TOL has been Christened!

Tree of Life is thrilled to announce we have christened the Birth Center! Chase was born yesterday at 130pm 9lb7oz the third and biggest boy for this family! Chase came out direct (OP occiput posterior) or looking up instead of down. We call these babies star gazers and can definitely be more work for mommies! TOL is so honored to have been chosen to be apart of this families lives and will never forget the day Chase made us a Birth Center!

New Arrival

Precious little Owen William was born on Saturday, September 29 @ 4:04pm. Such a beautiful home birth.

Investing In Your Birth

Investing in your birth makes sense. It is one of the most memorable and life changing events that occurs in our lifetime. Why is it then that most people do more research when buying a car rather than in the birth of their child? Gas mileage, safety, resale value, and crash ratings are just a few things people research before investing in a new car. What do people research prior to giving birth? Often nothing. They show up where their insurance tells them to go and do what they are told, rarely asking questions. Investing in the birth process, options, and practitioner are important because it ultimately affects the outcome and memory you will have forever. 

Investing in your birth involves research, time, and money. It’s like the saying “what you put in you get out”.  First, you should research and invest in nutrition. I recommend perimeter shopping which involves shopping around the parameter of the grocery store and avoiding middle isles that contain boxed food that are highly processed. Whole wheat bread, grains, and pasta should substitute white, processed foods which contain little B vitamins including Folic Acid which is important in preventing Spina Bifida in the baby. Getting on a whole food prenatal vitamin which contains fruits and vegetables in the ingredients list not dyes and preservatives is also very important to prevent anemia, muscles cramps, and increase overall energy.

Taking time to interview practitioners is another crucial step to investing in your birth experience. Pregnancy is not an illness and so you aren’t being treated or cured of anything. You are hiring the practitioner and so you do have a choice and say in how you want to be treated. You can also fire them. What are your practitioner’s philosophy on natural childbirth, breastfeeding, and bonding with the newborn. Does the practitioner honor birth plans? How late can you go past your due date prior to medical induction? Do they offer any natural remedies for common discomforts or natural inductions. What is their cesarean rate and why? Midwifery is a partnership between the client and the midwife. They come to trust each other during the prenatal period and each knows the intention and goal of the other. This facilitates natural birth because the woman trusts the process and the practitioner and so can turn her brain off and just birth. Choosing a practitioner that wants to partner with you to educate you on the process of birth empowers you to make good choices during the pregnancy and recognize when complications arise.

Research the location you plan to birth in. What are the options they offer for women in labor? Is there telemetry monitoring in every room or the option for intermittent monitoring? Do they offer hydrotherapy? What is the cesarean section rate? Do they encourage rooming in with the baby? Do they provide early discharge in less than 12 hours if everything is normal with mom and baby? Where you birth is a big investment in how the overall experience will be….it’s the venue! You want to feel relaxed and safe at the same time. Many women are choosing out of hospital birth and staying home or going to a birth center because they want the overall experience to be intimate and empowering and not a medical event. Many women will say once they walked into the hospital they lost control and felt powerless over their birth. When having a homebirth the practitioner walks into your home and respects your space and desires for the birth. There are no strangers walking in or restrictions in movement or food and yet all the emergency medical equipment is available.

Finally, being prepared to spend extra money on the practitioner, classes, and extra help is a good investment for planning your birth. Enrolling in a good childbirth and breastfeeding class such as Hypnobirthing, Bradley Method, or Birthing From Within that teaches about how birth works, coping techniques, coaching tips, and afterbirth care is priceless. Avoid mainstream classes that prepare you how to be a good patient and when you’re “allowed” to get pain medication. This will help you get a good overall education on the process and options. Paying extra for a practitioner who is out of network or not covered at all may still save you money in the end if you avoid s cesarean section. Investing in a doula or labor coach who supports natural birth and is educated on options and how to support   through birth is another investment which helps prevent cesarean section.

Ultimately in the end we don’t have control over when or how birth happens. But that’s the point. We can’t control birth and too often we try. Investing the time to educate yourself on birth and researching for the person to guide you through it creates a place of peace in however it turns out. Women can accept the outcome when they understand how they got there.

Delilah Rose 7lb4oz born at home in 4hrs! Daddy caught this angel and she is perfect!

Natural First Aid For Your Kiddos!

Natural First Aid & Home Remedies For Infants, Toddlers & Children

Saturday, September 22 at 10:00am at Tree of Life Birth and Gynecology
Please call the office to register as class is almost full! We are so excited to finally have Crystal at TOL teaching this class.....4078782757.

Cankles!?!

Swelling in pregnancy has come to be accepted as a normal event, especially in the last trimester when women have 30% more blood volume than when not pregnant. Women will come into the office concerned with swollen hands and ankles and I jokingly assure them that even I, at the end of a hot August day NOT pregnant, have tight rings and/or sock lines. There are some natural remedies for swelling in pregnancy and a few warning signs that you should contact your Midwife for.

