Pampered Pregnancy – Blissful Birth

Here’s a great opportunity for homebirth photography! – Steph

Hello,

Our studio which has been specializing in birth photography for almost 10 years is working on a book about birth around the world and we would love to add a home birth chapter from Austin.  Normally, our clients invest upwards of $3000 for birth photography, but we would offer our services pro bono, and also provide the master images to the new momma and her family free of charge.  All that we would request is permission to use the images.  If you know of any expectant mommas who may be interested and are expecting to deliver on February 4 or 5, could you refer our information to them?

More information about our studio and photography services can be found at:  www.gruesbeck.com (click on the birth gallery).

Thanks so kindly, and best wishes,

Margaret Gruesbeck
www.gruesbeck.com/blog
cell: 626.824.1150
home: 626.298.6039

We received the following generous offer from photographer Lori Ferguson. Please contact her if you’re interested! – Steph

Hello!

My name is Lori Ferguson and I’m a photographer in the Austin area.  I am writing to different Doulas in the area hoping they will help me.  I am primarily a wedding (and all that goes with it) and family photographer although recently I was asked to photograph a birth.  It was an amazing experience to say the least.  It excited me and gave me a fresh “spark” in my photography business.  I would love to add birth photography to my services, but before I do I need a couple of models.

Here is what I am looking for:
*Delivery in February
*Different birth methods (water, hypno, etc.)
*Would like to be able to start photography at least 1 hour before birth (hopefully)
*Full release to display pictures on my website and marketing material (these will be tasteful photos and faces can be obscured).

In return, I will provide a high-resolution disc of all the edited images with full copyright release.  I will also provide a 25% discount on prints/albums if they want to print through me and the professional printer that I use.

I only need 2 births, so please talk to your mamas and let me know as soon as possible! Please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns. You may visit www.photosbylfe.com, enter site, go to Client Proofing and enter the password Holland to view the birth I photographed.  It’s the Baby Hayden gallery.

Thank you,
Lori Ferguson
512-733-4398
www.photosbylfe.com
lori@photosbylfe.com

You may have squandered away a bulk of cash traveling and giving gifts this season!

It is time for savings on what may be the most important investment of your pregnancy!

If you register this week for the upcoming Bradley Method series at Get Babied!  you will save 10% off of the $300 registration fee.  December 31st is the last day of this great offer!!

The 12 week series begins on Sunday, February 12th from 11am-1pm and ends on April 29th.  This series of classes is great for May and June due dates!

Register using the Promo Code NEWMOM for the great $30 discount and read more about the benefits of the Bradley Method of Natural Childbirth!

Drop off your little one and take four hours to do what your heart desires on Saturday, December 17th!

Two expert Get Babied! doulas are taking on the task so that you can get your holiday shopping done with serious determination!  Or, you know, you could go read at a coffee shop or go back home to take a bath!

No matter what you need coverage for De’Andrea and Jenni have you covered from 12-4.  Bring food, drink, wipes and diapers to our cozy office where we will take precious good care of your sweetie.  Little babes with bottles all the way up to the older kiddos are welcome.

See our registration link for more details! Get Shopping!

http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d7157

Abstract

Objective To investigate the effects of delayed umbilical cord clamping, compared with early clamping, on infant iron status at 4 months of age in a European setting.

Design Randomised controlled trial.

Setting Swedish county hospital.

Participants 400 full term infants born after a low risk pregnancy.

Intervention Infants were randomised to delayed umbilical cord clamping (≥180 seconds after delivery) or early clamping (≤10 seconds after delivery).

Main outcome measures Haemoglobin and iron status at 4 months of age with the power estimate based on serum ferritin levels. Secondary outcomes included neonatal anaemia, early respiratory symptoms, polycythaemia, and need for phototherapy.

