Category Archives: LGBT

Choosing Your Care Provider and Birth Location

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

Reproductive Justice in Colorado Springs

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Colorado Mountain Doulas commitment to supporting GROWING FAMILIES in Colorado Springs goes far beyond the “typical” mainstream, nuclear family. We hold a special place in our hearts for those whose families don’t come about in the traditional way. Supporting families through FERTILITY, ADOPTION, SURROGACY, and LOSS is of primary importance to our business model and the local LGBT community is a large part of that. Colorado Mountain Doulas and the Colorado Springs Queer Collective have begun building strong relationships in the local community. This October, we’re turning our attention to Reproductive Justice in Colorado Springs.

Colorado Springs Queer Collective fosters community leadership, education, and empowerment. Our mission is to address inequality, re-invest in the local economy, and celebrate the creative contributions of queer and trans people. We are a group of artists, entrepreneurs and everyday changemakers who are committed to transforming our communities. We lead with a visible commitment to intersectional and intergenerational work.

Colorado Mountain Doulas believe that ALL families should be nurtured and treated with respect. Our support teams help families make empowered decisions about the care they receive continuously, through early preparations, pregnancy, labor, birth and the postpartum period. Colorado Mountain Doulas is also dedicated to elevating professional Doulas by empowering them to make sustainable contributions within the community.

What Does Reproductive Justice Mean?

Colorado Springs Queer Collective believes that “Reproductive Justice exists when all people have the social, political and economic power and resources to make healthy decisions about their gender, bodies, sexuality and families”. We’re also deeply interested in and invested in the history of this movement since the term reproductive justice was first coined by women of color organizing to improve their communities in 1994. That’s around the same time the first International Bill of Gender Rights was drafted in 1993, so there are a lot of important intersections between the reproductive justice movement and queer/trans families locally.

How Does the Reproductive Justice Movement Affect Local Families?

The ability to make healthy decisions for ourselves and our families is a universal issue.

In the broadest sense, the economics are clear. Today, 13% of all Coloradans and 17% of Colorado’s children are living in poverty while 1 in 7 Coloradans are facing insecurity. These figures are even more staggering if we consider that the Federal Poverty Guideline is only around $24,000 gross annually for a family of 4. The issues are even more pressing for LGBTQ families. Trans people, for example, are 4 times as likely to live below the federal poverty guideline and 2.5 times as likely to be unemployed making it more difficult for them to provide for themselves or their families as a result of discrimination and inequality within our communities.

LGBTQ people also face barriers to reproductive justice in the medical and mental health fields. For example, they may have difficulty finding a queer/ trans friendly provider in their area or be unsure where to access information about safer sex and healthy relationships. LGBTQ people who wish to start families may also face particular challenges as they navigate their adoption, birthing, surrogacy, and other parenting options locally.

We want to ensure that all families are treated fairly and have the opportunity to thrive in Colorado Springs.

How Did Colorado Mountain Doulas Get Involved?

Colorado Mountain Doulas initiated a partnership with Colorado Springs Queer Collective after a LGBTQ Strategic Planning workshop in March of 2015. Our organizations recently re-connected at a Springs Equality Chamber of Commerce meeting where we discussed strengthening local LGBTQ health networks. Together, our vision is to establish a bold new precedent for inclusive care and professional leadership.

Colorado Mountain Doulas is excited to help improve the birthing experience for all families. For LGBTQ families in particular, the goal is to create a safe and welcoming environment for queer and trans people to learn more about their options and resources. For fellow birthing professionals, the goals is to serve as mutual resources in an expanding network of inclusive providers and practices including physicians, mental health workers, etc. CSQC verified businesses will receive an electronic badge for their websites and Colorado Mountain Doulas is one of the first in the Springs to be awarded this distinction.

How Else Are You Connecting with People in Colorado Springs?

Colorado Mountain Doulas is excited to co-facilitate a session on Reproductive Justice at the Colorado Springs Queer Collective Leadership Summit for 75-100 participants on October 24th.

We’ve reached out to more than 25 organizations to join the discussion so far including Rocky Mountain Planned Parenthood, The Elephant Circle, Colorado Organization for Latina Opportunity and Reproductive Rights, local faith leaders, and more. Everyone is welcome to attend and participate!

We’ll be sure to make related resources available on our websites after summit day. Beyond the summit, we look forward to partnering on some continuing education credits and professional development opportunities to cover these topics in greater depth for those who’d like to help take the lead with us in 2016.

Sounds Great! How Can I Get Involved?

To learn more about Colorado Mountain Doulas, visit www.coloradomountaindoulas.com. To learn more about Colorado Springs Queer Collective or register for the leadership summit, visit www.csqueercollective.org or contact Adison Q. Petti: Leadership Development Coordinator: 720-862-6126 or [email protected]

Thanks for taking an interest in Reproductive Justice in Colorado Springs!

