SyracuseDoula - Another Crunchy Birth Blogger

Headcovering

2011-10-14T14:32:00.000-07:00

Me with a doula baby

I'm posting these to share with the headcovering mamas thread on the Well-Trained Mind boards. I've been covering for five or six years now, usually with a scarf or bandana.

Down a Slightly Different Path

2011-09-21T00:07:00.000-07:00

As you all know, and have been reading about on my blog for the last couple of months, I applied and was accepted to midwifery school back in July, after having attended the Midwifery Today Conference in Oregon this April.

With Syracuse being as cold and snowy as it is, Tim Baer and I had tossed around the idea of moving somewhere else before our winter here hit. Honestly, I didn't think that anything would pop up and figured that we would be spending another winter digging out cars out every morning.

During the last week of July, I responded to a post on the Mothering.com discussion boards from a birth center in Oregon that was looking for a new apprentice, as their current apprentice was about to graduate. I talked to the midwife at the birth center and her apprentice and, in the second week of August, applied for the position. The last week of August, I got a "Yes, come on out" from the midwife at the birth center. Tim and I discussed it, prayed about it, and decided that this was the best course of action for our family at this time. I've always wanted to be a midwife, my husband is extremely supportive and I've been told time and again that I'll make a good one.

The kids and Tim are pretty excited. I go back and forth between being thrilled and terrified. Overall, I feel a peace about what we are doing. For as crazy as it sounds, I think that this is a long term investment in our family, me being able to have a career.

I have two more doula clients here in Syracuse and then I'll no longer be serving as a doula in the Syracuse area. I'll miss my clients here, whose future births I had hoped to attend. I'll miss the ladies in the Doula Connection, our young doula networking group. Both the families whose births I was able to be a part of and our doula group here will always hold a special place in my heart. I don't know when I'll see any of them again, as a trip to New York isn't in the forseeable future.

I'll no longer be "SyracuseDoula," but I can't imagine that I'll stop writing about birth and family. It'll just be from Oregon, as a midwife's apprentice.

Pelvic Types

2011-08-31T17:49:00.000-07:00

Last night at Panera, I managed to complete the Pelvimetry worksheet from Module Two of my midwifery school coursework. I read chapter 8 in Myles Textbook for Midwives, about structures of the pelvis and differences between pelvic types.

www.healthline.com describes the four types of pelvic types this way:

The bony pelvis has four general shapes, which may occur separately or in combination:

Gynecoid. This is the most common pelvic shape and is best for vaginal delivery. It has an oval-shaped inlet (wider from side to side than from front to back) with parallel sides, dull ischial spines, and a pubic arch that is 90 degrees or wider.
Anthropoid. This shape has an oval inlet but is wider from front to back than from side to side compared to the gynecoid pelvis. The sidewalls are parallel or flare outward, and the back part is roomy enough to accommodate the back of the fetus's head. This may result in the baby being born face up.
Platypoid. This type of pelvis has an oval-shaped inlet that is compressed from front to back. This may result in a fetus that traverses the pelvis with its head in a transverse or sideways position.
Android. This is a male-type pelvis, with a small inlet that is somewhat heart-shaped. The sidewalls converge, the ischial spines are prominent, and the pubic arch is narrow.

This youtube video explains basic pelvimetry pretty well:

Doula Weekend

2011-08-22T05:02:00.000-07:00

I think I've managed to piece together my weekend. Friday evening, Mandy Walters and I staffed our doula group's table at the Sweet Little Repeats consignment sale from about 3:30 to 8pm. We got to talk to a lot of moms. The theme Friday night seemed to be Cesarean and VBAC, and we ended up giving away all of the ICAN brochures that we had with us.

Friday night, I did not have to work at Walmart, so I was actually able to sleep from about 10pm to 4am. My intention was not to wake up at four, but working nights has done strange things to my sleep schedule. I alternated watching taped episodes of Juding Amy until about 7:30am, when I went back to the Sweet Little Repeats sale to hang out at the doula table with Chris Herrera. Got home around 5pm and did things around the house, napped, saw the family until 9pm, when I had to be at work at Walmart.

2:20am Sunday at Walmart, my phone rang and it was my doula client who was due Monday. I told her to try to rest and give me a call back soon and in half an hour I got another call from her saying that things were moving along. It ended up being a very quick birth of a gorgeous baby girl and I was back at our doula table at the consignment sale by 8:30am (and I didn't rush out after the birth, I stayed for a couple of hours after).

I got home Sunday afternoon around three, showered, went to bed and got up at seven o'clock this morning. I feel like I've recovered from the hours of sleep I missed over the weekend and, unless the lady due at the end of the month goes into labor, today is looking like it'll be a normal homeschooling mom/doing midwifery school homework sort of day.

Homeschool Weekly Report

2011-08-19T08:55:00.000-07:00

Tim did look at me funny for this one, but last night when the kids were whiny and sniping at each other, I emptied a can of shaving cream onto the dining room table and told them that it was time to practice writing letters. James has been doing 'M' this week in homeschooling, so he worked on 'M' and words that start with M. Delilah made the entire alphabet and Ben pretty much just played with the shaving cream. It was totally worth it, as it bought me twenty-five minutes of happy children and only took a minute to clean up.

In history, we finished up chapter one in Story of the World II. Both of the older kids read library books about Rome.

Patrick and Delilah both did lessons on www.time4learning.com in Math and Language Arts. I am really enjoying using the Memoria Press kindergarten with James. Honestly, the checkboxes are a big help to me.

We're headed out to the park this afternoon and then I'll be spending the weekend at the Sweet Little Repeats consignment sale. It's one of the biggest consignment sales in the area, with over 11,000 items this year. To find out more about it, you can go to www.sweetlittlerepeats.com

Privacy

2011-08-15T01:50:00.001-07:00

Privacy makes it easier to relax. Relaxing makes it easier to give birth. I love this video because we go "Why are they all going in the bathroom?" the same way that maybe we should go "Why are they asking to check her cervix during labor? or Why are there six people in the room when she's birthing the baby?"

Photojournal- Food 8/14

2011-08-14T19:50:00.000-07:00

10:30pm Saturday: Rockstar and Rolos (just 3) at the Register

2am Sunday: Baked potato, broccoli, cheese w/tea

6am: Banana, Larabar, water

10:30am: Coffee, bagel sandwich

9:30pm Sunday: Crab bisque, wheat Ritz crackers, baby carrots

As a side note, I have been waiting for weeks for the copy of Women's Sexual Passages by Elizabeth Davis that I ordered from amazon and it still hasn't been shipped. If anyone has a copy I can borrow, please let me know.

Photo Food Log 8/13

2011-08-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

Friday night "breakfast:" Coke Zero, Gnu bar, Late July crackers

11:45pm- Banana

12:10am- Coke Zero, Baked Ruffles

3:30am "Lunch:" Lean Cuisine (pasta & chicken), cantaloupe, Fiber One brownie

2pm- Yogurt

3:40pm- Wendy's Apple Chicken salad

7pm- Turkey avocado burger, broccoli, zucchini

My thoughts about the "snap a picture" concious eating plan is that it did make me more aware of what I was going to put into my body. Plus, I didn't want to have to post anything embarassing; that's why I ended up getting a salad at Wendy's instead of something fatty.

I have a lot of reading about nutrition coming up in my next modules for midwifery school. I'm going to plan to continue keeping a photo log for the rest of this week. The only time I envision possibly skipping a day is when my next doula client has her baby.

Better Eating by Camera

2011-08-12T10:45:00.000-07:00

I remember reading in some magazine last month that there was a study where they learned that snapping a picture of your meal before eating it made participants more likely to eat healthy food. Stopping to think about what they were eating made them more concious of what they were consuming.

Since starting working full-time, I feel like my diet has left a lot to be desired. There's been way too much convenience food of the unhealthy variety.

The picture above was taken at 5:30am in the Walmart break room. I noticed that, for me, the idea that I would be taking a picture of breakfast and possibly sharing it publicly did make me want to avoid having Coke Zero and Combos (it would have been embarassing).

My goal for the next week is going to be to do a pictoral food diary here on the blog, probably at the end of the day. I'll snap a picture with my phone and email it to myself to post here.

Free Reusable Lunch Sack from Annie's

2011-08-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

You can go here: http://www.annies.com/bts11 to find out how to get your free lunch sack from Annie's Homegrown. I'll be mailing ours' in today.

For my Syracuse area readers, you can get Annie's macaroni for a dollar at both Price Chopper and Target this week. I got ten boxes for nine dollars at Price Chopper by using two .50/1 coupons on top of the sale price. Annie's is our favorite macaroni and cheese, so getting it for ninety cents a box made me pretty happy.

Homeschooling at the Libraries

2011-08-08T07:53:00.000-07:00

Ben and James on the couch in the children's section.

Last week, we managed to end up visiting four different libraries. Monday, we went to the North Onondaga Public Library in North Syracuse after James' speech. Then on Tuesday afternoon we had a "Wii Tournament" at the NOPL in Cicero. Wednesday, we hung out at the Liverpool library with another homeschooling family and on Friday we made a trip to the Manlius library to pick up a book called for in James' Language Arts book.

This week, the plan is to be slightly more effective and go just twice.

My Bag is Confused

2011-08-05T15:23:00.000-07:00

My doula bag has turned into my doula/assistant/student midwife bag. Where I used to just have my labor support stuff, I now carry:

"Doula's Checklist of Comfort Measures for Labor"
Nukkles massagers
A turtle massager
Calms- A Guide to Soothing Your Baby
Rice socks
Vinyl gloves
Expanding file with client folders
Stethoscope
Sphygomomanometer (blood pressure)
Fetoscope
Change of clothes
Snacks
Essential oils (lavender, clary sage, peppermint, cypress, sweet basil, Texas cedarwood)
Almond oil (for massage)
Cough drops
Tic tacs
Hand sanitizer
Deodorant (for me)
Air pump for birth ball

That way, I'm ready no matter what kind of laboring woman calls, a doula client, a midwife's assistant or someone letting me student midwife. For now, it all fits in one bag.

I do still have space for a doula client or two in October and November, so if you're looking for a doula, shoot me an email at naturalparentingsupport@hotmail.com

More Shopping Fun!

2011-08-01T12:24:00.000-07:00

I spent about an hour at the Y this morning clipping the coupons from yesterday's paper, putting them away in the binder and making up our shopping list based on the Price Chopper sale ad (coupon + sale).

My new binder is a Case-It. It has a carrying handle and when you open it, there are two 1 1/2" binders inside. I saw it on Lauren (I Am That Lady)'s blog:

www.iamthatlady.com

The kids and I went to Price Chopper from the Y and did our shopping for this week. I split our order into three transactions because I had a bunch of the Tops dollar coupon doublers and you're only supposed to use 4 per customer (and I ended up counting the kids as customers).

Here's what the money ended up looking like:

Original Cost: $174.52

Spent $94.61
#1 $67.96
#2 $17.68
#3 $8.97

Savings $79.91
#1 $50.87
#2 $18.88
#3 $10.16

A couple of things where I was really happy about the prices were:

Tom's of Maine Silly Strawberry Toothpaste $ .99 after sale and dollar off coupon that doubled

Whonu Cookies $ .99 after dollar off coupon that doubled

Simply GoGurt $1.69 after sale and dollar coupon that doubled

Organic Orange Juice FREE after coupon

I Let My Kid Walk to Walmart

2011-07-29T04:57:00.000-07:00

The past few months, Tim and I have been letting Patrick, our oldest walk to more places in our neighborhood. He's almost eleven and we both remember being his age and being allowed to ride our bikes miles from our houses without our parents freaking out.

Yesterday Patrick asked one of his friends, who is two years older than him, if he could walk to Walmart with him. Our Walmart is literally three suburban blocks away. There are no big streets to cross. His friend isn't allowed to walk there and the feeling that I got was that his parents feel like its a safety issue.

I got a mixed response from friends, most of them falling into the "Oh my God! That's not safe!" category.

For as much as I searched, I wasn't able to find record of a single child kidnapping locally. All of the news stories about kidnappings here are about non-custodial parents taking their children and men kidnapping adult women.

NeighborhoodScout has this to say about Cicero:

"Importantly, our analysis shows that Cicero has one of the lowest violent crime rates in all of America, across cities and towns of all sizes. Murder, forcible rape, armed robbery and aggravated assault happen far less frequently here than in most places. Your chance of becoming a victim? Just one in 10,000. Cicero's violent crime rate is just 0 per 1,000 residents."
- From NeighborhoodScout

Conversely, it seems that Patrick would have been in more danger if I had chosen to drive him the three blocks to Walmart, as our chances of being in a serious or fatal automobile accident far exceed the risks of a "stranger" doing him harm. Googling "Syracuse NY car crash," I was able to find more stories of people who were killed in car crashes than I was stories of non-custodial kidnappings (virtually non-existant in our area). The kidnapping is more sensational and scary, but the car accident is more likely and it doesn't keep us from driving almost every day.

I'd like to suggest the writings of a man named Gavin DeBecker. He is "our Nation's best-known expert on the prediction and management of violence." What he says runs contrary to the fear-based things that we tell our children, like the ridiculous saying "Don't talk to strangers." He provides practical, evidence-based teachings about reducing risk and making our families as safe as we can without becoming agoraphobic. His book Protecting the Gift is one that I recommend all parents read.

https://www.gavindebecker.com/who_we_are/bio/gavin_de_becker/

So yeah, I let my kid walk to Walmart. I felt comfortable letting him go and it meant not having to load up all of the kids to go buy toilet paper. Judge away.

You've Got to Move Your Body- Movement and Positioning for Birth

2011-07-23T15:35:00.000-07:00

Look at all of the lovely hip movement in this youtube video! Sure, there aren't actual pregnant mamas, but the song and video are a good reminder of what I want you to remember in labor, the swaying hips, the movement.

In early labor and sometimes well into active labor, many moms like the feeling of being upright, walking, lunging, squatting and swaying. Early labor is also a good time to get rested up for the work ahead, so I think that it's important to balance activity with periods of rest.

Here are some links to good positions for early and active labor:

http://pregnancy.about.com/od/laborbasics/ss/laborpositions_4.htm#
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/labourandbirth/labour/positions/#2
http://www.everydaymiracles.us/PDF/Birth_ball_position_handout.pdf
http://www.injoyvideos.com/mothersadvocate/pdf/hbyw-PositionsForLabor.pdf

Positions for the pushing stage
http://www.takingcharge.csh.umn.edu/activities/effective-birthing-positions

Lamaze's Tips for Maintaining Freedom of Movement
http://www.lamaze.org/Default.aspx?tabid=256

U.K.'s site, Babycentre has this to say about laboring in bed,

"Why not labour in bed?

If you are upright rather than lying down, gravity can help push your baby's head down onto the cervix (neck of the womb) to help your cervix dilate and then assist your baby's progress through your pelvis.

Research, though limited, has shown the following disadvantages to lying down in labour, including:

• more painful contractions (Molina et al 1997)
• less effective contractions (Lewis et al 2002; Andrews and Chrzanowski 1990; Flynn et al 1978)
• longer labour (Andrews and Chrzanowski 1990)
• reduced blood flow to your baby, particularly if you lie flat on your back (Ryo et al 1996; Ang et al 1969 cited Gupta et al 2004)
• narrower passage through the pelvis for your baby (Michel et al 2002; Russell 1982 cited Gupta et al 2004)"
http://www.babycentre.co.uk/pregnancy/labourandbirth/labour/positions/

Remember that one of the things your doula does for you is to suggest position changes during labor. So if you start feeling like you're not sure what to try, your doula is there to provide ideas.

Homeschool Week of 7/18-22

2011-07-22T05:53:00.000-07:00

A couple of good things came in the mail this week. On Tuesday, James' box arrived from Memoria Press (pictured in last week's post). I'm as pleased as I thought I would be. It literally has boxes that you check off each day for each subject. With the number of things I'm balancing, this is what I need for homeschooling him this year. We also got the Patrick and Delilah's scores on the Terra Nova (New York standardized test). Except for Delilah's "66" in Language, both kids scored high in the 80s for everything (Reading, Mathematics, etc). As much as I think that standardized testing in schools is a waste of time, with all the talk of teaching to the test, it's nice to see that my kids, who were unprepared for the test itself, could do well on it.

Patrick and Delilah both did lessons in Math, Language Arts, Science and Social Studies at http://www.time4learning.com/ Three days this week, Patrick spent 20 minutes working in Saxon Math 6/5. At the moment, he's sitting at the table working on Life of Fred: Fractions.

Tim is still reading to the kids from the Bible at bedtime. This week, they're reading the book of Nehemiah.

For Phys. Ed, Patrick, Delilah and James did the Outdoor Games class at the Y three days this week. Patrick had karate twice.

I'm considering signing up for an "Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics" course. I took the Pre-test on the American Academy of Family Physicians website and scored a 97%. Last Friday, I mailed my first tuition payment to the National Midwifery Institute. I've been checking our account every day to see if the check has cleared.

Busy, Busy Day

2011-07-15T18:44:00.000-07:00

Usually one to sleep in late on days that I don't work the night before, I was up this morning by 7:30. I flipped the laundry, cleaned up a little bit and looked at homeschool curriculum online. I've been wanting to get the Memoria Press kindergarten for James to use this coming school year and this morning, I decided to order it. I'm happy with the choice and looking forward to the box arriving :)

Memoria Press Kindergarten

It'll be the first year that I've used a boxed curriculum for one of the kids and honestly, I think it'll be a relief.

I got all of the kids up around 8:00, since we had to get Patrick to morning karate camp by nine. Everyone ate breakfast and got dressed and we managed to get out of the door by 9:02am. Luckily, the dojo is less than a mile away.

Delilah, James and I did a quick housecleaning and, around ten, some moms from the Syracuse AP yahoo group came over for a gentle discipline discussion. We decided to pick a book to read and meet back here again next month to discuss.

The afternoon was a blur. We picked Patrick up at noon. I talked to Roz, from the Doula Connection, for about half an hour. I took the kids to Barnes & Noble, then Chipotle for lunch. After Chipotle, we went to Office Max to make a copy of my high school diploma to send to the National Midwifery Institute. We had to stop and grab a birthday present for Patrick's friend; then we went to the post office and I mailed off my first tuition payment of $4000 to the National Midwifery Institute. From there, we dropped Patrick off at his friend's birthday party sleepover.

