Prenatal Care~ Because we work in a partnership, our 1 hour prenatal visits are spent in conversation. We’ll discuss any questions you have, as well as topics such as nutrition, optimal fetal positioning, physical, emotional, and spiritual preparation for birth, and breastfeeding. At each visit, we’ll also spend some time palpating and measuring your belly, listening to your baby’s heartbeat, taking your blood pressure, and checking your urine.

We get together once a month until 28 weeks, then every 2 weeks until 36 weeks (when we visit your home in preparation for your birth), and then back in the office weekly until your baby arrives.

Along with the nurturing model of midwifery care, you are also given every opportunity for options within the standard of care including labwork and prenatal testing.

Email and phone consultations are welcome between visits as questions and concerns may arise.

Labor and Birth~ Beginning with 24/7 on-call support, your midwives are always available to you. Once active labor has been established, or when you feel like you need more support, we will arrive at your home. Depending on what your needs are, we will either be in the room with you providing hands-on support, or in a nearby room while you labor privately, quietly checking in on you and baby from time to time.

As the time of birth grows closer, we’ll be right by your side, helping you bring your sweet babe into the world. We’ll quietly and closely observe both you and baby to ensure well-being, all the while honoring and protecting the precious new moments between mom, dad, baby, and family.

Over the next few hours, while you and baby get to know each other, we’ll make you a meal, tidy your home, and put in a load of laundry. We’ll check back in to help with breastfeeding, assess mom and baby, help dad (or big brother or sister) weigh your baby, and ensure everyone is transitioning well. We’ll review postpartum instructions and leave you snuggled together, with our on-call number, should you need anything before our 24-hour postpartum visit.

Postpartum and Newborn Care~ Another unique aspect of homebirth midwifery, is the postpartum care you receive in your home. The postpartum period is a sacred time, a “babymoon” and many cultures set aside and protect this time and space for a full 6 weeks. In honor of this time, and the necessary rest and bonding time that you and your baby will need, we will return to your home for the scheduled one-day, three-day, and seven-day visits. During these visits, we will assess mom’s healing, baby’s growth and health, and the family’s overall well-being. We’ll then see you back in the office at 2 weeks and 6 weeks, providing the full circle of postpartum and newborn care.

Womb to Grow doula services include antepartum, labor, and postpartum. Please click on the available links for individual descriptions and rates.

The placenta~ The organ that connects you with your child, nourishes and protects your child.

May it give back to you as you recover from giving birth.

Why is placenta considered herbal medicine? - The placenta can be a valuable part of the post-partum healing process for both mom and baby. For thousands of years, the Chinese have used placenta as herbal medicine. In the herbal Materia Medica (used by Chinese herbalists), it is used as a regenerative to the body’s qi, blood, yin and yang. Because placenta is a medicine in the Materia Medica, it has been analyzed for it’s chemical components. What the analyses shows is that placenta contains birth and pregnancy hormones (oxytocin, prolactin, gonadotrophin, thyroid stimulating hormone) and various proteins. It is these components that may aid in this transition of motherhood, such as augmenting lactation, shortening bleeding time, and preventing mood fluctuations in the post-partum days.

How is your placenta prepared? - Your placenta is rinsed thoroughly, steamed with tonifying herbs, and dehydrated. Then it is ground finely and encapsulated. The whole process takes 12-16 hours.

If you would like your placenta prepared:

The cost to prepare your placenta is $75 (check made out to Angela Seeling). I will need your placenta within 3 days after giving birth and it can be delivered to me in Littleton.  If you are a homebirth client, your placenta may be prepared in your home, or I can take it with me and return the capsules at your 3-day postpartum visit.

Please label it with your name, store it in (2) 1 gallon size ziplock baggies (or plastic hospital container) and put it in the fridge (or in a small cooler on ice if you are away from home) until someone can deliver it for you. Please call or email me in advance so we can arrange to have your placenta encapsulated.

If you need your placenta expedited or picked up/delivered to you, there will be an additional $25 charge.

Please allow a 2-3 day turn around time for me to return your placenta in capsule form.

Blessings on your birth, body, and baby!

Many thanks to Tricia Good, LAc for the valuable training and information.

Photo Credit: Amy Swagman

I started to write a post on the reasons that people choose homebirth, and then I thought, “Why not ask you?”

