Month: March 2016

Categories
Childbirth Educator

3 Damn Good Reasons for Childbirth Education courses

 

We live in an information age.  At the tip of your fingertips is all of the world’s information.  How crazy is that?!  Want to know how to fix your car engine?  Google!  Curious about what happened in 1215 B.C?  Let’s type it in!  Looking for a delicious gluten, dairy, sugar, GMO, organic recipe?  Yup, you’ll find it – and what time is dinner?!

To the newly expecting parent (congrats!) the plethora of online articles, blogs, Q & A’s and parenting forums can be slightly intimidating and like, whoa, overwhelming.  A simple online search about “strollers” can leave you confused for weeks… no, wait, make that months!

FACT:  it took my husband and I five months to decide on our stroller.  It took us three days to buy our first home!

Finding a clear, non-confuted explanation about what you could expect in your upcoming labour experience (and the multiple years of parenting!) can be, excuse my parlez français, fucking impossible.

So here are 3 damn good reasons to take a prenatal course in your community:

Reason #1: Down to the Nitty-Gritty

At the end of the day there are two things most expecting women want answered:

(A)  How will I know when I’m in labour?

AND

(B) How the hell am I going to get through it?

Prenatal instructors answer this.  Easily.  Without agenda or obtusity.

Imagine a prenatal world where you get an answer like this:  “Here is a cervix.  This is how it works.  This is what you and your baby need to get this shit done.  Congratulations and best wishes!”

Prenatal courses and strong instructors cut through the crap and give you facts.  Evidence.  Amazing!

Reason #2:  The Good Stuff
People who teach private prenatal courses tend to attack their profession with an amorous rage!   We are birth junkies.  Labour geeks.  And as a result, research addicts.

When we teach a course to the newly expecting we want to make sure that our programs are solid and that our students are…. oh man…imagine this… HAPPY!

By researching and sharing THE BEST information available, online and otherwise, your prenatal instructor hopes that the small time they have spent with you has a positive affect on your labour and parenting experience.  Say what?!

Of course there are no guarantees, but our intentions are altruistic.  Pinky swear!

Reason #3:  Wait for it…. You’re not the Only One
Expecting a baby can feel isolating.  Online resources write of the amazing journey and beauty one should feel towards growing a baby.  Um, duh.

Yet the simultaneous images of something the size of an avocado (wait for the pumpkin!) growing inside of you can sometimes be enough to open the Hoover Dam of hormonal tears.  “It has to come out somehow!”  Pass the Kleenex.  And damn you sappy Canadian Tire commercials!

Attending a prenatal class and sitting with others who are also feeling the highs and lows of becoming parents can be incredibly therapeutic and wonderfully relieving.

If you want to do yourself a HUGE favour for your upcoming labour and parenting experience then research prenatal course options available in your community.  Find one that fits your schedule, birth philosophy, and personality.  Then SIGN UP!

Let the birth junkies remove information overload and create colloquial clarity for your experiences ahead!

For more information about becoming a Labour Doula or Childbirth Education… click HERE.

About the author:  
Shaunacy is a full-time Labour Doula in the Peterborough, ON, Canada.   
She strongly feels that through evidenced based approaches to learning all families can benefit from prenatal education courses – and have fun doing it too!  
Now as an instructor for Doula Training Canada she travels across Canada teaching others to become Labour Doulas and Childbirth Educators.  
Are you ready to Doula and CBE Canada?  Join her!

Copyrigtht – Shaunacy King (Glow Maternity), 2016.  Please do not print or copy without permission from author.  

Categories
Postpartum Doula

A Postpartum What?

 

Do you know how wonderful labour doulas feel after a birth?  Knowing they worked hard and their client did IT.

Do you know that same feeling can come from “Mothering the Mother”?  A beautiful gift of being a Postpartum Doula.  And our world *needs* this help!!  Most of us don’t have round the clock support.  Many times our own parents are not in the same community and our partners return to work after just a few weeks (or less!).  And being a new mom is hard.  We can all use a little support.

Here is a piece from a then student’s postpartum doula report that brought a little tear to my eye because I could feel the joy of that little boy, and the relief of the new mom that she could give that to her boy.  (The student doesn’t know I’m using it so I hope she forgives me lol!  Names have been avoided for confidentiality purposes).

“As a special surprise, she asked if I could stay in with the boys and M. while she met T. at the bus stop which she can’t usually do so she has a walker.  It made T.’s day!!!”

Such a small thing, but made a world of difference to this postpartum family.  And that’s what a postpartum doula does!  A lot of little things that add up to a HUGE difference in the world of new (or growing) families.

