Are you pregnant? Have you thought about having a doula with you? Do you know what they do?
Check out Hamilton Doula Group to discover how a doula can help you have a fantastic birth - no matter what kind of birth you want to have!
Picking Prenatal Care - Midwives
Join us for the first in our series on how to pick prenatal care in Hamilton. Find out the pros and cons of midwives and how you can get a midwife to care for you during your pregnancy.
Picking Prenatal Care: OBs
Learn all about how Obstetricians can help you when you are pregnant. Learn the pros and cons and how to get one.
Picking Prenatal Care - FPs
Learn all about how Family Practioners can help you when you are pregnant. Learn the pros and cons and how to get one.
Tips For New Parents: Poop
In our Tips For New Parents series we examine some issues you may not learn about stuff you never thought you`d need or want to know! Today we're talking about poop! Learn all about baby poop and some tips for how to handle it.
Great Images: Transition
This mother is in transitional labour. Her husband holds her hand firmly as she rests on her side with a cool cloth on her forehead and hypnosis tracks quickly playing in her ear.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Video - Doulas!
Are you pregnant? Have you thought about having a doula with you? Do you know what they do?
Check out Hamilton Doula Group to discover how a doula can help you have a fantastic birth - no matter what kind of birth you want to have!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Tips for New Parents: Poop
Meconium is the name of the stuff your baby will poop out shortly after birth. Rarely, some babies have their first poop during birth and when this happens your baby will be closely monitored to make sure it doesn’t present any problems. Most of the time, though, your baby will begin pooping out meconium within a few hours of birth.
It is a colour green so deep it appears black. It is glossy like solid green car oil. It is so sticky that wiping it off is a real pain, especially for new parents who are trying to be gentle with their newborn.
Here are a couple tips for making cleaning up meconium a breeze:
Lubricate Baby’s Bum
Shortly after birth, rub some oil on your baby’s bottom and the meconium will wipe off quickly and easily. That means less less wipes used, less rubbing and fewer chances to irritate your new baby’s sensitive bottom. Good oils to use:
Protecting Cloth Diapers
Cloth diapers are growing in popularity: they are economical, earth friendly and a lot easier than they used to be. People like to keep their diapers looking as nice as possible for many reasons and meconium can ruin a snow white diaper forever. To save your cloth diapers, use a liner. You can buy liners at ReDiaper on Ottawa St in Hamilton and even most large retailers with baby departments. Liners are disposable and come on roll like toilet paper. If you don’t have any liners with you at home or the hospital when your baby is born, you can use toilet paper.
Sun For Stains
If you get meconium on any clothes or cloth diapers, wash normally (never bleach diapers or wash/dry them using fabric softeners) and hang to dry outside in the sun. The sun is a great bleacher! This is the secret weapon of cloth diapering moms who want to keep their diapers nice and white.
Meconium will be fully passed when breastfeeding is well established and your milk is fully in. Colostrum has a laxitive effect on babies, amongst it’s other great tricks, and frequent nursing will make sure baby is getting rid of the meconium well. The glossy black looking poops will begin to look more minty green and softer as your milk comes in on days 3, 4 and 5 after birth. The poop will become progressively yellower and have what we call seeds in it: small solid white lumps.
Eventually your baby’s poop will look like mustard with white seeds throughout.
It is a colour green so deep it appears black. It is glossy like solid green car oil. It is so sticky that wiping it off is a real pain, especially for new parents who are trying to be gentle with their newborn.
Here are a couple tips for making cleaning up meconium a breeze:
Lubricate Baby’s Bum
Shortly after birth, rub some oil on your baby’s bottom and the meconium will wipe off quickly and easily. That means less less wipes used, less rubbing and fewer chances to irritate your new baby’s sensitive bottom. Good oils to use:
- Olive oil
- Coconut oil
- Grape Seed oil
- Petroleum jelly
Protecting Cloth Diapers
Cloth diapers are growing in popularity: they are economical, earth friendly and a lot easier than they used to be. People like to keep their diapers looking as nice as possible for many reasons and meconium can ruin a snow white diaper forever. To save your cloth diapers, use a liner. You can buy liners at ReDiaper on Ottawa St in Hamilton and even most large retailers with baby departments. Liners are disposable and come on roll like toilet paper. If you don’t have any liners with you at home or the hospital when your baby is born, you can use toilet paper.
Sun For Stains
If you get meconium on any clothes or cloth diapers, wash normally (never bleach diapers or wash/dry them using fabric softeners) and hang to dry outside in the sun. The sun is a great bleacher! This is the secret weapon of cloth diapering moms who want to keep their diapers nice and white.
