This collaboration grew out of discussions over many years between Dr. Abla Al Alfy’s team, an Egyptian pediatrician with the Ministry of Health and Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health, and the Healthy Children Project’s team.
Using a TENS unit during labor offers a drug free option to pain relief. The word TENS is short for transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation which involves the use of low current electrical currents to treat pain.
It may take time to see the fruits of your labor, but when you do, it makes the work worth the effort. Look around. Do you see any open doors?
As with maternal deaths, many cases of maternal morbidity can be avoided. How can we, as Childbirth Educators and Doulas, address this issue and provide the best care to clients and their families? The answer is two-fold: education and follow-up.
I am the current ICEA Board Treasurer. It’s hard to believe but this is my fourth and final year in this role. It’s been a blast. That said, I was an unlikely candidate. When I started my first term, I had never been on a board, and I was a new ICCE. To quote one of my favorite songs, “How did I get here?”
Cultural differences may seem to divide us, but the underlying care and concern for our families is one of those universal considerations that draws us together.
Everyone has a unique microbiome. This is a microscopic ecosystem of bacteria, viruses, fungi and other microorganisms that live on and in us. The vast majority of these microorganisms are either harmless or actually beneficial to human health.
Childbirth educators are in a unique position to help families reduce and manage fear because we are experts in the three E’s: Education, Empowerment, and Encouragement.
Both of the these books are a good resource in any childbirth educator’s library. The books could also be sent home with parents who are wanting to encourage an understanding to older siblings.
Count the Kicks, an evidence-based public health campaign, educates and empowers expectant parents to track their baby’s movements in the third trimester of pregnancy. Research shows a change in a baby’s movements could be the earliest, and sometimes only indication that something may be wrong with a pregnancy.
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the care provided in childbirth centers across our nation. The question: “What are the chances of me getting infected with COVID-19 while I’m pregnant?” is a question that is brought up weekly in my virtual childbirth classes.
Starting with pregnancy and birth care and continuing throughout the lifespan of Black Americans, systemic racism affects every aspect of life, from housing to health care to criminal justice to education to employment.
Why is counting fetal movement important? Because it can save a baby. Right now, as we try to navigate this highly unusual time, we want to help moms continue to learn about the importance of tracking fetal movement and to say something if they notice a change.
Of course, new Dads want to be great at burping, swaddling, and even diaper changing. It’s important to remember that Dads are also concerned about relationship changes, and communication after the baby arrives.
Every day, I feel like we learn more about the importance of that first hour after birth, and it does seem like it has supernatural powers. We can save lives, both of the mother and baby. We can seed and grow a microbiome, inviting in the best bacteria to the party.
Newborns are often seen as helpless, but when we take a closer look this isn’t altogether true. They actually have many ways in which to adapt to life outside the uterus; systems that have been in place for millennia.
By taking this 90-minute training, participants will learn about this evidence-based program and how to talk to expectant parents on the importance of tracking fetal movement.
I would love to hear from other childbirth educators and their cultural experiences! Please send us an email at info@icea.org.
I never thought I would breastfeed my baby because I was not breastfed. I also never believed I could face birth. After all, pain as tiny as a paper cut drives me crazy! But all those assumptions began to change when a family friend who is a former La Leche League Leader gifted to me The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding when I was pregnant.
Every day our ICEA community shows strong support to pregnant and birthing women as educators, birth doulas, post-partum doulas and in other related roles. I offer up this blog post as an example of the power of birth support and how a community came together in a unique way to provide that support.
The WHO and UNICEF administer the BFHI program internationally and work with the national authority in each country which confers the Baby-Friendly® designation in their nation. More than 20,000 maternity facilities in 150 countries around the world have earned the Baby-Friendly designation.
The essential oils are literally the plant oils distilled from aromatic plants. This concentrated oil can be used in many ways, but like the plants, must be used respectfully. Essential oils produce an aroma, most often pleasant, and thought of as medicinally benign.
Words are important. They frame concepts and shape our ideas. How we think is often influenced by the words we use. With that in mind I would like to consider two overlapping concepts often used in healthcare.
In our movement to make sure that there is “a doula for everyone,” have we forgotten our roots? Have we forgotten what is sustainable?