The younger kids and I stopped at Wegman's so that they could rent a movie from the Redbox. Tim was home when we got back. I got to chat with him for a little bit. Around 5:45, I put "Rango" on for the kids and I took a nap until 8:30pm. I'll be working at Walmart tonight from 10pm-7am, catching a nap in the morning and going out to meet with a few doula clients during the day.

Mailing that tuition payment was definitely the highlight of my day. Once they get the check, I'll be officially "enrolled" instead of just "accepted" and I can go around telling people that I am a student midwife.

"The Deal"

2011-07-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

Between all of the working to save up for school, studying midwifery and homeschooling the kids, I am still taking on doula clients. In this post, I'm going to explain "the deal," or how the whole hiring me as your doula works.

Generally, people call or email me (though it's happened through facebook before) and we set up an "initial consultation." That meeting is free and it's a chance for you to learn more about me and see if you think we're and good fit and for me to meet your family and get a sense of what you're looking for.

If you decide to hire me, you pay a deposit to reserve your slot on the calendar, usually 1/3 of the total.

Then we set up three "prenatal visits." What we do at those visits will depend on your needs. If you're a first-time mom, we may focus a lot on basics; learning about the birth process, techniques for coping with labor and what to expect in the birth setting you've chosen. While I do have a basic visit outline, I adapt that to each family.

I am also available via phone or email during pregnancy to answer any questions that may come up.

The last month of pregnancy, I ask moms to email me an update or call me after each prenatal visit.

When you think you're in labor, you give me a call and we chat on the phone. If you are at home and would like me to come support you there, I can provide labor support at home. Sometimes couples call me on the way to the hospital (if labor is moving along quickly) and I meet you there. I stay with you throughout the whole labor, providing physical and emotional support, advice and information.

If you want help with breastfeeding, basic support is included in the birth doula package.

Within a week of the birth, I visit you at home for a "postpartum visit." At the postpartum visit, we discuss your birth experience, talk about any newborn and breastfeeding issues and the transition of integrating a new baby into the family.

Currently, the cost for my birth doula "package" as described above is $600.

I also offer a five hour childbirth class for non-doula clients at a rate of $125. If you and a friend want to have a semi-private class, the cost is reduced to $100 per couple.

If a doula client wants a private childbirth class in adddition to their doula package, the cost is $100.

The best number to reach me is 443-690-6212. It's my cell phone, which I got when we lived in Maryland. I do live in Syracuse :)

You can also email me at naturalparentingsupport@hotmail.com

So, if you're looking for a doula in Syracuse and this sounds like something you're interested in, get in touch with me. I have one spot available in August. I'm booked for September and have space available in October and November.

Homeschooling = Field Trips

2011-07-08T18:03:00.000-07:00

In the past week, we've had a field trip pretty much every day that I've been home.

On Saturday, Tim and I took the kids to a nature walk at Beaver Lake nature center. This summer, they're having a free nature walk every Saturday and Sunday at 2pm. You can find out more about their events here: http://onondagacountyparks.com/beaver-lake-nature-center/

Since Tim was off work for the 4th of July, we took the kids to Oneida Shores, a local beach with a great playground. Their playground is close enough to the beach that we spent the afternoon going back and forth between playing on the playground and in the water. Here's the site for Oneida Shores park: http://onondagacountyparks.com/oneida-shores-park/

I was "away" at a birth from late Tuesday night until Thursday morning :)

Thursday evening, we took the kids to a Chiefs (minor league baseball) game with the free tickets we'd gotten from James' speech teacher. The Chiefs played well and the kids liked it.

We wrapped up the week by going to two libraries on Friday. The kids took their summer reading lists and got prizes at both places (they signed up for two programs, I only let them count each book once) and we attended a music program at the second library.

In mom-schooling news, I checked out some books from the library about paying for college and getting through college without incurring debt. My midwifery school account is up to $3000, thanks to another paycheck from Walmart and some donations from my mom :)

My savings chart!

I'm off to go spend half an hour reading Holistic Midwifery Vol 1 before I head off for the overnight shift at Walmart.

'Cause Winning Things is Fun

2011-06-30T01:05:00.000-07:00

After waking up way too early thing morning, I've decided to give you all some contest links. All of the contests end this week, so you won't have to wait months to find out if you've won. Here they are:

Little Tikes Cars Bedroom Giveaway
http://www.littletikes.com/sweepstakes/sweepstakes.aspx?sweepstakes_id=36&status=entry

Toys from La-Z-Boy
http://www.la-z-boy.com/Brooke/Contests/

Prizes from Pregnancy and Newborn Magazine
http://www.pnmag.com/competition/june-free-stuff

Trip for Four to Sesame Place
https://www.chelseapiers.com/sesame/register.cfm

Nordic Baby Carrier
http://lilkidthings.com/lillebaby-nordic-carrier-giveaway/

Step2 Sand and Water Farm
http://amomsimpression.com/2011/06/17/step2-sand-and-water-fun-farm-review-and-giveaway/

Good luck everyone!

- Liz

"How do you do it?" or "Thanks, Caffeine."

2011-06-26T23:40:00.000-07:00

356 miles driven + 2 doula client visits + 1 student midwives' meeting + 18 hours at Walmart + 7 cups of coffee = My Weekend.

For the many folks who have asked "How do you do it all?" I'll tell you that my secret isn't a secret at all. The answer is: stubbornness, perseverence, determination, and... caffeine. Once a water drinking, orange juice buying kind of gal, I've recently rediscovered coffee, soda and even the world of energy drinks. Not something that I would necessarily recommend to others (at least not in the amounts that I'm consuming), but for now, it's a way to get through my schedule and stay awake. The picture above was tonight's "snack" at work.

I've decided that the current (thankfully temporary) schedule is worth it to get me closer to my goal of becoming a midwife. While it's hard, it's worth doing. And at the rate I'm going, it won't be long before I can afford to work less or drop the Walmart altogether.

I heard this song on the radio as I was driving from the Student Midwives' meeting to my overnight shift as Walmart tonight and thought it fitting:

Childbirth Classes!

2011-06-24T00:28:00.000-07:00

The group I'm a part of here in Syracuse is now officially advertising our childbirth classes. Since I had a partial shift at work tonight (I hit 40 hours at 1am and Walmart has an aversion to paying overtime), I was able to get the Childbirth Classes page added to the group's website:

http://www.cnydoulaconnection.com/id17.html

For my doula clients, I will be offering a $25 discount on my childbirth classes.

To book me as your doula or to just schedule a childbirth class, email me at naturalparentingsupport@hotmail.com or call 443-690-6212.

Changes in Childbirth

2011-06-23T05:30:00.000-07:00

This short video on changes in childbirth practices highlights changes in birth over the past century (stopping at about the 1950s). I especially like the part about the Southern midwives.

This and more videos can be found at http://mothersadvocate.wordpress.com/

Price Chopper Trip Today :)

2011-06-21T13:44:00.000-07:00

The kids and I had a great Price Chopper shopping trip today.

We got:

- 3 boxes of Cheerios
- 1 box Lucky Charms
- 2 Yoplait yogut multi-packs
- 1 4-pack of Fiber One yogurt
- 1 4-pack of Yoplait Delights
- 1 box of Simply GoGurt
- Pantente Nature Fusion shampoo and conditioner

The cereal was on sale 4/$8 and we used two coupons for $1/2, making them $1.50 a box.

Yogurt was on sale for $2 each and we had coupons for "Buy 4, Get 1" and two coupons for $1/2, making them $1.20 each.

The Pantene was on sale for $3.50 each. I had a manufacturer coupon for $3/2 and a store coupon for $3/2, making them .50 each.

Finally, I handed the cashier our $5 Off Your Next Order coupon from the last trip!

And then... another $5 Off Your Next Order coupon printed out!!!

Our original total was $38.91 and we paid $8.32.

Good Morning! Welcome to Walmart!

2011-06-20T04:34:00.000-07:00

Walmart Parking Lot: 5:15am

It's hard to believe that it's already been two weeks since the last time I posted to the blog.

The past weeks have been a blur. For the past four nights, I've been "people greeting" at Walmart. I had one night off before that and worked the previous three nights. So, out of the past eight nights, I've worked for seven of them. I spend from 10pm-7am greeting customers, putting stickers on items people are returning, checking receipts (it's nothing personal, stop getting annoyed about it), sweeping the front entryway and counting the minutes.

I also spend from about 5am on reminding myself that it's for midwifery school and I have to stand there for the rest of the shift and be grateful that I have a way to pay for school. I'm working on it. The gratitude, that is.

At the present time, my midwifery school fund is up to $2050!!! Another $1950 and I can mail off a check for my first year's tuition :) My next Walmart payday is this coming Thursday; I'll try to post the new total.

So I am still here. I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. I've just found that working full time at night, being with the kids during the day and sleeping in the late afternoon/early evening doesn't leave nearly as much time for being on the computer as I used to have.

- Liz Baer: Doula, Aspiring Student Midwife, Homeschooling Mom, Walmart Greeter

Car Seat Safety

2011-06-09T20:53:00.000-07:00

Car seat safety recommendations seem to be something that are constantly changing. Lately, they seem to be changing for the better, particularly with the AAP's recent recommendation to keep children rear-facing until age two.

The following is a crash test video from Sweden showing child sized dummies who are forward facing and rear facing. Note the amount of impact that the forward facing child has to absorb.

Something that I notice a lot when I see people putting children into seats is straps that are too loose or chest clips that are all the way down at the crotch or belly. Straps need to be tightened and chest clips are called "chest" clips because they need to be placed between the child's nipples.

One good resource for parents is the Family Safety forum at the Mothering message boards:

http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/list/422/family-safety

Another place to get car seat safety information is:

http://www.healthychildren.org/English/safety-prevention/on-the-go/Pages/Car-Safety-Seats-Information-for-Families.aspx

You can see if your car seat has been recalled here:

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/cars/problems/recalls/childseat.cfm

Doula Certification: Info for Consumers

2011-06-08T11:27:00.000-07:00

What is the difference between someone who is trained as a doula and someone who is certified?

In my experience with DONA, not a whole lot. To become certified through DONA, I had to check book titles off of a reading list, attend a childbirth class and a breastfeeding class (very basic, geared to consumers) write a couple of essays and get evaluations filled out from births I'd attended. In other words, one could be DONA-Certified and still not be knowledgeable about birth or well connected with local resources. (This is not to say that there aren't many wonderful certified DONA doulas. I am one and I work with a bunch of them).

The whole list of what I had to do to become DONA certified was:

Pay for DONA membership
Pay the certification application processing fee
Fill out the application
Read The Birth Doula's Contribution to Modern Maternity Care; The Doula Book; The Birth Partner; Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn; Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers
Attend a childbirth class (where I wasn't a pregnant participant)
Complete the course at http://www.breastfeedingbasics.org/
Attend a DONA birth doula workshop
Attend three births and submit three evaluations from mothers, three from caregivers, an essay about each one, DONA Birth Record sheets for each one
A resource list with resources from 30 different categories
Write an essay on the value of labor support
Sign Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice
Take multiple choice quiz

Some of the other doula organizations do have more requirements for certification. CAPPA, for example, requires that you complete a study guide before attending their training. You can see the study guide at www.cappa.net/documents/study-guide-cld.doc With BirthWorks, one has to write a book report about each book on the reading list and submit it for review.

In the Doula Connection in Syracuse, the group I work with, all of our doulas have taken doula training. Some have chosen to be certified through an organziation and some haven't or are in the process of doing so. I do not think that the ladies who are certified are better doulas than the ones who aren't

What I would recommend looking for when you select a doula is someone who you "click" with, who you would feel comfortable being supported by in labor. You might also want someone who is well connected in the local birth communty. If you need a referral for a midwife or a chiropractor, it's better when the doula can recommend someone that she's seen in action. A wide knowledge base is another strength. If you call you doula from a prenatal appointment with your caregiver with a question about something they said, you want your doula to know enough "medical-ese" to translate it into English for you.

If the doula who you're considering is someone who is "into" birth and she has attended a doula training, I wouldn't hesitate to use her because she isn't certified. I would also not recommend asking "certifying" doulas if you can pay them less than you would have paid a certified doula. Many doulas, both trained and certified, are willing to work with families in need who want doula support. For those families who are able to pay (and there are lots of ways to work it into your budget), a trained doula is providing you with the same service as a certified doula and deserves to be paid accordingly.

- Elizabeth Baer, CD(DONA)

The Bookshelf Expandeth

2011-06-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

I've added some great books (that make me really happy) since the last time that I blogged about my birthy bookshelf, enough that I had to take two pictures to properly capture the coolness.

Top shelf:

DONA training binder
BirthWorks training binder
Birth Log
Special Women
The Birth Partner X2
Nurturing the Family: The Guide for Postpartum Doulas
Mothering the New Mother
The Doula Advantage
Birthsong Midwifery Workbook
Helping Hands (midwife's assistant workbook)
Paths to Becoming a Midwife
Midwifery & Childbirth in America
Research Updates for Midwives
Neonatal Resuscitation Handbook
Heart & Hands by Elizabeth Davis
Holistic Midwifery Vol. 1
Anatomy Coloring Book
Physiology Coloring Book
Box of Midwifery Today mags

Middle Shelf

Past doula client folders
NARM Candidate Information Bulletin
Notebook from Midwifery Today conference
National Midwifery Institute handbook
Sisters on a Journey
Diary of a Midwife
Baby Catcher
Vaginal Politics
Let Birth Be Born Again
Medical Dictionary
The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth
Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn
Silent Knife (VBACs & Cesarean)
Survivor Moms
Herbal for the Childbearing Year
Unassisted Childbirth
Giving Birth
Birthing From Within
Mother's Intention: How Belief Shapes Birth
Spiritual Midwifery (2)
Birth Matters
Ina May's Guide to Childbirth
Orgasmic Birth
Birth Reborn
Rediscovering Birth
Birthing In the Spirit

Bottom Shelf

Active Birth
The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth
Childbirth Without Fear
Husband-Coached Childbirth
Gentle Birth Choices
Siblings Without Rivalry
Immaculate Deception II
The Official Lamaze Guide
Mothering Multiples
Nursing Mother, Working Mother
The Breastfeeding Book
The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers
Breastfeeding
The Baby Book
Gentle Birth Choices (DVD)
The Business of Being Born (DVD)
Mothertouch (DVD)
Healthy Birth Your Way (DVD)
Special Women (DVD)
Birth (DVD)
Giving Birth (DVD)
Birth as We Know It (DVD)
Baby-Led Breastfeeding (DVD)

Just imagine, if you are in Syracuse and I'm your doula, you'll have access to someone who not only reads all of those books but can look things up when you call.

Homeschooling Week of 5/30-6/3

2011-06-03T22:44:00.000-07:00

Homeschooling is going fairly well considering that I spend a decent chunk of the daylight hours asleep nowadays (yay for working overnights!).

We managed to make it to the library twice this week and the kids got out a big stack of books. James had speech therapy at the school on Wednesday and Friday. Friday night, we took the kids to the Taste of Syracuse festival, which has got to be educational considering the number of foods they sampled.

Delilah reviewing addition using linking cubes

Patrick and Delilah are both still using http://www.time4learning.com/ most days. James has asked to do it but I think we're going to wait to start paying for him until he's reading well. I did manage to make time this week to work with Delilah and James on math in a more focused way.

Patrick started using the "Summer Before 6th Grade" workbook that we found at Five Below (which has a fantastic book selection).

All of the kids are enjoying our couponing hobby. Early in the week, I discovered the "All You" magazine that Walmart sells, which is full of coupons. Patrick and Delilah joined me in clipping them.

Getting Back into Studying

2011-06-01T18:31:00.000-07:00

Today has been a great day in terms of getting into the swing of being a student and gearing up for when I start my midwifery coursework. I've been trying to develop a habit of setting aside time every day for my "schooling."

In about 2 1/2 hours today, I managed to:

- read chapter 7 in Heart and Hands, "Becoming a Midwife"

- read chapter 2 in The Doula Business Guide

- wrote a book report on Jean Sutton's book, Let Birth Be Born Again and sent it off to my BirthWorks Childbirth Ed program reviewer

- ordered a copy of Becoming a Midwife by Carolyn Steiger

- watched my new DVD, "Baby-Led Breastfeeding," that I got when I went to the neonatal resuscitation training last month. You can check it out here: http://www.geddesproduction.com/breast-feeding-baby-led.php

I'm impressed with the "Baby-Led Breastfeeding" DVD. I think I'll be using it in my childbirth classes.

Doula Connection Anniversary Celebration!

2011-06-01T05:58:00.000-07:00

Next Thursday will mark the date that, a year ago, the Doula Connection first met in Syracuse. We knew we wanted something different than what had been available in Central New York for doulas. We looked at doula groups online, emailed and called other groups to ask them questions.

What we formed was a doula networking group that focuses on enrichment for doulas in the form of group meetings, field trips, trainings, book discussions and video showings. The group now does regular community outreach to educate folks about pregnancy, birth and (obviously) doulas.

We also started the website: http://www.cnydoulaconnection.com/ where families can find and contact the childbirth educator, birth doula or postpartum doula of their choice. One strength of the website is that it is the only site that lists local doulas individually.

On June 9th, at Cicero United Methodist Church, at 6pm, we are getting together to celebrate our first anniversary. Expectant couples who want to meet our doulas are invited to attend. Light refreshments will be provided.

For more information, contact:

Elizabeth Baer
Doula Connection
443-690-6212 (cell)
cnydoulaconnection@gmail.com

Midwifery Savings Update

2011-05-26T23:12:00.000-07:00

After another donation from a friend and part of my paycheck from Walmart (wanted to use the whole thing, but I had to contribute to fixing one of our cars), the "Liz's Midwifery School" fund is at $870, fast approaching $1000.

