✨✨ Keep reading for some tips on how to write yours! Save for later if you’re early on in your pregnancy. ✨ Book a one-on-one with ME, experienced labour and delivery nurse! I’ll teach you all the things you need to know about hospital birth and help you write an awesome birth plan! DM me the word “babytalk” for more info ❤️ ✨ Birth plans are great. I think well written birth plans are extremely helpful for both the woman and the provider. They are a way to help you regain some control in a very uncontrollable environment. But they’re not just any old plan! It’s best if it is: 💡Specific to your needs. Use your own words, don’t use a template taken off the internet. 💡Well researched and based on evidence. Show it to your provider and discuss whether your plans can be realized at your place of delivery. 💡Go through my instagram and soak it all in, learn everything you can about birth and labour. 💡Clearly written out. Make sure it’s not too long or wordy, printed from a computer is better. 💡Given to your nurse in a timely manner. You can even ask your provider to put it in your file ahead of time. A birth plan is a great way for you to become educated about the birthing process, interventions, what to expect and to help you make informed decisions. I’m a huge birth plan pusher 😂 ✨ It also helps us health care providers understand what you want to happen during your stay in the hospital, and it lets us know what things are important to you. ✨ I firmly believe that EVERYONE should have a birth plan. It should be normalized to the point where health care providers don’t even bat an eye when they see a patient bring one in. My plan for Babytalk this year is to bring you guys some HUGE support regarding how to write your birth plan. Stay tuned and follow along for all the updates 🤩 Did you have a birth plan? #babytalk #birthplan #birthplan4all #birthpreferences #birthwishes #laboranddelivery #obstetrics #laboranddeliverynurse #10weekspregnant #35weeks #22weekspregnant #26weekspregnant
✨ Anything is possible!! ✨ Edit: 🫣I see now this isn’t a c-section! But that being said, all these things are possible during your c-section ❤️ Health care providers need to stop saying things like: -we don’t do that here -we don’t have enough staff -it’s not safe -it’s not sterile -and on and on! Those are just excuses. As you can see in this video, anything is possible! If you want something like this at your birth, you should be able to do it, without imagined barriers in the system. Did you face barriers with your birth wishes? Share your story in the comments ♥️ Thank you @_cenfer for this amazing video 🤩
Save for if your water breaks before labour! 💦 💦 💦 It’s so funny in the movies how the water always breaks before labour and it’s always a mad dash! In fact, it’s really rare for that to happen, and when it does, labour usually doesn’t start right away. If your water does break, you might feel a big gush, a slow leak or something in between. Some women feel/hear a big POP. The amount of fluid varies because the baby’s head can sometimes be in a position that doesn’t let out a lot of fluid. Make sure you note the: 💧Time it happens. The longer it takes for labour to start can increase your risks for infection. 💧Colour of the fluid. Brown/green tinged fluid can mean your baby pooped in the fluid and your provider will watch you guys a little closer. Clear or pink is normal! 💧Smell (if any). Any foul odour can mean you have an infection brewing. 💧Amount of fluid. Because they will ask for a full story on what happened! 💧Whether there is blood. How can you be sure it’s your amniotic fluid? 💧Sometimes it can be hard to tell, whether you peed yourself or whether your water broke. 🤪 💧To be sure you have to come into the hospital where a few tests can be performed to determine whether your water broke or not. 💧You might need to discuss induction with your provider if labour doesn’t start on its own. This is because you are at a higher risk of getting an infection. Often times it’s safe to wait a bit before getting induced. Ask your doc about that! Did your water break before labour? What was your experience like? Remix with @dymin ❤️❤️❤️ Thanks for sharing this moment with the world!
