soon!

Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen. Especially Celeste R., Aya K., Genelee and Cody S., The PATH Clinic of Honolulu, Tara, Mike and Dylan B., Annie R., Suzette L., Herbert and Akeem H., Dr. S. Hartman, Rina C., Uta M., and all of my family and friends for the support!

Medicalization of Childbirth

Over the past 100 years, birth in the United States has changed drastically. Some argue that birthing today is better than ever because we are taking advantage of technological advances to make birth safer for women and babies. However, we must also examine and recognize the affect that these changes have on women and their birth experiences. Is our “improved” way of birthing really a change for the better? Feminist theory explores the many existing challenges American women face when they birth in the United States.

In the 1700s, 1800s and early 1900s, women all over the world gave birth at home. Although it was not exactly their choice to do so, women gave birth in their own homes, barns, sheds, and even on street corners with friends and family by their sides. One midwife, Martha Ballard, kept records of her experiences while attending births. She noted that of 814 births she attended from 1785 to 1812, no mothers died during childbirth, only 5 died in days after birth, 14 babies were stillborns, and 5 babies died shortly after birth (Chase & Rogers) This may seem like too many deaths but we must take into consideration the high likelihood of this midwife’s lack of medical training, and access to technology and equipment.

In the early 1900s, male doctors suddenly became a part of the womanly process of giving birth. It was seen as an improvement in one area of birth, as doctors provided a “safer” environment if anything were to go wrong. Along with this came the struggle for women to birth in their own ways, the ways they had been for so many years. The power was swiftly shifted from women to men.

One example of this power shift is birthing positions. For hundreds of years, women had birthed in any way they were comfortable, including squatting, sitting, laying, standing, and even on their hands and knees. As soon as men entered the delivery room, women were told to lay flat on their backs with their legs up and open. The flat on the back position of giving birth became standard. Women were ultimately brainwashed into thinking that this was the best and only way to birth. This new standard birth position often caused more pain for women and led to slower progression of the baby down the birth canal.

By the 1940’s hospitals became the hot spot for childbirth. Half of all births took place in a hospital because taking advantage of a clean, safe facility filled with doctors seemed like the most logical thing to do. However, often times, the doctors who were in charge of caring for laboring women were unfamiliar with the normalcy of live birth as they had little or no hands on experience taking care of women in labor and delivering babies. This resulted in very poor care for laboring women. By 1960, the hospital birth rate was almost 100%.

One major problem with this drastic shift from homebirth to hospital birth was the weeding out of midwives. In many other countries, when birth moved into the hospital, with the women went the midwives. However, this did not happen in the United States. Many doctors did not support the attendance of midwives at birth as it was often seen as unnecessary seeing as the doctor would be available when needed. To understand the problem with this, one must recognize the major difference in care provided by the two.

Lay midwives were women who attended birth to oversee the progression of the laboring woman and her baby. Although these women were not trained properly, medically speaking, they had perfected the effective ways to comfort a women giving birth by witnessing many births and hands on experience. A person who properly comforts a woman during labor and delivery can make all the difference in the outcome of a birth experience. This is what was lost when hospitals and male physicians became the main place and method of delivery.

Another result of medicalized birth is a high rate of intervention, which often times leads to more intervention and is usually unnecessary in the first place. Interventions such as twilight sleep (in the early 1900s), inductions, episiotomies and cesarean sections (C-sections) are some of the common happenings at hospitals. Normal, natural and usually perfectly healthy events such as slow progression of labor and trouble pushing the baby through the vagina are excuses frequently used by doctors to step in and intervene.

Many women in the 60s, 70s, and 80s lived through traumatizing events during their births. One woman shared her birth experience from 1972, “Upon arrival, I was taken to a small, barren room to be “prepped,” meaning my pubic hair was shaved and I was given an enema. I didn’t get a vote in this process; it was standard procedure for al laboring women…from this moment forward, I couldn’t leave the bed, sit, stand, roll over, or leave the room” (Seelhoff, 42). This type of practice is an example of birthing protocol in many hospitals during this time.

In the 1970s, after too many women went through experiences similar or equivalent to the latter, they joined forces and initiated the Women’s Health Movement and the Natural Childbirth Movement. Women began to take control of their bodies, and their births. Homebirth and midwives made a come back and birthing centers were established as an alternative to hospitals and provided a safe, comfortable, homelike place for women to give birth. Women attended each other’s births to provide emotional support and physical comfort for one another.

While a small percentage supported the Natural Childbirth Movement, the majority women stayed where they thought they belonged, in the hospital. The C-section rate was climbing and the quality of care of declining. By 1990, the C-section rate was 23.5% and many of these were elective. Many people began to see the C-section option as a safe alternative to going through the pains of childbirth. What many people did not realize was the amount of risks associated with an elective C-section, such as infection, injury to mother’s internal organs, heavy blood loss, a painful recovery and the recurrence of C-section. These risks are often hidden or kept “hush hush” to keep up the façade that hospitals and doctors are the safest best.

