Category Archives: Colorado Springs

Save the Babies-Newborn Screening

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I met Sarah Wilkerson when I was hired as a postpartum doula to help welcome her daughter home. Sarah was blessed with three children but I would only be helping with two. Sarah says she learned the importance of newborn screening the hard way. As a mother who chose a natural birth path, including Bradley method classes, she felt a lack of information on the screening done for newborns and even some sway against them. After her own researching Sarah and her husband decided that going forward with the testing was the right decision for their family. Sarah had her first baby Noah, safe and naturally on a Friday. After arriving home, Noah was lethargic and not the best eater. On his fourth day, Noah stopped breathing, and they were unable to revive him. Noah’s screening test showed that he was positive for MCADD, (Medium-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency) A rare metabolic genetic disorder, but because he was born on a Friday, and the lab was not open on the weekend. His results were not processed in time to save him.

After losing Noah, Sarah became an advocate for change in newborn screening, formerly known as PKU testing. Sarah has traveled several times to Washington DC to lobby for change. She speaks with the governing board quarterly and was featured in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - Deadly Delays series. Her efforts, along with many others with stories like hers, have created great changes in the ways newborn screenings are handled. It is now mandatory that Labs are open six days a week, and hospitals are no longer allowed to “batch” screenings. Batching is the practice of holding tests until there are enough births to warrant the postal service. The tests now include at least thirty different diseases, with many hospitals and labs looking at over fifty different disorders.

With Policy changes well on their way, Sarah says the biggest hurdle now, is getting the education to parents and loved ones.

One in every Three-hundred families will be affected, and she hopes to see every labor method and childbirth education course, cover this incredibly important issue.

For more information on newborn screening you can visit Savebabies.org or BabyGenes.net, a local resource for parents wishing to have the fastest possible results.

I was so lucky to work for Sarah and her amazing family and I strive to share the education she gave me on newborn screening.

Lauren
Working with families has been Lauren’s passion for over ten years. Her tremendous work ethic and devotion to helping parents has made her a must have in the birth setting, postpartum, and beyond.
Lauren serves her community as an educator, via postpartum planning curriculum and as a Labor and Postpartum Doula. She has a certification in breastfeeding counseling and started her training with DONA; being mentored by established Doulas in Colorado Springs. Lauren is now a professional member of ProDoula and a pre-certified Labor and Postpartum Doula. Lauren will be taking additional training in placenta encapsulation and business by the end of the Summer.

Paving the way, Lauren is the Co‐owner of Colorado Mountain Doulas LLC provides the community with much needed education, local resources, sibling, postpartum, and labor Doula services.

Lauren is the mother of two young children, and has been married since 2008. She loves to cook and entertain for her friends and family in her home in Colorado Springs.

http://coloradomountaindoulas.com

Choosing Your Care Provider and Birth Location

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If you are pregnant or planning to be pregnant in the near future, you are probably wondering things like, “How do I find an OB” “Are there home birth midwives in Colorado Springs?” “Can I have a midwife in a hospital?”

All of these are valid things to be thinking about, but as a birth professional, I’d like to suggest that you first think about the type of birth you want and what you expect your birth experience to be like.

All care providers are not created equal. Some may prefer pregnant individuals birth their babies by their due date. Some may believe in allowing baby to choose their birthday.

Some may be completely fine with scheduling a cesarean birth for you right away, and some may refuse even a membrane strip until 41 weeks gestation.

Knowing what you want in a care provider before you interview them can go a very long way to creating the birth space you are looking for. If you are determined to have a VBAC except in the most serious of medical emergencies or you are considered high risk for underlying medical issues, finding the right provider from the very first appointment can be the difference between a stressful pregnancy and birth, and a peaceful, conflict free 10 months.

Wait. Did I say Interview?

As a doula I hear from clients every day that they got a few recommendations from friends, family members, or online groups and made an appointment right away. They go in, take off their clothes, get an exam, take a test to confirm, and schedule their next appointment with little thought to the rest of the pregnancy and the care they will receive.

Many months later, when we are sitting down for an interview or a prenatal, or meeting for the first time at a Parent Chat, the uncertainty comes out.

“My OB won’t let me…..”

“My midwife wants me to….”

“I don’t want to…”

“I don’t understand why….”

By this time clients are usually over halfway through their pregnancy. They’ve been going to their provider for several months, had several invasive exams, and feel stuck.

Bringing a tiny human into this world is a very important event. I would propose that each birth is, in that moment, the most important experience of your life. Your birth experience will stay with you forever, good or bad.

Not so sure about that? How many times has your mother told you your own birth story, or hers, or that of your siblings? The support system you choose now can have a huge impact on your reality and your birth outcome. This is more important than the location of your wedding, and think about how long it took you to plan that!

