coquitlam doula

the 411 one “rule”

November 10, 2015

The 411 rule is what most Childbirth Educators use when teaching a prenatal class. It’s in reference to going to the hospital. Ridge Meadows Doula Services believes there is more to this simple formula, we suggest parents don’t get hung up on the numbers and timing every contraction. We suggest you are mindful to the emotional precursors as well. With regard to waves (contractions), you will want to wait until your contractions are:

· 4 minutes apart or less.

· Lasting 1 minute long or longer

· Stay home with the contractions 1 minute long for 1 hour (or longer)

Emotional precursors that can also be signals are:

· Very serious

· Aren’t talking during contractions

· Are not walking during a contraction

· Are very focused only on their contractions and can’t be distracted

· They may be ritualistic behaviours

· They may start to make deep groaning sounds

While these are all guesstimates on when to go to the hospital, they aren’t perfect science. Each woman enters their birthing time and has a different experience. having a doula with you to help you relax and cope with waves (contractions) can be helpful. doulas have seen may births and can give you a good idea of when it is time to leave for the hospital.

What to get your doula wife, girlfriend, friend, sister….. For Christmas

August 26, 2015

I started writing this post on August 25th 2015, 4 months before Christmas day, on a day that was 26 degrees celsius. I wanted to find the very best birthy items to add to this post so all of us birthy folks can get a new fun stocking stuffer. Doulas, Midwives and Childbirth Educators are a breed of our own. We are up all night, we dissect placentas for fun, we talk about vaginas and labias around the lunch table and are always reading/learning and talking birth. We deserve a little something special from our close friends and families.

1- Who in the world doesn’t want a stuffed placenta? Ok, I hear ya… it’s not for the common folk, but us birthy peeps think this is adorable

2- A beautiful way to proclaim your calling! is what this website boasts. Look closely, they are “crowning” earnings

3- Full Moon mothering makes all types of baltic amber necklaces for children and adults. I’m in love with my mama zen necklace and I wear it all the time… Now I need the matching bracelet.

4-This tiny pelvis is a great educational tool, and I’m sure it wold be a great conversation starter at the dinner table!

5- What birth worker wouldn’t want this Oxytocin Molecule scarf?

6- Need an ornament to add to a stocking? This “Pregnant Mother Goddess” ornament is perfect.

7- This pin…. Really everyone needs it.

8- Everyone loves mugs, for real… Everyone. And doulas love their vaginas. It’s a fact really.

9- Car bling? A gift that keeps on giving… As advertisement.

10- And lastly they need some eye catching gear to wear to a birth. If this shirt doesn’t say doula, really… What does.

Have you seen any other fun items that would be great for gifts? Add it to the comments.

Happy Birthing- Nicole

Ridge meadows Doula Services is a collective of 6 doulas that work out of Maple Ridge BC. We provide birth doula and postpartum doula support, placenta encapsulation and childbirth education in the Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland.

Think your child is ready for a booster seat?

July 21, 2015

Many parents want to know when their child is ready to ride in a booster seat. In Canada, the law says children can ride in a booster once they reach 40 pounds. Some seats also specify the child must be at least 4 years old, but others don’t, so out in the world, we see many children in boosters as young as 3 or even 2. Why is this a problem, you ask?

The seat belt must fit a child properly to be safe and effective. When a very small child is placed in a booster, often times, the shoulder belt is cutting across the neck instead of being centered on the shoulder, and the lap belt is on the belly instead of over the hips. Poor belt placement puts stress on soft tissue and organs, instead of bone. Poor belt placement can also mean the seat belt is not holding the child as well as it should. This could cause serious injuries when force from the seat belt is exerted on soft tissues such as the belly, damaging internal organs that aren’t being protected by bones.