👣Why should I count my baby’s movements? You should be aware of how much your baby moves to help your doctor or midwife know more about your baby. A baby who moves a lot is usually a healthy baby. Not all babies move the same amount or at the same time of day. Keeping a daily record of how much your baby moves will help you detect decreases in movement or if movements stop completely, which may be a sign that there is something wrong with your baby. If you don’t feel 6️⃣ movements in 2️⃣ hours, or if you feel your baby is moving less than normal, you need to call your provider or go to your local L&D unit. 👣How do I count my baby’s movements? You should count your baby’s movements each day starting around 28 weeks of pregnancy. Counting is best done in a reclined position at the same times every day, preferably in the evening, as this is when babies are most active. Try and choose a quiet place where you can concentrate on the movements, placing your hands on your belly to help you feel the kicks if needed.🤰🏻 📌 Write the date and time that you start counting. 📌 Count until 6️⃣movements are felt (but not for longer than 2️⃣ hours). 📌 If you feel several movements in a row, count each movement that you feel as 1 movement. 📌 Mark the time you stop counting. 📌 Record the total time it took to feel 6 movements. 👣What if I don’t feel 6 movements in 2 hours? Call your doctor or midwife or go to your hospital triage.👩⚕️ There, the health care team will listen to your baby’s heartbeat or check the heart rate and movements using a fetal monitoring machine (a non-stress test) or may even use an ultrasound to look at your baby. Are you feeling your baby move? Have you counted 6 movements today?⁉️ (Note: some providers want you to feel 10 movements in 2 hours, find out from yours how many they want you to count). #babytalk #preggolego #kickcounts #pregnancyinfo #pregnancyeducation #preggo #28weekspregnant #6monthspregnant #pregnancypics #preggolife #preggers #preggobelly
Have you heard of open glottis pushing for birth? It’s when you let air out of your mouth while pushing vs holding your breath for a long time (valsalva/purple pushing or closed glottis ). ➡️ Had you heard much about pushing before birth? Learning to breath and relax your pelvic floor in pregnancy is helpful to prepare your body for pushing - think of opening the door for baby to exit. With an unmedicated birth and waiting for your body/ uterus to push on its own (called the fetal ejection reflex/ FER)) - you may breathe heavily, grunt, moan, roar like a lion, or combo of those primal sounds during pushing. (FER can also feel like you didn’t push at all - that’s because it’s involuntary) These sounds are ALL normal and as you can picture, air is being let out of your mouth (open glottis). ➡️ If you’ve given birth - did you use open glottis or closed glottis pushing or a combo of both? With a medicated birth - you can still experience FER but it may not feel as strong. Labouring down to let baby get lower in the pelvis can be helpful before pushing to possibly shorten the amount of time you’re pushing for AND you can still use open glottis pushing. Support is key! If you want to use open glottis pushing or wait for FER or if you do/ don’t want cheerleading from your birth team during pushing : 👍🏼 add this to your birth preferences 👍🏼 bring it up in your prenatal appointments 👍🏼 have your partner /support people and birth team know your pushing preferences 👍🏼 when it comes to pushing on labour day - do what feels best to you! Being prepared ahead of labour with options can help you feel more calm and confident when pushing happens. Bottom line: research supports you being encouraged to push how, when, in the position you want during birth. ➡️ Did you feel supported during pushing? I dive more into pushing options inside my Bump to Birth online program AND my on demand Prepare You and Your Pelvic Floor for Pushing Workshop. See link in bio @holistichealthphysio for details on both options. 🎥Collab with awesome L&D nurse @babytalk.birthnurse
The Fetal Ejection Reflex is a natural part of the birthing process that happens to some women during birth. (I repeat, SOME 😃) ➡️When a woman is comfortable and her body takes over the birthing process, often there will be a surge of adrenaline at the end and the baby literally just ➡️EJECTS. She will then start involuntarily pushing, and there’s is no stopping this process. ➡️Do NOT ask someone to stop pushing at this point, because there is not stopping it! Have you heard of FER or experienced it before? Thank you @benzelphotography for this amazing video 🥰 #babytalk #pregglego #birtheducation #childbirthed #birthed #pregnancyed #40weeks #birthing #birthisbeautiful #27weekspregnant #34weeks
🤱 Breastfeeding is so hard in the beginning, it might be helpful for you to take it one day at a time. But do you know what to expect in those early days? How do you know things are going well? When are you supposed to seek help? 🧐 Scroll through to learn what will happen day by day!▶️ For those of you still pregnant, SAVE for the first week with your baby! ✅ ‼️Note: This guideline is meant for healthy term infants. Also, I acknowledge that there are a host of breastfeeding issues you can run into in the first week as well as medical ones (jaundice/low blood sugars etc) that might impact breastfeeding in the beginning. What was YOUR breastfeeding journey like in the first week? ♥️This week only: My ebook “Prepare for breastfeeding during pregnancy” available for “pay what you can!” See my stories for the link. #babytalk #breastfeedinghelp #newborn #breastfeedingnewborn #4thtrimester
