Nurturing Palms Doula Services

10/19/2022

Today is another day that I’m reminded of how much I love what I do. Education, informed choices, and preparation to pave the road to desired outcomes, even when they can be difficult, are so rewarding. I had the honor of supporting a superstar mama while she labored her precious sunny side up baby boy and gave birth the way she wanted and planned - vaginal and drug free. She trusted her body and found the strength within herself and had a beautiful birth. Welcome to the world, sweet baby boy. 💕

05/05/2022

Thank you to all the midwives for all you do. Thank you to my midwife, Tammy Dieffenbach, that attended the birth of my daughter almost 16 years ago. Thank you to MidwifeMary who also attended my birth. Thank you to my friend, MJ Pruett. Thank you, Ina May Gaskin, for your revolutionary work. And thank you to all the midwives I’ve worked with, will work with, and all of the other midwives that are working to provide the best maternal care day after day and night after night. Midwives are superheroes!

💕

02/05/2022

Birth Days are the best days!
Welcome to the world, Liam 👶

01/28/2022

This was a great article by WPTV that featured my good friend, mentor, and colleague Doula Ruth Kraft and her non-profit, Community Calling that sponsors doula scholarships for BIPOC in Palm Beach County. It was filmed at Palm Beach Maternity Center owned by an amazing midwife, MJ Pruett. I am honored to be part of such a wonderful community of birth workers. 💕

A South Florida nonprofit is working to provide funding to pay doulas to work in underserved communities.

12/21/2021

I am so proud of this mama. After lots of preparation, she had a successful and beautiful VBAC in a hospital! We had hoped that she’d go into labor before today, which was the scheduled c-section day. Thankfully, she was in labor when she got there and had the support to advocate for herself and request to be allowed to continue laboring instead of going for the c-section. She checked in at 10:00 am and her beautiful baby was Earthside at 4:59pm, born in three pushed with no epidural.

I am so honored to have had the opportunity to support this amazing mama and help her achieve the birth she wanted.

12/13/2021

It warms my heart to see this post come up in my memories. This was written 11 years ago by a friend of mine that had just had her third baby. She had wanted to breastfeed her first two children but didn’t have the support to do so. When baby #3 came, I supported her through her pregnancy and postpartum. With a little bit of help, her son was able to successfully latch and their breastfeeding journey began. I remember how proud of her self this beautiful mama was that her son thrived off of her nourishment.

11/25/2021

I hope you are all having a beautiful Thanksgiving and that you are full of reasons to be thankful.

This has been a special year for me, and I’m grateful for so much.

I’m grateful for my two wonderful children, Alexander and Liani. They are such good people full of love, kindness, empathy, and compassion. My son graduated college this spring and is living in Chicago, working as a medical scribe and studying for his MCAT. My daughter is a sophomore in high school, yet still sweet and loves being with her mama.

I’m grateful for my mother and for her love and support. This was a big year for her that brought many changes. It’s so good to see her so happy. I’m also thankful for the delicious food she still cooks for me!!

I’m grateful for my brothers, Ches and Michael. They both are such outstanding men. I’m excited for the upcoming arrival of my nephew, Ches’s son, this Spring and the upcoming nuptials of my brother Michael in the fall.

I’m thankful to my friend, mentor, and colleague, Ruth, for her support, friendship, and guidance. She had given me the tools to follow my passion.

I’m grateful that I’m now the doula that I was born to be. This isn’t just a “career” but the opportunity to do the work I have always been meant to do. It takes a certain kind of person to be a doula. Providing emotional, physical, and informational support has always been part of who I am, fundamentally, as a person. I have been honored to be invited into the sacred birthing space of my beautiful clients, helping them through the biggest transitions of their lives, the moment of becoming mothers. Watching them find their strength, trusting their bodies, bringing these tiny humans into the world is something that fills my soul with love. To be able to make such a positive and impactful difference in these moments that will stay with them for their entire lives is truly an honor and a blessing.

I thank you all for choosing me, for sharing your sacred experiences with me, and for trusting me to provide you with my Nurturing Palms.

Happy thanksgiving to you all!