Written By: Colorado Springs Queer Collective: August 2015

Jenn Leonard

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

Our Favorite Books for Your Growing Family

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Do you remember when your parents use to read to you as a child?

Do you remember when you first began to read for yourself?

Do you remember when you first began to read to your child?

Many parents wonder “When should I start reading to my child?” While the answer to this varies depending on what you read, a recent study confirms that reading to children early and often has immense benefits on a child’s brain. We polled Colorado Mountain Doulas for their favorite books and these were the results:

Sam MacArthur

“Guess How Much I love You, Snuggle Puppy, On The Day You Were Born for little kids. Snuggle Puppy is a great rhythmic story for little peeps.
For older kids, The Indian in the Cupboard, A Wrinkle in Time, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Giver and The Light in the Forest, to name a few.
The Giver was my favorite as a kid because it talks about this future Utopian society where everything is perfect and chosen for you. No pain, no danger, etc except for one job, the giver. The giver gets to know everything and uses his or her wisdom to keep society running smoothly… Or is supposed to. … I kinda like books.”

Amanda Stites

“Jackson likes Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, but he’s only 8.5 months old. My favs are, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie & Ferdinand.”

Jessica Strickland

“We love Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs by Mo Willems. It makes us giggle and Adelaide pretty much has it memorized.”

Sarah Lund

“My favorite as a child was Peter Spiers’ Rain. I love the Kevin Henkes books now- Owen, Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse, Wemberly Worried, etc.”

Jenn Leonard

“My favorite books as a kid were The Poky Little Puppy and Courduroy the Bear. Aeden STILL loves Chrysanthemum! I’m not good with author’s names, so I didn’t even know Kevin Henkes had others.”

Ashley Conners

Ashley wrote her own blog post about favorite books. Visit her blog for her Top 5 Children’s Books While Potty Training.

Jenn Leonard

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

How you grow your family is YOUR climb

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Today was a day that will forever go down in history as a step forward for human rights.

Today is a day that our friends, family and clients will look back on and remember where they were and when they saw the news. (Most will probably say Facebook)

Today our news feeds were FILLED with rainbows and celebration for Marriage Equality.

Today we smiled and shed tears for those that we care about in our personal and business lives who are greatly affected by what today means for them.

Today the team at Colorado Mountain Doulas celebrates with the world. We celebrate the love, the marriage, and the babies to come!

Tomorrow we will be there when our clients call and tell us they are pregnant.

Tomorrow we will be the shoulder to cry on when the IVF or In Vitro doesn’t work for our friends and family.

Tomorrow we will be photographing pregnant bodies and births of babies.

Tomorrow we will be teaching labor techniques and coping skills to birthing people, partners, surrogates and intended parents.

Tomorrow we will be physically, mentally and emotionally supporting families of all shapes and sizes through the most important day of their lives. The day they add a new little being to their family.

Tomorrow we will lift up our clients and help them to find their own power and their own voice no matter how they are growing their families.

Tomorrow we will NOT judge. We will not shame. We will not disapprove. We will be nothing but loving and compassionate and professional.

Tomorrow, from our Christian, Humanist, Wiccan, Mormon, Catholic and Agnostic backgrounds, we will be here, supporting YOU and your growing family no matter how you decide to do it. We know that it is all done in love.

Jenn Leonard

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 Part2

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When last we talked, I told you about how I’d been matched with a nice couple from the East Coast. Now I’ll tell you all about how we met, in this segment called “How I met your Surrogate”. I really think CBS stole the title from me, but I could be wrong.

I have to back track a little again to get everything set up for you.

One of the steps in becoming a surrogate is that the future oven (me), and all future ovens, have to fill out a profile, very much like a famous social networking site.

In filling out the profile, I had to answer all of the standard questions you’d find such as “Where do you live?”; “Do you have children?”; “Why do you want to become a surrogate?”; “Who is your favorite Star Wars character?” You know, all the standard questions.

For those of you wondering, my answer to that last question (an answer that still makes my husband shake his head in disbelief), is Jar Jar Binks. (Seriously, my husband is shaking his head and muttering “WHY?” under his breath as I type this).

Now, you’d think that saying something like “I love Jar-Jar” or “sometimes Mommy needs a stiff drink” would automatically disqualify me from becoming a surrogate, but nope. In the end I think my honesty in saying that Yes, I really do love my kids, but sometimes I still need a tall cold beer or a nice dirty martini, helped the IPs in choosing me to be the oven for their bun. Not only did they get to see my profile, but I got to see theirs. Once I saw their profile, I knew that we were going to be a good match.