I don’t know about you, but the placenta fascinates me! Let’s learn all about it together. 🤓 The placenta is an organ that is specifically developed to nourish and protect your baby during pregnancy. Yes, it’s a WHOLE NEW and TEMPORARY ORGAN! So cool.🤰🏻 It has so many different functions, including blood flow, gas exchange, waste elimination and serves as a protective barrier against infections for the fetus. During development, part of the placenta is made from maternal tissue and part is from fetal tissues, isn’t that amazing?😻 Also, in a typical pregnancy, no blood is actually mixed between mom and baby, there is a barrier that prevents this. Nutrients and waste are exchanged in space called the “intervillous space”. What materials are exchanged between the mother and baby? Fetus ➡️ Mother: 📍Carbon dioxide. 📍Urea. 📍Hormones. Mother ➡️ Fetus 📍Nutrients. 📍Oxygen. 📍Antibodies. 📍Vitamins. 📍Water. The umbilical cord has two arteries and one vein. 💉Arteries carry away the waste from the placenta and fetus. 💉The vein carries nutrients and oxygen to the placenta and fetus. What questions do you have about the placenta❓ Thank you @meganbabinphotography for this AMAZING video 🤩 #babytalk #preggolego #birthwithlego #placenta #preggers #preggo #pregnancy #prenatalcare #pregnancyeducation #labouranddeliverynurse #childbirtheducation #birthprep #preggobelly #mamatobe2019 #30weekspregnant #5monthspregnant #preg #birthplan #birthmatters #preggolife #mommytobe #preggobelly #thirdtrimester #pregnancyzone #babyontheway
This clip made me so mad. 😡 The evidence for vigorous tactile stimulation is low. It’s a necessary step for floppy babies that aren’t breathing, but total overkill for a baby like the one in the video. Tactile stimulation is definitely overused in the hospital. Hospital staff always feel the need to be “doing something”. 👉This baby cried almost immediately = it’s breathing 👉The baby is a bit purple/blue = normal as they transition to breathing oxygen and clear their lungs. 👉The baby isn’t floppy = no need for such vigorous stimulation. It’s good to dry the baby off so they don’t lose too much heat, but the staff keep wiping all the vernix off which should stay on baby and absorb into their skin. The mother does a great job of advocating for herself and baby while asking the staff to please stop but was shut down multiple times. Even after the baby starts crying. I don’t blame the hospital staff so much as I blame the culture. Babies used to be held upside down and slapped on their bottoms to get them to breath. That was also when more newborns were born with respiratory depression due to the drugs patients got during childbirth. Luckily we’ve come a long way from those times. But we still have lots of work to do. I want you to know how to advocate for your wishes, but the unfortunate truth is that sometimes you won’t be listened to. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t use your voice! Another way to get things to change is to log complaints with your hospital. Maybe it’ll spark discussion amongst health care providers which can bring about change. Lastly, find a provider that will respect you and your wishes. Heck, you could even show them this video and ask if this is standard care in your hospital. Learn about EVERYTHING! (Psst, I can help you do that! Book a 1-on-1 with me to prepare for your upcoming birth! The link is in my bio)♥️
There are a few things YOU can do to help your labour progress in a hospital setting and one of them is to wear your clothes in labour (instead of a hospital gown) 👚👗🩲👙 Hi! 👋🏻 I’m Hanna, an L&D and postpartum nurse 👩⚕️ Follow me @babytalk.birthnurse and #preggolego for more fun pregnancy and birth education. ❤️ When you’re comfortable and at ease, all the right hormones will flow in labour and will help things to progress naturally. 🙌🏻 Bring something comfortable that you don’t care too much about (it might get ruined with bodily fluids 😂 ). Lots of people like to wear a good sports bra. Try bringing a comfy T-shirt and baggy pants. If you need to get an epidural or have to go to the OR, we might ask you to change into a gown. But if everything is low risk and normal, keep your own clothes on! 👍 Write it on your birth plan that you want to wear your own clothes so that everyone is on the same page! P.S lots of people just want to be naked because labour makes you hot! We don’t mind, we’ve seen it all! 💃 What did you wear when you were in labour?
Probably a controversial topic but hear me out….🤔 Let me preface this with the fact that I’m an L&D and postpartum nurse who has always worked in hospital. But I’m also a human who thinks we always need to be questioning everything.🤓 Up to 35% of women experience birth trauma. The stats on maternal mortality in the US are sky high and rising. Is it possible we’re not doing it right? Maybe maternity care needs a paradigm shift? Birth shouldn’t be about business. Hospitals are businesses. I don’t blame them, that’s how they’re designed to work. In an ideal world, birth would take place where people feel safe and respected. There would be access to high risk medical care if needed. Everyone would work as a team to have babies birthed safely while making sure women are fully heard and respected throughout the process. No one should feel like they’re in a factory line on the most important days of their lives. I don’t necessarily mean we should bring all births back into the home like it used to be. I think sometimes hospital care is absolutely needed (I’ve had a very high risk pregnancy myself and all my babies are birthed via c-section). But something has to change! Thoughts? Leave them in the comments! Let’s figure this out together 😊 P.S check out the link in my bio if you want to prepare for your birth with me! I offer one-on-one consultations to help you feel prepared and not scared ♥️
First know this, you might NOT even need to be on continuous monitoring! Ask your provider, because some places just put everyone automatically on continuous, even when it’s not needed. 🤰 That being said, if you need to be on it all hospitals have the option of portable fetal heart rate monitors. They don’t always work as well as the one attached to the bedside, but it’s a great option if you want to stay more upright and mobile in labour and not tethered to a bed. 💃 🕺 Some reasons you might need continuous monitoring: -You’re on Pitocin for an induction -They’re worried about your baby’s heart rate pattern - You have diabetes or high blood pressure - other health issues or concerns - Talk to your provider in detail about why you need to be on continuous monitoring! Did you use a portable monitor in labour? Give us all the tips and tricks! If you want to learn all the TIPS and TRICKS before your labour, book a one on one with me!!! I’m an L&D nurse with tons of experience and I would love to teach you all the insider tips. Check the link in my bio ❤️ Thanks @australianbirthstories for this lovely video! 😍