Transformative Birthing

💜

📷: BumbleBaby

A DOULA IS A
CONDUCTOR
OF PEACE ♥️

• One of the best things I hear from clients is that they felt I brought peace and calm to their birth story. While doulas do SO much more than that and are often a jack of all trades when it comes to labor and birth, doulas also bring relief in such subtle and reassuring ways.

A client’s partner once shared with me after the birth, “Amidst the fast pace of uncertainty and the beeps of a thousand machines, your eyes and energy generated a peace in that space for our baby to be born. And for that, I will forever be grateful... and inspired.” ❤️❤️❤️

¿Sabías que antes del 1600 las Mujeres Occidentales daban a luz en cuclillas, sentadas y de pie?
Esto cambió cuando el rey Luis XIV de Francia dispuso que para poder él presenciar el nacimiento de sus hijos, sus mujeres debían dar a luz acostadas.

Aunque esa postura hace más difícil y doloroso el parto, pronto se generalizó, y los médicos franceses tuvieron que inventar los fórceps para evitar algunas de sus consecuencias. En poco tiempo se multiplicaron los instrumentos obstétricos, y se llegó a creer que el parto siempre era una urgencia que exigía atención médica para que fuera sin complicaciones.

Cada vez se populariza más la idea de que la mujer debe guiarse por su propio instinto en lo que se refiere al parto. El número de futuras madres que optan por el parto natural -entendido como aquel parto en el que la intervención externa es la mínima posible- va en aumento.

El obstetra francés Michel Odent, uno de los defensores más notables del parto natural, afirma que la parturienta no debe atenerse a ninguna regla, sino obedecer a su instinto, que la hace experta en dar a luz. Odent daba a sus pacientes entera libertad para proceder como quisiesen, e incluso les permitía sentarse en una tina de agua tibia para aliviar el dolor de las contracciones uterinas. De ahí surgió la idea del parto en agua.

Los conocimientos actuales de fisiología han demostrado que el parto vertical -de pie o en cuclillas- permite que el nacimiento del bebé sea más rápido y menos traumático. Sin embargo no existe una postura universal para dar a luz. En las comunidades más primitivas, las parturientas primerizas se guían por el consejo de mujeres más experimentadas.

This is the truth.
Parenting is hard.

It’s beautiful and tender and it tears our hearts into a thousand pieces and stitches them back together again.

I loved the newborn phase and 3 year olds wore me out. As I begin to parent a teen, I feel as lost as I did back at the beginning.

This is a journey of humility, for sure.

BOUNDARIES...

I know everyone is excited to meet the new baby, but....

These first few days in hospital and first few weeks at home are so vital to mother and baby connection, family unit connection, getting to know one another and navigating how to care for a baby, spending lots of time half naked doing skin to skin to establish breastfeeding and getting to know their babies cues.

They are transitioning into this new season of life as parents, scared, questioning their every move, are they doing right by their baby, processing their birth, whilst the women is managing further more body changes, swollen va**na, bleeding, leaking b***s, post operative pain if surgery was required whilst trying to care for a tiny human who needs her to be there as a feeding milking machine.

What women and their partners are met with is eager family members wanting to visit the baby, hold the baby, take pictures of the baby, opinions on what to do, how to parent, what not to do, they feel judged and confused about all the conflicting information they are given and the baby is an hour old. The couple themselves haven’t had time to process what has happened.

Family and friends if you want to visit the baby I get it, your excited but..

The mama needs you too and she might need you to keep your opinions to yourself, hold space for her to feel heard when she is struggling, she doesn’t need you to fix it, she just needs you to listen, she might need food and coffee (set up a food train of support), she might need you to clean and do laundry, she might need you to let her get a sleep (then you can get all the hugs), she might need you to keep your distance for the first few weeks so check in with her and see what she needs from you or what they need from you as a new family.

Mama’s and partners don’t be scared to hold some new boundaries during this new season of life, get clear on what you need and don’t need, say it aloud and do what’s best for you 🙏🏻

Words: Leanne

This picture that went viral proves why mamas need postpartum recovery time It's a picture of a simple paper plate, but it shows what moms go through during labor and delivery and why postpartum recovery is important.