UDA session: Jiggling Babies

Use of the Rebozo in Pregnancy and Labor
Celeste R. Thomas, CNM and Susanna Cohen, CNM (both work at the U of U in Salt Lake City) did a great job showing us the history of the Rebozo, traditional uses of the Rebozo and different techniques regarding the Rebozo. They also showed us a youtube video of Angelina Martinez Miranda, a traditional Mexican midwife. Follow the link here to view.
Some things to remember if using the Rebozo:
Watch your posture and balance
Bend your knees
Hold the Rebozo ends like you are “milking a cow”
Always greet baby
Have faith babies know what to do, you are just encouraging them into position
Remember: Intention and Attention
After trying this a few times, I believe using the Rebozo requires trust
Linked References:
Blake, C & Blake D Abdominal Sacral Massage: Rebozo
Sotelo, D.I. & Vinaver, N. The Rebozo: A transcription of the Rebozo workshop given by dona Irene Sotelo and Naoli Vinaver. Midwifery Today, Inc.
Tully, G. Rebozo Sifting or Jiggling

More on the UDA conference.

More on the UDA conference. Brigg Noyes presented an excellent session on Helping Parents Preserve their Romantic Relationship after the Birth of a Child. He stated as many as 80% of couples report a drastic drop in martial quality after the birth of a child. He challenged us, who work with pregnant women to raise some questions to the expecting couple.
• “How are you going to preserve the relationship that created this baby?”
• “How are you going to keep this spark going?”
• “What is your role to help your partner?”
• “What is your role as a parent?”
He stated that parents have increase responsibility, more work and less support, decrease in physical and emotional intimacy and increased stress. Depression and surfacing of own childhood issues are common after birth.
The fighting and conflict lead to parent-child interaction. This impacts the baby by
• Increasing baby blood pressure
• Parents have poor ability to read baby’s cues (and therefore do not meet baby’s needs in a timely manner)
• Baby is now at higher risk for later emotional, behavioral, and cognitive problems
• When parents are in conflict, the baby is especially likely to withdraw from the father, negatively impacting this important relationship.
With this knowledge, it is important to assess your relationship, work on communication and intimacy skills and to consciously create a family. Create traditions and everyday rituals.
Resources:
• www.briggnoyes.com
• www.twoofus.org
• www.marriagebuilders.com
• And Baby Makes Three (book) John and Julie Gottman
• Getting the Love You Want Workbook Harville Hendrix and Helen Hunt
• Passionate Marriage (book) David Schnarch

Ecology of a Doula

The Utah Doula Association conference was awesome. I feel really rejuvenated. It was wonderful to be in a room of women who are working hard to make birth a safe and enjoyable experience for the women they serve. The conference was called, “Ecology of a Doula, Relationships, Education, Support”. It was hosted by the University of Utah Perinatal Education. I learned things from every speaker. Over the next couple of days I’ll tell you more about the different sessions; today I’ll tell you about just one. It was interesting that one of the speakers, Robert M. Silver, MD, changed his topic at the last minute. His paper on cesareans was presented at the National Institute of Health conference on VBAC. At this conference, he was supposed to speak on high risk situations and how doulas can help. Instead, he spoke on (insert evil music here) Cesareans: The Dark Side. He focused on long term physical impact of cesareans that most people don’t acknowledge. The list included placenta problems in future pregnancies. That is assuming you are able to get pregnant, which isn’t certain, since women with prior cesareans have a high infertility rate. They are also more likely to have etopic pregnancies. If they are able to get pregnant, they have high rates of miscarriage and stillbirth. Women with prior cesareans report chronic pain.
I found it disconcerting that when the conference organizers found out about the subject change and realized I was there, I was pulled aside and asked to “Be nice” to Dr. Silver. Did they think I would throw tomatoes or “BOO!” loudly when he said something I didn’t like? There were several times when he said something that was controversial (for instance, “VBACs are high risk”) and many in the room would turn to look at my response. I struggled to listen, take notes and keep my face impassive. After his presentation, I was the first to raise my hand. I think the whole room was holding their breath, wondering what I would say. I stood, introduced myself and asked if he would be willing to go to lunch with me. I need to call him and set it up. I guess I’ll go do that before I forget.
Hugs, The Personal Experience Expert