Meconium will be fully passed when breastfeeding is well established and your milk is fully in. Colostrum has a laxitive effect on babies, amongst it’s other great tricks, and frequent nursing will make sure baby is getting rid of the meconium well. The glossy black looking poops will begin to look more minty green and softer as your milk comes in on days 3, 4 and 5 after birth. The poop will become progressively yellower and have what we call seeds in it: small solid white lumps.
Eventually your baby’s poop will look like mustard with white seeds throughout.
Affirmations: Things Turn Out Best
"Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out."
John Wooden
John Wooden
Birth Registration and Birth Certificates
Back when I had my babies, you had to remember, in the weeks after your baby was born, to go to City Hall and pay for a birth registration application. If your baby needed special care after birth or you had breastfeeding or mothering challenges that required lots of focus, remembering to submit the appropriate paperwork at City Hall may very well have completely slipped your mind.
In this era of online and telephone payments and digital applications, when you don’t even need to buy a physical ticket to get on a plane, walking into City Hall may totally fall off the radar.
Thank goodness the various branches of the government have gotten their acts together and put the entire birth registration process online. Now, after you nurse your new baby and put her down for a sleep in the middle of the night, you can log on to the government website and submit all the info to register for her birth and order a birth certificate.
In this era of online and telephone payments and digital applications, when you don’t even need to buy a physical ticket to get on a plane, walking into City Hall may totally fall off the radar.
Thank goodness the various branches of the government have gotten their acts together and put the entire birth registration process online. Now, after you nurse your new baby and put her down for a sleep in the middle of the night, you can log on to the government website and submit all the info to register for her birth and order a birth certificate.
Treating Pregnancy Pain
During pregnancy, it’s common to experience pain in your back, in your hips and in your pubic bone. Usually not all at once!
The back pain is usually in the lower back. Pregnant women experience more sacral pain, sciatica and general muscle tenderness than usual. If chiropractics and massage therapy aren’t working for you, you can consider working with an Osteopath.
Recently a client told me that her excruciating sacral pain was eliminated after visiting an osteopath. I always love hearing an enthusiastic recommendation for different services around town, so I’ll pass on the listing to you.
Linda Kosokowsky - Osteopath
5 York St, Dundas, ON L9H1L3
905-975-1238
The back pain is usually in the lower back. Pregnant women experience more sacral pain, sciatica and general muscle tenderness than usual. If chiropractics and massage therapy aren’t working for you, you can consider working with an Osteopath.
Recently a client told me that her excruciating sacral pain was eliminated after visiting an osteopath. I always love hearing an enthusiastic recommendation for different services around town, so I’ll pass on the listing to you.
Linda Kosokowsky - Osteopath
5 York St, Dundas, ON L9H1L3
905-975-1238
Affirmations: Most Beautiful Creatures
"Aside from new babies, new mothers must be the most beautiful creatures on earth."
Terry Guillemets
Terry Guillemets
Picking Prenatal Care - FPs
There are a number of prenatal care options available to women in Hamilton.
FPs
The old model of the family doctor who came to the hospital (and once upon a time, even your home!) to help you with the birth of your baby is all but extinct. It's hardly a sustainable model. It's tough to be called out at any time of night our day to attend a birth when you have two to three dozen patients in and out of your office four days a week. Can you imagine being the receptionist who has to reschedule those days when the doc calls in that they are at a birth?!
These days in Hamilton we have the clinic model. A large team of Family Practitioners work together to care for a very large number of clients prenatally. In the same way that midwives work in small teams, you are often assigned two or three FPs that you see regularly during pregnancy. During birth, the FPs borrow from the Obstetric practice model and have a rotation of doctors on call and ready to run over to the hospital for your delivery. That is, if they aren't there already.
FP clinics often handle more than 500 patients a year. Some clinics also employ Nurse Practitioners, Social Workers and Lactation Consultants to provide specialised services to their clients, who sometimes come from at-risk communities and can benefits from enhanced community services and support. That's not to say that middle class families don't seek FP clinic support prenatally. The clinic model is able to support a wide range of prenatal needs.
All prenatal visits happen in the clinic. During birth, when women are admitted to the hospital of their choice, the on-call FP associated with your clinic will be called in to care for you. In the meantime, the hospital nurses oversee your health as they do for OB clients. In low risk births, the FP can catch the baby. If the situation warrants it, however, a OB can be called in to consult or assume your care. In this way, FPs are similar to midwives: neither are surgical or high risk specialists.
If you would like a Family Practitioner to care for you during your pregnancy, you can call one of the clinics directly. Keep an eye on Birth In The Hammer in the near future when we bring you listing of local FP Clinics.
