The Birth Lounge Blog

Heartburn in Pregnancy Why does it happen? Heartburn is incredibly common and will plague between 17%-45% of pregnant people (Vazquez JC. Heartburn in pregnancy. BMJ Clin Evid. 2015;2015:1411. Published 2015 Sep 8.). This happen because of two hormones: progesterone and relaxin. They are responsible for relaxing the muscles in your body during pregnancy to allow for growth and stretching in order to accommodate your baby. This causes your esophagus and the sphincter that keeps it closed to relax as well. Also, as your baby grows your “real estate” gets smaller and smaller. With this change, your stomach gets squished which forces stomach acid back up into your esophagus. Not pleasant, but there are ways to combat this physical change and discomfort! First, what not to do! - Do not stop eating. Your baby needs to be nourished. Not eating will actually increase your stomach acid making your heartburn worse. - Do not munch on antacids (TUMS, Rolaids) like candy as this has been linked to...

5 Resources to Have an Informed Pregnancy & Birth   “Being informed”...what does that even mean in a day and age where influencers have more power than traditional marketing and every stay-at-home mom can start a vlog to grow a following of thousands without ever taking off her yoga pants or washing her hair. It’s hard to know who is actually qualified to talk about whatever they’re sharing and who is just being paid to share their latest gluten-free pasta and organic face mask.  When it comes to pregnancy and birth, it can be a million times more challenging to navigate all the information coming from every direction. Everyone will have an opinion about all the things all the time, so go ahead and brace yourself. The best thing you can do as an expectant parent is to educate yourself on your options and what the data says is safe and appropriate care. We’ve gathered the 5 best resources to help you navigate pregnancy, birth, and postpartum with evidence-based informa...

The Link Between Inductions & C-Sections: What American Women NEED to Know The Backstory Every now and then there’s a partner (of a client) that really imprints on me. To be honest, it’s usually the ones that challenge me. They question everything. Sometimes they even go out and seek their own research to share at our next prenatal. These are my faves. I can see how much they love their spouse. How much they care. How much they want to protect and understand. Sometimes it’s anxiety and sometimes its fear. But, sometimes, and these are the ones that get me , it’s from a place of truly understanding the injustices in our medical system and they are equipping themselves to be an anchored place of support during a very natural event that our society has somehow medicalized. They recognize the essential need to educate and prepare themselves in order to protect their partner. So there I was, sitting in a prenatal with a wonderful couple I had grown to love over the last few...