After talking it out with my husband, and deciding that I had found my match, it was time to meet the IPs face to face.

Now, seeing how this is the 21^st century, meeting face to face no longer means having to travel half way across the country and be a nervous wreck when the meeting finally takes place.

Now there’s Skype. Now you get to be a nervous wreck at home.

I had that feeling….that pit in your stomach awkwardness that comes with a first date.

The plan was for me, Darci, and the IPs to talk to each other, using Darci as the “mutual friend” who set up the biggest blind date any of us had ever been on. Like all blind dates, things didn’t work out as planned.

Sadly I’m not the best at Skyping, so even though I was in the comfort of my own home, I couldn’t get my end to work. I’m really not good with these computer contraptions believe it or not.

We couldn’t get Darci to dial in so we had to go it alone, just me and the IPs.

Remember all that nervous wreck stuff I talked about before? Yep, it was there, times a million! I wasn’t in full blown I-think-I’m-gonna-throw-up nervous wreck mode, but I definitely wasn’t cool-as-the-other-side-of-the-pillow either.

The good news is, it went really well. We talked, and talked some more. Babies, families, vacations, upbringings, and the future were just some of out topics. I told ya, first date, right? After almost two hours (longer than I thought), the call, sadly came to an end.

The next step was that both parties had to confirm with Darci, that yes, they were right for me and I was right for them. I was itching to tell Darci how eager I was to help make the intended parents dream come true but they beat me to it!

Minutes after the call ended I got a text from Darci “THEY LOVED YOU!”

Whew. Next up: the medical steps involved in becoming a surrogate.

Lauren

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

Getting pregnant without using drugs or intervention

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5 Easy Ways to Increase Your Fertility (Without Drugs)

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Growing your family isn’t always simple or quick. While some couples find that they can get pregnant without much effort, others have to put lots of time, money, and stress into getting pregnant. Before you invest in complicated fertility testing or expensive doctor visits, try these tips to increase your chances of conceiving:

Be as healthy as possible

Quit smoking, get enough exercise and sleep, and reduce caffeine intake to 2 cups of coffee or less. Work to maintain a healthy weight, ideally at 20-30 BMI for women. If your partner is male, have him switch to boxers instead of briefs while you are trying to conceive (it can take several months for this to work, however).

Learn to understand your body’s ovulation (egg releasing) cues

There are several clues that a your body is approaching its fertile days each month:

basal body temperature
the position of the cervix
the quality and the quantity of cervical fluid

While there are ways to monitor these 3 signs, it is usually easiest to notice the cervical fluid that appears on the toilet paper throughout the day. Typically, cervical fluid will become more slippery and elastic as the most fertile time approaches.

For more detailed information about cervical fluid and how it affects your fertility, read more here. To learn even more about your monthly cycle and how your hormones impact fertility, Fertility Friend offers free online educational courses.

Have intercourse at least once during the 2 days prior to and the day of ovulation.

When you know you are about to ovulate, you need to be sure to have intercourse (or inseminate with sperm) during this 3-day window. Many people ovulate around the 14th day of their cycle, but there are others who do not. By watching your fertility signs, you will be able to predict more easily when you will ovulate. The convenience and simplicity of ovulation predictor kits (OPK’s) can be helpful if you don’t mind peeing on a stick once or twice a day. It can be a good tool to help determine when you will be ovulating. For more information about timing of intercourse, read Fertility Friend’s article here.

Give your body lots of chances for pregnancy during ovulation

Some old wives’ tales warn against having sex too often during the fertile window, claiming that it can reduce sperm count. The reality is that for healthy couples with normal sperm, frequent intercourse or insemination will only increase the likelihood of pregnancy. If you and your partner can commit to at least once per day during the 3-day fertile window, that’s okay too. Do what you can to be sure that you have an orgasm each time, as that can increase the chances of conception as well.

Use a fertility charting app or program to become familiar with your body’s patterns

I am a big fan of Fertility Friend, but there are other fertility charting programs out there to choose from. Once you have determined your patterns, you are much more likely to catch the egg during your fertile window, and even more likely to get pregnant! In addition, if you find that you still are not pregnant after 6 months of actively trying, you will want to talk to your care provider and show them your fertility data.

Although getting pregnant can sometimes seem like a job with uncontrollable variables, you can rest easy knowing that these tips will give you the best chances of conceiving without intervention. Good luck growing your family!

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

Colorado Mountain Doulas Agency

Growing Your Family is Worth the Climb

Category Archives: LGBT

Choosing Your Care Provider and Birth Location

Not My Baby on Board Part3

Reproductive Justice in Colorado Springs

How you grow your family is YOUR climb

Not My Baby On Board Part2

5 Easy Ways to Increase Your Fertility (Without Drugs)