Some women think that they are swollen because they are drinking too much water. That is not the case. Most women are dehydrated vascularly and so their body is storing or “third spacing” the water. During pregnancy a woman needs 64oz of water a day. In the summer months I encourage increasing that by 12 oz daily. Now that is on top of whatever other fluids you consume during the day….a minimum of 64 oz of WATER daily.

Consuming natural diuretics is another way to decrease the swollen ankles and hands during pregnancy. Watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumbers, and celery are natural diuretics and help the body clear water in tissue from third spacing. We encourage juicing at the practice for swelling. One great recipe is simply watermelon with the rind, half an apple, and 1 celery. Some women will add liquid calcium magnesium 1000mg/500mg to the mix for added benefits of venous wall relaxation to decrease blood pressure and help with stress and anxiety often felt as the big day approaches. Adding herbal teas such as Nettles and Dandelion root will also reduce overall swelling.

Exercising at least 3 times a week will also improve swelling, especially in the feet and ankles. When we exercise our body pumps the blood through our system and then clears fluid that is stuck in tissue. Often women will have the worst swelling in their feet and ankles at the end of the day because they have been standing on their feet most of the day and the fluid as pooled to their lower or dependent body parts. By taking a walk mid-day or at the end of the day, that fluid will be redistributed and the swelling reduced. Trying to take 20 minutes during the day to prop your feet up, possibly even above your heart, will also help.  Some women need compression socks which are just like men’s tube socks that increase pressure on their feet and calves. This pushes the fluid back up and prevents severe swelling that can often be painful due to the tension on the skin.

Warning signs that could indicate that the swelling is more than just normal pregnancy symptoms are when you experience facial swelling, especially in the eyes, headaches, and visual changes. This could indicate increased blood pressure. Moms will often say they “just don’t feel right”. They experience headaches that are unresolved with rest, eating, or Tylenol and seem to swell overnight. As midwives we believe you are the expert on your body and always listen when you sense something is wrong. Please call your practitioner right away you have any of the warning signs above.

 

Water baby

Here is a beautiful example of a waterbirth where momma did it all with only our love and support! Baby is under the water here.....thanks to Barbara Harper's Waterbirth Certification Workshop I am calm and enjoying babies opening their eyes and experiencing out-of-maternal-body underwater...... it makes so much sense when you embrace it. We are created and evolve in water....we are made of water......we need water to survive......why not buffer our transition to this plane with water?......What are your thoughts? Does this picture bring any one specific emotion?

Announcing Tree of Life's First Commercial! So excited to have our Tree of Life Family as stars in this commercial.
I want to thank all of our clients for being so patient and understanding these past 2 weeks! Between AC issues......new birth center stress........hubby out sick with back issues......and all the normal stressors, I have been a little off......you all have listened to me these past few weeks and truly acted as family in supporting us and our growing pains! I am so blessed to be apart of your lives!

UP COMING EVENTS

UP COMING EVENTS:

Saturday, September 15, 2012: Tree of Life will be at the Ultimate Baby Shower & Children's Expo in Daytona Beach.  The event runs from 10:00am-6:00pm and is FREE to attend. Come out and enjoy a fun family day!! http://www.festivals.com/viewevent.aspx?eventid=u4pf1xUunPw%3D

Thursday, September 20, 2012: At the Tree of Life Birth Center in Deland we will hosting a screening for the new documentary "Freedom for Birth." The screening will be from 7:00pm-9:00pm with some movie refreshments and prego-tinis. This will be our first event at the new Birth Center. Anyone that attends the event we ask you please bring a nonperishable food item for use to donate to the Second Harvest Food Bank in Sanford.

Saturday, September 22, 2012: At the Tree of Life Sanford Office we have a Natural First Aid Class from 10am-12pm the cost of the class is $35.00 and you will learn how to construct a natural first aid kit, basic homeopathy, and basic herbal medicine for children. Contact Crystal @ 386-214-4388 for questions and to register for the class.

MY LITTLIEST MAN SUPPORTING WOMEN'S CHOICES AND AWARENESS IN BIRTH!

National Rally for Change

Today was an inspiring day in downtown Orlando. There were over 100 people present to support change in Central Florida's Birth Practices. This was a peaceful demonstration that was Nationwide to bring awareness to the trends in birth in the U.S. This was not a protest or an anti- hospital campaign, as some of the news reporters were trying to play out. If it's not drama, it's not news! As women we must take responsibility for the birth practices in our communities. We have either assked for it or allowed it. As I stated in my interview, women and families often do more research buying a car than in their options and best practices for pregnancy and birth. If anything, I hope this opens eyes to the families in the community to stop and ak questions. The hospitals are not the enemy.....we are our own enemy by remaining ignorant to our body and the birth process.