In addition to fit issues, many children do not possess the impulse control needed to properly sit in a booster seat for the duration of the car ride until they are around 5 ½ or 6 years old. Unlike in a 5-point harness where the child physically cannot move out of position once buckled, boostered children have a lot more freedom. If children are bending forward to pick up a dropped snack, wrenching their torso around to see a passing firetruck, leaning forward to find a book in the seat pocket in front of them, or reaching across the width of the car to poke a sibling, then the seat belt will not be positioned properly, and it will not provide proper protection if a crash occurs. The risk during a crash is the child’s head striking the interior of the vehicle: windows, seats, or other people’s heads.

Some children will fit in their 5-point harness seat until they are 7 or even 8, and leaving them in harnessed seats is a great idea especially if you don’t feel like they can sit properly for the whole ride. Some boostered children will fall asleep and end up leaning out of position either forward or to the side. If this is the case, a 5-point harness is your best bet. However, there are reasons why parents may put children into a booster before they outgrow their harnessed seat. A family may want to pass the harnessed seat down to a younger sibling and move the older child into a booster. Or, perhaps due to frequent carpooling, it may be better to use a booster because other parents may not know how to install your child’s 5-point harness seat. An improperly installed or improperly used harnessed seat is much more dangerous than a properly used booster, provided the child is over 40 pounds and sits properly all the time.

There are other reasons why you may want to delay moving your child into a booster. If you have three car seats installed in a row, it may have been difficult to install those seats, but imagine trying to stick your hand in between to buckle a seat belt every day? In most cases, it’s easier for children to buckle themselves into their 5-point harness rather than wedge their hands between seats to buckle the seat belt. Also, if your child is not quite ready for the booster, and still sometimes moves out of position, it can be quite distracting for you as the driver to keep glancing back in the rear view mirror to check.

If children outgrow their 5-point harness seat, and aren’t ready for a booster, either because of weight or maturity, there are 5-point harness seats with very high top harness slots available, such as the Britax Frontier and the Evenflo Sureride.

So how do you know whether your children are booster-ready? Once your child is consistently over 40 pounds, and at least around 5 ½, you may want to consider booster-training. You know your child best and are the best judge of whether your child is developmentally ready. Take your child booster shopping. Try the booster in your vehicle to insure it fits well, and the seat belt fits well over your child: lapbelt should fit low over the hips or upper thighs, and never over the belly, and the shoulder belt should sit flat in the center of the shoulder, not falling off the shoulder edge, or cutting into the neck. Make sure the shoulder belt retracts back easily if your child moves slightly then moves back. You can start by telling your child that the new seat is for kids who can sit still really nicely in the car, and go over examples of what’s allowed and what’s not allowed while riding in the car. For example, you might tell your child “You can move your arms and legs, but keep your body still so the seat belt always fits properly. If you drop something, you must wait until we stop, and I will get it for you.” You may want to start booster training during short trips where another adult can watch the new booster rider carefully to give feedback or warnings, then gradually try longer rides before putting the child into a booster full-time.

We recommend first putting your child into a high back booster. This establishes some physical boundaries, and high backs have head support for a tired or sleeping child. Once children do well in a high back booster for some time, and no longer fall asleep in the car, you can try a no back booster. Remember that if your vehicle doesn’t have headrests at least up to the tips of the child’s ears, you would need a high back booster in that seating position. In this case, check that you purchase a high back that does not require head support behind it.

So, the key points to remember are:

By law in BC, children must be over 40 pounds, and usually also at least 4 years old, to ride in a booster.
However, many 4 and even 5 year olds aren’t ready for the freedom, so it’s better to keep them in a 5-point harness until they are ready. Don’t be in a hurry to move them into a booster just because all their friends are riding in one. Most are ready by age 5 ½ or 6.
Remember that boosters can *only* be used with lap/shoulder belts, never with lap-only seat belts.
Take your child shopping to get a well-fitting and comfortable booster seat.
Establish some rules with your child to respect the new found freedom that comes with boostering.

