Be Who You Are, Ask For What You Need

In the world of pregnant women, needs can be many. But the choices are many too-one of the most important being how to choose your caregiver. To generalize, choosing an OB is a lot less fraught with choices than perhaps picking a midwife is. But the ideal midwife-client relationship should be the choosing of not only the client, but the midwife too. That means that a midwife should make clear her philosophy so she hopefully attracts the “right” clients for her. And the client should really think about what she wants in a midwife and what is important to her in her prenatal care.
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Take Responsibility for Your Pregnancy

Take responsibility for your pregnancy and for the health of your baby. In response to a reader that has accused me of perpetuating the myth that “premature birth is somehow the mother’s fault”, I feel I must address all of my readers. This email comes as a response to my last article, You Have the Power to Experience a Full-Term Pregnancy.
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Will Your Baby Come Too Soon?

Are you one of the many pregnant women who worry that her baby will come too soon?

But what would you think if I told you that in the homebirth practice I work in, we hardly ever, ever see a baby born before about 39 weeks?

These 2 questions are related because the midwifery community supports and puts into practice certain beliefs about nutrition that the medical world does not. What I have learned is so simple, and makes absolutely so much sense that I hope you can read this and rest assured that if you follow the “advice”, your body will be able to support your baby until it is “full-term” (and in my world, that is 40 weeks, not 37).
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Making An Informed Choice: GBS in Pregnancy

Group Beta Streptococcus (GBS) testing in pregnant women is pretty standard nowadays. Like a lot of routine testing, many women don’t even know why they are being tested or what exactly they are being tested for. Most women don’t realize that each and every test is also a choice. You don’t absolutely have to consent to test for GBS.

The group beta strep bacteria lives in the gut of many healthy people. It is not an STD. The bacteria, when “normally” colonized is not a problem, and there are plenty of people walking around with it that have no symptoms and never feel the worse for it.
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Third Baby Syndrome

My “priorities before baby” list has shrunk, and I am pretty much out of things that really needed to be done. However, I am still pregnant, and could very well remain pregnant for the next week or more. So, here’s a partial list of all the crazy things I have running through my head right now (and please note, that as a midwifery apprentice, these are not necessarily the norm.)
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Sleeping and Eating Oh My…

Sleeping and eating are both big deals in a pregnant woman’s life.

The body needs food, and rest in great quantities so that it can grow a healthy baby and placenta. But although sleeping and eating are vital, they can also be a real challenge to a nauseous, unable-to-sleep woman who may even have heartburn (what fun!) or indigestion.

Pretty ironic, if you think about it. Luckily, there are things you can try if you are experiencing any sleeping or eating uncomfortableness, and all come without a prescription. Nausea and insomnia be gone!
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Homeopathy and Pregnancy

Homeopathy is an option that most women don’t know is available to help them cope with some various complaints of pregnancy. It’s an art all it’s own, and I have had good luck with using it on myself for some basic pregnancy complaints- headaches, nausea and even colds. Learning how to use homeopathy so that it works for you can be challenging, but even the most basic level of understanding (plus being of an experimental nature) makes it worth it since it is one of the safest ways to “treat” pregnancy challenges.
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32 Weeks Pregnant

32 weeks pregnant. I’ve been this way before (twice before) and I am always amazed how nothing has been the same twice. Sure, my baby is growing and so am I. I now have days where I feel great, followed by a day where I just want to feel tolerable! But, due to something (I don’t know what, my midwifery studying? Or maybe just the wackiness of a third pregnancy?) I have learned so much this time about dealing with the aches and pains of the last few weeks.
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Ultrasound: Good or Harmful?

So I came across this article the other day summing up the latest study done on prenatal ultrasound. It’s not a big surprise, but the study concludes that ultrasound may very well change how your baby’s brain is developing in utero. Not surprising, but disturbing nonetheless. However, what is really disturbing to me is the interpretation of this study by some.

It seems at this point (perhaps thanks to Tom Cruise’s purchase of a personal ultrasound machine) everyone pretty much agrees that ultrasound for “entertainment purposes” is not a good idea.
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Due Date Calculator: Alternatives to Ultrasound

So, you don’t have a last period date to go on, or you’re cycles are irregular enough to not know which end is up. How do you know how pregnant you are? Is ultrasound the last resort, the only way? For so many women it is, and many doctors insist on routine ultrasound when there isn’t a period date to go on. But for those opposed to ultrasound (or for those just wanting that first pregnancy challenge) there is another way.
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