I'm planning to go to a couponing seminar tomorrow night out in Oswego, taught by blogger: http://www.iamthatlady.com/ The couponing has been going well, but I'd like to pick up some more saving tricks. Our weekly grocery budget (for 6 people) is $150. My goal is to use the couponing to come in under budget every week so I can transfer the difference to my education account.

More updates and pictures of my lovely belly shaped fundraising chart will be forthcoming, as I save up more money.

The New Big Thing

2011-05-25T18:37:00.000-07:00

Coming up on the first Sunday in June, I will be attending the first meeting of our local midwifery study group. There are a few if us who have been talking to a homebirth midwife about teaching a midwife's assistant course. We're going to be picking different topics andmeeting to study midwifery together.

Does anyone have any tips or experience with holding a student midwives' group?

Meet a couple of the ladies participating:

Doula Sarah
http://sagefemmemama.blogspot.com/

Doula and Student Midwife Naomi
http://yankeemidwife.wordpress.com/

"Natural Birth" in a Hospital is Nothing but a Fantasy- Guest Blogger Sabrina at Jerusalem Health Coach

2011-05-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

Today on facebook, I read this article by Sabrina of Jerusalem Health Coach. I am reposting because I think that it contains important information, however unpopular it might be. Parents need to understand that planning a "natural" birth in a hospital setting is something that takes a work: planning, education, hiring a doula and being your own advocate.

That’s right, I said it. Now, I hope everyone will forgive me as I let myself off the hook. These are not my words. My teacher and mentor, Shoshana Goldbaum (doula with 30 years experience) said it, first. She even goes on to say, “Natural birth is for the kitty cats having their babies behind the dumpsters. What I teach parents is prepared childbirth, or responsible, minimal intervention childbirth.”

When I first heard this, I must admit, I was shocked. “But wait,” I thought, “what about the fact that birth is a natural process? What about trusting our bodies?” Surely she couldn’t deny that birth is a womanly phenomenon, regardless of where it may occur. With time and a little experience, I began to see where she was coming from. The moment a woman leaves the comfort of her home and enters a hospital setting, the process takes a huge leap away from “natural.” Forms filled, heparin lock inserted, hospital gown on, cervix checked by a stranger’s gloved hand, belly strapped with two monitor belts, body reclined on a bed… There is nothing “natural” about any of it.

At a hospital, there is a slew of possible interventions that could take place… a variety of induction methods, sedatives, pain-blockers, metal instruments, antibiotics. A clock is ticking, from the time that the waters break, whether artificially or on their own. Various possible dangers loom overhead: infection, dystocias, nuchal cord, fetal distress, problematic presentation, placental issues, hemorrhage … the list continues. The medical staff is aware of all of them and is prepared to handle anything and everything. A woman’s body is not to be trusted because there is always a risk that something could go wrong.

I am learning that birthing with a licensed nurse-midwife has all the similar risks, but the difference is that the setting is warmer and invasive techniques are usually kept to a minimum. This lessens the possibility of causing many of the problems that lead to cesareans and instrument-assisted deliveries. However, while hospitals will take high-risk pregnancies, most licensed midwives in Israel will not. This can put a “high-risk” pregnant woman somewhere between a rock and a hard place when she is not comfortable birthing in a hospital where the chances of avoiding a traumatic birth or an unnecessary cesarean are next-to-nothing and no licensed midwife will take the risk of attending her birth. For many of these women, a natural birth can seem like more of a dream than a reality.

What my teacher is trying to alert women about is simple. Nobody just goes skipping down Pregnancy Lane all “la-dee-dah. I’m going to do everything natural” and somehow magically at the end of the road there is a peaceful baby in her arms and everyone is glowing and happy. There is a lot of work involved for mom: a great deal of learning, strategizing, planning, preparing, and understanding the uniqueness of her own body and circumstances.

When first-time birthing women tell me all about wanting a natural hospital birth, I smile and ask, “What’s your birth plan?” This initiates the conversation. Once I listen to her thoughts and feelings (sometimes for quite awhile) and help her sort out her own values, limiting beliefs, resources, and priorities, I remind her gently that any plan she may devise is almost always “plan B.” Plan A is G-d’s plan, which is ever-unfolding—and as choices in labor are made, a new set of choices appear (see my past article “When Your Birth Plan Flies Out the Window”).

As the minutes tick away, the possible outcomes in a hospital gradually become more and more limited. Therefore, if a woman is committed to a having a minimum intervention (natural) birth, certain aspects of her experience must be worked out well in advance:

1.Support. This is not a friend, a mother, sister, rebbetzin or any other kind of well-intentioned and loving hand-holder. I’m talking about a trained, professional doula or birthing assistant who is familiar with the various aspects of birth, including anatomy and physiology, emotional sign posts in labor, coping techniques, and educational resources. Ideally, she is someone who is calm and confident in the process of labor, compassionate, patient, and sensitive to the cues a woman’s body may give at any time. At the same time, she should be familiar with the warning signs indicating that emergency care is needed. Extensive time and energy should be invested in prenatal meetings because, as I say all the time, "90% of what I do happens before labor even starts." Indeed, my most successful birth stories were with women who valued my guidance enough to meet with me three and four times before their births.

2.Education. I strongly recommend taking a birth preparation course from a birth educator who is certified by an organization that is “mother and family-centered” in its philosophy. Otherwise, a woman runs the risk of sitting through a hospital-centered course which may teach her little else besides which drugs she has to choose from (all absolutely harmless, of course) and how to be a “good patient” and cooperate with the medical staff as they follow their necessary protocol. It’s also very important to involve a spouse or any person who will be entrusted with any decision-making power at the time of birth.

3.Preparation and Planning. This is best done with the doula and may include all parties who will be involved in some way with the birth. This is the time to understand all the various expectations, doubts, fears and thoughts that may come up in the process. This is also a good time to examine all the visible circumstances of the upcoming birth. Are there any special considerations? Is the mother GBS positive? What if her water breaks before the onset of labor? How will she deal with the increased risk of infection to her baby as time passes by? How is the baby positioned? Is there anything that can be done to encourage a fetal positioning that is more optimal? What are some coping strategies that sound appealing to the mother-to-be? What are the financial constraints on the situation, if any? Does it limit the possibilities? These are only a few considerations.

4.Labor Plan. Where does the mother intend to labor and how far is the location from the hospital? How can she use the resources around her at home to ease into labor and feel most safe and comfortable? When will it be time to get over to the hospital? What facilities does the hospital have for laboring, besides a bed? Creating a solid labor plan will ensure that a woman can feel the maximum confidence and support in her laboring process at the beginning and as she progresses onward to the second stage of labor (pushing). It’s especially helpful to discuss with the doula when is the appropriate time to leave for the hospital. Given a normal and healthy laboring process, it can be best to work though labor in a familiar space until labor is well-established and transfer to hospital is least likely to cause labor to stall. In the event that the woman must go to the hospital sooner, she and her doula should have a flexible game-plan for making use of the hospital's resources.

5.Perineal Support. Many first-time birthing women want to avoid an episiotomy or major tear. Advance preparation of the perineum to stretch as much as necessary during birth will help with healing and minimize discomfort later. There are also pelvic floor exercises which can help the mom to relax the muscles at crowning. Finally, there is a mental and emotional preparation that can be done in advance to reframe the anticipated uncomfortable experience.

6.Hospital Protocols. It is incredibly useful to know hospital protocols and the risks involved in deciding to go against them. I cannot stress this more. If a woman chooses to birth in a hospital, she must constantly remember (and accept) that she is on their turf. The doula is a privately-hired support person who is there with her but cannot and will not be expected to make any decisions for the birthing mom. This means that whatever their protocols may be (I listed several at the beginning of this article) they are expecting a woman to follow them without asking too many questions. In Israel, a woman has the right to refuse ANY and ALL hospital protocols that she sees fit and in doing so she assumes all responsibility for the outcome. She won’t be very well-liked by the hospital staff and she may need to sign a form, but this is her legal right. I will add that any woman who takes a hospital tour may be completely familiar with many of the major policies involved with birthing there and she may even feel okay with it at the time. However, many of these seemingly trivial details can add up to being a very big deal when she is in labor and hormonal and needing more than ever to be comfortable and feel safe.

These are some considerations to keep in mind in order to effectively plan and prepare for a natural birth in a hospital. I am aware that there are women who reportedly can create a “bubble of safety” around them and can just ignore hospital staff and pretend she’s laboring somewhere on a cloud far away. It is a special and enviable gift to be able to do this and as a doula I’d be hesitant to mess with perfection. However, in most cases women cannot achieve this level of unconditional safety and relaxation in a hospital setting. So, for all those ladies who choose a hospital birth and want to do it naturally, this article is for you.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Jerusalem-Health-Coach/394780896382?sk=wall#!/notes/jerusalem-health-coach/natural-birth-in-a-hospital-is-nothing-but-a-fantasy/205339296172125

Have you thought about homebirth?

2011-05-19T08:34:00.000-07:00

Often, when I talk to CNY moms who are outside of the Holistic Moms Network or the Syracuse AP yahoo group, they don't realize that birthing their baby in their home is an option for them. I've even been asked if homebirth is legal. I would like to point out today that, here in Syracuse and the surrounding area, homebirth is an option for families.

When birthing at home, the caregiver women use is a midwife. A midwife is a provider who is a specialist in normal pregnancy and birth. Your midwife can do all of your prenatal care, handle the birth of your baby, provide postpartum and newborn care and even do well-woman care like Pap smears and menopause counseling.

When I was first learning about homebirth years ago, I got a lot of information from the ladies at mothering.com: http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/list/20/homebirth

One provider of homebirth in this area is Merideth Geers: http://www.cnymidwife.com/ I have not done a birth with Merideth yet, but I have attended several community outreach events that she has hosted and we've done lunch at Chipotle (where else?).

Another lady that many Syracuse moms use is an Ithaca midwife named Kate Finn: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kate-T-Finn-MS-Licensed-Midwife/71671612781 Kate works with several other midwives in the Ithaca area, who also provide homebirth to their clients.

For people closer to Rochester, you have the ladies at http://www.welcomehomemidwifery.com/ Meg and Sarah have a lovely website with lots of information about their practice on it.

You may already know that I had my last baby at home, though while we were living in Baltmore. If you are considering homebirth and have questions or didn't realize homebirth was an option and you want more information, feel free to contact me and ask away.

Cute Boys and Walmart

2011-05-15T13:34:00.000-07:00

The cute boys pictured above are my two younger children. Ben (3) is on the left and James (5) is on the right.

Leaving my job as overnight people greeter on Friday morning, I noticed that the merchandise supervisor at Walmart was marking a bunch of kids' clothes down to a dollar. I went back later in the day and got these matching outfits for Ben and James. I got a bunch of other things too, 15 items in all, for $15.

I've been learning to appreciate the job at Walmart. Working from 10pm to 7am five nights a week is hard and I'm often ready to leave by 4am, but the fact that I'm using it to fund my midwifery education makes it worth it.

Standing at the door leaves a lot of time for thinking. Here are some things I've noticed:

Ways that Being the Overnight People Greeter is Like Being a Midwife

You spend hours looking like you aren't doing anything.
You have to be able to just wait around.
Being able to read people matters.
After hours of using your keen powers of observation, you'll need to fix something, then go back to waiting.
It's important to have a good sense of humor.

To help motivate myself to keep showing up at the Walmart, I've made one of those fundraising chart thingies to keep track of how much I've raised for midwifery school. I'll warn you now that in the coming weeks and months I'm going to be extending my fundraising to friends and family.

Here's my chart:

That little colored in bit is the $500 that I have in my midwifery savings account. The goal at this point is to earn/raise $13,000. I'll post pictures of my chart as it gets colored in.

Birth Plan Workshop at CNY Healing Arts Center

2011-05-12T12:03:00.000-07:00

Join the women of the Doula Connection at CNY Healing Arts on Saturday, May 14th from 1 to 3pm to learn about the ins and outs of birth plan writing. Couples will be given the opportunity to see sample birth plans, hear about all of their options during the birth process and begin writing their birth plan with the guidance of experienced birth attendants. Cost to attend is $20 per couple. Reserve your spot by calling CNY Healing Arts at 315 671 5755.

CNY Healing Arts opened in July 2007 with the mission of providing comprehensive complimentary health services in a compassionate, honest and friendly environment. A well rounded menu of services is offered including Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine, Massage, Yoga and Esthetics.
phone: 315 671 5755
web: CNYHealingArts.com
address: 191 Intrepid Lane Syracuse, NY 13205

The CNY Doula Connection is a growing network of independent doulas who attend births and provide postpartum care in the Central New York Area. We provide networking opportunities, client referrals and educational enrichment for our members.
web: CNYDoulaConnection.com
email: cnydoulaconnection@gmail.com

Cutting Costs

2011-05-09T12:25:00.000-07:00

Since people on facebook have had questions about things that I've been posting about my couponing, I thought I would whip up a blog post about it before I take James to speech this morning.

Back when we lived in Baltimore, I went through phases where I used coupons for things that we bought, but I wasn't very organized about it. There was that one shopping trip where I got my total from $400 down to $93. I thought recently, with trying to put money into my doula business and save for midwifery school, that it was time to stop reminiscing about when I used to coupon and get back into doing it.

Yesterday, I posted my shopping totals on facebook: Original total: $241.19. Sales & coupons: $117.67 off. Total spent: $123.52.

Here's how I did it:

- The past couple of weeks, I've been working on getting my coupons more organized. I bought a binder, tabs to separate the different sections and plastic sheets with 3, 4, 6 and 8 sections to hold coupons.

- I visited the websites for Tops and Price Chopper to match up the coupons I had on hand with their weekly sales:

http://www.pricechopper.com/

http://www.topsmarkets.com/

- I made up a shopping list based on things that were on sale that I thought we would eat and could make meals with.

- James and I started out at Tops, where we spent $34.03 on an order that was originally $80.96.

- We then went to Price Chopper and spent $89.49 on an order that would have been $160.23

We got some great deals at Price Chopper. For example, they had bread "Buy 1, Get 2 Free." I also decided to try the Emerald Nuts Breakfast to Go box. They were on sale for $2.99 and I had a $1 off coupon, that, combined with the dollar coupon doubler, made the box $0.99.

** A note: I often see people write online that they don't bother with coupons because "You can only buy crap with coupons" or "There aren't any coupons for healthy food." In the past couple of weeks, I have found and used coupons for organic eggs, organic yogurt, Greek yogurt, almond milk, Newman's Own cereal and pizza, popcorn, nuts, Seeds of Change organics, frozen vegetables, etc. You can feed your family healthy food at discounted prices:

Homeschooling Week of 5/2

2011-05-06T06:24:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure how we got to May 6th already, but it seems to be today's date. The week was really quite a blur.

With me working 10pm-7am and being a bit fuzzy during the day, the kids have almost started unschooling. Both Patrick and Delilah did some lessons on http://www.time4learning.com/ this week. I'm really starting to appreciate time4learning because the kids will actually do it unprompted. So if I'm napping on the couch, they'll hop on the computer and do Math, Language Arts, Science or Social Studies. Patrick is enrolled in their fifth grade level and Delilah is doing second grade.

We did manage to make it out to two homeschool activities this week. The kids had their Homeschool P.E. class at the YMCA on Wednesday afternoon, where they played raquetball and volleyball. Thursday afternoon, we went to the homeschool group at the library, where the kids celebrated Cinco de Mayo with stories, music, games and crafts.

I'll be away in New York City tomorrow for the Neonatal Resuscitation class. I've been studying the book all week. Let's hope that I can remember the important stuff.

Practically Perfect Day

2011-05-03T18:15:00.000-07:00

The past twenty-four hours were about as perfectly balanced as our crazy schedule gets.

Last night, I worked at Walmart from 10pm-7am (gotta save up for school). When I got home in the morning, the kids were all still asleep. I checked email, ate something (waffles w/Nutella) and straightened up the house a little.

Patrick and Delilah both did some lessons on http://www.time4learning.com/ while I napped on the couch and the little boys played. I woke up around 2pm, a long nap.

I woke up to find that the house was just about the messiest that I've ever seen it. Pretty much every room needed to be cleaned. Patrick, Delilah, James and I straightened and cleaned from about 2-3:30pm. At 3:30, we dropped off books at the library, went to Chipotle for a late lunch, then to Barnes&Noble to get the kids some books. While out, I got to talk to a doula from Binghamtom (we set up a lunch date) and one of the ladies from our group, the Doula Connection in Syracuse.

From there, we went to the YMCA so that I could work out and do some studying while the kids played. I worked on Patrick's 5th grade test prep book with him and worked on really soaking in the info in my Neonatal Resuscitation book.

My index card version of the Neonatal Resuscitation flow chart

Wonderful Husband Tim made a couple of frozen pizzas so that the kids could eat again before bed. We fed them pizza, brushed teeth and did vitamins. Tim read us a chapter from Acts and we all prayed together.

Tim and I are watching an episode of "The Event" that we recorded yesterday. At 9:45pm, I'll be back out the door for the overnight shift at Walmart (gotta pay for school).

Study, Study, Study...

2011-04-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

I've mailed off my check to the National Midwifery Institute for their handbook and application! When that arrives, I will be applying to midwifery school :)

My Textbook of Neonatal Resuscitation arrived in the mail today. I'm all signed up for Karen Strange's class in New York City on May 7th and am looking forward to it.

This morning, I actually managed to get some studying done. I took the kids to the North Y here in Syracuse and put them in the playroom from 10am-12pm. During that time I:

- did pages 1-7 in The Anatomy Coloring Book
- reread p. 1-14 and did page 60 in the Birthsong Midwifery Workbook
- read the Introduction and p. 3-12 in Orgasmic Birth
- talked to Doula Chris Herrera from the CNY Doula Connection

The goal for tonight will be to get started on studying my new Neonatal Resuscitation book.

I am looking for doula clients who are due this summer to help with my midwifery school fund. If you know anyone in or near Syracuse who is due this summer, please give them my number: 443-690-6212.

