Bridge to Birth

07/12/2023

The language we use, the words we say & think & hear, shape our world in so many ways.

What could our pregnancy & birth be, if we chose to encompass them with positive thoughts & words? What could parenthood & life in general be? 🥰

https://www.facebook.com/reel/933976804665762?mibextid=9drbnH

03/01/2023

Fabulous stats! If only breech & twin homebirth was a choice Australian women were allowed. Unfortunately here our midwives' hands are tied by AHPRA 💔

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=224634526583601&id=100071111650476&mibextid=Nif5oz

23/10/2022

Prodromal birthing, otherwise known as "false labour" or pre-labour, can be a curse or a blessing, depending on how you approach it. 🤰🏻

When a mama starts having birthing sensations, that go on for hours & that neither rest nor activity relieves, it of course leads to the feeling "is this my birthing time??" 😍 And when they don't grow longer, stronger & closer together, & when eventually they stop, it can create feelings of confusion, frustration, concern, impatience! 😔

For some prodromal birthing continues cyclically for days, which can feel draining, especially if they happen overnight. 😴🥱 For others it comes once for hours and then nothing, leaving mama feeling stuck in limbo: expecting her true birth to start any moment. No matter how you experience it, it can feel disheartening. ❤️

But there's a lot of positive things about prodromal birthing to focus on! Prodomal birthing sensations can:

🏵 Ripen your cervix. Your cervix is likely dilating & effacing, which does not occur with Braxton Hicks

🏵 Strengthen your uterus. Your uterus is exercising, a great warm up for the big day!

🏵 Reduce your early birthing time. Because your uterus & cervix have already gained ground, you may reach your active birthing time more quickly when your true birthing begins. Every prodromal birthing experience may be taking a mile or two off the final marathon!

🏵 Encourages baby to move into an optimal birthing position. Prodromal birthing may be the body helping move a baby out of (for example) breech position. To help a baby further, families might like looking at Spinning Babies (1)

🏵 Shine a light on emotions that need clearing for a smoother birthing experience. Prodromal birthing may mean there are feelings that need to be released, which can be achieved through meditation, journalling, fear clearing, hypnosis or simply talking it through with someone.

🏵 Remind you to slow down. Sometimes birth can come as a surprise that a family doesn't feel ready for: they're still working on their To Do List, or not resting or exercising etc. as much as they want to before the Big Day. A Prodromal birthing can be a wonderful practice run, to remind us what is important to prioritise right now!

🏵 Help you practice your mindfulness, which is a great birthing tool! Notice what thoughts are in your mind during & after your prodromal birthing time. Mentally examine your body, and how it is responding to those thoughts. What feelings do the thoughts raise? Take a deep breathe, & affirm to yourself to let go of any thoughts or feelings that do not serve you. Soften your body, & if you haven't already, start practicing mindfulness daily (2)

Prodromal birthing is a sign that baby is almost ready, & your body is almost there! Be patient, & enjoy these last few days or weeks of your pregnancy as much as you can. This stage of motherhood for this baby will be over soon, & wont come again. ❤️

1. https://www.spinningbabies.com/pregnancy-birth/techniques/three-ways-to-body-balance/
2. https://www.emmaand3.com/7-ways-to-practice-mindfulness-during-pregnancy/

Image: Made for Mums

04/10/2022

🏵 Lotus Births 🏵

As a placenta encapsulator, you might think I could be a little bit biased when it comes to Lotus Births. 😊 I encourage consuming the placenta, as is done throughout the animal kingdom, to gain all the health benefits & to provide support while crossing the hormonal threshold of the post-partum.

I also know how beautiful the philosophy of the Lotus Birth is 💫. Your placenta was your baby's first "mother": a visible, tangible presence who gave your baby life through the umbilical cord... & by Lotus birthing, each baby can choose when they are ready to fully let go to their previous life🤰🏻 & embrace 🤱 their life earth-side. Lotus birthing helps encourage a slow pace in the first days after giving birth, & privacy. It's beautiful to witness. 🥰

I'm a doula too, so I fully support & assist with Lotus Birth care. 🌳 & personally I love the ritual of salting and wrapping the placenta: it is just as sacred & as much an honour as encapsulation is. ❤️

To make an informed choice for your placenta's birth plan, here are some points to consider:

🏵 Lotus birthing requires your placenta to be washed, dried, salted, cared for at least daily for some time, and carried (e.g. in a cloth bag or lined bamboo steamer). This means it may not be a good choice for anyone who:

💠 Doesn't have solid physical support, e.g. single mothers, or families where the other parent works long hours.

