The Ivy Doula Group, Birth and Lactation Support

Welcome to the world baby girl 💗
You gave your mama the most empowered feeling in the world! She is loving the VBAC endorphin high! Your big sister loves your cheeks and nose! From the second you were born, your dad was completely amazed!

This one might be our biggest pet peeve: When a health care professional say "baby is gaining weight well so even if they have oral ties I'm not worried about it" 🤬🤬🤬

Here's the thing, even if baby is gaining weight and breastfeeding appears to be going well, that doesn't mean the baby is thriving. Oral dysfunction is only a small part of the major roles oral ties play and as we've said before there is no such thing as a mild tie, stretching out a tie, or growing out of a tie.

Oral ties affect the airway. They can reduce the space in the nasal cavity. They can cause tension in the laryngeal muscles. Open mouth breathing isn't cute, it's a sign of complete dysfunction.

Oral ties affect posture and developmental skills
Oral ties babies that don't get them resolved may be delayed in rolling, sitting, crawling and walking. They will very likely have delayed speech and trouble with pronunciation once they do start talking. This then can lead to impaired social skills and play skills.

Oral ties can cause all sorts of gastrointestinal problems from reflux to constipation.

Unless your provider has completed specific oral tie training, does a full oral function assessment, and full feeding assessment, don't listen to anything they say about oral ties. Your baby may not see the consequences right away, but as adults that have had tongue ties revised, we guarantee at some point in their life they will feel the effects.

Just like with breastfeeding, there is a wide range of normal when it comes to s*x during pregnancy. Some women may not want to be touched at all while others have a hire libedo. It's all within the range of normal.

Here's some things to consider:
🤰There are some times in pregnancy when s*x may not be safe during pregnancy like if you are on pelvic floor rest, have unexplained bleeding, or your water has already ruptured
👩‍❤️‍👨There are benefits like boosting IgA levels to protect you from colds, strengthen pelvic floor and uterine wall, lower stress, and lower blood pressure
🍑 Everything down there may be extra sensitive and even engorged due to extra blood flow, water based lubricants can help
🍆It's not going to hurt your baby and baby isn't going to feel anything. The cervix is thick, the mucus plug is thick, amniotic fluid absorbs motion.
😘You might have to get creative as your belly grows, certain positions might not be comfortable anymore
*xduringpregnancy

Whether you are up all night with a newborn who hasn't developed a circadian rhythm yet, or your 9 months old is teething, or your 17 month old has an ear infection, or your 2 year old just wants to play with bocks all night; sleep deprivation is hard!

These things can help:
🌜Get some morning sunshine as soon as you get out of bed
🌜Spend some time in nature
🌜Nourish your body, eat some protein and healthy fats
🌜Drink some water
🌜Do something that makes you feel like you (listen to music, call a friend, watch your favorite show, go to your favorite coffee shop)

What helps you get through the next day or week?

We love getting to hear a dad's perspective and how valuable our support is to them as well as mom! Thank you for sharing how important knowing all of your options was and how having an amazing advocate made all the difference! The dads we work with are just as awesome as the moms!!

We all like to feel a little bit extra lucky on St. Patrick's Day but when it comes to your birth experience and breastfeeding experience, luck has nothing to do with it!

You have to educate yourself! Not rely on what other people say, not even your provider.

You have to have support!!! As doulas and lactation consultants we are always rooting for you! La Leche League of the Northern Shenandoah Valley is also a great place for support!

Ahhh the infamous labor walk... Not so relaxing

Walking in active labor, especially on uneven ground is extremely beneficial! As humans, we are a part of nature and mother earth and finding that connection during labor can be extremely powerful.

If contractions slow during labor, there is nothing better than a nice brisk walk to pick them back up again. Walking helps open the pelvis, helps baby descend, and let's gravity do a tiny bit of the work.

We love adding some good belly lifts in too! They can help tuck baby's head!

Did you use walking as tool during labor?

Torticollis by itself is tightness and weakness in baby's neck muscles. By itself, it is a symptom not a diagnosis. It's a symptom of one of our favorite topics: oral ties!

Keep an eye out for:
🟢 The head tilting one way and the chin tilting the opposite way
🟢 Preference about which way baby turns their head
🟢 Limited head and neck movement
🟢 Excessively elevated shoulders
🟢Trouble latching especially on one side
🟢Uses one arm more than the other
🟢 Head flattening or molding

hCG stands for human chorionic gonadotropin and is the hormone that is responsible for giving you that positive pregnancy test! It is present in urine about 12-14 days post conception and is produced by the cells of the developing and soon to be placenta.

Levels of hCG typically double every 72 hours and reach peak levels towards the end of first trimester. hCG levels have a wide range. Pregnancy tests will show up positive at 10-25mIU/ml but levels can go over 200,000mIU/ml.

We focus so so much on our birth plan even though birth is unpredictable sometimes but what about your breastfeeding plan? Did you make one? Is it something you never thought about before?

Having a breastfeeding plan can make the 6 week learning curve a lot easier to navigate! Here's some things to include:

🤱Keep baby close and unswaddled
🤱 Immediate skin to skin and skin to skin during the first 6 weeks or longer
🤱 Antenatal expression (know how to hand express)
🤱Offer the breast frequently (when in doubt whip it out)
🤱Have our number, La Leche League of the Northern Shenandoah Valley's number, and the number of a friend who breastfed at least a year in your phone
🤱Find a breastfeeding friendly pediatrician before baby is born (don't trust they say they are, ask questions)
🤱Don't keep extra formula on hand

If you had a breastfeeding plan, what did you put on it?

