Choosing your Careprovider is Crucial

Choosing your Careprovider is Crucial
Your choice of a care provider is one of the most important choices you will make regarding your birth!
So Choose Wisely!

How can you know if you have the right care provider?

Download my 30 minute MP3 Create Your Best Birth Team and Worksheet and I will walk you through creating your Best Birth Team possible!
You will learn:

• What 3 people make up the best birth team?
• What are the 3 types of relationships you can have with a care provider?
• How can you find out if your care provider is a good fit for you?
• By listening to the MP3 and filling out the worksheet you will be on your way to creating the Best Birth Team for you!

Some links demonstrating why your choice of care providers is so important!

• How choosing your care provider carefully can help you avoid unneccessary interventions.
• You can fire your OB, Even DURING your birth!
• Your Care Providers Beliefs about Birth will effect how they treat you!
• Why are extra babies born in December? (Here is a related link) What your OB thinks about inducing for convenience will effect your birth.
• I have educated myself about how I want my birth to go, isn’t that enough? NO!
• What about bait and switch? My OB says he supports _____, but now it seems he doesn’t! Here is a real life example of a VBAC mom whose OB said he was VBAC supportive, but in the end wasn’t.
• Sadly a lot of care providers practice cookie cutter medicine. Everyone gets the exact same things, even if not needed, even in ridiculous!

Mandy- Doula in St. Louis

Sample Birth Plan

You’ll find a sample birth plan below. Remember, this format is not etched in stone, but it will give you an idea of things you’ll want to include, such as a statement of purpose, your preferences, and things you’d like to avoid.

Statement of Purpose

My partner and I have planned and prepared for a peaceful and natural childbirth. We would like to allow our labor and delivery to unfold naturally, with as few interventions as possible. We would like to be informed about all procedures and tests before they are performed. We want to be aware and informed of all of our options in the event of an unexpected emergency.

Our Preferences

* Labor and delivery will take place: at home, in a freestanding birth center, in
an alternative birthing center within a hospital, in a small hospital, in a
teaching/large hospital.
* Partner or labor coach, doula, and midwife present throughout labor and birth
* Children present throughout labor and birth
* Freedom to walk, move, and change positions as desired throughout labor and birth
* Freedom to eat and drink throughout labor and birth
* Use of the shower or a tub as desired
* Ability to use relaxation and pain relief methods as desired, including herbal
therapy, homeopathy, and aromatherapy
* Ability to control the environment including temperature, lighting, and music
* Use of gentle, controlled pushing
* Use of an upright labor position
* Massage and support of the perineum to avoid tearing
* Natural methods of strengthening labor, if needed, such as walking and nipple
stimulation
* After the birth, immediate contact between mother and baby: baby placed on
mother’s chest, breastfeeding encouraged, mother and baby left undisturbed for
one hour following birth, and any newborn procedures performed afterward
* Delay of clamping and cutting umbilical cord until blood stops pulsing
* Placenta delivered spontaneously
* Give parents full informed choice regarding all newborn procedures, including
eye ointment, Vitamin K injection, PKU test.
* All baby examinations done with the permission, and in the presence, of a parent

What We Wish to Avoid

* Medications. Please do not offer pain relief. We will use natural pain relief
methods.
* Shaving
* Enemas or IV [IV is often automatically hooked up upon arriveal. May not be
assumed under drugs]
* Electronic fetal monitoring
* Stripping of membranes or breaking of bag of waters
* Use of Pitocin or other drugs to induce, speed up, or strengthen labor
* Supine (laying down) position for pushing stage
* Episiotomy
* Use of forceps or vacuum extraction
* Supplemental bottle-feedings
* Unnecessary medical tests and procedures, such as medical circumcision


Mandy-Saint Louis Doula

Natural Childbirth in the Hospital: Is It possible?

By Christina Erl-Daniels
Web Exclusive


The only midwife in our town didn't have space for me - I was devastated. I wanted a natural home birth, intervention free, surrounded by friends and family and all the comforts of home. But, I had to accept the future reality of a hospital birth.

I became determined to know all I could about policies, procedures and legalities. I researched all the baby books and set up interview appointments with six different doctors recommended by the midwife's office.

In the face of medical arrogance, I grilled every doctor: "Do you routinely perform episiotomies? Do you support natural childbirth? Do you rely heavily on the foetal heart monitor?" A lot of the questions I asked were clearly out of date. Doctors don't shave or tie you down anymore, but some were clearly more accustomed to routinely performing unnecessary procedures, such as episiotomies.

One doctor hedged when I asked her how comfortable she was with a variety of birthing positions. She cautioned that I could tear terribly in the squatting position, but later I found out that doctors avoid that position because they cannot see everything so they feel out of control. Nevertheless, I wanted an open-minded doctor and by the fourth interview I found her.

She was patient, attentive and understanding throughout our entire interview. Her patience was overall the most impressive feature when other doctors had clearly been irritated because I was not blindly accepting their expertise. She assured me that times have changed and that many of the stories I had heard were of ancient, barbaric days long past. She supported the idea of natural childbirth and encouraged me to labour at home for as long as possible. When I mentioned not wanting the antibiotic eye drops for my newborn baby she said, "no problem, you just have to sign a waiver."

Throughout my pregnancy I read more. Naomi Wolf's book, Misconceptions, was released and I devoured it. Though the cases she discussed had taken place in profit-driven, American hospitals, I knew that Canadian hospitals too have an agenda. Here, expedient births are carried out to maintain the hospital's strict budget. In both countries c-section rates rise considerably on Fridays before a long weekend.

I continuously questioned my doctor. I was most worried about undergoing a c-section. She eventually confided the hospital's 21% caesarean rate. She went through the different surgeons with me who perform c-sections, assuring me that, if needed, she would try to call one that does not take your entire uterus out and place it on your stomach for closure, which makes women undergoing the c-section feel incredibly noxious. My doctor always reached out to my concerns.

When I went into labour I didn't realize it for a long time. I awoke with cramping at six a.m., but compared to some of the menstrual cramps I had experienced this was tame. I figured it was another weird pregnancy pain and ignored it for awhile. At ten thirty I happened to have a doctor's appointment. I was one centimetre dilated. What joy! However, my doctor cautioned me that it could still be a week before I had the baby.

Read More.......


Mandy-Saint Louis Doula