💠 Has a busy lifestyle, e.g. you're intending to continue school drop off's or cooking meals straight away.

🏵 If Lotus Birth was something you felt drawn to, but it doesnt feel a perfect fit, you may like to:

🌳 Have a partial Lotus birthing. This can mean separating the placenta into two (one for Lotus, one for encapsulating). Or it can mean keeping the cord attached for an extended time (hours or days), and cut it at a time that feels right.

🌳 Be present with your baby when the cord is cut. This means not looking at it being cut - instead look at your baby's face, eye gaze if her eyes are open, & send her love and compassion as the cord is cut. "I know, I'm here, I'll look after you now".

🏵 If wanting to know more about how to Lotus Birth, I'm always happy to share what I know, & there are plenty of online resources, such as:
https://placentaremediesnetwork.org/your-placenta/lotus-birth/ ❤️

06/05/2022

Every placenta encapsulator's worst nightmare: your dehydrator doesn't start. 😳 It's devastating from a professional perspective, but more importantly for the affected mama. You usually only get one chance to get your capsules done.

So a very big thank you to Andrea, who came to the rescue this week! It's not everyone who would offer their personal machine up for this work. After a deep clean and sterilisation (looks sparkling new!), it's back home & drying nuts. And a new dehydrator is on its way to me!

18/04/2022

🤰Induction options: in hospital & at home

A common question ❓️️asked near the end of pregnancy is "how can I induce my birthing?" Maybe baby is getting up to 41w or 42w 🗓, or medical care providers👩‍⚕️ are suggesting baby should come out early (often for unscientific reasons (1)).

First off, the only time induction should be considered, is if it is safer for baby to be *outside 🤱🏾, rather than *inside 🤰🏻. If baby & mama are both healthy and happy, then continuing to let baby choose when they're ready is perhaps best. If there *is a legitimate reason for inducing, families can choose to either go to hospital 🏥, or to first use some in-home techniques.

In a hospital, induction can mean:

💠 Chemically, with syntocinon (synthetic oxytocin). Chemical induction is more likely to be successful ✅️ if mama's Bishop Score is 8 or more (2). It can be turned off / reduced once things are progressing , so mama's body can start producing its own oxytocin. This may feel important because while sytocinon 💉 is great for getting the uterus moving, it does not properly fulfil other roles that oxytocin (the ❤️ "love hormone") plays in childbirth, bonding and establishing breastfeeding 🤱🏽.

💠 Prostaglandin gel, used to artificially ripen the cervix: have it dilate (open 🌐) and efface (thin).

💠 A Foley catheter 🎈, which will mean spending 12-24h in hospital while it is inserted. This option is not often mentioned 🤐 to families, but it is generally available upon request 🗨.

💠 A Stretch & Sweep ✌️. Prior to any Stretch & Sweep, parents should confirm whether or not they consent ✅️ to an amniotomy (having their waters broken 💦). If they 🙅🏼‍♀️ do not consent, it's a good idea to have someone watch 👀 the procedure, to ensure the care provider *only has a plain glove on (does not have an extra finger glove on), & doesnt pick up any equipment 🪡. These mean the care provider intends to break the waters without consent 🙊.

If a family is looking to avoid hospital induction, there are multiple in-home techniques to consider 🤔. What will work best depends on the reason why your body & baby are choosing to stay as one:

🏵 If the 40 week date 📆 is slightly wrong (conception happened later than calculated), or if baby is simply taking their time, then maybe baby's lungs 🫁 haven't fully matured yet, & aren't releasing their signal that its birthing time (3). If this is the case, obviously it is in baby's best interest to stay put 🤰🏾. Patience is the best option here: some cakes need an extra 10 minutes in the oven 🎂.

🏵 Baby might be still be "high", he hasn't engaged with mama's pelvis yet , & so mama's body is waiting for baby🤰🏻. In this case, 🧘‍♀️Spinning Babies can be wonderful (4), and simple things like relaxing walks, crab walking up and down stairs, or slow hip circles on a fit ball 🟣 can help baby too.