Here are some useful links:

A list of technician-recommended booster seats: http://vicarseattechs.com/our-favourite-seats/dedicated-booster-seats/

Information on the booster stage including a list of which high back boosters don’t require head support behind them, and a graphic of good belt fit vs poor belt fit for a boostered rider: http://vicarseattechs.com/2012/to-booster-or-not-to-booster/

To ask car seat questions, or to connect with a local technician, join this Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FraserValleyCarSeatSafety/

-Elaine Wardley, CRST

Research Shows The Effectiveness of Doulas

July 15, 2015

A 2011 study from the Cochrane Collaboration Pregnancy and Childbirth Group showed clear evidence for the effectiveness of doulas in creating positive birth outcomes.

Hiring a doula is part of creating a birth you are happy with, asking questions, trusting your care provider and informed consent are all pieces to the pie. Research does indicate…

fewer medical interventions
less vacuum/forcep delivery
less analgesic use
less Cesarean Births
report more positive birth experience

The language of Birth

April 21, 2015

During the training that Nicole and I attended in March, one of the most inspiring things we took away was considering the language we use when we speak about birth. As a culture, we have cultivated a respect for doctors and medical professionals for their dedication to education and experience. Along with this respect comes a natural obligation to use the language that is medically accepted, despite not being accurate or even inspiring.

Labour

Contraction

Delivery

When you think of these, they bring up visions of doctors and hospitals, amongst other things. Labour is a form of hard work, and though birthing women do tend to exert energy I wouldn’t call them “labourers”, likethey’re on a construction site. Contraction is a word that naturally makes you tense up your muscles unconsciously. When you actually think about what “contraction” means- an involuntary cringe without a set beginning or end- it makes your anticipation of it that much more brutal. Who wants to be in fear of their muscles contracting and expanding, without really knowing when it will end? Then there’s “delivery”… as if your baby will be presented to you on your doorstep wrapped in parchment and tied with string. Of course, when a doctor is the one attending your birth, they sometimes like to think that you need to be assisted through your birth with their help, not the other way around, and thus they will deliver your baby to you once they’ve saved you from your strong contractions and prevented you from labouring too hard with all of their tools.

In reality, you birth your baby. Birthing is individual and unpredictable. You feel sensations you’ve never felt before; they come in waves of varying lengths and durations, but they have a gradual flow of beginning.. to middle.. to end. It takes presence of mind to get through such a new feeling, and being afraid of what you will feel only increases the likelihood that you won’t like it. Support during these sensations can be incredibly helpful, especially from someone who understands the feeling and knows how to help you to manage the sensation yourself. When you start experiencing these sensations, you have entered into an incredible time: early birthing. Your body will continue to wave, and the waves will come sooner and last a bit longer together. These waves are the evidence that your body knows how to birth, and your baby is on their way into the world. You will then begin to actively birth, and soon reach transition, the incredible time when your body quiets down after all that sensation, and stores up some last energy before your baby is born. This is when your baby begins to help out a bit more. Your body won’t be able to control when your baby decides it is time; they push their way into the world in a way that isn’t stoppable. It’s a reflex that your baby triggers when the time has come, and then your body responds in an incredible way.

During this time, your care provider should be watching intently, but not interfering, unless it is medically necessary. A birthing mother and her baby have the rights as human beings to birth unassisted, untouched and uninterrupted. Through the entire of your birthing process, this stands true. Sometimes the opportunity will arise when medical intervention is necessary, and in these situations a care provider is a great asset to have around. But in a naturally occurring birth without induction, with a mother who is aware that what her body is doing is natural and amazing, babies tend to be born beautifully into their own mother’s arms …and they definitely aren’t wrapped in paper.

So, when you are imagining the birth you want for yourself and your baby, please consider how the language you surround yourself with affects the environment you birth in. Doctors or midwives, hospital or home, medical intervention or augmention, doulas or other birth supports- you have options to create an environment that promotes a positive birthing process,should you so choose. We encourage you to feel empowered about making decisions that will help you to rock your birth!

Happy Birthing- Erin