Decide WHAT you want your birth to be like. Decide WHERE you want your birth to take place. Decide HOW you want to be treated during the entire pregnancy and birthing experience. THEN decide WHO you will allow to be in attendance.

Remember that your care providers work for you, and you deserve respect and the best care possible. Keep your clothes on for these interviews. This is not an initial exam; it is you, hiring someone to work for you. Use this hand out to help you ask the right questions.

ChoosingYourProvider

Interview several providers before making a decision. THEN, contact us to help guide you through the rest of the process. We work with ALL providers in all settings and we can’t wait to be a part of your beautiful birth!

Jenn Leonard
A passion for helping families to make educated decisions about their families and their birth choices has lead Jenn to become a great source of information for many across the country. She has been educating families on their choices and guiding them to find their own voice in maternity care since 2002.

Jenn is a certified Labor Doula, beginning her studies with CAPPA, taking many additional trainings along the way and is recertifying with ProDoula in 2015. She is also a trained childbirth educator and Postpartum Doula teaching childbirth preparation classes, and also creating her own curriculum for a pre and early pregnancy workshop focused on families who are just beginning to plan for a family, into the 2nd trimester.

Today Jenn is the Co-owner of Colorado Mountain Doulas LLC, providing the community with much needed education, local resources, sibling, postpartum, and labor Doula services.

When she is not guiding families through their birthing year, Jenn is living in Black Forest, CO with her husband and two children on their hobby farm.

http://codoulas.com

Not My Baby on Board Part3

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Hello friends, and welcome back to another edition of “Not My Baby on Board”. When we last left off, I was going to go through the medical steps involved in becoming a surrogate. While it’s not quite as tough as brain surgery, there are still quite a few steps involved. So without further ado, here we go.

After having Skyped with the intended parents and agreed that we were right for each other, it was time to make sure that this oven was in tip-top shape. One of the steps involved in this was meeting with a shrink and answering some questions to make sure that I wasn’t crazy and really wanted to do this.

I’d been told that these were standard questions but they ranged from “How are your relationships at home?” to “Have you ever thought of killing your spouse?” (My response to that one was a very mumbled “All the time”, followed quickly by “Hmm? No I haven’t”). This meeting was supposed to be in fabulous Las Vegas where all of the actual medical testing and procedures were to take place, but the psychiatrist was on vacation. So rather than being in a nice doctor’s office, relaxing in a nice chair, I had to answer those lovely questions at home with two little ones running around. Apparently a little gallows humor when it comes to my spouse is a plus, because only a couple of days later I was in Vegas.

I traveled with my friend, Doula, and business partner Jenn. It was in Vegas that the medical procedures began, and took a lot less time than I thought they would. These were simple things like having blood drawn and also having saline pumped into my uterus to check for any defects via ultrasound. Like I said, these didn’t really take that long, and I got the results before I flew back out too. Everything was great and we were right on track.

The best part of the trip was getting to actually meet the intended parents. We got to have dinner together, and they were adorable! I can’t tell you much because they are international super spies (not really) but I assure you they are absolutely wonderful and I am eager to help them grow their family.

After arriving home, and being cleared medically, I was tasked with starting all of legal side of things. Much like a game of telephone I started with all my desires for birth and prenatal care and after it gets passed around to lawyers and the intended parents I eventually ended up with a contract. In my case it was nowhere near the standard surrogacy contract and instead, mainly because of my career path as a doula and two previous unmedicated births, I was able to have a lot of natural sway to our plans.

Did I mention how fantastic the couple I am working with is? Onward and upward, things start moving quickly after this step. I’m excited to tell you all about it next time.

Lauren
Working with families has been Lauren’s passion for over ten years. Her tremendous work ethic and devotion to helping parents has made her a must have in the birth setting, postpartum, and beyond.
Lauren serves her community as an educator, via postpartum planning curriculum and as a Labor and Postpartum Doula. She has a certification in breastfeeding counseling and started her training with DONA; being mentored by established Doulas in Colorado Springs. Lauren is now a professional member of ProDoula and a pre-certified Labor and Postpartum Doula. Lauren will be taking additional training in placenta encapsulation and business by the end of the Summer.

Paving the way, Lauren is the Co‐owner of Colorado Mountain Doulas LLC provides the community with much needed education, local resources, sibling, postpartum, and labor Doula services.