- Doula Liz Baer

Home/Mom-schooling Week

2011-04-22T20:18:00.000-07:00

Despite how tired I've been with working nights, I've still managed to get the kids out of the house. Last week, on Monday, we went to this great pond with our friend Donna and her son, followed by ice cream at Gannon's Isle. Gannon's is a local ice cream place here in Syracuse that makes their own ice cream.

http://www.gannonicecream.com/

Here are the pics of the kids at the pond:

This Monday, we went to the bouncy place at Driver's Village with some other doulas from the Doula Connection and their kids. It was fun for the kids, but incredibly loud and really hard to keep track of everyone.

We managed to make it to the library both this Friday and last. Patrick has been getting into reading the "Goosebumps" books.

Patrick and Delilah have both done most of their homeschooling the past two weeks on http://www.time4learning.com/ I have plans that include writing a review of their program. What I can say about it right now is that it makes me feel like we aren't completely neglecting the homeschooling while I'm spending lots of time working and sleeping weird hours.

This week, I signed up for Karen Strange's Neonatal Resusciation class being held in New York City on May 7th. I ordered the book from amazon and bought my bus ticket. I'm pretty excited about taking another class with Karen (loved her workshop for doulas in Rochester last year). One of the special things about Karen's class is that is focuses on resuscitation for out of hospital providers (i.e.- homebirth midwives).

http://www.newbornbreath.com/

Tomorrow, I'm mailing off my request for a school handbook from the National Midwifery Institute :)

Time for Working Mother Magazine

2011-04-14T13:55:00.000-07:00

After the first half of this week, I think I'm ready to admit to being a "working mom." We're still homeschooling (of course) and I do handle the child-educating, house-cleaning when I'm home, but I'm not here with them all day, every day anymore. Luckily, Tim is a great, hands-on dad and we also have an amazing babysitter for when my work overlaps with his (no, you can't have her number).

I haven't announced it here on the Internet, but last week I started working overnights at Walmart to save up money for midwifery school and also to pad our family savings a little bit.

My week has looked like this so far:

- Sunday night- worked 10pm-7am at Walmart

- Monday- Took James to speech at the school at 9:30am. Ran errands with kids. Went to the Y and worked out a little bit. Did schoolwork with the kids. Slept from about 5-9pm. Worked 10pm-2am at Walmart.

- Tuesday- Went to the Wise Symposium from 9am-6pm. http://www.wisecenter.org/ Met lots of people from woman-owned and operated businesses. Networked. Came home and slept for about 2 1/2 hours. Went to work at Walmart at 10pm.

- Wednesday- Got home from work at 7am. Showered, dressed, checked email. Babysitter got here at 9am and I went to Crouse Hospital to interview the Nurse Manager of their L&D unit for my neglected BirthWorks CBE Certification project. Left there around noon. Hung out with the kids and had a friend over to visit until about 3:30. Put on a movie for the kids at 3:45 and went to sleep. Mama in labor called me at 5:10pm and I headed back to Crouse for her beautiful, amazing (and quick) birth. Got to Walmart in time for work at 10pm.

- Thursday- Got home from work at 7am. Just about literally slept the day away. The kids played and watched TV until 3pm when I finally got up because their friends were knocking on the door asking to play. I spent about an hour cleaning the house and we're now about to head out to get ready for tonight's Doula Connection parents' meeting.

Hopefully this weekend will be a quiet one. I have one meeting with a client Saturday evening and one mama due in a couple of weeks who I don't think will have a baby this weekend (but who knows?). I'm looking forward to having some family time and actually seeing my husband.

Bestest Vacation Ever

2011-04-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

Gail Hart and Jan Tritteden speaking.

Maryl Smith leading us in the song "Renegade Midwives"

The amazing Eugene Saturday market street performers.

"The Wide Sisters" performing!

Sing it with us!

Books :)

My conference stash

Hillarious sign that I kept seeing in Oregon

Best parts (hard not to write an essay here):

- Staying up until 2am talking almost every night

- The mom who said "I felt the power of the universe in my uterus."

- Going to the Eugene Saturday market

- Realizing in the sessions that so much of what is being taught should be common sense

- Ladies' dance night!

- Meeting someone who gave birth to breech twins at home

- Morning Glory, the Pizza Research Institute, Red Agave... all of the tasty food

- The sense of community with people you'd never met before

- Buying myself lots of books; Orgasmic Birth, Survivor Moms, Holistic Midwifery Vol. 1 (Frye), Let Birth Be Born Again

- Meeting a Mennonite sociologist who studies grassroots movements, particularly midwifery

- The "Tricks of the Trade" session where everyone shared their knowledge

- Listening to Gail Hart talk

- Sitting with Elizabeth Davis on the plane from Eugene to San Francisco

Now, of course, I'm already looking forward to next year's conference!

Leaving Tomorrow!

2011-03-28T06:56:00.000-07:00

My flight itinerary is printed. My bag is (almost) all packed. Backup doulas for my clients are arranged. Childcare for my kids is set up. I have roommates for the conference, to pitch in with the room cost.

I still need to put gas in the van so the babysitter or Tim doesn't have to, buy a notebook to take with me, pick up some more food for the family for while I'm away, clean out the van (so it isn't embarassing) and straighten up the house again.

I've never been away from the kids for this long (it'll be a week). I'm excited, and not as nervous as I thought I would be. I've been wanting to go to the Midwifery Today conference ever since my ten year old was a baby and now, for the first time, I'm really going.

My plane leaves from Syracuse tomorrow at 10:10am. I'll be back here blogging next week.

Homeschooling, Work, Getting Ready to Go...

2011-03-25T16:50:00.000-07:00

This week has been busy as usual. I took James to speech at the school on Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 9:30am. It's 1/2 an hour on Monday and Wednesday and an hour on Friday. The other kids and I went to the nearby library while we waited to go pick him up.

Monday, we had our art class at the Manlius library, followed by playtime in the gym that's in the building. On Wednesday, we had our P.E. at the YMCA (1/2 hour of swim and 45 minutes of gym). Thursday, we went to the zoo with a bunch of other homeschoolers, 15 children in all.

The kids had fun this week with their Gladiator activity kit that we got from the Rainbow Resource catalog. It came with a plastic gladiator and his gear, a paper Colossium to make, a map, a little poster and a book. We're on chapter 23 in Story of the World this week.

I've been busy getting ready for my trip to Oregon next week (all alone!) to the Midwifery Today conference. I fly out Tuesday morning and come back to NY the following Monday. Tim will be here with the kids (still working, as we have lovely babysitters). I can't decide if the kids will get almost no schoolwork done when I'm away, or if our one amazing babysitter will keep them right on track (pretty likely). I'm really looking forward to the conference; it's something I've wanted to attend for years and, thanks to my wonderful husband, I'm finally getting to go.

Next Thursday!

2011-03-24T09:40:00.000-07:00

Next Thursday, I'll be at the second day of the Midwifery Today Pre-Conference!

Here's what I'm signed up for:

Midwifery Skills

These classes are designed to improve and enhance your midwifery skills and knowledge. This is a great class for beginning and advanced midwives.

9:00 am – 10:00 am
Keeping Birth Normal — Sister MorningStar
Midwives are the protectors of normal birth. Keeping birth normal is the biggest challenge in childbirth today. Learn how nutrition, love, communication, continuity of care, intervention and other factors can affect the normal birth process. Learn why pregnancy care is essential for preventing complications.

10:10 am – 11:10 am
Third Stage Difficulties — Marion Toepke McLean
While the placenta usually comes out easily and in a timely fashion, there are problems that can occur which demand immediate action. Learn what problems may arise in third stage and how to be prepared to attend them. Bleeding, various problems with placenta retention and other issues will be discussed.

11:15 am – 12:15 pm
HIPAA, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act — Maryl Smith
Maryl will discuss protecting the privacy of the families we serve and how to integrate privacy law into a midwifery style of practice. How does this affect what we do?

1:45 pm – 3:15 pm
Hands-on Midwifery — Carol Gautschi
Don’t let technology make you lose your hands-on skills. Midwives “see” with their hands. Hands and senses are our best tools. Carol will explain the true art of hands-on care, including the why, what and how of working with women in a way that utilizes our hands, senses, intuition and the ability to observe.

3:30 pm – 4:30 pm
How Is the Baby? — Carol Gautschi
We will learn about Leopold’s maneuvers as well as other fetal palpitation techniques to determine both position and station, including how to check for the cephalic prominence. Carol will explain how to listen to the fetal heart with a fetoscope or pinard horn, how to do a home Non-Stress Test and Fetal Movement Counts and how to use these tools successfully.

4:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Suturing Overview — Marion Toepke McLean
The purpose of this session is to increase knowledge in the recognition and repair of lacerations. Preventive care will be discussed along with new ideas for types of repairs.

7:30 pm – 9:00 pm General session

Eneyda Spradlin-Ramos and Jan Tritten
Tricks of the Trade
Share the techniques you’ve perfected in your practice or bring your burning questions to this roundtable of pertinent tips on a wide variety of topics. Previous sessions have included facilitating effective contractions, dealing with prolonged labor, preventing perineal tears, helping the slow-to-start baby and holistic first aid. This is always a much-appreciated session, for its sense of sisterhood as well as its information. “Worth at least two weeks of academic training,” said one participant

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I am both looking forward to the week of learning and hoping that Tim and the kids will be ok for the time I'm way. I've never been away from them for this long. Tim is a great dad (and obviously a wonderful husband since he's letting me go). I'm going to miss all of them a lot.

I'm trying to get in "quality time" with the kids this week; even though I'm on here blogging, James is sitting on my leg and Ben is playing with Legos on the floor in front of me. This afternoon, I'm going to fit in taking them to the zoo before tonight's Doula Connection business meeting.

Like the ladies on Wife Swap, I'm tempted to write out everything that needs to be done with the house and the kids while I'm away. I don't think that I'll get around to writing anything comprehensive, but I will be leaving notes.

Next Wednesday!

2011-03-23T19:01:00.000-07:00

Next Wednesday, I will be waking up in Eugene, Oregon, in a room with three other women who are midwives and aspiring midwives. It will be the first day of the Midwifery Today Pre-Conference program, a full day. I am taking the Beginning Midwifery classes that are being offered that day, which means that this is what my day will look like:

Beginning Midwifery

Learn the art, the essence and the basics of midwifery care in this full-day workshop designed for the aspiring and beginning midwife. Our experienced teachers share their wisdom and love of midwifery in a way that will nurture your interest and make you feel welcomed to the world of birth. They will teach the basics of normal pregnancy, birth and postpartum care. Come learn if midwifery is the profession for you.

9:00 am – 10:00 am
Emotional Issues in Labor — Sister MorningStar

10:10 am – 11:10 am
Prenatal Care — Elizabeth Davis

11:15 am – 12:15 pm
Normal Labor Physiology — Maryl Smith

1:00 pm – 2:00 pm
With Women — Sister MorningStar

2:10 pm – 3:10 pm
Student-centered Midwifery Education — Elizabeth Davis

3:25 pm – 4:25 pm
Anatomy of a Birth Bag — Maryl Smith

4:30 pm – 5:00 pm
Trusting Yourself to Trust Birth — Eneyda Spradlin-Ramos

5:30 pm – 7:00 pm Christian Midwives Meeting

Facilitated by Eneyda Spradlin-Ramos and Maryl Smith

8:30 pm – 10:00 pm Talk Story and Birth Stories

Gail Hart and Sister MorningStar
From earliest history, women have shared their personal experiences of strength and healing. Stories wrapped with love and trust in the birth process have transmitted wisdom and confidence to each generation. Come to share or just to listen

Nine a.m. to ten p.m.! I'm going to learn so much in just the first day! I will be taking copious amounts of notes so that I can blog about all of the amazing classes and sessions.

It's not too late to register: http://www.midwiferytoday.com/conferences/Eugene2011/program.asp

Sweet Little Weekend

2011-03-20T17:58:00.000-07:00

Friday, Saturday and today, I could be found at the Sweet Little Repeats consignment sale off of the food court at Shoppingtown Mall in Dewitt, NY. The lovely ladies who run the sale let me and a few other doulas from our group spend the weekend talking to the many shoppers about what we offer as doulas.

They are planning another great consignment sale for August. For more information or to get on their email list, you can visit http://www.sweetlittlerepeats.com/

I met a lot of mamas at the sale who are due in July and August, which is hopefully a sign that our doulas will be busy this summer.

A couple things kept coming up when we talked to people. The first was that folks said, "Oh, well I'm having my baby in a hospital." Suprise! Doulas are mostly hired by people who are having a hospital birth with a midwife or OB. We don't replace your caregiver; we are part of the birth team.

Another thing is that people said, "Oh, I'm not having a natural birth." While I can admit that I am a fan of natural birth (and have done it four times myself), people hire doulas for all kinds of births and part of what doulas are trained to do is to support moms through all different birth choices. One hospital in Baltimore offers doulas for moms who are having a planned Cesarean delivery:

Package 2 "Cesarean Section Support"

A GBMC Birth doula will arrive with you two hours prior to your scheduled c-section. She will work with you on relaxation, help to answer questions and concerns, provide emotional support and offer massage services prior to your surgery. After the delivery she will assist in breastfeeding support if you choose to breastfeed. Cesarean doula support provides a constant presence of reassurance for you, your partner and your family.

The Gentle Beginnings website has this to say about doulas and moms who choose an epidural:

I am planning on getting an epidural, would a doula still be helpful?

A doula will still be helpful, offering emotional and informational support both to the laboring mom and her partner. Often, laboring moms will wait until their labor is well established before choosing an epidural. A doula can help you with the physical support and comfort measures during this time of your labor. Once the mom has made the decision to get an epidural, the doula may still offer assistance by offering ideas on pushing positions, reminding mom to have her bladder emptied or giving the partner a break to grab something to eat. Any medication or medical procedure is bound to be more effective if you feel informed and supported during the process.
http://doula-training.net/faq.htm#four

More than one mom mentioned choosing not to have a doula because they couldn't afford one. What I'd like to say to this is that the doulas I work with are generally flexible about working out payment plans with families, offering gift certificates that friends and family can get for mom and being willing to serve and help out families who truly cannot afford a doula. It's a job, and we do want to get paid, but we also want moms who want/need us to have us there. People also seem to assume that we charge thousands of dollars. The truth is that we only charge around $600, but if you want to pay more, we're happy to accept tips.

Here in Syracuse, our Doula Connection doulas offer support for all kinds of families, all kinds of moms, having all kinds of births.

Working & Homeschooling

2011-03-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

On Monday night, I took one of my doula clients to the childbirth class at Community Hospital here in Syracuse. Wednesday, I spent the morning with her at her OB appointment. Last night, I was "at work" from 4pm to 9pm, picking up brochures for the Doula Connection and then driving out to Auburn Memorial Hospital to talk to their childbirth class about doulas. From late this afternoon through Sunday afternoon, I'm going to be spending most of my time at Shoppingtown Mall, at the Sweet Little Repeats consignment sale, talking to folks about doulas and our group. I'm still working on reading through Silent Knife so that I can write a book report about it for BirthWorks.

On some of the homeschooling boards I frequent, moms have been talking about planning out their curriculum for next year. I'm not even close to being there yet. We still have half of Story of the World left to go, Patrick is 1/4 of the way through the Saxon Math that I bought him in December and Delilah has just started the new grammar and spelling books that our friend Donna gave us. My guess is that the stuff we're doing now will take us into September.

Here are Patrick and Delilah this morning, working on their math lessons. Patrick did Saxon Math 6/5 lesson 38 and Delilah did CLE Math 206 lesson 6 today. Delilah seems to be having trouble with her math lately, and has needed extra help. Both kids have been doing math practice on http://www.ixl.com/

Tim finished the book of Luke with the kids last night. I don't know how many times that makes it that they've heard it read aloud; it makes me really happy that Tim reads the Bible with them every day.

We did chapter 21 in Story of the World this week. The kids read the chapter aloud to each other and they read books from the library to go along with the chapter (which was about the Medes and the Persians). Yesterday, they watched an episode of Liberty's Kids that we had taped.

In art, the kids had their art class with Miss Donna at the Manlius library on Monday. They painted with her, using a cut cucumber to make prints. Delilah and Ben made rainbow pictures with glue and Fruit Loops at the Y on Wednesday. Today the kids have been making collages with boxes we were going to recycle and old magazines.

We had our regularly scheduled gym & swim class at the Y on Wednesday afternoon. Thursday afternoon, we went to a "Learning about Ireland/ St. Patrick' Day" thing with our homeschool group.

Balancing working and homeschooling has worked really well this week. Even though I've had things to do for work most days, I've been able to fit in all of our homeschooling work and activities.

There are only 11 days until I fly to Oregon for the Midwifery Today conference. I'm very, very excited. I should probably write up a list of assignments before then so that the kids don't have an entire week off school while I'm away.

Holistic Approaches to Fertility in Syracuse

2011-03-16T17:05:00.000-07:00

Here in Syracuse, we have the CNY Fertility Center and the CNY Healing Arts Center (located across from each other), where they take a holistic approach to fertility.

http://www.cnyhealingarts.com/

At the CNY Healing Arts center, they offer massage (prenatal, Maya abdominal and regular old relaxation massage), reiki, acupuncture, facials, nail care, waxing, nutrition consultations, yoga classes and a monthly fertility support group.

The news page of their website offers posts about Maya abdominal massage, yoga, nutrition for fertility, and more:

http://www.cnyhealingarts.com/category/news/

In this video, ladies from the CNY Fertility Center share information about yoga for fertility:

The CNY Fertility Center and Healing Arts Center can both be found on facebook. They are "friends" of the group I work with, the CNY Doula Connection and post our events on the CNY Healing Arts page.

And, as always, if you are looking for a doula in Syracuse, feel free to email me at naturalparentingsupport@hotmail.com or call 443-690-6212.

Super HomeschoolDoulaMom!

2011-03-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

I feel like this week I managed to strike a really good balance with homeschooling, work and everything else I try to get done.

Here is what our Monday looked like:

8am- Helped dh shovel the driveway so he could get to work. Stupid snow. Put clean dishes away. Flipped the laundry and started another load. Took 3yods to the potty. Made kids pb&j sandwiches for breakfast. Washed a load of dishes. Straightened up around the house a little bit.

10am- Finally ate breakfast myself. Helped 10yods with math and Latin. Answered emails.

