In my copious spare time....

How do people keep up with all the blogging/myspace/facebook etc? I find I need all of these tools to promote my business, but as my business gets bussier, I have very little time to keep up with the details of keeping these things up to date!

What are YOUR tips for keeping up with the computer?

Postpartum work , Twins, and BABY SIGNS!

I've been insanely busy over the last month or so, between the holidays, working full time postpartum with a couple who had twins just before Christmas, meeting potential clients for spring, trying to make time for my family- and my dog isn't speaking to me, he sees me so little.

On top of all of that, I'm working on becoming certified as a Baby Signs Instructor. Classes will begin in March- at Well Rounded Maternity Center in Menomonee Falls.

THIS is what it's all about!

Run, don't walk, to check out Patti Ramos' blog today. LOVELY shots of birth up close.

http://doulapattiramos.blogspot.com/2008/11/birth-up-close.html

Birth up close is GRAPHIC- shows peri area, penis on baby and a nipple- but we're all grown-ups, and this miracle should not be missed!

GET OUT AND VOTE!

No matter who you vote for, it matters that you vote. Voting is a serious responsibility, and a few minutes or hours of your time is a small price to pay for the freedom provided you by a democratic society.

It's not the big elections that bother me, though... I worry about the small ones. Alderman, Councilwoman, county executive, judges, sheriffs... you need to get out to ALL of those elections, and you need to make certain you are informed about the candidates.

I'll be out on Tuesday morning, with my kid, standing in line to vote, and I'll write him an excuse if we're late to school because of it.

Your Body, Your Baby, Your Choices.

Someone recently asked me if, I as a doula would support a woman through an abortion. I've had to think seriously about that. Where do my personal beliefs have to end, to follow my calling? Do I support a woman having a birth related procedure that I do not believe is right? Does that include having an epidural? An elective c-section? An abortion? Not choosing to breast feed? Circumcising her son ... Or her daughter? Is my practice going to be "woman -centered" or "baby -centered" and are the two mutually exclusive?
I've decided to take the "Your Body, your baby, your choices" stance. As long as you have taken the time to inform yourself about your options, I will support you in your choices. I will help you to gather information, I will give you my opinion if you ask for it, and I will make sure you are prepared to defend unpopular decisions to others, if you wish. I won't sugar coat things for you, and I will try to make certain the articles that I refer you to are as unbiased as possible. Failing that, I will try to mace certain that you at least receive both sides of the issue.

The pro-lifers are right about one thing: Abortion kills babies. We cannot sugar coat this, it needs to be out there in black and white. That pregnancy, if allowed to reach it's natural conclusion, will result in a baby. Where we run into problems is at the point where people start putting the rights of a potential baby over the rights of an existing woman. Taken to an extreme, protecting "The rights of the fetus" could eventually compel every woman to be taken into custody the moment she tests positive for pregnancy, kept in custody until the pregnancy reaches full term, and delivered by a cesarean section.

For the record, I am firmly pro-choice. Your choices do not have to be the same as mine. I chose to disapprove of abortions as birth control. I believe that if your primary method of birth control fails, there is a reason for that. There are other options available to you if you choose not to raise a child that you have conceived and there are differences in choosing to abort a child who cannot survive outside the womb, and one who can. There are VALID reasons to want an abortion, and I do not need to know why you have made the choice you have made, only that you have explored all of the options open to you, before making your decision. (I will happily listen if you feel you need to explain your choice!)

That being said, if you have decided for whatever reason to terminate your pregnancy, I would be willing to be there to support you before, during and after your procedure.

Looking for volunteer models in the Milwaukee area.....

My business partner and I are thinking about adding belly casting to our repertoire of services.

Looking for pregnant moms who would be willing for us to use their bellies to practice on!

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day! ARRRRR! And Happy Birthday Hermione Granger!

My favorite day of the year!

http://www.talklikeapirate.com

Talk like a Pirate Day song!

http://www.tomsmithonline.com/freestuff/oddio/TLAPD.mp3

and Another!(for Pirate and Potter fans!)

http://www.tomsmithonline.com/freest.../iT008_192.mp3

ARRR! have FUN ARRR!

Canceled

Unfortunately, due to lack of interest, the postpartum depression seminar has been canceled.

Picture Perfect.

Wanted: one Picture perfect Bradley birth.

I got my wish last night. Dad's home on leave from Afghanistan. He has 18 days before he has to return. On Sunday morning, mom's bag broke, spontaneously. After 21 hours of HARD labor (baby was posterior, and asynclitic) he's here. And Daddy still has 13 days of leave left, to get to know his son.