Do you think this is something you want to do?  Does this call to your heart?  Contact us today!  doulatrainingcanada@gmail.com 

www.doulatraining.ca

Categories
Labour Doula

Just a Doula. 

 

 – By Michelle Stroud –
​
I have a long history of working with prenatal women with my maternity reflexology practice. For a long time I hesitated to take doula training even though I knew I would always work with pregnant and birthing women. Why? Because I often wondered if being a doula would be enough to satisfy my strong desire to work with birthing women. I am extremely passionate about pregnancy and birth. I want to be able to help women as much as possible and the thought of squeezing hips and wiping brows left me feeling like I might not be fulfilled in my pursuit to contribute to beautiful birth experiences with my clients.Would this be a stepping stone into midwifery for me? I was not sure. Now I fully understand how
significant and important our role is. It is so much more than I originally thought.

As a doula we are often the first go to person when a client has small concerns. I find my moms will text me with questions and I like being in that role. I take much fewer clients than midwives do every month and much, much fewer clients with Obstetricians. I really enjoy the intimate relationship that I build with my clients.

We are not regulated and that has some major advantages. We get to dodge the radar and avoid the politics for the most part. As long as we are well intended and staying within our scope of practice, no one besides our clients really tells us what to do. That makes a doula practice very woman centered, which is nice. I am free to create my doula business and within reason, do with it what I want.

Midwives, Nurses, Obstetricians all have paperwork to take care over, insurance companies to answer to, a ridiculous amount of documentation to keep (even throughout the duration of labour) where I can focus completely on my client and her needs. I am frequently asked “If I have a midwife, do I need a doula?” Absolutely! I can free your midwife to take care of essential clinical tasks, if counter pressure is working for you, I don’t have to stop doing it to take your blood pressure or listen to your baby’s heart rate. Doulas and midwives work really well together.

Birth is safest and easiest for mom when it is really hands off. The fewer interventions from the start, the better the outcomes are statistically. As a doula, I am not trained to intervene anyway. So in birth’s purest form, I am able to be witness to one of life’s greatest miracles. I get to be a teacher, a servant and a coach and hold space for mom to have the best birth she can have.

I love the freedom and intimacy of being a doula.

Categories
Childbirth Educator

Childbirth Educators: A Cool Career

Impact. 

If I were asked to choose one word summarizing the role of a Childbirth Educator, this is the word I would choose.  Impact.
Installing confidence in new parents as they make plans and transitions towards becoming a family is one of the highlights of a Childbirth Educators career.  In this role a educator is able to work alongside their clients to help them mitigate the choices and challenges they may face in labour, birth and early parenting.  A Childbirth Educator has the opportunity to provide clear, well-researched, and relevant information that impacts a new family’s life in perpetuity.  Wow.  How awesome is that?!

Skill.

Childbirth Educators bring a diverse skill set to their courses, which benefits their prenatal course registrants.  Not all of our skills and experiences are the same, and one does not necessarily need to be a parent to become a fantastic Childbirth Educator.  A passion for birth and parenting, research-oriented initiative, and drive are all qualities that successful Childbirth Educators possess.  Do you love teaching?  Awesome!  Do you love people?  Even better!  Do you have a passion for birth and parenting related topics?  Perfect!

Challenging.

I use to be obsessed with the show “Mythbusters.”  There was something so gratifying in gambling on whether a myth would be busted or ratified.  Challenging myths and exploring evidence-based opportunities available to new parents is a big part of a Childbirth Educators role in the classroom.  We are the “mythbusters” of the modern-day childbirthing world who breakdown the walls of conformity between accepted and expected.  Ooooo… I sense a t-shirt tagline in the making!

Fun.

Name one other profession in the world that can get 10+ adults giggling simultaneously over topics like mucous plugs, leaky breasts, and sphincters.  None!  Childbirth Educators take the uncomfortable and make it cheerful.  We replace fear of childbirth with fun and fact.  We normalize the not-talked-about, we expose the eclipsed, clear up the cryptic…. And we can teach people all sorts of wonderfully fun positions for pushing a baby out too!

Why Certify?

Deciding to certify as a Childbirth Educator diversifies and developments your skills in pedagogical communication, research methods, lesson planning, marketing, business practices and much more.  A well developed CBE program will boost your confidence AND set you on the right path towards registering those first few families.  It is a commitment that qualifies you to take your passion for birth and parenting and transform it into a journey of a lifelong career.  A career with tremendous reward.  A career with tremendous impact.