My doula group, Decatur Doulas, is hosting our first Meet The Doulas Tea this weekend… Saturday, March 1 at 3pm in Avondale Estates. Please call or email to RSVP and get the exact location.
We will discuss what a doula does for you during labor and birth; introduce the doulas (4 of us right now); talk about some “green baby” ideas; and have some healthy snacks, including pregnancy tea, of course.
Welcome! You have taken a crucial step in your birth journey by looking for a labor doula. I have been helping birthing women from Atlanta and ITP neighborhoods since 2003.
I am now developing a group of in-town doulas, Decatur Doulas, to provide a way for more Atlanta women to find the birth support that every mother needs. Here you can read more about me, my services, prenatal & lactation nutrition, and read my birth blog. Contact me for a consultation meeting.
Jenn Purdy, CLD
Birth Well Doula
Decatur Doulas
Juice Plus+
I am working on starting a doula group in Atlanta, GA, based in Decatur. My hope is to gather women working in childbirth for mutual support and to be of better service to improving the birth experiences of women in Atlanta, particularly in hospital birth. Please see my site, especially because this one won’t behave properly, at Decatur Doulas.
…that you’d rather not hear while giving birth:
Nurse talking about labor pain: “Oh that’s nothing! Wait until you get to 7 cm!”
Doctor: “The slowest progress allowed is 1 cm per hour.”
Doctor: “Oh, It’s time to break the water.” As he breaks the mom’s water without asking or discussing first.
Nurse comes into the room saying… “This is what we’re going to do!”
Nurse: “Anything that’s not a c-section is a natural birth to me.”
Nurse describing pain relief options: “…then there’s no medicine with screaming and breaking your partner’s hands and that’s when I close the door and leave the room!”
Here’s an interesting article at the Washington Post from 10/5 that describes the current debate about how much seafood is safe to eat during pregnancy. On one side is the potential of mercury poisoning and the other is the need for fish oils for brain development.
I used to recommend Crawford Long Hospital in Atlanta as my top choice for mothers in the area who want a hospital birth. Granted, I would not give birth there myself, but that’s another story. I had some good experiences there with births attended by CNM (certified nurse midwives) and also with one high risk birth (only because the mom had a lung infection at the same time - not related to the pregnancy or the baby). Emory has fired all the midwives working at Crawford Long. This is of course a financial decision, but it says a lot about their outlook on birth. It is no longer my top choice for hospital birth in Atlanta. There are midwives working at Piedmont Hospital. If you want a midwife-attended birth and were looking at Crawford Long, please call them and tell them you are taking your birth and your money elsewhere!
There’s a new film out called The Business of Being Born. It will be released on Netflix in March 2008, but I recommend that you see it soon, especially if you are planning a hospital birth!
Birth: it’s a miracle. A rite of passage. A natural part of life. But more than anything, birth is a business. Compelled to find answers after a disappointing birth experience with her first child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein to examine and question the way American women have babies. The film interlaces intimate birth stories with surprising historical, political and scientific insights and shocking statistics about the current maternity care system. When director Epstein discovers she is pregnant during the making of the film, the journey becomes even more personal. Should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potentially catastrophic medical emergency?
WATCH THE TRAILER!!
DETAILS:
December 16, 3 pm- 6 pm, FREE
All Souls Fellowship, 647 East College Ave,Decatur, GA 30030
* Panel Discussion afterwards
* Hopefully we will be able to provide childcare for the first 50 children 5 & under- will confirm in a few days.
Come! Tell others! Please pass this on if you know of someone who would be interested. I understand that I have sent this to some of you who live far away knowing that you cant come, but want you to be aware of the documentary. It will be available on Netflix sometime later in 2008. But this is something everyone should see if you are even thinking of having a child…
this event is being sponsored by Lotus of Life Chiropractic, Decatur Doulas, and others.
My mother-in-law is dealing with chemotherapy for breast cancer. The cyst was removed and now the chemo is to attack what technically does not exist, all to get her statistical chances of recurrence down from an unacceptable 30 percent over the next 10 years. She debated strongly the pros and cons of doing chemo at all. Would you be able to live with those odds and not get the therapy? She’s doing it, because 30 percent is too high for comfort.
First time mothers face a 30 percent chance (or higher in many hospitals) of an unintended cesarean section. Women go willingly into those odds, not even considering the statistically superior route of home birth (the only other option in Atlanta) because they feel safer surrounded by the technology. But are you safer? Why is 30 percent acceptable? Ask yourself if that technology and available medication is saving you from being one of the 1 in 3 or making you be the one. By medicalizing birth, problems are created that the medicine and machines and “experts” then save you from. And you leave feeling happy to be one of the 30 percent. Think about it. Think about how you will approach your birth (physically, emotionally, spiritually) and the medical aids that are available.
Read Ina May Gaskin’s Guide to Childbirth to learn more about acceptable statistics.
I attended my first birth since taking a sabatical for my daughter’s birth and babyhood. It’s been 2 years almost to the day but being back at a friend’s childbirth seemed like I had been at it last week. It was a beautiful natural VBAC at Crawford Long. There were no issues relating to the previous cesarean, except for the continual fetal monitoring, but the mom got there at 8 cm (as she hoped) and the restricted movement was not much of an issue.
Last month I bought this carrier and I love it! It can be worn on the front or back with a child up to 45 lbs (similar to an Ergo). I have a chronic hip problem that I am getting physical therapy for, and carrying her on one hip with my beloved ring sling was just causing too much lower back pain. She’s my third with my ring sling, but after that many births and lots of hockey games, it was time to get something that more evenly distributed her admittedly tiny 20 lbs. Here’s a photo of us at a winery in south western Virginia. I bought my Beco from Along For the Ride and highly recommend them. You can even go by the store if you are near Charlottesville, VA.