- Midwives
- Obstetricians (aka: OBs)
- Family Practitioners
- General Practitioners & Obstetricians in tandem
FPs
The old model of the family doctor who came to the hospital (and once upon a time, even your home!) to help you with the birth of your baby is all but extinct. It's hardly a sustainable model. It's tough to be called out at any time of night our day to attend a birth when you have two to three dozen patients in and out of your office four days a week. Can you imagine being the receptionist who has to reschedule those days when the doc calls in that they are at a birth?!
These days in Hamilton we have the clinic model. A large team of Family Practitioners work together to care for a very large number of clients prenatally. In the same way that midwives work in small teams, you are often assigned two or three FPs that you see regularly during pregnancy. During birth, the FPs borrow from the Obstetric practice model and have a rotation of doctors on call and ready to run over to the hospital for your delivery. That is, if they aren't there already.
FP clinics often handle more than 500 patients a year. Some clinics also employ Nurse Practitioners, Social Workers and Lactation Consultants to provide specialised services to their clients, who sometimes come from at-risk communities and can benefits from enhanced community services and support. That's not to say that middle class families don't seek FP clinic support prenatally. The clinic model is able to support a wide range of prenatal needs.
All prenatal visits happen in the clinic. During birth, when women are admitted to the hospital of their choice, the on-call FP associated with your clinic will be called in to care for you. In the meantime, the hospital nurses oversee your health as they do for OB clients. In low risk births, the FP can catch the baby. If the situation warrants it, however, a OB can be called in to consult or assume your care. In this way, FPs are similar to midwives: neither are surgical or high risk specialists.
If you would like a Family Practitioner to care for you during your pregnancy, you can call one of the clinics directly. Keep an eye on Birth In The Hammer in the near future when we bring you listing of local FP Clinics.
Early Labour Project - Groaning Cake
When you think of birthing, what comes to mind? Is the a sweating, flushed woman with a look of mild terror on her face screaming out in pain? Is it a swollen woman in a hospital gown with wires coming out of her?
It's OK, most people think the same thing.
What if when you thought about birth you imagined a woman in a kitchen quietly stirring a bowl of batter? Every 5 minutes or so she stops stirring, puts her hands on the edge of the counter and leans over, groaning and swaying her hips back and forth.
For many women, especially those who choose to birth at home, that's what birth looks like. Or a version of that. And I think that's so beautiful it gives me chills.
Check out this recipe for a groaning cake: a cake you make when you start your birthing time.
It's OK, most people think the same thing.
What if when you thought about birth you imagined a woman in a kitchen quietly stirring a bowl of batter? Every 5 minutes or so she stops stirring, puts her hands on the edge of the counter and leans over, groaning and swaying her hips back and forth.
For many women, especially those who choose to birth at home, that's what birth looks like. Or a version of that. And I think that's so beautiful it gives me chills.
Check out this recipe for a groaning cake: a cake you make when you start your birthing time.
Little Bird
Are you looking for deliciously cute baby and children's clothes? Do you have a some very special baby and children's clothes that are still in amazing shape? Little Bird is your solution!
Little Bird is a consignment boutique in Hamilton that specializes in high quality, nearly new clothes. When they sell your items, you get 40% of the final price.
Check out their website for instructions on making an appointment to take a look at your clothing.
They also accept and sell maternity clothes.
You can find Little Bird at 164 Ottawa St. N in Hamilton.
Little Bird is a consignment boutique in Hamilton that specializes in high quality, nearly new clothes. When they sell your items, you get 40% of the final price.
Check out their website for instructions on making an appointment to take a look at your clothing.
They also accept and sell maternity clothes.
You can find Little Bird at 164 Ottawa St. N in Hamilton.
Monday, April 23, 2012
Sunday, April 22, 2012
Picking Prenatal Care - OBs
There are a number of prenatal care options available to women in Hamilton.
OBs
Most people have Obstetricians in Hamilton. Heck, Obstetricians handle the vast majority of births everywhere, in every town, city, province and country. Well, pretty much. And it’s been like that for a long time.
OBs provide prenatal care for most low and moderate risk pregnancies and all high risk pregnancies. They can see as many as 200 pregnant patients a year, which means a couple things that might turn off some women: there are often long waits before appointments (I’ve heard of women waiting 1-2 hrs past their appointment time in a room full of other pregnant women) and appointments with the actual Obstetrician can be 5-15 minutes long and essentially consist almost entirely of data tracking. You may not be able to ask all the questions you want to, your OB may not have the time to thoughtfully discuss your issues and a nurse will usually handle a lot of your in office care.
