March 2002 |
Moms Group Our Moms Group is open to
all of our patients and guests. Children are always welcome.
This is a great time to meet other new moms in the area and to
exchange ideas and thoughts. Each meeting begins at 7PM, with
a guest speaker who will be provide us with information on certain
topics. These discussions are very informal and you are invited
to ask questions and to add to the discussion at any point. Following
the guest presentation, there will be approximately 30 minutes
of interactive time in which to meet with the other new moms,
exchange phone numbers or even recipes. We would like to increase
our attendance at each of these meetings in order to continue
After attending hundreds of births, I feel the three valuable components of labor support are: compassion, common sense and creativity. As a doula, I combine these aspects at every birth through emotional, physical and informational support. Partners when considering compassion ask yourself ìWhat would I want done if I were in that situation?î If the mother has been doing all mouth breathing for several contractions, what could you offer her that would reflect what you would want in similar circumstances? Perhaps ice chips, clear fluids, a sour lollipop etc. What if the motherís bed pad is soiled? You can buzz the nurse and wait or tell mom to ìliftî and replace it with a fresh one right away. What would you have preferred? When the women is feeling swept away emotionally and physically, asking her to TRY and relax, slow her breathing, etc. will work better than telling her she is not relaxing right. Would you want to hear that, partners? So, listening to her, reassuring her and respecting her are key when considering compassion. The common sense part means the things you can do that just seem right. Helping her to the bathroom, offering her refreshment, assisting her while in the tub or Jacuzzi, massaging a sore back and keeping her breathing are a few examples of that. Talking about what helps her relax in life, discussing her past pain history/management and asking what personal requests she has for labor are very helpful. Knowing these facts can help a partner determine what options to offer her that might have worked in the past for her. The last ìCî stands for creativity. Sometimes we just need to problem solve during a birth when an unexpected challenge arises. Twenty four years ago when I had my first, my husband devised a way to get me through transition (8-10 cms). When I was sensing the pain, I would ask if the contraction was peaking. He would say yes and it was on the way down. Sometimes it was and sometimes it wasnít! But, when I questioned his honesty about the last doozy of a contraction, he would just say that it had a double peak. I never checked his statement out. His form of creativity was to say what I needed to hear at the time. Other forms of creativity may involve ways to pass the time during a long early labor, trying to position that is just a bit different, offering a food or drink that might give her that energy boost she needs or helping her to reframe her pain by having her transfer it to her feet then massaging it away. Creativity is an essential part of a doulaís birth tool bag. Offering new ideas to help move labor along or to better handle her pain are a major part of what we do. Partners and other support people can do the same. In conclusion, remember the three ìCísî in labor support so you can both have a safe, successful and satisfying birth experience. Knowing that you did your best to meet the challenges associated with birth will add to your confidence as new parents. HAPPY BIRTHING!!! Written by Jan Mallak, Hearts and Hands Doula Service Recycling Reminder If you wish to assist us in our ìSave the Treesî Campaign and wish to donate back your prenatal packet after delivery, you can return it at your post partum visit. Did we connect?? On Monday, April 1, our office will send out a Happy April Fools Day Message to all those in our e-mail data base. If you do not receive the e-mail please contact our office as your e-mail address needs corrected in our data base. Insurances Accepted and office Scheduling Policies Our office accepts the following insurances BCBS, Keystone, Select Blue, Aetna US Health Care, UPMC, Champus. Devon, Health America/Health Assurance, Medicaid, Gateway, Best, Med Plus and several other commercial insurances. If you do not see our practice listed in your insurance book, please call our office to verify if we are participating. We are always willing to apply for participation for any insurance plans in which we are currently not. Please make sure that you notify Sue at the front desk if any of your patient information changes during your care. We will need to have you complete a new patient registration form and make copies of your new insurance card. For your convenience, these changes can also be made online. We would also like to remind you that all of our appointments are scheduled in such as a manner that unless there is a medical emergency, our patients are seen close to their scheduled time with little waiting. Our office does not double book appointment times. Please notify our office ASAP if you need to reschedule or are running late so that we can make adjustments in our schedule. Thank you How have they Grown??? We love to keep in touch with all our patients, so please remember to send photo updates to place on our bulletin board. Has you child gotten his/her first tooth, graduated from kindergarten or has won a scouting award? We would love to hear. If you would like to have your childís special accomplishment announced in our next newsletter, please let us know. We would love to start a new column entitled "How They Have Grown" in our next edition. Orientation Night Our office will be hosting our next two orientation evenings on Wednesday, March 27th and Wednesday, May 22 at 7:00 PM. This is an opportunity to stop by and learn more about the practice of midwifery. A video will be shown, informational packets distributed, and time will be available to speak to one of the midwives on staff. A tour of the Family Birth Place will also be included. For those unable to attend, private orientations can be scheduled by calling our office. Informational packets can also be sent upon request. Information concerning midwifery and our practice is also available on our web site at www.JDMH-midwives.com We hope you have enjoyed
this edition of our newsletter. All articles and birth stories
are the opinion of their author. If you would like to contribute
an article, birth announcement or story or a General Announcement,
please forward them to our office. Family Nurse Midwife Associates |