So, if you chose to have a homebirth, please take a few moments and share with us what your reasons were.

Afterwards, you can click on the ‘results’ link to see the totals for each answer. Then, feel free to scroll down to the comments section to say more about your experience and see the answers given for ‘other’.

Thanks!

Hear from mothers and doctors about why they chose homebirth.

Experts debunk the myth that “Homebirth is dangerous”.

And, for your reading pleasure, here’s some of the research.

Nationwide Netherlands cohort study

 ”This study shows that planning a home birth does not increase the risks of perinatal mortality and severe perinatal morbidity among low-risk women, provided the maternity care system facilitates this choice through the availability of welltrained midwives and through a good transportation and referral system”. De Jonge et al 2009

Planned home birth with registered midwife verses planned hospital birth in Canada

 ”Planned home birth attended by a registered midwife was associated with very low and comparable rates of perinatal death and reduced rates of obstetric interventions and other adverse perinatal outcomes compared with planned hospital birth attended by a midwife or physician”. Janssen et al 2009

Outcomes of planned home births with Certified Professional Midwives: large prospective study in North America

 ”Planned home birth for low risk women in North America using certified professional midwives was associated with lower rates of medical intervention but similar intrapartum and neonatal mortality to that of low risk hospital births in the United States”. Johnson and Daviss 2005 

~British Medical Journal

Photo credit: Amy Swagman

Wow! What a year of kissing babies, lovin’ on mamas (and their families), and learning a ton!
The close of 2011 completes my 13th year of supporting families, attending somewhere around 200 births (including 55 homebirths) and stepping into the intern phase of my midwifery journey.

As an intern, I am practicing as Primary Midwife Under Supervision, which means I “demonstrate the ability to perform all aspects of midwifery care to the satisfaction of the preceptor who is physically present and supervising [my] performance of skills and decision making.” ~NARM

Fancy, huh?

In this role, the intern midwife must attend and document a specified number of births; prenatal, postpartum, and newborn exams; provide continuity of care; and demonstrate a set list of clinical skills in order to sit for the NARM board exam, oral skills assessment, and ultimately attain the CPM credential.

Basically, know how to do it all, and most of the time do very little–because well….most of the time birth just works.

I am honored to continue my journey with Julie Hughes at Mosaic Midwifery as well as Lauren Schowe of Origins Midwifery, two of the loveliest women I know.

Interested in learning more about homebirth? Looking for a fabulous midwifery team? We’d love to visit over a cup of tea!

As a result, I will not be taking doula clients at this time.  I have been richly blessed to serve as a doula for more than 12 years to so many amazing families in the Denver community.  It truly has been an honor and I hope to continue to serve many of you as I transition into midwifery.

If you’re interested in homebirth in Colorado and a fabulous midwifery team, please come visit Mosaic Midwifery!

For a list of doulas near you, please visit Colorado Doulas.  Feel free to contact me for specific referrals.

If you don’t know this, most kids love to hear the story of “ME” or anything you can tell them about themselves, the day they were born, sweet memories, etc.  So today, during our family party and blessing time, I recounted a few memories of anticipation and preparation for their arrival.  They listened very intently and then said, “Now, PRESENTS!”

Of course,  I love to reminisce of the story of us.  When I take the time to drift back, I am able to recall memories as if they just happened, and yet sometimes, our story seems as if it must have happened to someone else.  I feel so incredibly blessed and honored to play a part in this story while being challenged and humbled as God continues to write it.  So, when I am asked to share this story, I do so not only to reminisce, but also to share the hope and challenge that we have been entrusted with.  I received my print copy of the Summer 2010 issue of The Birth Project in the mail last week, just in time for our girls’ 5th birthday.

Our story is paired with a beautiful image of “Star Crossed” by Katie M. Berggren, that takes me straight back to those first sweet moments with our twins.

Click The Birth Project July 2010 Twin Birth Story for the pdf article.

Happy Birthday my beautiful girls!  You amaze, delight, humble, and challenge me.  I am a better person because of you.