Grandma and great grandma were there- and were fantastic at anticipating mom's needs, from a sip of water, to freshening her makeup.

Mom and Dad were AMAZING. He was her rock, and she had a peaceful, mostly non interventitive birth. A little Pit, towards the end, because she was completely exhausted, but no pain medication at all, and none of the "thrashing about, screaming, sobbing" that you see on TV.

If mom had been less determined, or dad had wavered in supporting her, this would have been a c-section. It wasn't.

You know who you are.... I'm PROUD of you!

Mostly.. a doula WAITS

Waiting for a lot of things right now... a call from my client saying her hubby is home, a call from MY hubby saying he's coming home (at the cabin, they had an ADVENTURE...) another client..... morning....labor to start... labor to end.... the house to sell.... calls from friends....

POSTPARTUM DEPRESSION AWARENESS SEMINAR

Ok, folks, this one is REALLY important!

"Postpartum Depression Awareness Seminar"

Well-Rounded Maternity Center & C.A.R.E. Network are sponsoring this event to raise awareness about the postpartum depression epidemic that affects 10 - 20% of birthing women in the US. The seminar is a way for both birth professionals (nurses, midwives, doulas, lactation consultants, etc.) and women in the childbearing years to get information from local experts about the causes, symptoms and treatments for postpartum mood disorders, including the growing number of women who suffer from post traumatic stress disorder resulting from a traumatic birth experience.

As part of the seminar, we will be presenting a segment of the "Safe Motherhood Quilt." Like the AIDS quilt of years ago, this quilt honors women who were lost due to childbirth-related causes. We will be adding a quilt square to remember Jennifer Mudd Houghtaling of Oak Creek who tragically and needlessly ended her life months following the birth of her son due to postpartum psychosis.

Best Western, Brookfield

Sunday, October 12th, 2008; 1-3 p.m. Cost is $10 per person.

Praying she holds off......

My newest client is an absolute sweetheart, and we're becoming good friends. Her only real worry about this birth (her first) is that baby waits till Daddy comes home.... He's overseas on Military duty, and due home at the end of this week.

We're all just praying that he gets home in time to meet his son on his birthday!

ARRRRGH!

I hate to admit it, but I am not the most organized person on the planet. It looks like,while preparing for our move, I shredded some documents I needed for certification.... Doc's I can't replace, because the family in question has moved.

Anyone need a doula?!

Prepping for Certification.... Finally!

I wasn't planning to take any clients this summer, because of the impending move, but when I got offered this one through The Doula Connection (a volunteer doula service for financially challenged women) my gut said to take her. And am I ever glad I did.

First of all , all of my clients up until now have been at one hospital in the city, and this client was at a different hospital. I REALLY like their model of care. No 4 hour nursing shifts in L&D. And despite the fact that it was a teaching hospital, and the students were a little annoying, they went to great pains to keep men out of my client's room. In fact the ONLY male besides family who was ever in her room was the Attending for the floor, and he was only there to supervise the actual delivery, he never touched her. (she is not American, and has a cultural thing about strange men)

In any case, this poor lady went through her whole labor with an urge to push. Baby was OP, and she stalled out at 5cm for nearly 8 hours, even after AROM. Once they hung the pit, my mind went to the "here we go again" place, I was certain that we were headed for a c-section, but lo and behold, in three hours she went from 5 to 10 and pushing. Only one dose of pain meds, too.

From this labor I learned that you have to have faith. Not just in God, but in birth. This mom and her husband spent most of her labor praying. They never lost their faith, even at the darkest times, even when she was tempted to give up, and to show for it that have a beautiful little princess, born just before midnight.

So I have my final birth, and In goes the paperwork for my DONA certification.

Thank God.

Cesarean Awareness Month!

I thought this was Important. The first three of four births I attended were Cesarean births.

April is Cesarean Awareness Month - Spread the News

"Desirre Andrews CCCE, LCCE, CLD, CLE"

Wed Apr 2, 2008 7:11 am (PDT)

Please blog about it - Get the word out! April is Cesarean Awareness Month

What is Cesarean Awareness Month? An internationally recognized month of
awareness about the impact of cesarean sections on mothers, babies, and
families worldwide. It's about educating yourself to the pros and cons of
major abdominal surgery and the possibilities for healthy birth afterwards
as well as educating yourself for prevention of cesarean section.

