Pregnancy
Considerations for Choosing A Midwife
There are two types of midwives available where I live in California. Direct entry midwives and certified nurse midwives, or CNMs. You may think that any midwife will offer care consistent with the midwifery model of care. Which is more conducive to a natural and enjoyable pregnancy and birth. Midwives are not all equal! Depending on the certification and title of the midwife, and their personal philosophy about birth, your experience could end up being quite similar to seeing an OBGYN, and not in a good way. Choosing a midwife who isn’t well-trained or qualified wouldn’t be best for you or baby either. So, how to choose? Certified Nurse Midwives…
Healthy Pregnancy Basics
Did you know that having a healthy pregnancy can affect your baby’s health, and the ease or difficulty of your birthing time? It’s true! Staying healthy during pregnancy encourages the best possible outcomes for birth and beyond. So what are the keys to a healthy pregnancy? Some of the most important factors are balanced nutrition, adequate sleep, good hydration, gentle exercise, and mental/emotional peace. I believe these puzzle pieces of health are even more important than any medical procedures that care providers might recommend. That’s not to say that prenatal care from a competent provider is not important, because it is. But your health, especially during pregnancy, is in your…
Self-Kindness in Pregnancy
Pregnancy is a special time for women and families. It’s a normal and natural process, but it also can feel mysterious, magical, and challenging. The changes in a woman’s body, and the development of a fully formed baby from two tiny cells is an incredible process. Gestating is many things, but “easy” is not a word I would personally use to describe it. Sure, it is perfectly normal, natural, and “automatic” for a woman’s body to produce a baby; women don’t have to put any concerted effort into gestation, it just happens! (After the initial act of getting pregnant, that is!) Nevertheless, pregnancy often doesn’t feel easy. The physical discomforts…
Pressure Waves and the End of Pregnancy
Near the end of pregnancy, it can be hard to tell the difference between Braxton Hicks contractions (which I will refer to from now on as warm-up pressure waves), and true labor contractions (birthing waves). Pregnancy books, and pretty much anywhere you can look it up on the internet, often make it seem like the onset of early birthing time is a clear-cut stage of the process. But the reality is that for many women, the beginning of birthing time can be hard to pinpoint. The transition between warm-up waves and true birthing waves is a slow progression. It can actually be a very frustrating, discouraging, and emotionally draining time…
Five Things {Most} Pregnant Women Don’t Need a Doctor For
In our culture, pregnancy and birth are sometimes approached like an illness that needs to be treated. Contrary to that point of view, these are normal, natural, and healthy parts of the life cycle for many women. We don’t need to be rescued from our own reproduction! In keeping with this way of thinking, I’d like to discuss five things that the majority of pregnant women don’t need a doctor to help them with. 1. Pregnancy Tests This one is quite simple. Women do not need a doctor to tell them they are pregnant. Despite the frequent appearance of “false positive” pregnancy tests on TV and in movies, it is…