11am-1:50pm- Out of house. Went to the Y and sent the kids to the playroom so I could work out, read about sixty pages of Birth Matters by Ina May Gaskin between the elliptical and the stationary bike. Stopped at the library and the grocery store.

2pm- Took a call from a reporter for the "In Good Health" newspaper. Called a doula from our group to let her know. Made lunch. Talked 10yods and his friends into shoveling the rest of the driveway. Baked cookies for them and all of the kids. Called local hospital to set up tour/interview with a l&d nurse for my BirthWorks certification project. Did math with 5yods and 7yodd. Did spelling and grammar with 7yodd. Put clean dishes away. Swept dining room. Checked 10yods' lesson from Saxon Math 6/5. Got paperwork ready for tonight's appointment.

5pm- Went to the bank to get dh gas money. Had first appointment with new doula client from 6-7:15pm. Hired! Stopped at Barnes&Noble and bought Hypnobirthing book.

9pm- Got home. Talked to another doula from our group on the phone. Ate my dinner.

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In history this week, we read Story of the World ch. 20 and Patrick and Delilah read a couple of library books about Ancient Greece. The kids also watched two episodes of "Liberty's Kids."

In math, Delilah did lessons 2-4 in CLE Math 206. Patrick did lessons 34-36 in Saxon Math 6/5 and James did one lesson in Saxon Math 1.

Delilah has been working on Growing With Grammar 2 and Soaring With Spelling 2. I only did one lesson from Writing With Ease 3 with Patrick this week. We made two trips to the library.

Delilah did the Lightunit test for CLE Science 101 and scored 96%.

Patrick worked on chapter 8 in Spanish for Children A and all four of the kids watched Spanish videos at http://www.headventureland.com/ Patrick did chapter 28 in Latin for Children A.

On Wednesday, we went to the kids' homeschool gym & swim class at the North Y.

They can play Catan without a grownup now.

Doula Connection Meeting this Thursday!

2011-03-08T12:35:00.000-08:00

This Thursday, March 10th, from 6-8pm at Cicero United Methodist Church, the Doula Connection will be having our monthly parents' meeting. Expectant parents can come get answers to their questions about pregnancy, birth, local birthing options, breastfeeding and more!

The Doula Connection meetings are relaxed and comfortable, and usually end up looking like a cross between a natural childbirth class and a LLL meeting.

Light refreshments will be provided and older children are welcome to come.

If you live in Syracuse, Watertown, Utica, Tully, Cortland, or anywhere in Central NY, this is the perfect place for you to come find the right doula for your birth or postpartum care.

The church is located at 8416 Brewerton Rd, 13039.

For more information, you can call Liz at 443-690-6212 or Roz at 315-320-4232.

Birth Matters:The Doulas Meet Ina May!

2011-03-06T12:47:00.000-08:00

The vibe I got watching Ina May Gaskin speak is that she's a "cool person," someone I would enjoy hanging out with. She feels very approachable, likable, etc. Roz, one of the doulas who went with me yesterday, said that Ina May reminds her of me. That, of course, made Roz my new favorite best friend.

Roz, Ellen, Naomi and I left from Syracuse around 7am yesterday to go see Ina May speak in Ridgewood, NJ. The drive there was almost as fun as one of our Doula Connection meetings; only these women can make four hours in the van seem like a short trip.

Since we were making the trip to attend, we all signed up for both the general talk and the session for professionals.

Ina May's new book, Birth Matters, was available at the event and quickly sold out. It seems the publisher underestimated the number of people who would want to buy books.

During the first session, Ina May established her birth history, the things that got her interested in birth and the early days of The Farm. She spoke about the births that she attended on their caravan of buses and how she and her partners got their midwifery training. She emphasized that birth works and that our culture has scared pregnant women into accepting interventions that don't make birth safer for them or their babies.

One quote that I wrote down during the first talk was, "The common assumptions that form the basis of our beliefs about birth are really screwed up." I wholeheartedly agree with her. I think that women have been backed into a corner by (mostly) male doctors who have taught us that we need them to "save" us.

The professional session focused a lot on reclaiming birth as a feminist action. Ina May said that "millions of women have been convinced that their bodies are gross." She gave several examples of how society is cruel to our mothers and asked the question, "Where is our compassion?" She referenced the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, an organization that works to defend the rights of pregnant women. While I disagree with roughly half of the actions that the organization seems to be working on (I am what you could call anti-abortion), I like seeing that this organization takes a stand against shackling pregnant prisoners, coercing women to have C-sections and defends young, low-income, minority women who choose to continue their pregnancies despite those who think they shouldn't. Ina May talked about how wealthy women of the past had their ovaries, clitorises and uteruses removed as punishment for what the men in their life viewed as sexual sins. She asked, "Why is the American male so bullying to the woman in the realm of birth?"

Near the end, she showed a chimp birth video that clearly illustrates that mammals know how to birth their babies:

Look at this mama! She knows just what to do!

Ina May talked about this elephant birth video, where a baby elephant is born and takes a few minutes to start breathing. The mama elephant resucitates the baby in her very elephanty way. The question Ina May asks is "How did she know how to do that?"

At the very end, Ina May brought out a portion of the Safe Motherhood Quilt and shared about the many people who had contacted her since she began the project. You can learn more about the quilt here: http://www.rememberthemothers.org/

When the quilt came out, every camera flash in the audience was going off and every cell phone that could take pictures was doing so (including mine obviously). It is a very sad and powerful thing to listen to someone talk about mothers who died because of things that could have been avoided, prevented or detected.

I am now working through her book, Birth Matters. I can't wait to see her again in a couple of weeks at the Midwifery Today conference.

"Couples Who Pray"

2011-02-25T08:06:00.000-08:00

I have an amazing husband. Once a month, when the Doula Connection meets at our house, he puts up with the estrogen overload. Whenever I have a new idea, he's supportive. When Couples Who Pray, my latest BookSneeze review book arrived, he sat down on the couch and read it with me.

I guess when we started reading Couples Who Pray, I expected something else. More Bible verses, more concrete suggestions. It's more theory and sales (selling you on the idea of prayer) than it is a Bible study or devotional book.

The book starts out with a somewhat lengthy introduction of the (mostly famous) couples who were the original "testers" of the program. The next chapter talks about how praying together improves relationships and actually gives statistics from research. For example, we learn that 92% of couples who pray together rate their marriage as "very good" versus the 76% from the no prayer group.

The authors make reference in the book to the "40 Day Prayer Challenge," but unlike other books with similar programs, the 40 Day Challenge isn't gone over in great detail. They give you the basics for the 40 Day Challenge, which are things like "Make time to pray," "Pray out loud with your spouse," and "Keep it short."

Reading what was my favorite chapter, "Six Steps to a Healthy Marriage," I realized that our marriage probably works so well because Tim and I have the things listed, at least most of the time. They give the acronymn LAUGHS- for Laughter, Appreciation, Understanding, God, Honor and Support. I think a big part of the reason that we've been married for almost ten years is that we do laugh together, appreciate each other and do those other things.

As far as the challenge goes, we have not embarked on the 40 Days. For the past couple of years, we've had the evening routine of Tim reading the Bible to the family before bed and us all praying together. We did pray together when we were reading the book, and we might do so more in the future, but we'll probably stick with our old routine.

Actually...

2011-02-24T11:36:00.000-08:00

"I'm not going to have a doula because I'm having a VBAC."

"She doesn't need a doula; she already has an OB."

"That's like a midwife, right?"

There are a lot of misconceptions out there about what doulas are and what exactly we do. One thing that probably contributes to this is that the doula's job description varies from doula to doula and changes depending on the needs of the family.

Birth Arts International describes the doula this way- "A labor support doula accompanies the woman in labor, providing emotional and physical support. The doula suggests comfort measures, provides support and suggestions for the partner. When possible, the doula provides pre- and post-partum education, resources, emotional support, to include information on practices and procedures, and information that can assist in the client making informed decisions about her care." http://www.birtharts.org/sop.htm

CAPPA answers the question, "What is a Labor Doula?" this way- "A doula is a person who attends the birthing family before, during, and just after the birth of the baby. The certified doula is trained to deliver emotional support from home to hospital, ease the transition into the hospital environment, and be there through changing hospital shifts and alternating provider schedules. The doula serves as an advocate, labor coach, and information source to give the mother and her partner the added comfort of additional support throughout the entire labor." http://www.cappa.net/get-certified.php?labor-doula

To answer the statements I quoted at the beginning, I would say that a woman having a VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean) would benefit from the support that a doula offers. Having an OB doesn't replace the need for a doula, as the OB and the doula have completely different job descriptions; and no, a doula is not a midwife (though some midwives serve as doulas and some doulas eventually become midwives).

Some people ask, what does a doula actually do? Here are some things that I've done and that other doulas do for their clients at a birth:

sit with them
bring a birth ball to the house
give mom sips of juice and water
suggest changes of position
heat rice socks for back pain
play Uno
explain procedures
give nurses a copy of their birth plan
help mom relax
give mom a back/leg/hand/shoulder rub
give dad a shoulder rub
look up information for the parents
suggest that mom try the shower/tub
get lunch for dad
encourage mom to keep going
suggest resting during early labor
and much more...

If you or someone you know lives in or near Syracuse, NY, feel free to come to the Doula Connection meeting to ask questions about pregnancy, birth and doulas. We meet every second Thursday from 6-8pm. You can also call me at 443-690-6212.

Weekly Wrapup

2011-02-18T20:09:00.000-08:00

The kids did schoolwork Monday-Thursday this week. It was the usual relaxed/classical homeschooling. We're doing ancient Greece in history, so we've been reading a lot of books about ancient Greece (both fiction and non) from the library and also watching Xena the Warrior Princess on DVD (ahhh, edutainment). We took James to speech at the school on Monday and Friday morning. The kids had their art class Monday afternoon and P.E. at the Y on Wednesday afternoon.

Thursday night, doula Chris Herrera and I got to speak to a childbirth class about our doula group and what doulas are and do. I also did a little bit of work on http://www.cnydoulaconnection.com/ this week. Those were my only real work things (aside from talking to doulas from the group about different things almost every day).

The kids got today off homeschooling because after leaving the Y today, I decided that missing my friends in Baltimore was more than I could bear, checked with my husband, then packed up the kids and headed to MD for the weekend. I don't have any doula clients due 'till the end of March, so I should be safe.

After a six hour drive, we arrived at my friend Allison's house, where I picked up friend Melissa's kids and went over to Melissa's house. My kids spent the last couple of hours playing with hers' and now I'm trying to get everyone to go to bed.

My big work goal for this weekend is to finish re-reading Ina May's Guide to Childbirth, write my book report about it and get it emailed to by BirthWorks reviewer. We'll see how much I actually manage to do while hanging out down here in Bmore.

Random Things for Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T09:38:00.000-08:00

Random Things for Valentine's Day:

#1- Just Do It. Meet the author in the beginning of the book, talking to his wife about these poor men he's read about who haven't had sex for 100 Days and have even formed "100 day clubs." His wife responds by suggesting that they do the opposite and have sex for the next 100 days. Being married parents, there are days that they are tired or don't feel like it, but they do it anyway.

#2- The MDC "Parents as Partners" forum- While I've found that the ladies here tend to jump to "you should leave him" faster than I would like, I have seen good relationship advice posted before: http://www.mothering.com/community/forum/list/41

#3- Chocolove!- It's chocolate! It's love! It's Chocolove: http://www.chocolove.com/

#4- BirthWorks- I'm working on my Childbirth Educator certification through BirthWorks. They talk a lot about oxytocin at the training, which we all know is the hormone of love: http://www.birthworks.org/site/

#5- Mennonte hymns. A few months ago, our family went to a Mennonite wedding. They sand the song "Will you let me be your sevant?" and washed each other's feet. I got a little teary.

Becoming a Doula: First Steps

2011-02-12T19:11:00.000-08:00

Tonight's post will present you with information and resources on becoming a doula. There are many paths one can take to become a professional doula, books to read, organizations to consider.

First, examine why you want to become a doula. Write down your reasons. Share them with someone. As you begin your journey in the field of birth work, your list of reasons can help you keep going.

Second, think about how being a doula will fit into your life. If you're in a relationship, is your partner supportive? If you have children, what will you do for childcare? If you're employed, will it cause a problem if you miss work to attend a birth? Do you have time off you can take? If you don't have the flexibility to attend births, perhaps teaching childbirth classes (easier to schedule!) is a way to get your foot in the door without causing scheduling issues.

Most people choose to read some books about doulas and birth before taking a doula training workshop. The Doula Book is on the required reading list of most of the doula organizations and it's a good introduction to the topic of doulas. (It's also a good conversation starter- read it in public when you're looking for clients.)

The next step is to look for an organization to take your training. There are several doula training organizations and each one has a bit of a different approach to doula training. Take time to browse the websites of each one and feel out what fits best with your own philosophy about birth. Before you sign up for a training, call or email the organization and ask questions.

Organizations for Training:

http://www.cappa.net/ (Offers several different certifications- labor doula, postpartum doula, antepartum doula, childbirth educator, lactation educator...)

http://www.birtharts.org/ (Certification for birth and postpartum doulas, childbirth educators, midwifery assistants. Excellent website with lots of good links and resources.)

http://www.dona.org/ (Birth and Postpartum Doula Certification)

http://www.birthworks.org/site/ (Childbirth Educator and Doula Certification. They offer an amazing program as far as education goes; I'm currently taking their CBE program)

http://www.childbirthinternational.com/ (Doula, Childbirth Educator, Breastfeeding Counselor. Distance learning)

This isn't a list of all of the doula training organizations out there, but it's a good start. CAPPA and DONA both also offer yearly conferences, which are a great thing to attend no matter who you're trained through.

Another thing to think about is finding a doula networking group in your area. Networking groups are a good place to meet other local doulas, get information about getting your business going and learn more about birth work.

Doula Networking Groups Near Syracuse

http://www.cnydoulaconnection.com/index.html (CNY Doula Connection- the group I'm affiliated with)

http://www.doulacooperative.org/ (Doula Cooperative of Rochester)

http://www.mohawkvalleydoulas.com/index.html (Mohawk Valley Doulas)

Feel free to email me if you're looking into becoming a doula and have questions I can help answer.

Learning More Things- Week of 2/5-2/11

2011-02-11T16:42:00.000-08:00

Another great week of homeschooling is wrapping up. James and Ben are in the living room playing with the Trio blocks from Grandma. Delilah is listening to Tim play guitar. Patrick is here somewhere...

This week I've been thinking a lot about why we homeschool and why we've continued to for years. We started out when Patrick (the oldest) was three and we made the decision to "home-preschool" rather than signing him up for preschool somewhere else. I wanted the flexibility and freedom that not having an outside school schedule to worry about offered. I still enjoy that. I also wanted to be the one who got to see my kids learn new things. I still love that too. It's been thrilling being the one to teach Patrick and Delilah to read (working with James on it now). I love when the kids get into learning about a new thing and I get to be the one who's helping them find information on it. I'm their facilitator, their tutor. sometimes their bossy mom, but mostly their tour guide through learning.

On Saturday, Delilah went to the kids' workshop at the Home Depot by our house. She made a heart shaped shelf for Valentine's Day at the store and painted it when we got home.

Bible- Tim has started reading to the family from the book of Luke in the evening. Patrick did four lessons in Bible Elective 1, Book 3 (and finished the book). Delilah did three lessons in Bible 105 and has been practicing the Lord's Prayer.

Math- Patrick did three lessons in Saxon Math 6/5, spread out over four days. Delilah finished Math Practice 1A and did three lessons in CLE Math 205. James didn't do any math other than playing board games, but that counts, right?

Lang. Arts- Writing With Ease 3 is going well so far. I had Patrick do "Week 1, Days 2-4" and "Week 2, Day 1" this week. He doesn't seem to mind the narration and dictation as much as he did creative writing, so I think he needed the help. He also read the graphic novel "Hamlet" this week. Delilah did two pages in Writing Skills 2. James did Funnix Reading, lesson 3 and played Alphabet Bingo.

History- We did what felt like a lot of reading in history this week. On Monday, I read the kids chapter 17 from Story of the World while they colored the picture that goes with it. Patrick read a graphic novel on Wednesday called Lords of the Sea: Vikings Exploring the Atlantic. Then today, I read them the first section of SOTW ch. 18 and Theseus and the Minotaur by James Ford. Patrick also read The Librarian Who Measured the Earth, about Eratosthenes.

Science- We read about slugs, snails and beetles and the kids made notebook pages about it. The kids also watched videos online about snails.

Latin- Patrick worked on ch. 26 in Latin for Children A.

Spanish- All of the kids watched the lesson for chapter 8 in Spanish for Children A.

Music- Listened to Greek music to go along with our Greek history studies.

Art- Art class with Miss Donna at the library:

P.E.- Wednesday- 1/2 hour swim lesson, 45 minute gym class. Then Patrick went to the teen raquetball league for an hour.

Momschooling- "Confident Nutrition Counseling" class with Gloria Lemay.

Pregnant in Syracuse? I'm your doula!

2011-02-05T18:14:00.000-08:00

Are you looking for a doula in Syracuse (or nearby) and wondering what exactly you get for your money?

My standard birth package includes:

- 3 prenatal visits
- labor support
- 1 postpartum visit
- telephone and email support for breastfeeding for as long as you need it
- assistance with applying for insurance reimbursement

The families that I have worked with would tell you and I go above the call of duty.

Now, this would be bragging if I'd written it myself, but since clients wrote it for http://www.doulamatch.net/ :

"My experience with Elizabeth as my doula was positive in every way. She supported my decision to have a natural, low intervention childbirth experince. Elizabeth came to my house while I was in early labor and helped time contractions and helped us decide when to go to the hospital. She helped me and my husband during all 14 hours of labor and delivery! She was a critical component to my wonderful experience at the hospital and the birth of my baby. She helped me through the pains of labor and helped keep me calm during contractions. I did not want or need any pain medications or IV during labor because I had such a great support team. I highly reccomend Elizabeth as a doula and am proud of my birth experience."