A little about The Birth Project: “A self-published magazine that strives to normalize pregnancy, birth, and the entire “childbearing year. We want to demystify childbirth. We want to make it a part of our entire life not just the “childbearing year” - embracing the women before us and the women who birth after us as opposed to scaring and disempowering. We don’t want to spout off statistics or research or shove our opinions down anyones throat in judgment. We are here to chat, to discuss, to ponder over the state of things and how they can evolve and grow.”

Most pregnant women get these statements from friends and family but shy away from making requests when they are up to their ears in dirty laundry, unmade beds, dust bunnies and countertops crowded with dirty dishes. The myth of “I’m fine, I’m doing great, new motherhood is wonderful, I can cope and my husband is the Rock of Gibraltar” is pervasive in postpartum land. If you’re too shy to ask for help and make straight requests of people, I suggest sending the following list out to your friends and family. These are the things I have found to be missing in every house with a new baby. It’s actually easy and fun for outsiders to remedy these problems for the new parents but there seems to be a lot of confusion about what’s wanted and needed…

1. Buy us toilet paper, milk and beautiful whole grain bread.

2. Buy us a new garbage can with a swing top lid and 6 pairs of black cotton underpants (women’s size____).

3. Make us a big supper salad with feta cheese, black Kalamata olives, toasted almonds, organic green crispy things and a nice homemade dressing on the side. Drop it off and leave right away. Or, buy us frozen lasagna, garlic bread, a bag of salad, a big jug of juice, and maybe some cookies to have for dessert. Drop it off and leave right away.

4. Come over about 2 in the afternoon, hold the baby while I have a hot shower, put me to bed with the baby and then fold all the piles of laundry that have been dumped on the couch, beds or in the room corners. If there’s no laundry to fold yet, do some.

5. Come over at l0 a.m., make me eggs, toast and a 1/2 grapefruit. Clean my fridge and throw out everything you are in doubt about. Don’t ask me about anything; just use your best judgment.

6. Put a sign on my door saying “Dear Friends and Family, Mom and baby need extra rest right now. Please come back in 7 days but phone first. All donations of casserole dinners would be most welcome. Thank you for caring about this family.”

7. Come over in your work clothes and vacuum and dust my house and then leave quietly. It’s tiring for me to chat and have tea with visitors but it will renew my soul to get some rest knowing I will wake up to clean, organized space.

8. Take my older kids for a really fun-filled afternoon to a park, zoo or Science World and feed them healthy food.

9. Come over and give my husband a two hour break so he can go to a coffee shop, pub, hockey rink or some other r & r that will delight him. Fold more laundry.

10. Make me a giant pot of vegetable soup and clean the kitchen completely afterwards. Take a big garbage bag and empty every trash basket in the house and reline with fresh bags.

These are the kindnesses that new families remember and appreciate forever. It’s easy to spend money on gifts but the things that really make a difference are the services for the body and soul described above. Most of your friends and family members don’t know what they can do that won’t be an intrusion. They also can’t devote 40 hours to supporting you but they would be thrilled to devote 4 hours. If you let 10 people help you out for 4 hours, you will have the 40 hours of rested, adult support you really need with a newborn in the house. There’s magic in the little prayer “I need help.”

First posted online August 2001

http://www.glorialemay.com/blog/?p=34

Until…..as part of a home church, I had the opportunity to do a lengthy study on the male and female curse in Genesis 3.  I learned so many things about my life, deep disappointments, and greater longings.  One of the many things that I learned is that God created our female bodies with beauty and purpose and that includes our cycles!  That we are redeemed from the curse, we are an irreplaceable part of the cycle of life, and that we can appreciate and be proud of the gift that God has given us.

Years later, as I studied natural family planning and fertility awareness in preparation for my marriage,  I was in awe of all that I had never been taught in that “health class”, by any OBGyn, or any other woman for that matter.  Angry really.

I wanted to share this information with women and began telling my girlfriends, taught classes to women, MOPS groups, and anyone who would listen.  In one of those classes, some of the women started asking about sharing the information with their daughters.  They wanted to be prepared for having the discussion later, as their girls got older.  But, as we talked, I learned that many of these girls were already 8-10 years old.  I challenged and encouraged them to start sharing this information with their girls as soon as possible.  The more we share and make it open conversation, the less scary and foreign it is.  And, if we don’t share it with our girls, someone else will.   So, the next question was, “When are you going to offer a class for our daughters?”  I loved the idea, but as a fairly new mom myself, I had no idea where to start in terms of writing curriculum for young girls and teenagers, and I still wanted to invite the moms themselves into the conversation with their daughters.