Now, don’t get me wrong, while I am not a fan of how OBs take care of mothers in the prenatal period, if you have problems during pregnancy or your birth requires close and careful observation, having a surgical specialist caring for you is a great comfort. Obstetricians provide life-saving medical support to mothers and babies every day and that is amazing. I have worked with lots of OBs and obstetrical residents in Hamilton’s hospitals and I’ve seen great care given.
Unlike Midwives, you should not expect your OB to be at your birth, unless they schedule a surgery or induction for a day in which they are working at the hospital. In Hamilton, OBs work in rotation at one of the two hospitals (St. Joe’s or McMaster). When you go into labour, the person overseeing your birth care will be the OB on staff that day. More specifically, and because Hamilton’s hospitals are teaching facilities, your care will be directly overseen and the babies in straightforward births will be caught by the obstetrical resident. If your condition shows signs of becoming high risk, the OB will become involved in your care.
An OB is a specialist. If you want an OB to provide your prenatal care, you need a referral from your family doctor. If you do not have a family doctor, you can ask a doctor at a walk-in clinic to make a referral. It is possible to call an OB’s office directly and request care, but they don’t have to take you.
*note - very high risk pregnancies are generally also cared for by an extra specialist: a Perinatolologist. The Perinatologist will monitor your high-risk situation while your OB will continue to overview your prenatal care. Your baby’s birth may be highly managed or your may be directed to have a c-section.
Come back and join us for more discussions of prenatal caregivers in Hamilton!
- Midwives
- Obstetricians (aka: OBs)
- Family Practitioners
- General Practioners & Obstetricians in tandem
OBs
Most people have Obstetricians in Hamilton. Heck, Obstetricians handle the vast majority of births everywhere, in every town, city, province and country. Well, pretty much. And it’s been like that for a long time.
OBs provide prenatal care for most low and moderate risk pregnancies and all high risk pregnancies. They can see as many as 200 pregnant patients a year, which means a couple things that might turn off some women: there are often long waits before appointments (I’ve heard of women waiting 1-2 hrs past their appointment time in a room full of other pregnant women) and appointments with the actual Obstetrician can be 5-15 minutes long and essentially consist almost entirely of data tracking. You may not be able to ask all the questions you want to, your OB may not have the time to thoughtfully discuss your issues and a nurse will usually handle a lot of your in office care.
Now, don’t get me wrong, while I am not a fan of how OBs take care of mothers in the prenatal period, if you have problems during pregnancy or your birth requires close and careful observation, having a surgical specialist caring for you is a great comfort. Obstetricians provide life-saving medical support to mothers and babies every day and that is amazing. I have worked with lots of OBs and obstetrical residents in Hamilton’s hospitals and I’ve seen great care given.
Unlike Midwives, you should not expect your OB to be at your birth, unless they schedule a surgery or induction for a day in which they are working at the hospital. In Hamilton, OBs work in rotation at one of the two hospitals (St. Joe’s or McMaster). When you go into labour, the person overseeing your birth care will be the OB on staff that day. More specifically, and because Hamilton’s hospitals are teaching facilities, your care will be directly overseen and the babies in straightforward births will be caught by the obstetrical resident. If your condition shows signs of becoming high risk, the OB will become involved in your care.
An OB is a specialist. If you want an OB to provide your prenatal care, you need a referral from your family doctor. If you do not have a family doctor, you can ask a doctor at a walk-in clinic to make a referral. It is possible to call an OB’s office directly and request care, but they don’t have to take you.
*note - very high risk pregnancies are generally also cared for by an extra specialist: a Perinatolologist. The Perinatologist will monitor your high-risk situation while your OB will continue to overview your prenatal care. Your baby’s birth may be highly managed or your may be directed to have a c-section.
Come back and join us for more discussions of prenatal caregivers in Hamilton!
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Picking Prenatal Care: Midwives
There are a number of prenatal care options available to women in Hamilton.
Midwives
I’ll be honest, I’m biased towards midwives. I’ve used midwives for my own maternity care and as a doula I work with many midwives. I don’t recommend them frivolously, though. One of the most remarkable differences in prenatal care is the time you spend with a midwife: meetings are usually 45 minutes to an hour long. That means you will have plenty of time to talk to your midwife. You can ask her questions - lots of them - and she’ll ask you a bunch, too.
The tone of care is more of a team and you are the captain of the team. And, like a good team, you grow to trust each other.
A healthy mum and baby who are in the care of midwives can have a home birth. That means you can deliver in water, if you prefer. Or, you can have a birth at St Joseph’s or McMaster hospital. You can get an epidural, if that’s what you want, or you can have a med free birth.