"My experience with Elizabeth as my doula was positive in every way. She supported my decision to have a natural, low intervention childbirth experince. Elizabeth came to my house while I was in early labor and helped time contractions and helped us decide when to go to the hospital. She helped me and my husband during all 14 hours of labor and delivery! She was a critical component to my wonderful experience at the hospital and the birth of my baby. She helped me through the pains of labor and helped keep me calm during contractions. I did not want or need any pain medications or IV during labor because I had such a great support team. I highly reccomend Elizabeth as a doula and am proud of my birth experience."

Trucking along... (homeschooling when it's freezing out)

2011-02-04T15:34:00.000-08:00

All week long, I've wanted to sit on the couch drinking hot chocolate and reading. Or maybe order pizza and watch a movie. It's been tough to get myself (and thus, the kids) to accomplish anything while it feels like we're hibernating here in the house. Fortunately, we did manage to get things done:

Bible- Tim is reading through the book of Mark with the kids at bedtime. Patrick has done four lessons in his CLE Bible workbook and Delilah did one. I read the kids two stories from Bible Stories to Read.

Language Arts- The mail lady brought Patrick's new Writing With Ease book. I've been feeling like he needs some help with writing and I'm hoping this will do the trick. He did Week 1, Day 1 today. Earlier in the week, he did two lessons in Reading 402 (left over from last year). Delilah did lesson 14 in Language Arts 102 and two pages in Writing Skills 2.

Math- Patrick managed to do five lessons in Saxon Math 6/5 and Delilah did three lessons in CLE Math 205. James did three pages in Counting With Numbers. The kids also did real life math at the grocery store today when I had them compare prices and figure out things like what the price for chips would be if they were on sale for 2/$5.

History- We read chapter 16 in Story of the World together and the kids answered the review questions in the activity book. They also colored the picture page from the activity book. On Wednesday, they watched an hour of a special from the History Channel about the seven wonders of the ancient world.

Science- Nothing, unless you count watching Kratt's Creatures on PBS, in which case they did something.

Latin- Patrick did all of chapter 25 in Latin for Children A and watched the lesson for chapter 25 on the DVD (all of the kids watched it). Delilah did all of lesson 8 in Song School Latin and listened to the CD that goes with it. Both kids also practiced their Latin at http://www.classicalacademicpress.com/

Delilah doing Song School Latin

Spanish- All of the kids watched lesson 7 on the Spanish for Children DVD and Patrick did lesson 7 in the workbook.

PE- On Wednesday, the kids went to the gym & swim class at the Y, then Patrick participated in the raquetball league from 4-5pm.

Momschooling- I read A Bite to Remember by Lynsay Sands (trashy vampire detective romance novel). I also managed to survive another week of the Extreme Sculpt class at the Y with Maggie and Dina.

Work Week

2011-02-04T15:00:00.000-08:00

Monday (1/31)- Watched Academic OBGYN Grand Rounds on delayed cord clamping. This is something that I got to hear Karen Strange speak on last May and it was great to hear an OB talk about it.

http://academicobgyn.com/

Tuesday- Left the house ar 11am. Stopped at Wegman's to grab dessert for lots of people; went to OfficeMax and copied Doula Connection materials. Visited with the ladies at Dr. Berry's office during their lunch break. Blogged about visit.

Thursday- Went out to Auburn Memorial Hospital and talked to their childbirth class about doulas.

http://www.auburnhospital.org/

Friday- Fielded emails with questions about birth plans, ruptured membranes, and birthing options for someone in Maryland (where I'm from). Decided I need to look into setting up consulting fees.

Birthing in Syracuse: Cathy Berry's Office

2011-02-01T13:00:00.000-08:00

I just got back from visiting with the ladies at Dr Cathy Berry's office here in Syracuse. For moms who are planning to give birth at Crouse hospital, theirs' is a practice to consider.

The birth attendants in their practice are Dr Cathy Berry, Charina Carissimi, and Janet Ortolani. I wasn't able to meet Dr Berry today, but her staff spoke highly of her. Her bio on the practice's website says: "Dr. Berry strives to provide quality care to her patients while empowering women to be proactive participators in their own health care. Her holistic approach to medicine includes developing a unique treatment plan for each patient that incorporates traditonal medicine, alternative therapies or combinations of both."

Charina and Janet, the certified nurse midwives, seem very caring. They both talked about how they are hands-on and like to spend time with their laboring clients.

I have had the opportunity to see Janet in action at one of my clients' births and I can attest that she was in the room for most of the labor. She has a very calm presence and said the midwifey things, like "Your body is doing just what it's supposed to do" and "You're doing a good job." Also, she was respectful of the wishes that my client had expressed in her birth plan.

Their office staff demonstrated a holistic view of the pregnancy and birth experience as well. We talked to two ladies who work there about their "Centering Pregnancy" program: http://cathyjberrymd.com/page.cfm?content_id=173 They said it could be some months before they get another group together, but it looks promising.

If you're someone who is planning a hospital birth and wants a practice that will respect your choices (and won't mind you bringing a doula along!), give them a call to learn more:

http://cathyjberrymd.com/index.cfm

Weekly Report: Homeschooling Week of 1/24

2011-01-28T14:02:00.000-08:00

Judging by our homeschool logbooks, it looks like the kids did a lot of work on Monday and Tuesday and not nearly as much the rest of the week.

We did math four days this week. Patrick did three lessons and one test in Saxon Math 6/5. Delilah finished the CLE Math 204 workbook and scored a 94% on the Lightunit Test. James did two pages in Counting With Numbers and played Zombie Dice.

Patrick and Delilah both did two lessons in their CLE Bible workbooks. I read #14 from Bible Stories to Read to Ben and James.

History was pretty fun. We're on chapter 15 of Story of the World, which focuses on the Phoenecians. On Monday, I read the SOTW chapter to the kids and they did the coloring page (a Phoenecian ship). Then Patrick read chapter 34 in Mystery of History. We watched videos on youtube about glassblowing. Patrick wanted to do the "Make Stinky Dye" project from MOH. Without thinking about how it would make the house smell, I agreed. It took hours to air out the stench. Today, Patrick and Delilah read the library books that we got to go along with the chapter.

In science, we checked on the apples that we mummified last week. The "mummified" one had dried out nicely, while the control group apple looked pretty much the same.

Tim got the game "Settlers of Catan" for his birthday last weekend and Patrick and Delilah have been learning to play.

For P.E., the kids had their usual Homeschool Gym & Swim class at the North Y on Wednesday.

The Doula Connection met at my house last night. We were able to cover most of our business that we had planned and also spent hours and hours talking about everything else that came up. There are so many different women in our group who know lots about lots of different things and having them over is always a blast.

Lotus Baby Birth Services' Giveaway!

2011-01-27T13:04:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone!

My friend Bethany over at the Lotus Baby Birth Services blog is having a giveaway:

http://lotusbabybirthservices.webs.com/apps/blog/show/5946072-lunette-mestrual-cup-review-and-giveaway-

Winning (or buying) the Lunette menstrual cup can save you the money every month that you had been spending on tampons and pads.

Check!

2011-01-26T16:12:00.000-08:00

Elizabeth Baer, CD(DONA)

Eleven months after I bought my DONA Birth Doula Certification packet, my DONA certification is done. I'm now a DONA-certified Birth Doula.

In case you were wondering, to become a DONA Doula, I had to:

Pay for DONA membership
Pay the certification application processing fee
Fill out the application
Read The Birth Doula's Contribution to Modern Maternity Care; The Doula Book; The Birth Partner; Pregnancy, Childbirth and the Newborn; Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and The Ultimate Breastfeeding Book of Answers
Attend a childbirth class (where I wasn't a pregnant participant)
Complete the course at http://www.breastfeedingbasics.org/
Attend a DONA birth doula workshop
Attend three births and submit three evaluations from mothers, three from caregivers, an essay about each one, DONA Birth Record sheets for each one
A resource list with resources from 30 different categories
Write an essay on the value of labor support
Sign Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice
Take multiple choice quiz

To some people it sounds like a lot. Some people think that DONA certification is super-easy. I think that DONA Certification is a starting point, not an ending. It's an introduction into learning the things that one needs to know to serve families as a doula. I'm going to continue to learn as much as I can about pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and working with women.

My next project (that I've already started working on) is the BirthWorks Childbirth Educator certification.

It's ok Dearie, I'm a Doctor

2011-01-24T12:51:00.000-08:00

What is birth anyway? Is it a medical event, where mom and baby are both in danger until the event has ended safely? It is a psychosocial event, where a couple turns into parents and a new person joins a family? What matters, the end or the means?

If birth is a medical event, then it would make sense to give birth in a hospital, with doctors nurses, medicine and machines. Something could happen, you know, and thank goodness they'll be there to help you. Such is generally the attitude of medical-model caregivers and this line of thinking seems to be what informed the newly released paper from ACOG on homebirth.

http://www.acog.org/from_home/publications/press_releases/nr01-20-11.cfm

ACOG wrote: "Although the Committee on Obstetric Practice believes that hospitals and birthing centers are the safest setting for birth, it respects the right of a woman to make a medically informed decision about delivery."

Now, my experience working with medical care providers at this point has been that their idea of women making informed decisions involved 1) women being scared or guilted into doing what the provider is telling them to do and 2) doctors having a general attitude that women aren't capable of birthing their babies without medical intervention. I would be curious to see what ACOG's idea of a medically informed decision is. Doubtless, the doctors would explain that women need them to be there in case something happens and wouldn't mention any of the risks involved in going to a hospital setting to give birth.

About midwives who attend homebirths, ACOG has this to say, "At this time, for quality and safety reasons, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists does not support the provision of care by lay midwives or other midwives who are not certified by the American Midwifery Certification Board."

In other words, CPMs (certified professional midwife) who are certified by the North American Registry of Midwives, need not apply. ACOG's position appears to be that midwives who are not nurse-midwives ought to not be attending births.

Additionally, and perhaps the most interesting thing in their paper, is that ACOG wrote, "The relative risk versus benefit of a planned home birth, however, remains the subject of current debate. High-quality evidence to inform this debate is limited. To date there have been no adequate randomized clinical trials of planned home birth."

Essentially, what this means is that the entire opinion paper is ACOG's uninformed opinion about the safety of homebirth. When they say that there have been no adequate randomized trials of planned home birth, what they're saying is that they have not adequately studied home birth vs. birth in other settings, but they've decided to make decisions about it anyway.

I would have to argue that ACOG has no business making statements about the safety of something that hasn't been studied. And the fact that they're going around announcing that homebirth carries a risk of perinatal death in the same paper that states that they haven't done trials of planned home birth makes the whole paper seem just a little bit silly.

There is one section of their paper that perhaps, has something to offer, " It also is important for women thinking about a planned home birth to consider whether they are healthy and considered low-risk and to work with a Certified Nurse Midwife, Certified Midwife, or physician that practices in an integrated and regulated health system; have ready access to consultation; and have a plan for safe and quick transportation to a nearby hospital in the event of an emergency." While I disagree that a midwife needs to be a nurse and was perfectly happy with the CPM I used for my last birth, I agree that women deserve to have access to consultation with physicians (who don't judge them or lecture them about their choice to birth at home) and access to hospital transport in the event of an emergency. I also think that medical institutions would do well to implement policies and staff trainings that teach their staff to treat women transferring to a hospital with respect.

What I would like to see is an integrated system where every woman has access to midwives and are able to choose to birth with a midwife at home, in a freestanding birth center or in a hospital. If a situation arose where the midwife decided that a doctor needed to be called in, one would be available and would treat the women in consultation with the midwife. Every book and study that I've read about maternity care has shown that women receive better quality care when they are primarily cared for by midwives.

If ACOG wants to form an opinion about home births, they would do well to study it and get back to us.

Resources about risks of hospital birth:

http://www.scienceandsensibility.org/?p=903

http://www.ivillage.com/cytotec-safe-inducing-labor/6-a-144632

A Midwife's Story

2011-01-22T18:47:00.000-08:00

This weekend, I took another quick break from non-fiction to read a story that combines two of my favorite things: midwifery and Anabaptists.

One night in 1974, Penny Armstrong woke from a dream, walked downstairs, stoked the fire in her stove, and pacing in front of its flames, realized that she wanted to be a midwife. Although she didn't think of herself as the midwifery type, she followed her dream to Highlands General Hospital in Scotland (not a place I'd want to have a baby myself, judging from the way she describes the headmistress). She then finished her licensure at Booth Hospital in Philadelphia.

While working at Booth, a doctor calls the unit where she is working and asks if any of the midwives there would be interested in joining his practice in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Living among the Amish is a bit of a culture shock for Armstrong, who seems to be, by all accounts a modern woman, one with short hair who wears pants, no less. When she first visits Lancaster to interview for the position, she doesn't think that she'll be able to work with the women. She writes, "These Amish women-as cold, joyless, and ascetic as they seemed to be- would shield themselves from the intelligence of their bodies... You would probably have to use dynamite and a pickax to dislodge their babies."

Luckily for Penny, the community welcomes her despite her modern ways. Throughout the stories, older women give her bits of advice that help her navigate the Amish culture. She's even able to branch off from the physician's practice and start her own homebirth service (despite her initial misgivings about birth at home).

Penny Armstrong and Sheryl Feldman (her co-author) write a midwifery autobiography that's tough to put down. I have to say that I'm disappointed that it ended the way it did. I would have liked to have heard more about what happened next.

Week's End Homeschool Update

2011-01-21T16:15:00.000-08:00

Another week of homeschooling is behind us. It feels like we got a lot done this week, which is good.

On Monday, we talked about Martin Luther King and the kids and I watched videos online about Martin Luther King's life and also his "I Have a Dream" speech.

On Wednesday, we had a trip to the library followed by the homeschool gym class at the Y.

Patrick did three lessons in CLE Bible Elective. He only did math three days this week, two lessons in Saxon 6/5 and a couple of pages in Key to Fractions. He read the first two books of the Guardians of Ga'hoole series and wrote a short book report about the first one. I was glad to see him finish chapter 23 in Latin for Children A and chapter 6 in Spanish for Children A. He also practiced Latin online at http://www.classicalacademicpress.com/

Here's a bit of Patrick's book report:

"I read The Capture last night. It is about owls and it is cool. In the book, Soren (a barn owl) is captured by Jatt and Jutt and was called an orphan.Jatt and Jutt took him to Skench and Spoorn at St. Aggies where he met Gylfie (an elf owl).

When they escaped they met Twilight (a great grey owl). Then the trio of them went to the desert and found Digger.

I would recommend this book because it is funny."

Delilah did four lessons in her CLE Bible workbook and three lessons in CLE Math 204. She also did four pages in Math Practice 1A (Singapore). She spent lots of time reading this week. For Latin, she listened to the Song School Latin CD and practiced Latin online.

James learned about Moses as a baby and colored a picture in Bible Pictures to Color. He did four pages in Counting With Numbers and played Zombie Dice (which totally counts as math). He watched the Leapfrog Letter Factory movie with Ben a couple of times. Next week, we're going to start more reading instruction. He only had speech therapy at the school once this week because of the holiday on Monday, but we did practice at home.

James doing math

For science, all of the kids watched a PBS "Nova" episode about dinosaur fossils. In addition, Delilah has been doing a lot of reading about recycling and "going green."

In history, we read Story of the World chapter 14. I thought it was neat that it overlapped with James' Bible lesson about Moses.

Tim has been reading through the book of Mark with everyone at bedtime. I'm happy about how consistant he's been about doing it every night.

In momschooling news, I read p. 1-17 in Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and p. 189-216 in Heart & Hands: A Midwife's Guide to Pregnancy and Birth. On Thursday night, I attended midwife Gloria Lemay's online "Fetal Circulation" class.

Doing hard things is fun!

2011-01-20T10:45:00.000-08:00

This morning, I took a class at the Y called "Extreme Sculpt." Challenging would be putting it nicely. It's an hour of Maggie and Dina coming up with harder things for the five of us in the class to do. It's group personal training that focuses on strength. It's' hard. Oddly enough, when the class is over, I feel happy, energized even. I want to come home, eat an entire cow and clean my house.

Labor is this way. When we approach it with a positive attitude, surround ourselves with supportive, knowledgeable people and embrace the process, we can come out on the other side tired, happy and really hungry.

Delilah (my second child)'s birth is a good example of this. At three days after the estimated "due date," I was happy to be in labor. We had picked a location where people supported natural birth (Baltimore Birth Center) and I had Tim and my friend Alexis there. There were times that labor was tough (like pushing, not usually my favorite part). When she was out and the hard work was done I was amazed, happy, energized and starving. Alexis and I sent Tim out for pizza, which we promptly devoured.

The point is, it was worth doing. Hard things aren't things we need to be scared of. Preparation is important, whatever that looks like for you. For some people, it's taking natural birth classes, like Bradley or BirthWorks. For others, it's exercising during pregnancy. Having the right people with you is also important. If you are going for a natural birth, you'd want to have people along for the ride who trust the birth process and will encourage you to keep going. Many moms are choosing to have a doula at their births, a woman who is trained in being with other women during the birth process.

However you choose to approach your birth, remember that women's bodies are made for giving birth. You can do it!

A Good Week (homeschool week of 1/14)

2011-01-14T08:11:00.000-08:00

My goal this week (and this year) was to be better about writing down what the kids do that's schooly in their Homeschool Logs. Then, if I open it up to this week and there are blank spaces, I would know that they're blank because they didn't do anything, not because I didn't write it down. I was actually pretty good about writing things down this week.

Patrick

Bible- Did lessons 1-4 in Bible Elective 1, book 3 (CLE)

Math- Saxon Math 6/5, lessons 12-15

Lang. Arts- Wrote entries on 100words.com two days.

Latin- Worked on ch. 23 in Latin for Children A

Delilah

Bible- Did 2 lessons in Bible 104 (CLE)

Math- Lessons 7-10 in CLE Math 204

Lang Arts- Wrote two entries on 100words.com

Science- CLE Science 101, lesson 11

Latin- Listened to Song School Latin CD

James

Bible- Listened to Mom read two stories from "Bible Stories to Read"

Math- Played checkers

Lang Arts- Did a page in "Adventures in Reading." Watched Leapfrog Letter Factory DVD. Played on starfall.com

Speech- Had speech therapy at the school two days

Together

Bible- Listened to Dad read Matthew ch. 28 && 29.