Fast forward to 2010.  I have twin girls who are 4 1/2 going on 17, and an almost 2 year old daughter.  With a mother that is a midwifery student, doula, and educator, my children (including my son) are not short on vocabulary regarding their bodies and birth.  I am always searching for ways to share with them about this beautiful process and how amazing the body is, in language that is appropriate for their age.  And, it saddens me deeply that there are so many adult women who have very little knowledge about their own bodies and cycles and therefore, have little to pass on to their daughters.  Then, I happened upon a brochure for Blessing God’s Way ministries and a beautifully written curriculum for Maidens by His Design.  And, I can’t wait to start teaching the mother/daughter classes!  It’s a celebration of women and our cycles and is approached in a lighthearted informative way.  What amazing creatures we are!  And God made each one of us in his image!  The course is designed for weekly study (5, 2-hour sessions) or a full Saturday and includes crafts, games, tons of information, and a beautiful time of bonding among mother/daughter pairs.  Please contact me for information on scheduling a class in your community (hostesses receive a discounted rate) or click here for current class schedule and rates.

MAIDENS BY HIS DESIGN COURSE:

As parents prepare their older children for adolescence, one important component of this parental teaching is a mother’s instruction on her coming-of-age daughter about her cycle.   Most parents simply give their children the biological “facts” about menstruation.  But suppose you could introduce your daughter to this event in the context of God’s beautiful design?   Home schooling mother, owner of Blessing God’s Way, and doula/birth assistant, Doran Richards, has designed a thoughtful and modest course that mothers and daughters can attend together in order to learn about this cycle for their bodies, about proper nourishment during their cycle, about learning to cultivate a joyful spirit of prayer and anticipation during their cycle.

What is particularly unique about this course is Mrs. Richard’s emphasis on the goodness and beauty of something that our culture thinks is merely a “pain in the neck” or an unfair burden on women: menstruation.  She urges women to not giveinto these sad attitudes but to approach the onset of menstruation as an opportunity to get to know and understand your body and your health more deeply, and to give thanks to God for how you are made.   Menstruation should not be seen as a curse or a burden, but as a season of life given to women by God our Father as a blessing.

“Maidenhood is a special time. It is an amazing process; so intricate that only God could have created such a process. I am in awe every time I think of it. You will be, as well, once you finish this course, if you are not already.”

Dr. Jeanne Ohm opened the conference with information about trusting the process for natural birthing, chiropractic care in pregnancy, and the “Dystocia Ride caused by mechanistic procedures”.  She is doing an amazing work with women and families and I was sad to miss her other sessions.  My favorite comment was when she was referring to those that question why vaginal birth is preferred over elective cesarean.  She said, “Would you rather chew your food, or have a feeding tube?  Would you rather move your bowels or have a colostomy?”  She clarified the meaning of the Webster technique as not just the breech technique but rather, “specific chiropractic analysis and adjustment that reduces interference to the nerve system and facilitates biomechanical balance in pelvic structures, muscles and ligaments. This has been shown to reduce the effects of intrauterine constraint, allowing the baby to get into the best possible position for birth.”

She also shared a story about chickens setting on their eggs and the “power of one” – how 1 hen taught the others the amazing ability she had as a mother to incubate her eggs.  Once she started doing it, they all wanted to do it.  We have this same power with our birth stories.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” –A. Einstein

Dr. Jeanne Ohm is a practicing DC in a family, wellness based practice since 1981.  She’s the Producer and writer of the children’s chiropractic song, “Power On!” and educational video, “Birth Trauma: A Modern Epidemic.”  She’s the Executive Coordinator for the International Chiropractic Pediatric Association (click to find a chiropractor in your area) and the Executive Editor of Pathways to Family Wellness Magazine.

My favorite chiropractors in the Denver area are:

Dr. Michele Orchard and City Center Chiropractic in Aurora

Dr. Tod McDaniel and McDaniel Chiropractic in Littleton

Dr. Andy Hummell and Hummell & Kimura Chiropractic in Centennial

and Dr. Mario Chavez and Vita Nova Spinal Care in Littleton.