11/15/2021

Informed Consent is a right to ensure patients participate & make decisions in their medical care. In the scope of pregnancy & birth, informed consent is when the birthing parents actively decide what types of treatments/interventions they agree to.
To make these decisions, it's important to know the Benefits & Risks, available Alternatives, what your Intuition says, and what if you do Nothing. This is the "B.R.A.I.N." acronym: "Benefits, Risks, Alternatives, Intuition, Nothing."
While it's beneficial to create a birth plan, it's also important to recognize that births don't always go according to plan. Often, when that happens, medical providers may suggest interventions which can lead to more interventions, ultimately resulting in a birth experience very different from what was envisioned.
This is why it's so important to understand your body, the birthing process, and what's known as "cascade of interventions." While it may be innate to blindly trust our medical providers, they don't always have our "birth plan" or even our best interests as their priority.
Is your provider trying to schedule a c-section because of a "big baby” or your baby isn't in proper position weeks before the due date? Is an induction being planned in advance of your EDD because your cervix isn't effaced or dilated? Has your provider mentioned performing an ECV (External Cephalic Version) because baby is breech? There are alternatives to these procedures. There are times when these could be the best option, but it's important to know the risks, benefits & alternatives so that you can be educated when it's time to decide.
It's also important to recognize that coercion is not consent. A provider saying, “I’m going to rupture your membranes now” is NOT the same as asking your permission to break your water.
As a doula, I discuss all this with birthing parents during pregnancy and provide evidence-based information to aid in making these decisions. Proper preparation increases the probability of a better birth experience.

11/07/2021

These are some of the benefits of using a Labor Doula during pregnancy and childbirth. The World Health Organization (WHO) developed what they call the Safe Birth Checklist, and on that list, they included doula support.

During the course of the prenatal visits and education, the birthing parents tend to form a bond with their doulas. Birthing parents learn about their options, their rights, and gain confidence in their decisions through informational support.

During childbirth, doulas bring a calmness to the birthing space, offer an array of comfort measures, and reduce the fear associated with labor. This reduction of fear directly correlates to a more comfortable, less painful delivery.

According to the National Institute of Health (NIH), "doula assisted mothers were four times less likely to have a low birth weight baby (LBW), two times less likely to experience a birth complication involving themselves or their baby, and significantly more likely to initiate breastfeeding....A skilled doula empowers a woman to communicate her needs and perceptions and actualize her dream of a healthy, positive birth experience. "

Having a doula present during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum is not a luxury - it's a necessity. The earlier in the pregnancy that the doula/birthing parent relationship is established, the stronger the bond will form.

Contact me to see if we are a good fit. We can discuss your expectations, fears, and perceptions of birth and develop a plan that works for you.

11/06/2021

Labor Doulas provide Physical, Emotional, Informational, and Environmental support during pregnancy and labor.

A doula can show physical support in many ways such as soothing touch, massage, and counter pressure, using heat or cold therapy, helping to use beneficial breathing, comfortable or productive birthing positions, and using other comfort measures that provide relaxation and decrease pain.

Emotional support comes from the continuous presence of the doula who is reassuring and praising the birthing person. Other forms of emotional support include keeping the birthing person calm, working through fears and self-doubt, and showing empathy.

Informational support, which begins during pregnancy, includes preparing the birthing person and their partner for pregnancy and childbirth, providing them with evidence-based information, and ensuring that the parents know their options, rights, and alternatives to invasive procedures can can decrease the satisfaction of their birth experience.

Environmental support can be keeping the lights of the room dim, the sounds low, or help with birthing music or affirmations. Ensuring that the birthing parent is comfortable, keeping the birthing space free from unwelcome bystanders are additional measures of environmental support.

While a labor doula should never speak on behalf of a birthing parent, we do encourage birthing parents to be aware of their rights, ask questions when they are unsure of something, support the decisions of the parent(s). We make sure that the birthing parent is aware of any interventions that are about to be performed and encourage informed consent.

While a labor doula cannot guarantee any outcome of a birth, we can help to prepare the birthing parents to prepared for what to expect and make evidence-based suggestions to improve the overall birth experience and increase the potential of their birth plans being met.

Doulas are so beneficial that the World Health Organization recommends and encourages them to be present at birth.

For more information as to how I can help you, please contact me.

11/04/2021

I’m Chrissi and I’m a labor & postpartum doula. My own birth experiences led me down the path of birthwork, which began 15 years ago. I was blessed to have an amazing doula (Doula Ruth Kraft) that taught and empowered me so much that it changed the course of my life. She is now one of my colleagues as well as my mentor and trainer. With her love, support, teaching, and encouragement (all doula qualities), I am pursuing my own passion of doing the same for others. Words just can’t explain that feeling when you watch a new mother being born, knowing that the support I’ve provided her has eased that journey.

I’m excited about all the new people whose paths I’ll cross and the new babies joining our world.

11/02/2021

11/02/2021