History- Read ch 13 in Story of the World and did pyramid activity kit. Mummified an apple.

Science- Went to the zoo (Wednesday)

Spanish- Watched ch. 5 & 6 on Spanish for Children DVD

PE- 1/2 hour yoga class (Monday), 1/2 hour swim lesson and 45 minute gym class (Wednesday)

Mom

Read p. 221-273 in Spirital Midwifery, p. 75-86 & p. 99-106 in The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth, and p. 58-66 in Paths to Becoming a Midwife

Getting through Labor: Support

2011-01-13T12:15:00.000-08:00

So far, we've touched on visualization, moving, warmth and hydration. With the Doula Connection Meet & Greet tonight, I'm going to talk today about labor support.

At my second birth, a friend came to the birth center with us. It was nice having her there, especially to hang out with afterwards. She supported Tim as much as she did me. She even went to our childbirth classes with us. When we had our fourth, the midwife brought two of her students along. They made great doulas. They rubbed my back, made suggestions and even went out and got me a snowball.

During labor, the people with the laboring woman should be the people who make her feel comfortable, encouraged and supported. A thorough reading of Ina May's Spirital Midwifery reveals that the people who should not be around the woman in labor are people who don't trust the birth process, who are nervous or overly worried about the woman or who have to pee.

Luckily for everyone, there are doulas. A doula is there for the whole family during the pregnancy, birth and the postpartum period. Doulas can help take care of birth partners by reassuring them that what's happening is normal and by staying with the mom while they go pee. Doulas do a great many other things as well.

Here, Doula Katie talks about the value of labor support:

If you live in Syracuse and need a doula, you can come to Cicero United Methodist Church tonight from 6-8pm to meet the ladies of the Doula Connection.

Getting through Labor: Move!

2011-01-11T08:53:00.000-08:00

When I was in labor with my kids, I walked around the block, stood in the shower, bounced on a birth ball, walked around thr birth center (with the middle two). The only sitting I did was in the tub at the birth center, which was great. What I didn't do was lay in bed (except for a few hours with Patrick at the hospital).

Moving in labor is great for lots of reasons. What I've noticed, both at births I've attended as a doula and at my own births, is that contractions can be harder to deal with when you're laying down. I googled "contractions hurt more when laying down" and found link after link to moms talking about how their contractions hurt more when they laid down.

There are lots of different positions that the laboring mom can assume. The best thing to do is to listen to your body and keep trying different positions throughout your labor.

It may seem sometimes like your doula is encouraging you to change positions a lot during labor, but remember that she's doing it to help you be more comfortable and help your baby descend into the pelvis (and come out!)

Getting Through Labor: Hydration

2011-01-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

One thing that many people don't think of when they think of their own comfort in labor is the topic of hydration. Getting dehydrated can contribute to tiredness, headaches, weakness, nausea and vomiting.

In almost every hospital, when you go in to have a baby, the nurse will want to start an IV as part of the admission procedure. This is not something that you have to consent to and I want parents to know that Mom can be hydrated just as well, and possibly better, by continuing to drink throughout her labor.

Some of the disadvantagest to consenting to an IV are:

- IVs interfere with mom's mobility

- IVs cause fluid overload, which can lead to fluid in both mother and baby's lungs

- The increase the rates of newborn jaundice

- The extra fluid from the IV infusion can artificially inflate the baby's birth weight and weight loss after birth. Since doctor's look at weight loss to determine how well breastfeeding is going, this can cause them to think that baby isn't getting enough to eat when he actually is.

The safer, healthier choice in labor is to eat what you feel like eating and to drink to thirst in early labor. Later in labor (like during transition and pushing), the partner or doula should offer sips of water and juice frequently.

In The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth, the author says, "A sport-medicine physician would be horrified at the suggestion that an athlete engage in an endurance event with no food, nourishing drinks, or even water, but obstetricians and anesthesiologists are too wedded to their beliefs about labor to see it in these terms."

Luckily, midwives have long understood the value of eating and drinking during labor, and as more and more parents demand to be treated humanely during their births, hospital policies are slowly changing to allow laboring mothers to eat and drink.

Getting Through Labor: Warmth

2011-01-09T07:10:00.000-08:00

Another great thing to utilize for getting through labor is warmth. One thing I carry with my in my doula bag is rice socks that can be heated in the microwave. These are great for moms who are having back pain.

Some people make these themselves. If you are using a doula for your birth, you can ask if she has rice socks or heat pads that she brings along with her.

You can order the ones in the picture from http://www.yourdoulabag.com/

Here are super easy directions for making your own rice sock: http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/laborbasics/ht/ricesock.htm

Warm water is another great way to use warmth for pain relief during labor. With my second and third births, I spent time in the tub at the birth center. When I had Delilah, I got in the tub just planning to use it for labor pain relief and ended up deciding not to get out, so she was born in the tub (James was a waterbirth as well). During transition in my labor with Ben, I spent time in a hot shower. At that point, I didn't want to sit in the tub, but standing in the shower felt great.

The following video talks about using both water and temperature changes for relief in labor. The one thing that I don't agree with is when she says that if your water has broken, you should use a shower instead of the tub. A common misconception is that being in the tub when your water has broken increases the risk of infection. There is no evidence that this is the case.

Getting through Labor: Visualization

2011-01-08T12:37:00.000-08:00

This week's blog project is called "Getting through Labor." The posts will be about, well, getting through labor. Each day I'll be covering a different topic to help families have a positive birth experience. All of these things are also things that your doula can help you with or remind you to try during labor.

When I went to the BirthWorks CBE training back in October, one thing we did was practice Visualization. We read visualizations aloud and wrote some of our own.

Visualization is something to practice during your pregnancy, with your partner and your doula. Getting used to relaxing during the visualizations you've selected while you're still pregnant will make for easier relaxation during labor.

In this YouTube video, the instructor talks about visualizing your cervix opening:

Here is one sample visualization:

"Gently close your eyes... listen to your breathing. Let your breathing become a little deeper... relaxed and in your own rhythm. As you breathe in ... you take oxygen into your body, and as you breathe out, you are breathing out what you don't need. You breathe out carbon dioxide, your body filters out all you don't need and takes in the oxygen you need.

As you breathe in... you take oxygen into your body, to your placenta, the oxygen travels from the placenta, along the cord and to your baby. As you breathe out, you breathe out what you and your baby don't need........... breathing out your carbon dioxide, your stress, your tension, your worries.

Imagine with your next breath out, breathing out any tension..... tension you have been holding onto during the day, the night or during the week.

With your next breath out, imagine breathing out any tension you may be holding from your left shoulder, all the way down through your arm to the elbow...... through the lower arm down through the wrist and hand, right out through your fingertips. Feel your arm beginning to let go, feeling heavy... feel it relax more and more with each breath out"
(from http://www.birth.com.au/)

And links to more info on visualizations for birth:

http://www.childbirthsolutions.com/articles/birth/visualize/index.php

http://www.givingbirthnaturally.com/relaxation-script.html

http://www.hypnobabies.com/#FREE_HYPNOBABIES_CD

Book Review: A Summer's Secret

2011-01-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

Tim has been making fun of me for years for alternating between reading smut and books about the Amish. Lately, with all of my reading about birth and midwifery, both my smut reading and my reading about the Amish have suffered. Luckily, I was given a copy of A Summer Secret from BookSneeze in exchange for writing about the book.

The book starts out with a note about the Middlefield, Ohio Amish, on whom the book is based. That is followed by a "Glossary of Amish Terms," so that the reader can understand the Dutch words that pepper the story.

Thirteen year old Mary Beth, the main character, finds herself in the middle of a mystery when she finds a button in the borner of their barn. This raises flags, as the Amish don't use buttons on their clothes. Between doing chores on the family farm, spending time with her Ma and Da and fighting with her brothers, she continues to find more clues that point to something strange happening.

A few chapters into the book, we meet Sawyer, a runaway who has been hiding out in her family's barn. Throughout the story, Mary Beth and her brother, Johnny, spend time with Sawyer and wrestle with what to tell the adults in their lives.

Just like other books of the genre, A Summer Secret is a wholesome read, a book where people grapple with issues and come out of it ok. Though they have things going on in their lives that may feel challenging, they have a strong support system to fall back on when things get tough. Eventually, when the parents step in to help, everyone is kind and supportive.

Patrick, my oldest son, is reading A Summer Secret now.

For Thinking Women (And Men)

2011-01-03T18:05:00.000-08:00

Before you give birth in a hospital, please, please read The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth. A good subtitle for the book would have been "Things your hospital childbirth class isn't telling you," or maybe "What your OB doesn't want you to know."

While this is far from being a feel-good book about birth experiences that make women feel fulfilled and happy (it does touch on some feelings) and some of the things in the book may make readers feel upset, it's better to have real facts to make decisions with than to take the hospital ride without knowing what you're in for. The author even says in the introduction that she would rather the reader feel uncomfortable than ignorant.

Chapters cover Cesarean, breech birth, induction of labor, epidural and narcotic medication, labor support. electronic fetal monitoring, choosing your birth place and much more. Each chapter offers pros and cons for different options, along with gleanings from the medical literature. The author also includes helpful lists like "Ways to Avoid the Drawbacks of EFM (electronic fetal monitoring)" and "Interviewing a Caregiver."

Being informed about birth choices makes it possible for families to practice true "informed consent," the kind where you're making decisions based in information.

Do your kids have off this week?

2010-12-31T14:38:00.000-08:00

"Why, no, they don't. Making children work is what I do for fun."

Since this week is traditionally a school holiday, I had at least three people this week ask if my kids had the week off school. To which I was happy to say that, no, I was mostly making them stick with the normal routine.

At bedtime, the kids have been listening to Tim read through the book of Matthew. He's also reading them C.S. Lewis' The Last Battle (they're almost finished). Today, we read a couple of the "Sir Cumference" books from the library.

Patrick managed to do lessons three through nine in Saxon Math 6/5 this week. Delilah did three lessons in CLE Math 204. Both of them practiced math on http://www.ixl.com/

James is completely obsessed with playing checkers and does so at every opportunity. I'm counting it as math in his homeschool log.

On Wednesday, Patrick took part in a Lego building contest at the Dewitt Library:

He enjoyed himself, and the other three kids didn't whine too much while we waited for him.

I've been reading The Thinking Woman's Guide to a Better Birth, one of the required reading books on my BirthWorks CBE reading list. Hopefully, next week I'll be able to report that I wrote the book report about it.

Doulas: The Essential Ingredient

2010-12-25T18:49:00.000-08:00

Enjoy DONA International's new video about birth doulas!

"Mothers remember their birth experience." - Penny Simkin

DONA International is one of many organizations that offer doula training and certification. Other good options for people who are interested in becoming a doula (or parents who want to find a doula) are:

CAPPA http://www.cappa.net/

BirthWorks http://www.birthworks.org/

Birth Arts International http://www.birtharts.com/

Personally, I have taken the DONA Birth Doula training and the BirthWorks Childbirth Educator training. I welcome questions from aspiring doulas and prospective clients about my training.

We actually did science this week!

2010-12-25T10:15:00.000-08:00

That sounded like a better title than my recent "Homeschooling Week of ..." posts. This week, we did a lot of science. We got a Magic School Bus science kit from Barnes & Noble last week. So this week we've been working on the experiements that came with the kit, in addition to reading library books about the different body systems and watching DVDs about the human body.

Patrick, Ben, James and Delilah in front of the poster that came with our science kit. It's a kid-sized poster of the inside of the body that came with stickers to label different body parts (like the ulna and radius).

The bone from our first experiment. Patrick asked the butcher at Wegman's for some bone, which he was happy to provide. We soaked the bone in vinegar overnight and made observations about what happened. Tim made the point that now if our kids ever become serial killers, they'll know how to dispose of the bodies.

This one is our "ball and socket joint" experiment. We talked about which joints in the body are ball and socket joints and felt how they worked with our ping pong ball/construction paper model.

Another homeschooling event this week was that Patrick's new math books arrived. He's starting Saxon 6/5, which says that it's for your average sixth grader or advanced fifth grader. He did the first two lessons and decided that it's too easy. Here's hoping it gets harder and I don't have to buy something else yet.

Doula stuff has been slow this week, which is probably why we got schoolwork done every day. All I really did was update my availability on http://www.doulamatch.net/ and hang out at http://www.alldoulas.com/ (if you're a doula, you can register there too). I am "on call" right now to babysit for a doula friend when her client goes into labor and I have ambitious plans for marketing myself in January.

Are you a doula or aspiring midwife looking to learn things?

2010-12-22T08:14:00.000-08:00

Have you looked into Gloria Lemay's online Midwifery 101 class? http://www.glorialemay.com/blog/

The classes are Thursday nights at 10pm Eastern time. You can pay for a class at a time as it fits into your schedule. So far, I've attended the Common Obstetric Problems class and the Prenatal Clinic Visit class. I enojoy Gloria's teaching style (and her accent).

Here are a couple of my notes from the Prenatal Clinic class:

"At beginning of the visit ask mom if she has to pee, offer her a drink. Ask moms how they would rate their own diets, what is important to them about this baby's birth, what would they like to be different or the same from their last birth?"

"A high resting pulse can indicate anemia. Give moms lists of iron rich foods."

"Doing pelvic exams doesn't give useful information about when she's going to have the baby."

I'm signed up for the class on January 6th and looking forward to it.

Homeschooling Week of 12/13 - 12/17

2010-12-17T14:16:00.000-08:00

What a long, crazy week. Between homeschooling, me working and James being sick, this week has been more than a little bit psycho.

Patrick finished CLE 4th grade math this week, scoring 100% on the final test. He'd been dragging out getting it finished and was happy to be done. He also did a couple of pages in Math Skills 5 and Key to Fractions. Delilah continues to work on CLE Math 2. James did a couple of pages in Counting With Numbers.

The older two kids both worked on letter writing for language arts. Delilah wrote to her email buddy from the Well-Trained Mind boards and worked on revising a thank you letter to a friend. Delilah has started reading The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and thinks that it's hillarious.

Patrick did a couple of lessons in CLE Bible Elective 1 and worked on chapter 21 in Latin for Children A.

All of the kids had fun with our new science kit, "Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body."

Wednesday afternoon, all of the kids went to the homeschool PE class at the YMCA and the older two had their swim lessons on Thursday.

On Tuesday night, Tim and the kids set up our little Christmas tree and I got this card-worthy picture of Ben:

Ben

Between Wednesday and Thursday, James had three different doctor's appointments. Since September, he's had this cough that just won't go away. We saw our family doctor Wednesday night, a chiropractor Thursday morning and a naturopath ( http://www.manliusnaturalhealth.com/ )Thursday afternoon. The family doctor said that he thinks it sounds like asthma and sent us home with a nebulizer and a couple of prescriptions. The chiropractor and naturopath both suggested dietary changes and supplements to treat the asthma.

James' nebulizer

Luckily, James doesn't seem to mind using the nebulizer. I've been learning a lot this week about allergies and asthma. There are so many different recommendations of what to do for a kid with asthma that it's hard to know where to start.

Last night, I "went" to the Prenatal Clinic Visit class in Gloria Lemay's online Midwifery 101 series. That was a nice break after our busy week.

Another Service I Provide

2010-12-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, on http://www.alldoulas.com/, I found a link to this great article that breaks down the process for doulas who want to help their clients try to get reimbursed by their insurance. There were doulas there on the message board who shared that they had been able to get families money from their insurance companies.

http://childbirthtoday.blogspot.com/2010/08/unraveling-3rd-party-reimbursement-for.html

I was suprised to learn that at least twenty different insurance companies have paid out some or all of the fee that families paid their doula.

Last night, I got my NPI (National Provider Indentification) number so that families who use me as their doula can try for insurance reimbursement after the birth.

Just another thing that makes my doula services awesome :)

Tomorrow, the world...

2010-12-06T11:16:00.000-08:00

Ben, adjusting his sling

The investment that I'm making now towards the parenting of my future grandhchildren is the brainwashing, er, teaching of their parents.

Each of my children were nursed until they were preschoolers, slept with us as babies and were always being worn or carried by someone. Stronger immune system, less crying, reduced risk of SIDS and higher IQ aside, the reason that we've chosen to parent the way we have is because I want things like natural birth, breastfeeding, baby wearing and homeschooling to become the norm rather than being "alternative" choices.

When Delilah says that she doesn't know why people would want to go to the hospital to have a baby if they aren't sick or Patrick points out to me that wearing a backpack and sitting at a desk is bad for kids' backs and those school kids are going to need a chiropractor, it gives me hope that they'll be saying those same sorts of things to the person they marry. Whether Delilah chooses to have her baby at home, in a birth center, or at a hospital, she's being raised with a consumer mentality that will mean that she'll be comfortable telling a caregiver that she's not going to pay them if they can't get with the program. And hopefully one day, Patrick's children will have the option to choose where they want to do their learning.

Thinking about it makes me want to have more children. Even if my four only have 2-3 children apiece, that's ten or more granchildren, followed by generations of healthy, positive, balanced people :)

That, or my kids, in an act of rebellion, will all end up as public school teachers who take their kids to McDonald's after work. Shoot.

An afternoon of S&M

2010-12-05T19:02:00.000-08:00

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Sales and marketing is quite possibly my third favorite thing to do, after attending births and taking the kids out to eat so people can compliment their behavior.

After church today, I dragged my four well-behaved children to the library and printed out flyers for this season's Doula Connection Meet & Greet nights. We made 150 copies at OfficeMax and left one there for the pregnant lady who works in the copy center.

Between 3:00 and 5:30pm, I managed to drop flyers off at 28 businesses on Rt 11 in North Syracuse, including but not limited to Speedy Greens, Fitness and Dance of CNY, Olde Wicker Mill, Tim Horton's (where I explained to the cashier what a doula is), Dominos (who taped the flyer in their window), Panera Bread, Moe's and Sprint.

It was so much fun going to all those (28!) businesses, telling them about our group and what doulas do, even more fun than when I was a telemarketer in high school. I really can't wait to do it again... on Tuesday.