Cesarean awareness is for mothers who are expecting or who might choose to
be in the future. It's for daughters who don't realize what choices are
being taken away from them. It's for scientists studying the effects of
cesareans and how birth impacts our lives. It's for grandmothers who won't
be having more children but are questioning the abdominal pains and
adhesions causing damage 30 years after their cesareans.

CESAREANS are serious. There is no need for a 'catchy phrase' to tell us
that this is a mainstream problem. It affects everyone. One in three
American women every year have surgery to bring their babies into the world.
These women have lifelong health effects, impacting the families that are
helping them in their healing, impacting other families through healthcare
costs and policies, and bringing back those same lifelong health effects to
the children they bring into this world.

Be aware. Read. Learn. Ask questions. Get informed consent. Be your own
advocate for the information you need to know.

www.ican-online.org

Playing the Waiting Game

So, we're 2+ weeks out from my last post, and mom still hasn't gone. Baby is almost certainly OP and I'm trying to decide whether to encourage her to use a chiropractor. Does that cross the medical advice line? I wonder if a Webster would help? or cause more problems? This is #3 for mom, and things should be moving faster than this!

Sleepless.....

SO at 22:30 I got a call from my client's husband, saying she thought she was in labor, Contractions 3-4 minutes apart for several hours, and Dr. said go in and get checked out... Not a first baby, so she knows what's going on, and they will call me from the hospital to let me know what is going on..... it's currently 04:00, and I just got off the phone with the hospital.. they discharged her an hour and a half ago... I wish she had called me to let me know! I know they were trying to let me sleep.... but have you tried to sleep with an adrenaline rush?

Going back to 4th grade.....

Well Playgroup today went well, even though only two moms showed up.
I wish I had been able to devote more time to it, but unfortunately, today I had to go back to fourth grade. :(

My 9yo decided yesterday that he was not going to do ANY work in school, so I spent the first hour of the morning in class with him, left to go to playgroup, and meet with another client, and then returned to class for the remainder of the afternoon.

It actually went well. My kid sat in his desk, did his work, and came home with only the homework that everyone else had. We now have a deal, that if he behaves in class, and gets ALL of his classwork done, I will come in on Fridays. I wish I could say the same for the rest of his class. How is a teacher supposed to teach when every 60-90 seconds she is having to put children back in their desks, deal with fights in the classroom, deal with hurt feelings, answer questions (on material she covered three seconds before for the fifth time) and general noise in the room?

When I was my son's age, we sat in our desks. We (mostly) did our work, and we raised our hands to be called on. Can anyone explain to me why children today can't do the same things?

More Music than Doula

So, the birth scheduled for mid Oct. has decided she really doesn't want a doula after all. It's pro-bono work, so it's not a loss of income, but it is the loss of an opportunity to certify. :(

I'm disappointed, but life goes on. I'm doing some post-partum work, and some babysitting in the meantime, and trying to build the business. Has anyone noticed that many of the grocery store bulletin boards have gone away? That used to be a great spot for free advertising.

On the music front, Life is about to get extremely busy...... I sing with the Wisconsin Cream City Chorus and we are about to open the season with a benefit concert for Camp Heartland called Diamonds in the Heartland, at the Unitarian Universalist Church West in Brookfield, WI.

I also sing in the Chancel Choir at Mt. Carmel Lutheran Church (ELCA), where we sing almost every Sunday, and we have a Christmas Concert coming up in December.

I'm also working with a group called Synergicity. No concerts set as yet, but stay tuned!

Getting Started

Hi, I'm Char

I'm a relatively new Doula, in practice for less than a year. I'm also a mom, with one son, who is nine, and in the fourth grade. He's the light of my life, when I'm not trying to throttle him for his latest stunt......

In any case, I've been working pro-bono for the last six months, trying to get enough births to qualify for certification through DONA (Doulas Of North America) International. Certification requires, among other things a minimum of 15 hours spent between three births, only one of which can be a c-section. HOURS I've got.... TONS of hours. 33 at my first birth, 24 at the second 26 at my third.... all at the same hospital, and all c-sections. I'm beginning to feel jinxed. Oh.. and one birth that I was scheduled to be at, that mom didn't bother to call me when she went into labor, because baby was breech, and it would be a c-section.

So I'm scheduled for another birth, at a different hospital this time, in mid-October. I REALLY need this one to go vaginal. Young mom, really wants to educate herself about childbirth, really wants a natural delivery.... If you pray.. pray that all goes well for her, and that she has a NORMAL delivery, please!

Hugs,

Char

OH, BTW, if you are having a baby in the SE WI area, check out http://www.carenetworkwisconsin.org

Lots of great midwives, chiropractors and doulas, including yours truly