Our body does some truly amazing things during pregnancy and so does our baby's body! Pregnancy is truly a miraculous time!

🤰At 18 weeks, your baby can hear your voice and they will recognize your voice once they are born
🤰 Around 14 weeks, your body begins to produce colostrum
🤰Your uterus can expand 500 times it's original size and then contract back to it's original size after birth
🤰Your heart actually gets bigger during pregnancy
🤰Your baby can send cells to damaged tissues in your body to repair them and those cells can stay for decades
trimester

We are looking to build our team once again! Open to a seasoned Doula or someone
newer with training. Must be a good fit within the team as we do work together a lot. We take clients from the Nova area to WV. If you are interested you can text me (Tara) at 540-305-7675 or email [email protected]

What's something you want to know about your doulas and lactation consultants! It can be anything from our hobbies to our favorite color or something about birth and breastfeeding! Be creative!

Each of us will answer!

Optimal nutrition in the first and second year of life is essential. By your baby's first birthday, their brain is 50% the size that it will be as an adult. By the second year, their brain is 75% of it's adult size.

Children who get the right nutrition, especially from human milk, during the first 1,000 days of life are more likely to graduate high school, earn 21% more in wages as an adult, and have healthier families as an adult. Human milk feeding not only benefits you and your baby in the present moment but their whole life and future generations!

"Empowered women, empower women"

Happy International Women's Day!

Another happy Mama! Thank you for writing a review Stephanie! It has been an honor to support you!

This Mama had complete trust in her body and trust in the process! It has been an honor to serve her! We are so grateful when Mama's take the time to leave us a review!

Heading back to work? Here's what you need in your pump bag:

👜Pump
👜Extra pump parts
👜Back up manual pump
👜Hands free pump bra or tank top
👜Milk storage bags
👜Water and snacks
👜 Picture of baby
👜Cooler bag

What's something you always have to have in your pump bag?

Reach out to us if you need help transitioning back to work!

Dates. Does anyone actually like them?

The texture and taste can be hard to get past for some moms but there is actually a good amount of evidence that shows they make labor and birth easier. Heres some of the key benefits:

🟣 Help ripen the cervix
🟣 Shortens the length of labor
🟣 Strengthens the uterus
🟣Helps reduce cramping
🟣 Increases the rate of dilation
🟣 Reduces postpartum bleeding
🟣 More manageable contractions
🟣Less chance of induction and unnecessary interventions

March Lactation Trivia:
🤱In some African and Asian cultures, mothers nurse their infants up to 100 times a day
🤱Mothers over age 30 are more likely to be successful breastfeeding
🤱A protein in breastmilk can cause cancer cells to self destruct
🤱Breasts can gain up to 2lbs in preparation for breastfeeding
🤱The wealthier the country, the less likely mothers are to breastfeed

Tens Units are one of our really useful tools in labor for managing contractions!

Tens units send electrical impulses that reduce the nervous system's ability to transmit pain. Tens units also help stimulate the production of endorphins to relieve pain.

Tens units are especially great for back labor. They do require an extra set of hands to put on and take off and they can't be used in the shower or birth pool.

Did you know being born whether vaginally or by cesarean can leave residual body tension in babies? Did you know a tongue tie can cause whole body tension?

Body tension can greatly affect a baby's ability to get a deep latch and transfer milk.

Some of the things we look for are head turning preference, head tilt, stiff shoulders, head flattening, tightly clenched fists, stiff ankles, tense toes, and a c curve.

This is why body work from a chiropractor or craniosacral therapist and lactation support go hand in hand!

Birth Story: Asynclitic VBAC
Written By Tara
I arrived to her home after 8 plus hours of contractions. When they called me to come her contractions were every 5-7 minutes and she had had her first bloody show. I arrived at their house about an hour later. After observing for a little bit I noticed her contractions were about 3 mins apart and she was starting to feel shaky and a little nauseous. I was seeing all the signs of transition. Mom asked to go to the hospital so she had the option for pain management. We arrive at the hospital and they ctx were every 2-3 and very intense. Feeling some urge to p**p with contractions. We got to triage and she declines a check which caused a lot of drama. “We can’t admit you if we don’t know you are really in labor”. The midwife was called and we were taken to a room. Mom asked for an epidural right away. About 2 hours later she decided to be checked because her ctx were now every 5-6 mins and was 8 cm. We had a breast pump brought in and pumped for awhile to see if that would pick things up but they actually spaced out to 7 mins. After some hard talks we decided pitocin was our best option. At 6 units she was back to 2-3 mins apart. We stayed at 8 cm for what seemed like an eternity but FINALLY got to the point of feeling that constant pressure. After the first round of pushing babies heart rate dropped into the 60’s. We stopped the pitocin and took a rest. Baby recovered nicely. We pushed twice more and baby did the same thing so the midwife checked and noticed he was ascynclitic but he did turn his head with contractions. Push 3, he drops to the 50’s and we can’t get him to recover. We give oxygen, change positions, and nothing is helping. Dad is off to the side crying and mom just looks like a deer in the headlights. I hear clear the OR and the room gets flooded. The ob says we need to get this baby out fast if you want a vaginal birth. Longest 13 minutes of my life. We need to stretch you and use a vacuum, we will probably have to do an episiotomy…are you okay with this? Mom says I’ll do anything I have to do. Let me tell you about strength….she pushed this baby out in 10 mins with no vacuum and her baby was put right on her chest and she had a FIRST degree lac. Baby was never taken from her. I have never seen a mom advocate and work with such determination.