If you have any questions about our group, our doula open house nights or finding yourself a doula in Syracuse, check out http://www.cnydoulaconnection.com/

Homeschooling: Week of 11/29-12/3

2010-12-03T12:19:00.000-08:00

For Bible this week, the kids have been listening to Tim read through the book of Matthew. Patrick also did one lesson in CLE Bible Elective 1.

In math, James did four pages in Counting With Numbers. Delilah did lessons 8-10 in CLE Math 203 and pages 92-94 in Singapore Math Practice 1A. Patrick finished CLE Math 409 and did lessons 1-4 in CLE Math 410. He also did ch. 9 & 10 in Life of Fred: Fractions. All three of them practiced math on http://www.ixl.com/

Patrick measuring the dining room for a math assignment

We had an embarassingly light week in Language Arts. Patrick did one page in Writing Skills 5. Delilah did p. 52-55 in Writing Skills 2 and picked a couple of things to do in First Language Lessons. James practiced the alphabet and made a picture with alphabet stickers to use for practice.

We all went to art class at Miss Donna's house on Monday. On Tuesday, the kids watched "Molly: An American Girl." We've been reading the Molly books for the book club at the Manlius library (which we missed this week because Ben was sick).

James at art class

We've started learning about invertebrates in science and are reading about them in the Usborne Pocket Nature guide.

Patrick did ch. 18 and 19 in Latin for Children A this week.

Patrick, Delilah, James and Ben all went to the homeschool P.E. class at the YMCA on Wednesday. Only Delilah went to swimming Thursday night. The boys didn't want to go, so I let them stay home with Tim.

In Mom-schooling this week, I read Giving Birth: A Journey Into the World of Mothers and Midwives. It was a page-turner, at least for people who are into birth. The author examined the different kinds of midwives (CNM, CPM, CM, DEM) and the different settings in which they serve families. During her research, the author got pregnant and chose to use a midwife she had met while writing the book, so we also get to hear about that relationship. One thing that stood out was her mentioning that many of the midwives she interviewed "knew" that midwifery was the path they wanted to take. Some of them felt like they had always known and for some of them there was a point where they realized that was what they wanted to pursue, but all of them knew that midwifery was calling them somehow. I also read ch. 2 of The Doula Advantage, which covers some of the research on doula care and how having a doula can contribute to a safer, more satisfying birth.

Delilah at art class

What is your birth experience worth?

2010-12-02T12:53:00.000-08:00

After every birth I've attended, my husband has pointed out that I don't charge nearly enough. He's right. Considering the amount of time that I've put into learning about pregnancy, birth, breastfeeding and newborn care, then taking into account the number of hours that I put in with each couple I work with, I don't make very much money.

What I do is a lot more than just staying with someone while they're in labor. I meet with each couple 3-4 times before the birth of their baby. The prenatal meetings are a combination of getting to know each other and an individualized childbirth education class. The idea is that these visits help the couple feel comfortable with me (important for when you're in labor) and also cover any questions that they have about the birth process.

In terms of the birth, I have to be close to Syracuse for weeks before (and sometimes weeks after) their due date. Until their baby is born, I am "on-call," phone in my pocket. I have to be prepared to head out at any time, with babysitters on standby for my kids. There has to be gas in my car and money in my wallet. I have to be completely sober and relatively well-rested. There's a lot that goes into being ready for someone to call.

When they call me, I make arrangements for the kids, grab my bag and head off to either their house or whatever hospital they're on their way to. Then I stay with them through labor, getting the mom drinks, rubbing her back or feet, suggesting different positions, reminding both parents of things they wanted to try and helping mom's partner support her. I stay whether labor is six hours or two days and I've been to some long labors.

About a week after the birth, I make another home visit. Then we talk about the birth experience and I try to answer any questions that the parents have about the birth, basic baby care and breastfeeding. If they need referrals to anyone for breastfeeding help, postpartum support, etc, I give them people to call or books to read. And the families that I work with know that at any point, whether it's six weeks postpartum or six months, that they can call me when they have questions.

In our area, the going rate for all of this seems to be anywhere from $250-600. I don't think that's nearly enough. When you break down what a doula makes, between the prenatal visits, the birth and the postpartum visit, it's rarely more than $15/hr. Take out paying the babysitter, gas, parking at the hospital and hospital cafeteria food and that's not very much money.

You can read review after review on doulamatch.net about how awesome people's doulas were, how they got parents through when they thought they couldn't do it, guided them through rough patches like the sherpa leading you up a mountain. Yet these same professionals are making slightly more than my babysitter.

What do you think? If you had a doula, what did you pay her? What do you think doulas should be charging?

Waiting on a Woman

2010-11-24T19:41:00.000-08:00

When I decided to pursue being a doula, I knew that it would make my life less predictable. It has certainly done that. I've had several clients who gave birth a month before they were "due" and several go well past their due dates. One (that's right, one) lady has had her baby in the week of her estimated due date.

Lately, I've been waiting on a lady who I really did not expect to go past the estimated due date. Yet here we are, with her over a week past "due" and me heading six hours away for the Thanksgiving weekend/friends' wedding. With everyone else having birthed weeks before or after when their babies were expected, I shouldn't have been suprised by this one coming later than expected.

Enter the doula networking group. This is a time when I am grateful to be part of a group of women who attend births and work with pregnant women. I called a couple of the ladies from our group and, as much as I don't like the idea of not being the one there, I can know that there will be people available for her when I'm away.

When we talk to clients and other doulas about our group, part of what we tell them is that we back each other up. This is what that means. It means that when you, the doula, have a client who you swore would have had her baby already, but is still pregnant when you have commitments out of town, there are people who will be there for her when you can't.

Hopefully, right after I've fallen asleep tonight, my phone will ring. I'll head over to be with her, the baby will be born and I'll get back home before the rest of my family wakes up. Then I can sleep in the van while Tim drives us to Baltimore. That's what I would like to have happen. If not though, the Doula Connection has us covered.

Holiday Giveaway

2010-11-20T15:56:00.000-08:00

Hello readers!

From Saturday, November 20th to Friday, December 11th, I will be running a holiday giveaway!

One lucky winner will win a calendar from http://www.beautyofmothering.com/ and a copy of What Your Pediatrician Doesn't Know Can Hurt Your Child by Susan Markel, M.D.

You can learn more about Dr. Markel and her new book at http://www.attachmentparentingdoctor.com/attachmentparentingbook.html

There are several ways to enter:

1. Become a follower of my blog (and post that you did)

2. Find my facebook page, "Syracuse Natural Parenting Support," become a fan and post it here

3. Find my doula group's facebook page, "CNY Doula Connection," become a fan and post it here

3. Visit http://www.cnydoulaconnection.com/ and post something here that you learned about doulas or our group

4. Visit http://www.attachmentparentingdoctor.com/ and share something that Dr. Markel says about breastfeeding.

Doula Open House in Syracuse on December 9th!

2010-11-16T11:42:00.000-08:00

The CNY Doula Connection will be hosting an information night for expectant parents on December 9th from 6-8pm at Cicero United Methodist Church. Bring your questions about pregnancy, birth and nursing! Parents will also have the opportunity to chat with different doulas and make an appointment for a free consultation with a birth or postpartum doula.

The Doula Connection boasts a well-educated group of women, including two lactation consultants, a licensed massage therapist, a midwifery student, childbirth educators and most importantly, women who have experienced birth and love nurturing families through the transition to parenthood.

Light refreshments will be served. This valuable event is free to attend.

Cicero United Methodist Church is located at 8416 Brewerton Rd, Cicero, NY 13039.

For more information, check out www.cnydoulaconnection.com or email cnydoulaconnection@gmail.com

Homeschooling Everyone

2010-11-12T17:37:00.000-08:00

Our week was fairly productive considering that while I was away at a birth all day Monday and Tuesday, apparently my husband told the babysitters that the kids didn't have to do schoolwork. That threw our homeschool plans off a little bit because the children had an unexpected four day weekend.

Wednesday morning, I took the kids to a field trip to the Temple Society of Concord in downtown Syracuse. For Delilah's American Girl (history) book club last month, the kids had read through the "Rebecca" books. Since Rebecca is the only Jewish American Girl character, our group went to the temple to learn more about Judiasm. I also took the kids to our homeschool P.E. class at the Y Wednesday afternoon.

http://www.templeconcord.org/

We stayed home Thursday and tried to get a decent amount of schoolwork/housework done, my attempt to make up for the past three days of the kids not accomplishing much. Patrick and Delilah both worked on their CLE Math books and their Writing Skills workbooks. Delilah had fun writing short stories, mostly about Halloween.

James had speech at the school this morning. We all dropped him off and went to Wegman's to get our grocery shopping done with one less child. Patrick and Delilah both worked on their CLE Math books again when we got home. After lunch, we went to a friend's house for art class, then to the YMCA so I could work out while the kids played in the babysitting rooms.

Here's the picture that Delilah drew while we were at the Y:

She says that someone there asked if she could draw dragons. It looks to me like she can.

Aside from attending a two-day birth, I also had a meeting of the CNY Doula Connection where we talked for hours about birth, doula-ing, and everything else we could think of. We watched a DVD that one of the ladies brought with her, called "It's My Body, My Baby, My Birth," which I'll probably end up purchasing to share with people:

http://itsmybodymybabymybirth.com/Home.html

I've started reading Rediscovering Birth by Sheila Kitzinger. It's another one of the required reading books on the BirthWorks Childbirth Educator reading list. I'm hoping to get through it this weekend so I can get them my book report about it.

If you're into birth, you'll recognize these people...

2010-11-01T19:28:00.000-07:00

The members of the BirthWorks advisory board form a pretty impressive cast. Michel Odent, paradigm-changing doctor and author of perhaps a dozen books about birth and oxytocin. Elizabeth Davis, midwife, teacher and author of Heart and Hands (a midwifery textbook. Jan Trittenden of Midwifery Today and Ina May Gaskin, to name a few.

Is it really Friday already?

2010-10-29T19:16:00.000-07:00

Wow. I'm having trouble believing that it's really been five days since I posted about my BirthWorks certification stuff coming in the mail. This week, I wrote two of the essays that I need to do for my certification and talked with my reviewer briefly on the phone. I have one more autobiographical essay to write before I start on writing the book reports, but I have started reading Birth Reborn by Michel Odent and have been carrying it around with me for when I have a free moment.

This week was a really productive week as far as homeschooling goes. Husband Tim is still reading through the book of Exodus with the kids and he's also reading to them from C.S. Lewis' book The Last Battle at bedtime.

In math, Patrick got four lessons done in CLE Math 408 and did two pages in Math Skills 5. Delilah did three lessons in CLE Math 202 and two pages in Singapore's Math Practice 1A. James did a couple of pages in Counting With Numbers. I got a couple of books from the library about adding money, mainly for Delilah, but all of the kids have been interested in them.

Patrick and Delilah have both been working through the Writing Skills workbooks for their grades. James did two pages in Adventures in Reading. On Monday, Patrick and Delilah wrote letters to friends in Baltimore.

For history this week, we read ch. 11 in Story of the World (ancient Africa) and also a couple of library books about Africa and African stories.

Patrick also worked on Latin and Spanish this week.

Patrick, Delilah and James all had their homeschool P.E. class at the Y on Wednesday afternoon. James had his speech theapy at the school on Monday and Friday. We went to the library on Tuesday and Thursday.

Today, the kids voted against doing anything academic because it was the Friday before Halloween. They did still read with Daddy though.

Down the BirthWorks Path...

2010-10-25T17:07:00.000-07:00

By now, everyone has heard all about the BirthWorks Childbirth Educator workshop that I attended in Syracuse October 8-10th. Last week, I paid for my Childbirth Education Certification packet. Today it arrived, along with my copy of Birth Reborn by Dr. Michel Odent.

So far, I'm happy with choosing the BirthWorks organization as a path to becoming a Childbirth Educator. I'm looking at their "Statement of Beliefs" that I need to sign and send back to the BirthWorks International office and I can't find anything that I disagree with.

The BirthWorks beliefs are as follows:

1. The knowledege about how to give birth already exists inside every woman. Women's bodies are designed to give birth.
2. The nutrition of a pregnant woman has a great impact on the health of her baby from its life as a fetus through adulthood and that breast milk provides the optimum nutrition for the newborn baby.
3. A woman will labor best wherever she feels the safest and most secure. For some that may be a hospital. For others it may mean at home or in an alternative birthing center.
4. Birth is one of the greatest challenges life has to offer and provides an opportunity for personal growth.
5. While a cesarean section may be necessary at times, the current rate is too high.
6. In most cases, VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) is a safer alternative to routine repeat cesarean.
8. A woman in labor deserves an environment in which her privacy, autonomy, and emotional security is protected, and her mobility is encouraged.
9. Expectant parents should have access to infomation they need about obstetrical procedures. They should participate in decisions regarding the judicious use of obstetrical medications and procedures.
10. A woman's beliefs influence her birth. Exploring beliefs heightens self-awareness, serving as a catalyst for positive change.
11. The emotions of a birthing woman have profound effects on the birth outcome. Women must be allowed to express all their birth-related feelings.
12. The practice of Human Values builds character and instills confidence in birth and life.
13. Love is the foundation upon which positive birthing begins, and that one must have love of oneself before being able to love others.

Tomorrow, I'll be mailing my signed copy off to the BirthWorks office, completing Step One in the ten tep childbirth education certification process. As I go through the process, I'll continue to post updates. My goal throughout is not just to become certified as a childbirth educator, but also to use what I'm learning to serve my doula clients here in Syracuse.

Homeschooling Report, Week of 10/22

2010-10-22T12:19:00.000-07:00

Over on The Well Trained Mind discussion board, there is a thread where the homeschooling families link to their blogs and post a weekly report. I'm going to try to do ours' more often. So, here is our week:

Mom (Liz)

Started reading Guerilla Marketing by Jay Levinson. It's all about marketing your business without spending money. I've also been reading Unassisted Childbirth by Laura Shanley

Patrick

Did 4 pages in Math Skills 5 (Harcourt) and 2 lessons from CLE Math 4. Did 7 pages in Math Skills 5 (Harcourt) and 2 pages in Sentences to Paragraphs bk 3. Worked on chapter three in the Spanish for Children A workbook.

Delilah

Did 4 pages in Singapore Math Practice 1A and 2 lessons in CLE Math 2. Did 10 pages in Math Skills 2.

James

Did 6 pages in Counting With Numbers. Had speech therapy at the school on Monday and Friday. Worked on speech homework with Mom.

Together

Read chapter 10 in Story of the World I. Watched lesson 3 on Spanish for Children DVD. On Monday, we had an art lesson at our friend Donna's house. All three kids went to the homeschool P.E. class at the Y on Wednesday and Patrick and Delilah had swim lessons at the Y on Thursday. Thursday afternoon, we went to the American Girl book club at the library. All of the kids watched a DVD about writing to communicate. Dad has been reading through the book of Exodus with everyone at bedtime.

Homeschooling Myself

2010-10-16T16:32:00.000-07:00

I've posted about my reading (and book buying) hobby before. Today, I'm going to talk about homeschooling.

This is the sixth year that I've homeschooled my children, who are now aged 10, 7, 5 and 3. Additionally, this fall, I've started keeping a Learning Log for myself in relation to my doula/CBE/midiwfery studies. The official name right now is the "Fall 2010 Reading Log." Originally, I was just going to keep track of what I read, but I'm also logging workshops/classes I attend and relevant DVDs I watch.

For the week of October 11-17th, I:

- Attended the BirthWorks Childbirth Educator training workshop. This was a wonderful experience, spending the weekend talking about BirthWorks philosophy and childbirth education

- Read all of Active Birth by Janet Balaskas (which I think is a valuable read for expectant parents and birth professionals alike)

- Watched "Special Women" DVD

- Read ch. 1 & 2 of Nurturing the Family: A Guide for Postpartum Doulas

What I really like about my "Learning Log" is that I can go back at the end of the week, month, season or year and see how much I've taken in. Looking back at the entries in September when I was reading Diary of a Midwife and Children at Birth brings back what I got out of those books. It's a reminder of what I've gotten out of each reading session.

I'm enjoying homeschooling myself almost as much as I enjoy homeschooling my kids. Hopefully, all the time I put in now will be an asset to me when I am finally at the point in life when midwifery school is something I can do.

Meet the Doulas!

2010-10-12T18:58:00.000-07:00

This week, there will be two opportunities for pregnant moms and their partners to come meet the ladies of the CNY Doula Connection:

Dessert with the Doulas
Cicero United Methodist Church
8416 Brewerton Rd
Wednesday, October 13th
6:30-8pm

Donuts and Doulas
Cicero Library
8686 Knowledge Ln, Cicero
Saturday, October 16th
10-11:30am

For more information, you can email cnydoulaconnection@gmail.com or stop by at one of our events!

Only two more days!

2010-10-06T08:52:00.000-07:00

It's almost Christmas! No, my birthday! No, actually there's just two more days to go until the BirthWorks Childbirth Educator training here in Syracuse! I'm pretty excited.

For those of you who aren't familiar with BirthWorks, they train childbirth educators and doulas. They have a good deal of information to offer, even to those who are already trained through another organization.

Eventually, I'll be certified as a BirthWorks Childbirth Educator.

The Childbirth Educator training covers:

1.BirthWorks philosphies of childbirth

2.The systems approach to wholistic health care

3.The impact of emotional learning that makes Birth Works a unique program

4.Human values as the foundation of all decision-making

5.Pelvic bodywork and postural alignment advantageous to the baby in helping to prevent a dysfunctional labor

6.The art of discovering belief systems and changing them if necessary

7.Group facilitation and communication techniques through role plays

8.Setting a supportive atmosphere for classes

9.Components of labor, privacy, pain, and vocalization

10.Comfort measures for labor and labor positions

11.Guilt, blame, and judgment issues as they pertain to birthing

12.Vaginal birth after cesarean (VBAC) and cesarean decision making

13.Multi-sensory visualization

14.Grieving and healing

15.Presentation of class topics and wise use of audiovisuals

For more information, you can visit http://www.birthworks.org/