The Birth Lounge Blog

  5 Ways to be a More Mindful Mama (This article was written by HeHe Stewart - originally posted to Family Education, read the full article here .) While emails are still filling up your inbox about last minute gifts and holiday steals, your busy trying to plan the right amount of holiday activities for your kids/family/friends, and trying to stay sane and jolly all the while- we are dropping in to remind you of a few simple ways to stay more mindful, present, and calm during this time of year. These five small mindfulness tips are enough to keep your day from spiraling and simple enough that it won’t get lost in your busy schedule. What have you done for yourself this year? If your answer is nothing, we gotta change that, sister. Have you ever heard someone say you can’t pour from an empty cup? Of course you have, but the reality is, it’s true. Moms are a superbreed of humans that always put their needs behind everyone else’s. While this sounds very caring and selfless, it actuall...

Do Inductions Really Rise Around the Holidays? As long as I can remember in my doula career, I have been told, both seriously and sarcastically, that inductions rise around the holidays because doctors want to control the births they will have to deliver on..let’s say Thanksgiving day or Christmas Day.  I have to be honest in that I never really paid much attention to it because our team typically takes off the end of the year! It has been an intentional decision in years past to not take births in the months of December and January. This provided us with the time to disconnect, visit family and friends, and wrap up one year + dive into the next with a solid foundation. As you well know, 2020 has changed so much of what we knew and, for us, this meant not having the space to disconnect without leaving birthing people vulnerable in a global crisis and not traveling for this holidays. With this, we decided to work straight through 2020 into the start of 2021. And in this moment, the ...

Breastfeeding your baby is no easy feat! No matter what society tells us, learning to breastfeed does require patience. 1. Haakaa: This thing will honestly change your life. Not only is it a hand pump, but it can be a total game-changer for building supply! The Haakaa is a silicon bottle shaped hand pump that attaches to your breast by suction and that’s how it removes your milk.  I’ve seen nursing parents say things like, “This boob just can’t make more than an ounce,” but when we put the Haakaa on, 3 ounces collected! It takes a time or two to learn how to attach it, but once you master it, you’ll never forget.  2. Hand Pump: I know, I know, the Haakaa is a hand pump so why do you need this? Well, because I suggest using this over an electric pumps for so many reasons like you’re in much more control and the convenience factor is through the roof. You can easily stick a hand pump in your purse and that’s not true about an electric pump. 3. Breastfeeding pillow: ...

(HeHe's article is published for Family Education  HERE  in its entirety.) The holidays can be a time of stress for so many of us. I wondered if pregnancy provided women with a sense of comfort or was an added factor to the holiday hustle and bustle. I reached out to moms in various stages of their pregnancy and parenting journey to see if the thoughts surrounding their holiday bumps were of sugar plums and presents or stockings filled with coal. This is a countdown to the number one reason why it is merrier than mistletoe to be expecting a tiny human during the holidays. This is a countdown to the number one reason why it is merrier than mistletoe to be expecting a tiny human during the holidays. There's nothing better than being pregnant during the holiday season! (HeHe's article is published for Family Education  HERE  in its entirety.) Don’t forget to check out our newest adventure The Birth Lounge,  listen in to The Birth Lounge...

14 Gifts for a Wish List as a New Parent Shopping for pregnant people can be so hard. Knowing what to tell people to buy you as a pregnant person is so hard! One of the most meaningful gifts you can buy someone is something they need but one purchase for themselves! We’ve got you covered when it comes to gifting the pregnant people in your life things that will help make their pregnancy and postpartum a little bit more luxurious!  -  Totum Women Cookies - These are cookies that taste good, support your milk supply, and have a wonderful mission! The mission behind this company is so much more than just lactation cookies! There is an online community aspect, online resources , and virtual events to help you know you are not alone! These are a wonderful gift for the new mama friend who is nursing or pumping!  -  Thinx underwear - These are the best gift for a friend who you aren’t afraid to give an intimate gift--but one that will change their life! (Kinda like the fr...