Lauren is the mother of two young children, and has been married since 2008. She loves to cook and entertain for her friends and family in her home in Colorado Springs.

http://coloradomountaindoulas.com

Breastfeeding Sabotage in the 4th Trimester (part 5)

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So far in this series we’ve discussed how what you do in pregnancy, labor, and immediate hours after your baby is born can affect your breastfeeding relationship.
Today we’re going to discuss the sabotage you may come across in your fourth trimester (the first three months after baby is born) and for the rest of your breastfeeding relationship.

Having a Lactation Consultant come visit you in the hospital is very important, but what if everything is fine while you’re there? If you are being told “you guys are doing great.” “Baby nurses like a champ” then when you come across a problem at home, or something changes, you don’t have someone knowledgeable standing there to help you make immediate corrections. .

In this scenario, because things were going well, you may not have actually learned HOW to get a good latch so when problems arise once you’re home you don’t know how to fix them. If you have a postpartum doula, they can help you solve the problem right away, before it gets worse.

What if your postpartum doula isn’t on shift when you begin having issues? What if you haven’t hired one? What most often happens is that friends and family or others with newborns tell you to just give baby a bottle, give yourself a rest, give baby a little formula to “top them off”. They genuinely think they are helping, but often times they are inadvertently causing more problems leading to a drop in your supply or nipple confusion for baby.

For every single swallow of formula you give your baby, you are telling your body it does not need to make milk. The more you do that, the more your body will NOT make milk at that time and the less supply you have, until eventually you are giving more and more formula than breast milk.

THIS is part of the reason why SO MANY say they “didn’t make enough milk” While there are a handful of valid medical reasons that this could happen, they are very rare. It’s not that human bodies suddenly don’t know how to work and feed their babies after all these years. Misinformation and technology have gotten in the way. Too many people are being told they are broken, or that that there is and “easier” way. Untrained (in breastfeeding) medical professionals, friends and family make us all think we are the exception to the rule and rather than help find solutions to the problems, formula feeding is given as the way to get out of the problem.


The best way to avoid this breastfeeding sabotage is to get help from trained professionals and friends and family who have succeeded in their breastfeeding goals.

Success is the key. Taking advice from someone sharing your same struggles or from someone who did not experience success in breastfeeding can cause more problems than solutions. Note that succeeding in breastfeeding goals is subjective. Success to some might mean 6 months or less. Success to you may mean full term, toddler lead weaning. Before you take advice about breastfeeding from anyone, ask these questions:

  • Are you trained to help me learn to breastfeed?
  • Do you stay current on the most up to date information regarding breastfeeding?
  • How long did you breastfeed?
  • Did you make it to a year or more?
  • Was that a personal choice or was that because you stopped producing?

The nursing relationship is a complex system of hormones and nerve endings that, when interrupted can tell your body not to make milk. Ask your Doula, ask Breastfeeding Counselors, ask Lactation Consultants and IBCLCs. These are the people who have dedicated their lives and careers to educating and encouraging full term breastfeeding. Getting help and advice from a trained professional is the most important thing you can do to avoid breastfeeding sabotage.

Jenn Leonard
A passion for helping families to make educated decisions about their families and their birth choices has lead Jenn to become a great source of information for many across the country. She has been educating families on their choices and guiding them to find their own voice in maternity care since 2002.

Jenn is a certified Labor Doula, beginning her studies with CAPPA, taking many additional trainings along the way and is recertifying with ProDoula in 2015. She is also a trained childbirth educator and Postpartum Doula teaching childbirth preparation classes, and also creating her own curriculum for a pre and early pregnancy workshop focused on families who are just beginning to plan for a family, into the 2nd trimester.

Today Jenn is the Co-owner of Colorado Mountain Doulas LLC, providing the community with much needed education, local resources, sibling, postpartum, and labor Doula services.

When she is not guiding families through their birthing year, Jenn is living in Black Forest, CO with her husband and two children on their hobby farm.

http://codoulas.com

Loved ones and a new baby

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Everyone loves having family and friends to help after bringing a new baby home. It’s such a special time, of course all your loved ones want to meet and hold that new baby. But what about the groceries, laundry, dishes, and older siblings? Life still needs to be managed, schedules still need to be maintained. It can be overwhelming to say the least. The last thing that needs to be added to the plate is entertaining and hosting guests. A little postpartum planning can ensure that your after baby help doesn’t turn into house guests who need to be entertained.

Making a short list of things that need to be done around the house for family members to help out with is easier than making requests in the moment. For older siblings you can make a short list of some local activities. This will allow family members some guidance with getting everyone out of the house while you get some extra alone time with the baby. Better yet, hiring a postpartum doula can alleviate the need to ask loved ones to take care of the household at all. If there are no older siblings to care for, giving guests a list of sites around town is a great way to keep guests entertained, without you being the one to do it. I have included an example of a few activities for the Colorado Springs area. What can you come up with for your area?