🏵 The cervix mightn't have ripened 🍓🥝🥥. This is likely a symptom, not the cause for a continuing pregnancy: there's a reason mama's body doesn't think it's time to ripen (e.g. maybe baby 👶🏼 needs to drop lower). If wanting to help with cervical ripening, semen contains prostaglandins, or**sm 💥 releases oxytocin, & ni**le stimulation (5) is great at improving someone's Bishop Score , so maybe some bedroom play is a fun choice 🛏? If looking for something else, evening primrose oil 🌹 inserted vaginally is my personal recommendation (6). Acupuncture (5) & eating dates 😋 (7) can also help - around 4 medjool or 10 smaller dates daily, from 37w.

🏵 Uterine sensations ("contractions") might be sporadic 🚦or not progressing. This again is often a symptom (e.g. mama's emotional state, see below), and families should consider mama's Bishop Score & any previous 🏥 C-section before attempting to influence the body's natural rhythm. Besides ni**le stimulation (which can have the wonderful side-effect of collected colostrum to freeze! 👩🏽‍🍼), there's an option to smell clary sage essential oil. Clary sage 🌿 doesn't yet have medical evidence supporting it as a uterotonic (8), but it's traditionally used for this purpose with plenty of anecdotal evidence, it's relaxing 😌, cheap, & has minimal potential side effects.

🏵 Negative feelings like anxiety or fear😨 (or even excitement, which is a nervous energy) release hormones that can press the pause button ⏸️ on a birth (9). When in Fight or Flight mode, the human body acts as if it's not safe to spend a few vulnerable hours birthing. Mama needs to release these feelings and return to a sense of peace 🕊 & trust - maybe through hypnosis or meditation 🧘🏻‍♀️, by writing a raw journal entry, or by talking it out with a friend 🗣 or professional. Some common issues to process are mama's relationship with family members or care providers, or aspects of birth or motherhood 🤱🏼.

Things I don't personally recommend are:

🔆 ️Castor oil. This creates gastro-like symptoms where people feel ill 🤢 with diarrhoea 🚽 & associated dehydration (which can create issues with amniotic fluid, blood volume 🩸and mama's endurance for birth). Colloquially, it helps a person "p**p their baby out" 💩, and it works quite well (7), but I personally consider this a last resort.

🔆 Red raspberry leaf (tea 🫖 or capsules). There's no evidence supporting red raspberry leaf for induction (10), & like many herbs it is diuretic 🚽. The Brewers Diet 🥛 recommends eliminating herbal diuretics from your diet (11), so for me the moderate risk outweighs the potential benefit.

🔆 Chiropractic care 💆🏽‍♀️. This is something I know very little about, and can find little evidence 🕵‍♀️ for or against, so I don't have an opinion to offer. As always, families should do what feels right for them 🤰🏻.

🔆 Spicy food 🌶. Again, there's no evidence for this, and if it *does work, it's likely similar to castor oil, in that spicy food eaten in excess can cause 💩… that burns. And if a baby comes into contact with it, it may sting baby too 😥. Eating spicy food within your comfort levels is fine, but please don't over-do it.

And there you have it! Hopefully with this information, your family will feel confident to make the induction choices that are right for you, and your birth will be a joyous one! ❤️

(1) https://evidencebasedbirth.com/evidence-for-induction-or-c-section-for-big-baby/
(2) https://www.healthline.com/health/pregnancy/bishop-score
(3) https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/03/040323070708.htm #:~:text=In%20their%20study%2C%20UT%20Southwestern,normal%20breathing%20outside%20the%20womb
(4) https://www.spinningbabies.com/overdue-is-baby-engaged-yet/
(5) https://evidencebasedbirth.com/ebb-125-evidence-on-acupressure-acupuncture-and-breast-stimulation/
(6) https://evidencebasedbirth.com/evidence-on-evening-primrose-oil-epo/
(7) https://evidencebasedbirth.com/ebb-128-inducing-labor-with-castor-oil-and-dates/ #:~:text=Researchers%20have%20found%20beneficial%20effects,grams%20of%20date%20fruits%20daily
(8) https://www.aromatherapyforchildbirth.org/clary-sage-labour/
(9) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1595201/
(10) https://evidencebasedbirth.com/ebb-139-red-raspberry-leaf-tea/
(11) http://drbrewerpregnancydiet.com/id86.html

16/02/2022

During my first pregnancy, I bought a cot with the intention of setting it up to side-car co-sleep. I'd learnt enough to know that co-sleeping was best for baby (& probably me), but bed sharing felt too scary. What if I rolled over in my sleep and crushed him? What if my hair wrapped around his neck, or the blanket covered his face and smothered him??