Results At 4 months of age, infants showed no significant differences in haemoglobin concentration between the groups, but infants subjected to delayed cord clamping had 45% (95% confidence interval 23% to 71%) higher mean ferritin concentration (117 μg/L v 81 μg/L, P<0.001) and a lower prevalence of iron deficiency (1 (0.6%) v 10 (5.7%), P=0.01, relative risk reduction 0.90; number needed to treat=20 (17 to 67)). As for secondary outcomes, the delayed cord clamping group had lower prevalence of neonatal anaemia at 2 days of age (2 (1.2%) v 10 (6.3%), P=0.02, relative risk reduction 0.80, number needed to treat 20 (15 to 111)). There were no significant differences between groups in postnatal respiratory symptoms, polycythaemia, or hyperbilirubinaemia requiring phototherapy.

Conclusions Delayed cord clamping, compared with early clamping, resulted in improved iron status and reduced prevalence of iron deficiency at 4 months of age, and reduced prevalence of neonatal anaemia, without demonstrable adverse effects. As iron deficiency in infants even without anaemia has been associated with impaired development, delayed cord clamping seems to benefit full term infants even in regions with a relatively low prevalence of iron deficiency anaemia.

Trial registration Clinical Trials NCT01245296.

Friends – just a courtesy note – if you haven’t signed up for a doula package yet, and are intending to, we are raising our prices effective tomorrow.  (The prices listed online right now are our new prices).  We will honor our old prices (which are about $50 less) if you’d like to sign up before tomorrow.  Just your paperwork is required to sign up, payment is still due on or before your due date.  So if you need some motivation to get your paperwork in, maybe this is it!  No pressure – we just want to be transparent about our pricing and want to give you the option to save a few dollars. 

Here’s how to sign up: http://www.getbabied.com/how-to-sign-up

Standing room only at the inaugural Austin Birth Awards ceremony this weekend.  Cary took a few shots, but then our camera died.  :(  So if all y’all have any others to share send ‘em over!  :)

Best Yoga Instructor Meg O'Connell

Best Infant Therapist Nina Davis

Best Local Parenting Magazine Parent:Wise

Best Blog: Get Babied Doula Collective (Steph Scott)

Best Bellycaster: Liane MacPherson

Best Prenatal Photographer: Teri Mason

Have you been up to BabyEarth in Round Rock?  If not – go!  It’s an awesome little store with much cooler stuff than you would find at the big box stores, lots of wooden toys, super cute cloth diapering supplies, and the hippest strollers and nursery attire.  And a great selection of books – they had some of my favorites in stock – Baby 411, Happiest Baby on the Block – and lots of great alternative health/pregnancy/parenting selections too.  OK – enough blabbing about BabyEarth.  I actually wanted to recap our inaugural Round Rock/BabyEarth/Meet the Doulas Night.

We started our night off with a birth story from Michelle and Jim and their sweetheart in tow Kate.  Michelle shared so many great details, how she had a doula for her first birth, but went down the road of a c-section.  She had Megan as a doula for her second birth, and did things a little differently this time, opting for no epidural, and convincing herself in her head that contractions and transition were “fun” – she described it as a bumpy roller coaster ride that was exciting to ride, but even more exciting to get to the end.  Michelle had her perfect birth this time with a successful VBAC.  And Jim said that with both births their doula was integral, and he wouldn’t birth any other way.

Next we were charmed by the lovely Liane McPherson, CNM at Nurture OBGYN, and famous super-midwife.  Liane spent some time discussing some alternative pain relief options for moms experiencing back pain during labor (which is quite a common symptom).  Instead of jumping right to an epidural, she shared two other techniques that use the gate control theory to manage pain control.  If the smaller neurons around the main source of pain are all also excited/agitated, those neurons will send signals to the brain, ultimately confusing the brain as to where the pain is coming from, ultimately reducing the major pain and swapping in some minor annoying pain, but manageable annoying pain.  The first option is using the TENS unit, which has electrodes attached to the mother’s back that send a small electric shock to the mom in a pulsating pattern on the area of her back that experiences pain.  The mother can control the intensity of the stimulus, and can turn the stimulus on and off during a contraction.  The second option she discussed was Sterile Water Papules – essentially using a small syringe to inject water just under the surface of the skin (like a TB test) creating a bubble.  Liane reports that it burns going in, but that then most moms report that their back pain has disappeared.   She left some great data on both options.  TENS.  SWP.  On a PS – we rent out TENS units here at Get Babied which includes drop off and demonstration, and assistance during labor (if we’re your doula as well).