Postpartum Activities for Grandparents and family members:

 

The North Pole is a great place for grandparents to take other siblings to for the day. They have all kinds of rides, gift shops, and snack shops to enjoy. Visit the website for more information northpolecolorado.com.

 

Garden of the Gods is a wonderful place to encourage your guests to check out. Its a great place to drive through or stop and walk the trails. The grandparents can enjoy this with or without other siblings. For more information check out the website www.gardenofgods.com.

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Manitou Springs is a cute little mountain town that is fun to visit for the day. There are tons of little shops Grandma and Grandpa would find interesting as well as restaurants and an arcade for sibling fun. You can find more information on the website. manitousprings.org

Planning for your postpartum is just as important as planning for your birth. A few simple lists can make all the difference with maintaining your household. Which will ensure that you and your partner enjoy all the bonding time possible with your new bundle of joy.

Meeting Greyson-Overcoming Birth Trauma Part 1

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So many women silently suffer from birth related trauma and don’t know where to turn for help. Each experience is unique but that doesn’t mean we are alone. I’m starting a new series on my website to raise awareness and hopefully help a few women in their journey to overcome their trauma and not let it define them.

Go HERE to read Part 1!

Shellee Semrad
Shellee is a full-time wife and mommy. She has two sweet little boys, Grey (3 years) and Linc (1 year). In her limited free-time, Shellee loves to sing, dance, write, read, crochet and watch Netflix with her hubby. She has an entrepreneurial spirit and also LOVES to serve others. She loves her job and calling as a doula and can’t imagine not supporting laboring women and their loved ones.

Shellee strives to continually grow her knowledge and understanding so that she can serve her clients in the best way possible.

http://whitelotusbirthservices.com
Baby Led Weaning gives infants control over the food that they eat, and fosters good eating habits for life!

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Baby Led Weaning- Beyond the Purees

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Colorado Springs mom Michelle Rodriguez is no stranger to babies and food. Michelle is a La Leche League leader and mom to Remy, age 2. She is an incredibly knowledgable individual who is compassionate as well as driven to help parents in our city. She is also a respected instructor for Baby Led Weaning classes, helping families decide how to feed first solid foods to their children.

I first met Michelle at a La Leche League meeting when she and I were both leaders-in-training for the breastfeeding group. Her warm smile drew me in and I quickly found that she was very easy to talk with. We worked together to complete some of the prerequisites for leadership, and I grew to deeply respect her calm nature, her thoughtful responses, and her devotion to mothering her toddler.

I spoke with Michelle via telephone this week and asked her questions that some of our readers might be interested in regarding baby led weaning. Here’s a small part of our conversation.

Michelle, thank you for giving us an interview so that our readers can learn from you. What exactly is Baby Led Weaning?

Baby Led Weaning (also referred to as BLW) is a method to introduce solid foods to your baby. With BLW, your baby is encouraged to take the lead. Your child gets the opportunity to choose what to eat, how much to eat, and how to eat the food. BLW is a hands-off method for the parents, which is respectful of your baby’s needs and wants.

How did you become involved in teaching baby led weaning classes?

I attended Mommy and Me yoga classes at Enso Prenatal, which introduced me to a community of parents with children who were older than mine. I learned about BLW and was intrigued. I read Gil Rapley’s book, Baby Led Weaning, but I thought it would be great for people to have the information, resources, and recipes that came from in-person support.

What kinds of extra support do you offer for parents who take your class?

I keep in touch with the families who take my classes. I give them my email address and phone number, and I also add them to a secret Facebook group just for caregivers who have taken my BLW class. I’m not always good about posting in that group, but it’s great for families to be able to connect with each other and give support via the group.

If you could give one piece of advice for families practicing baby led weaning with their child, what would it be?

I would encourage families to not worry about the amount of food their baby is eating when their baby is under 12 months. Before that first birthday, solids are an additional sensory play time rather than a mealtime. Keep breastfeeding so that your child has adequate calorie intake, but don’t stress about the solids! If your child is still not ingesting many solids after 12 months, I would advise you to speak with your medical provider and look for more opportunities to add extra calories into his or her daily routine.

I was so grateful to Michelle for allowing me to interview her. Michelle is a wonderful resource in our community, and I truly thank her for the time she spent with me! For more information or to register for Michelle’s Baby Led Weaning class, visit her page here.

Sarah
Sarah is a birth and postpartum doula who provides services through Colorado Mountain Doulas. She is a La Leche League leader, a volunteer with her local babywearing group, church choir member, and mother to two young children. Sarah enjoys cooking, reading, and music.
http://www.florabirthservices.com