Kim Vopni, Fitness Doula Guest Post By: Kim Vopni, Fitness Doula The new mom community is a strong one. Playdates, Mom and Baby Fitness Classes, walks in the park – new moms everywhere are connecting in a variety of ways to share stories and bond through the spit ups, the sleepless nights and the struggles […]
http://www.flickr.com/photos/eyeliam As a birth doula, I often get asked by pregnant women where they can find a Vancouver midwife. There are several midwifery clinics in Vancouver, and it can be difficult to know where to start when choosing which clinic you would like to support you during your upcoming birth. (If you’re wondering what the […]
Photo By Jessica Austin Feeling supported, safe, and taken care of is key to having a positive birth experience. The biggest enemies of birth are fear and anxiety, which decrease mom’s ability to cope with the pain or discomfort of contractions, and can actually slow or halt the birth process altogether. You can read more about […]
Last night in our Free Monthly Prenatal Group, we got to talking about HypnoBirthing and Hypnobabies. These are the two most common “brands” of childbirth hypnosis, and they are getting increasingly popular as a method of preparing for birth. I’m a trained “hypno-doula”, meaning I’ve taken continuing education for supporting couples who are planning to […]
Women birthing with medical care providers such as doctors and registered midwives often have vaginal exams performed every 2-4 hours during a woman’s labour, depending on the care provider and birth location. I could go on and on about cervical exams and how important I believe it is to be extremely cautious with both choosing if or […]
Our baby boy decided to land on the earth under the star of his choice, Wednesday September 5th at 3:07am, at home on Bowen Island. 8.1 pounds, and not a day overdue at 43 weeks. Onyx Ganada (Raven) Davidson, Your pregnancy and birth has given me the vitality, strength, power, wholeness, and spiritual awe I’ve […]
My last baby was posterior. Will that happen again? What can I do to prevent it?” – This question is something I get asked at least once a month and see posted in birthing groups on what seems like a weekly basis. It’s my observation that MOST first babies are posterior for at least part of the […]
Breech birth, a variation of normal human birth that occurs in 3-4% of births, is something that has become a bit of a lost “art”, if you can call it that. There was a period of time where, based on a study that has long since been debated (the Term Breech Trial), it was thought […]
If you follow my blog or facebook page regularly, I think it is obvious that I think normal, natural childbirth is beautiful, amazing, and powerful. But the most important thing to me is that women have access to honest, accurate information so they are able to make informed decisions about their childbirth options. I will always […]
There is a lot of information out there on what your options are during childbirth. If you are out there getting yourself informed, you likely will have armed yourself with information on the common interventions and procedures that are standard practice during birth: fetal heart rate monitoring, cervical exams, induction, pain medication, etc. But do […]
The placenta is one of the most amazing organs of the human body. Whenever we can, we try to show our doula students a real placenta in doula training. Check out this video tour of the anatomy of the placenta, amniotic sac and umbilical cord! If you are interested in our Wise Woman Way of […]
Birth story as written by a Birth Takes a Village Client, and Wise Woman Way of Birth Doula herself! I look over the records. That bottom section for Comments – ‘if not normal’. And under it, in Midwife’s script, “Unattended Home Birth.” Diary Entry: Thought I was in labour on Saturday – then again on […]
Did you hear about the 3D ultrasound clinic in Canada that seems to have been giving EVERYONE a printout of the SAME baby?! We always knew our low-tech, non-invasive, guaranteed risk-free simplistic method of giving families photographic memories of their babies’ development was better! If you missed the CTV news article, here it is: Ultrasound […]
Encouraging your baby to turn head-down: Medical procedure for turning a baby: ECV (External Cephalic Version) Video of ECV Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists on Vaginal Breech Birth: “In Canada, it was common for most breech babies to be delivered through a caesarean section (C-section). With this method, the baby is delivered through incisions made […]