Fortunately he came earlier than expected in the middle of the night, and his cot wasnt set up yet. So he slept in bed with me "just for tonight". That one night has gone for over six years now. 😊❤

There's so much we're taught to fear about about bed sharing - even SIDS, which once was called "cot death", has somehow flipped to be presented as higher risk in a bed sharing situation. (Pro tip: it's because they classify all co-sleeping in the one statistic, and the highest risk category is falling asleep with a baby on a couch or armchair... which is something that usually happens when baby *isn't bed sharing)

But there's so much to love about it. And here's just one example! Bed sharing is a safe option for most people - if you don't smoke, get drunk or take mind-bending medications, or are obese. It's also the most delicious sleep arrangement, for you and baby. 🥰

If you're pregnant and thinking you can't bed share, my advice is: get yourself a side car, but don't spend too much $ on it! Get a second hand one, or borrow one from a friend. Give yourself some time with your baby, to see if all that fear can easily wash away, once your baby is in your arms. ❤

15/12/2021

Sharing my own post, because this is such an important message at this time of year! ❤

01/12/2021

Some incredible portraits of birth. Which is your favourite?

These birth photos are from the International Association of Professional Birth Photographers 2021 Birth Photography Image Competition.

01/11/2021

Practicing Your No 🧏🏽& Stop🙅🏻‍♀️

Many women are Yes men. We find it challenging 😅 to raise our voice if someone is doing or saying something we're uncomfortable with 🙊. We find it tricky to 🗣 question someone we think might be wrong 🤐, in fact we might even instead question ourselves. We don't want to rock the boat, it doesn't bother us *that much.

This is something that does 👏 Not 👏 Serve 👏 Us. Not in general life, and especially not during pregnancy🤰🏼& birth. So here is what you can do:

🔹️ whenever someone is saying something you don't want to hear or don't agree with, you can communicate by:
🔸️ smiling 👩🏻
🔸️ put your hand up in a stop sign ✋🏽🚫
🔸 ️gently & firmly direct the conversation 🗨

This 3-step process applies with everyone:
💠 strangers on the street
💠 family and friends
💠 your partner
💠 pregnancy & birth care providers

Some example sentences for you to practice:

🏵 "thank you, I have medical care providers who give me all the information I need, & won't be basing my decisions on anecdotes. Could you instead tell me about your favourite moment in birth?"

🏵 "the choices you made might have felt right for you. They don't for me, and that's ok, everyone's different. Would you like to see this birth video so I can show you what I'm wanting to achieve?"

🏵 "your opinion is valuable to me: this is your baby too, & I want us to work together & both be happy with my birth plan. This is my body though, so if we don't agree, I need my birth partner to be supportive of my choices. I want you to look at this info, & do you have something I can look at to learn more about your preferences?"

🏵 "I'm not able to make a decision yet, would you like to provide me with some reading material so I can investigate this further between now and our next appointment?"

🏵 "you've explained the risks already, I heard about them during pregnancy and I don't want to continue hearing about them now. If you would like to put something in writing I can read through and sign that I understand the risks? Right now I would like to hear about alternatives to this option, please"

& if you're still not sold 🤔 that this is something you need to do for yourself, let me reframe this for you. This is a skill you need, as a mother. 👩‍👧‍👦 Because sometimes baby needs mama bear to come out 💪🏿🐻 So you are practicing an important parenting skill, first during pregnancy, & then during birth, so you have this skill ready when your kids need it ❤

31/10/2021

"My baby hates tummy time"

Most of the time when 👶baby is fussing about tummy time, it's not so much that they don't like the position. They just don't like being put alone on the ground.

Pro tip - tummy time doesn't need to be a stressful experience with no physical connection! It can be done with baby:

🔹️in your arms, like my cutie #1 in this pic
🔸️with you lying down on your back & putting baby on your chest / belly, facing you
🔹️ ditto with you reclining on a couch
🔸️once they're old enough, with you lying down with your knees up, & baby on your shins (though this is a magnet for older siblings to beg for their turn 😅)

If you take off your shirts, tummy time this way can also boost your skin on skin time, too, with all the health benefits that come with that 💗

Baby is guaranteed to be a convert, & will love tummy time with mummy time! 🥰