The other huge difference you’ll notice with midwifery care is the postpartum care. Your midwives will come to your home after you have your baby to care for the both of you. In fact, for a couple weeks, they’ll come to your home many times. After that, you will go to see your midwife at her office weekly before being discharged from care at 6 weeks postpartum.
When compared to the care from other providers in Hamilton, Midwives win hands down.
And, should it turn out that you need a little extra care, the midwives work with Obstetricians to keep you and baby healthy. The same goes during birth: if there is even a suspicion that there may be something odd going on, your midwives will bring in an Obstetrician for a consultation and transfer care if the circumstances warrant.
You are lucky to be having your baby in Hamilton: all the different members of the maternity health care team work well together and your and your baby’s health are always the first thing on everyone’s mind.
If you want to work with a midwife for your pregnancy, you will need to call for an appointment as soon as you discover you are pregnant. With three midwifery clinics in Hamilton, demand is very high for services. Some women who wait a month or two before calling find themselves squeezed out by the early birds. Midwives’ calendars fill up really fast since they only take around 40 clients per year per midwife.
Come back to Birth In The Hammer in the next few days when we continue our series on the different types of prenatal care providers in Hamilton.
- Midwives
- Obstetricians
- Family Practitioners
- General Practioners & Obstetricians in tandem
Midwives
I’ll be honest, I’m biased towards midwives. I’ve used midwives for my own maternity care and as a doula I work with many midwives. I don’t recommend them frivolously, though. One of the most remarkable differences in prenatal care is the time you spend with a midwife: meetings are usually 45 minutes to an hour long. That means you will have plenty of time to talk to your midwife. You can ask her questions - lots of them - and she’ll ask you a bunch, too.
The tone of care is more of a team and you are the captain of the team. And, like a good team, you grow to trust each other.
A healthy mum and baby who are in the care of midwives can have a home birth. That means you can deliver in water, if you prefer. Or, you can have a birth at St Joseph’s or McMaster hospital. You can get an epidural, if that’s what you want, or you can have a med free birth.
The other huge difference you’ll notice with midwifery care is the postpartum care. Your midwives will come to your home after you have your baby to care for the both of you. In fact, for a couple weeks, they’ll come to your home many times. After that, you will go to see your midwife at her office weekly before being discharged from care at 6 weeks postpartum.
When compared to the care from other providers in Hamilton, Midwives win hands down.
And, should it turn out that you need a little extra care, the midwives work with Obstetricians to keep you and baby healthy. The same goes during birth: if there is even a suspicion that there may be something odd going on, your midwives will bring in an Obstetrician for a consultation and transfer care if the circumstances warrant.
You are lucky to be having your baby in Hamilton: all the different members of the maternity health care team work well together and your and your baby’s health are always the first thing on everyone’s mind.
If you want to work with a midwife for your pregnancy, you will need to call for an appointment as soon as you discover you are pregnant. With three midwifery clinics in Hamilton, demand is very high for services. Some women who wait a month or two before calling find themselves squeezed out by the early birds. Midwives’ calendars fill up really fast since they only take around 40 clients per year per midwife.
Come back to Birth In The Hammer in the next few days when we continue our series on the different types of prenatal care providers in Hamilton.
Affirmations: There is a power...
"There is power that comes to women when they give birth. They don’t ask for it, it simply invades them. Accumulates like clouds on the horizon and passes through, carrying the child with it"
Sheryl Feldman
Sheryl Feldman
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Welcome To Birth In The Hammer
When I was pregnant with my first son, I had no idea what my options were. How do you get a midwife? Did I need an OB? What’s a doula? Where the heck can I buy maternity clothes? And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Many years later I’m much wiser, but I’m still learning.
I’m hoping that Birth In The Hammer will help you figure out what you need to know while you are trying to get pregnant, when you are having your baby and after you’ve had your baby.
Who am I? I’m Leanne Palmerston and my awesome business partner Angela Andersson and I are doulas who run Hamilton Doula Group. We’ve got the inside scoop on having babies in Hamilton.
Grab the RSS feed to make sure you never miss a thing. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook! If you happen to be looking for a doula, check out Hamilton Doula Group.
I’m hoping that Birth In The Hammer will help you figure out what you need to know while you are trying to get pregnant, when you are having your baby and after you’ve had your baby.
Who am I? I’m Leanne Palmerston and my awesome business partner Angela Andersson and I are doulas who run Hamilton Doula Group. We’ve got the inside scoop on having babies in Hamilton.
Grab the RSS feed to make sure you never miss a thing. You can also follow us on Twitter and Facebook! If you happen to be looking for a doula, check out Hamilton Doula Group.