Then we had a more informal speed dating (since there were only a few folks there who hadn’t met us yet); and then we were on our way home to enjoy the lightning on the drive.

Join us next month again in Round Rock at BabyEarth on October 25th at 7pm.  Our special birth story is Sabrina Lowther and how she rocked a super fast labor.  And our honored guest speaker is Siobhan Kubesh, CNM at OB/GYN North, who will be sharing with us the pros and cons of an epidural, when it’s right for your birth plan, and when to know when you don’t need it and can make it without it.  Don’t forget to print the coupon below to save $10 (or pick one up at the event).

Friends and mamas – we’re happy to announce we’re extending our fabulous Meet the Doula Night North for a two month engagement, at the BabyEarth store in Round Rock, Tuesday September 27th and Tuesday October 25th from 7-9pm.  All you Northern Suburb mamas no longer have to drive in rush hour dinner traffic to come find us in East Austin, we’re coming to you.  Central mamas – make the drive North – BabyEarth is awesome so come for the shopping, stay for the doulas.

And to make it more tantalizing, in addition to meeting all of us doulas, and finding out about all of our great services at Get Babied, we also have booked some killer speakers, ones you don’t want to miss.

Tuesday September 27th:

Michelle and Jim will be sharing the birth of their beautiful daughter Kate.  A successful VBAC!

Following Michelle’s birth story our guest speaker will be Liane McPherson, CNM, and midwife extraordinaire at Nurture OBGYN.  Liane will be discussing new advances in alternative pain control.  Sterile water papules and TENS machines have been widely studied and may be particularly useful for women with persistent back pain-both at the end of pregnancy (TENS) and during labor (both TENS & Sterile Water Papules). Great  low-tech alternatives with varied results  but statistically significant improvement in pain perception by the users. Device/technique, mechanism of action, risks and benefits, counseling & expectations will be discussed.

Then of course stick around for our ever famous doula speed dating session.  Doulas will be wo-manning stations around the meeting room, and you can move from one doula to the next in 3 minute intervals to ask any questions about our services, about doulas, about birth, anything you’d like!  Come early or stick around to shop, as guests at Meet the Doulas Night will get $10 off any purchase over $50 at BabyEarth.  Sweet!

Tuesday October 25th:

Sabrina shares the story of the birth of her second daughter Josephine with the doula support of De’Andrea, fearing a long labor similar to her first labor, Sabrina surprises us (and herself probably) with a 1 hour labor this time around!  She just had her baby this week so her story isn’t up on our blog just yet, but it will be soon, and you can come hear it live in October.

Our guest speaker is the newest on-call midwife at OB-GYN North, Siobhan Kubesh.  Siobhan will be speaking about incorporating research based medicine into a holistic based chidbirth experience.

We look forward to see y’all in Round Rock!

So that part was kind of crappy.  But that didn’t stop mamas and grandmamas and future mamas from lining up at our Get Babied booth at the Cedar Park Regional Medical Center Spa Day last weekend.  And as soon as we were rubbing their feet, every woman (and one man who sneaked past the bouncers) exclaimed it was worth the wait.  :)  Good to know our doula massage skills are prime!  Remember this when you ask us to massage you in labor – we have foot (and hand) massage skills!  :)  AS.

Line up out the door and around the building for spa day

Cary is waiting to rub some feet!

Our duckie and other schwag was gone in like 30 minutes

It's just a foot rub ladies. OK - it's the best foot rub ever.