(HeHe's article is published for Birch Baby  HERE  in its entirety.) The holiday season can be hard for those who have experienced a loss this year. At a time of year that people are expected to automatically be happy and be cheery and bright-eyed, it can be painful to have to pretend to be enjoying yourself while you are dying inside. One mother described it as “a dark place of heartbreak and anger.”  Through my work with Mothers’ who have experienced loss (or any kind of trauma), I have found that having a structure of mindsets to help you survive in high-stress situations is helpful. I was considering a survival guide for the holidays for expectant parents who have experienced loss, but then I thought why not just a general survival guide to help when you are coping with loss, no matter what time of year it is. Know your limits (It’s people's’ job to respect that boundary). You have the right to pick and choose which events you attend and which events wi...

How to Choose a Good Prenatal This is one of the most common questions we get! It can be so overwhelming to dive into what seems like hundreds of brands. How do you know what to look for? How do you know what brands are trustworthy? Let’s dive in because the answer might surprise you! What are you looking for? Choline : This is one of the most important nutrients that pregnant people need, yet so many providers don’t share (or know?) that it is SO important! Many older docs don’t keep up with updated research and their patients pay the price! (This is a shameless plug for yet another reason to join The Birth Lounge so you have direct access to all updated research to make your own choices about your care + know what questions to discuss with your provider.) Choline is essential in brain and spinal cord development-- specifically the hippocampus which is involved in memory! Most pregnant women in the U.S. are not achieving choline intake recommendations of 450 mg/day. The yolk of eggs...

Podcast Recs: True Crime + Women's Health This isn’t going to be the typical blog that you find here! In true Halloween spirit last week, I asked our Instagram audience if they were into True Crime Podcast. This led to most folks saying “Duh!” and me digging deeper by asking who wanted to hear about my favorite podcasts that blended True Crime and women’s health?! The overwhelming majority said ‘hell yeah!’ So, here we are!  Before we dive into these, I want to provide a brief trigger warning. These podcasts combine true crime with women’s health. Some readers & listeners may find the content traumatic. Fetal Abduction Podcast* may be especially triggering for anyone who is reading and pregnant.  Sick Podcast   This was my first introduction to an investigative podcast about women’s health (I am a long time listener of Crime Junkies). This podcast was the tiny hairline fracture I needed to fully break the dam and open my eyes to just how deep the deceit and corruption...

Failed Inductions: What You Need to Know When we talk about inductions, we often speak of them like they are 100% guaranteeing us a baby at the end. While this is true most of the time, you’d probably be surprised to learn that indcutins can fail and you may be sent home to wait it out a bit longer. Or, if the option isn’t presented to you, you can ask or take yourself home. It is important to ensure that you and your baby are safe to go home.There are thousands of women each year that experience a failed induction and it can be very hard emotionally.  What is a failed induction? A failed induction is the inability to reach active labor while being induced . There is a certain process we want to take when it comes to induction. I call this your ‘individual induction equation.’ It’s truly individual to you and you get to introduce various induction methods as you see fit which makes your equation unique to you. First we want to ripen the cervix--it needs to be soft. You have options...

The Arrive Study I get asked A LOT about The ARRIVE Study . It’s a hot topic. For some people they are thrilled to hear there is science backing up an induction and some folks are terrified because they feel pressure from their provider and don’t feel aligned with a 39-week induction. Before we dive into the issues with this study. Let’s take a look at the history that you should know.  Around 41% of all pregnant people will have an induction suggested to them and 44% of those will be because you’re close to your due date or ‘full term.’ (quotations because we think one absolute date determines a baby’s readiness to be born and that’s simply not how it works) This means almost half of all labors are suggested to be medically initiated….where has our trust in ourselves gone?!  Let’s take a quick pause for one moment and think about birth for what it actually is--a natural event. Without human intervention, there would be so much less birth trauma, so many less c-sections, far f...

The Bishop Score Have you ever heard of a Bishop Score? This is the ‘rating’ that we give a pregnant person’s cervix in order to determine its readiness for induction. There are a few key flaws in this scoring system and I want to chat it out!  The History of The Bishop Score The original Bishop score (Developed by Dr. Bishop, OBGYN in 1964) is based on 5 criteria: dilation, effacement, station of baby, position of cervix, consistency of cervix. You will be given a score of 0 to 3--0 being not progressed and 3 being the cervix is showing favorable progress-- for each of these criteria(Note: the highest score for position and consistency of cervix is 2). You will be given an overall Bishop Score which will indicate if you are a good candidate for induction or if you are not. The highest score is 13 and any score 9 or above is considered ‘favorable’ for induction meaning the numbers suggest your body will be receptive of induction. (Note: some providers will use 8 and this will be u...