Today, we see the vast majority of women in America give birth in a hospital. Less than 1% of women give birth at home, and midwives attend only 8% of births. Feminist views of birth in the United States include the theory that birth has become medicalized and is illogically seen as risky. Within this theory is idea that women have lost control of power when it comes to giving birth since male doctors began attending birth in the early 1900s. Birth can be a natural, beautiful process if we let it be. Unfortunately for our women and babies, today this is not the norm.

Media is also very fond of portraying birth as a dangerous process, one that needs to be handled by doctors, and doctors only. We often see dramatic births on TV in shows like ER, and Grey’s Anatomy. This gives us a distorted view of the way birth really is. Another problem is the celebrity trends regarding birth. Many celebrity icons including Britney Spears, Angelina Jolie and Madonna have given birth via elective C-section and are very publicly honest about it. This has created the false thinking that an elective C-section is the best, safest, and pain free way to go. This is a major problem because it means more women surrendering power to their doctors and not taking initiative to make informed decisions about their births.

Many people believe there are no choices about giving birth. We have seen a lack of education among the American people about the benefits of using a midwife and/or having a homebirth. We do, however, see the hospital birth represented as the best way for every woman to give birth. Although many people do not know this, today midwives are medically trained to handle most instances in which something has gone wrong in the birthing process or with the baby or mother. The rare cases when something occurs that a midwife cannot handle are few and far between. When this does occur, midwives have a back up hospital and doctor available and can transfer the woman to ensure she has the best medical care.

The unfortunate truth is that birth in the United States has become extremely medicalized. We must see that it is very important for women to have the information that allows them to make the choices for how they want to give birth. It is a right that every woman deserves and through educational support, we can work toward providing these empowering choices for women in the United States.

The Purpose and Value of (Labor) Support

The Purpose and Value of (Labor) Support

Often times the littlest things can have the biggest impact. Emotional, physical and educational labor support is something that is too frequently overlooked and sometimes even seen as unnecessary. However, doulas, and most childbirth educators, midwives, nurses, and obstetricians know that effective labor support can make the difference between an ordinary birth experience and one that is extraordinary and often times empowering and life-changing for the mother and father. In my work as a birth doula I have had the opportunity to see the tremendous benefit that this type of support provides women and families.

The only thing I have to compare birth to is my small (relatively speaking) accomplishment on December 20, 2008. Although it is not exactly comparable, I feel that this experience could not have been completed without the amazing support that I received and for that reason, I feel it was similar to the journey of childbirth.

When I decided to run the Honolulu Marathon I was excited, but definitely nervous. I knew I could do it but was scared nonetheless of the long 26.2 mile journey ahead of me. Before I began my training, I knew I needed to find a reliable, supportive, and determined team to train with. I found a friend, Abby, who had run a marathon before and asked her if she wanted to be my training partner. She agreed and so the preparing began. Another friend, Jen, joined in the beginning stages of our training program even though she wasn’t planning on running in the big race. A few weeks into it, we managed to convince Jen to sign up and officially join our training team. Training was a journey in and of itself. We spent countless hours together, running around the city of Honolulu, hoping it would pay off. Some days I was completely unmotivated to run but my two partners kept me positive and enthusiastic. A week before the big day, we set out of our longest and second to last run. It was tough but exhilarating and got me excited for the marathon.

The morning of the marathon, I woke up at 3 am. Feelings of excitement came over me, as I realized it was the day I had been waiting and training for. I also felt scared and uncertain about what the next 7 or 10 hours might bring. When my boyfriend and I got into the car to head to the marathon start line, I started to get really nervous and had butterflies flying about my stomach. When we arrived at Jen’s house, she and Abby got into the car. I immediately felt a sense of comfort and relief, knowing that these two strong ladies would be there to accompany me on my 26.2 mile run. I was entering an unfamiliar world, one that I was beginning to wish I had never signed up for, until I saw their smiling faces.

When we arrived at the starting line I felt ready, even though I was still a little anxious. Abby looked at Jen and I and said “don’t worry, you can do it”. That was all I needed to hear. When the gun went off, we took off. Within minutes, Abby was gone, as she was a much stronger racer than both Jen and I. We stayed together for almost 14 miles, encouraging one another and keeping the energy between us strong and positive. After I lost Jen, I had a hard time. I hit “the wall” and I was all alone. My legs were burning and I was just plain tired of running. Just when I was on the brink of giving up, I found comfort in the faces and words of the locals who sat outside their homes on this rainy Honolulu morning just to cheer us on. The support made all the difference. I finished after 5 hours with a smile on my face even though my body was in pain. When I found Jen after the race, we hugged and congratulated each other on our big accomplishment.

When I began my training as a birth doula, I realized that the value of labor support is very necessary and actually quite invaluable, similar to the support I received when I was training and racing. When a pregnant or laboring woman has the unconditional support of another individual who has the passion and energy for the remarkable journey and process of pregnancy and childbirth, she feels safer and has more confidence in herself. When she has this confidence, she can find the inner strength to complete her amazing task of giving birth, whichever way is most satisfying for her. As long as we are there, to provide her with she needs and wants, whether it is a cool cloth, a back or foot rub, or just some kind words of encouragement, she will feel that she has been cared for. Too often these little but significant details are overlooked and not seen as an important part of caring for women in labor. We, as doulas, know better. We know the value of continuous, unconditional (labor) support.