N E W S

Release: Immediate
Date: September 2, 2010
Contact: Get Babied! Doula Collective: Ame Shillington doulas@getbabied.com

Man-to-Man Childbirth Prep – Austin’s First Fathers Only Class

Austin, (Texas) —The Get Babied Doula Collective is excited to bring the first ever fathers only childbirth class to Austin. Cliffs Notes for Dads sifts through what it means to be a dad in a fun, actionable dialogue filled with demonstrations, recommendations and anecdotes. Our goal is to help you be the very best husband and father you can be, while learning and having fun in the process. It’s pregnancy, labor and post-labor: for dads… by dads.

In this class, dads will learn:

* Things to do well before labor
* What to expect in the delivery room
* Dad’s role as a birth partner
* The Dad and doula relationship
* Comfort measures dads can do during labor
* Infant care 101

Cliffs Notes for Dads class will be taught by new father Leo Ramirez. Leo and his wife tried getting pregnant well before any of their friends and family did. Fortunately, and he’ll explain why in class, they were among the last to finally welcome their little one into the world! While the wait was hard, it helped him gain an immense amount of knowledge and experience living vicariously through those having babies before him. He researched everything to the nth degree and he and his wife even took a Bradley Method class once they knew their baby was on the way.

Cliffs Notes for Dads Instructor Leo Ramirez with wife Caroline and new baby Leif

There are a myriad of books you can read about the stages of your baby’s development and life, the changes your wife is going through, what labor is like and why it is that the only license you need to have a baby is a car seat! Some resources are great. Many conflict. And, almost all focus on mom and baby. But what about dads? They’re an important part of this, too!

And here’s the kicker… regardless of how ready you think you are: you have absolutely no clue what you’re in for until it finally happens! All you can do is inform, prepare and have an open mind and a heart full of love for the enormous joy being bestowed upon you.

Cliffs Notes for Dads will be offered on September 13th from 7-9pm at the Get Babied Doula Collective, 3823A Airport Blvd 78722. It will be offered again October 24th from 2-4pm, and December 6th from 7-9pm. Register online at www.getbabied.com.

Get Babied! 3823-A Airport Blvd. Austin TX 78722 (512)5-BABIED (512) 522-2243

www.getbabied.com

N E W S

Release: Immediate
Date: August 26, 2010
Contact: Get Babied! Doula Collective: Margaret Burns doulas@getbabied.com
MamaCents: Chris Twing ctwing@mamacents.com

Austin,(Texas) —The Get Babied Doula Collective will have their entire staff of experienced doulas on-hand to offer massages to pregnant moms who will be shopping at the MamaCents consignment sale at Palmer Auditorium on September 17th.  Pregnant moms are invited to an exclusive VIP (Very Important Preggers) presale on Friday evening before the main sale starts on Saturday.

This is one sale where moms will not need to shop till they drop!  Moms are invited to take a break from the shopping madness to join the doulas at the Get Babied table for a free hand or foot massage. This is your chance to get pampered, part of what the Get Babied Doula Collective is all about.

The doulas from the collective will also be there to answer questions about what they do as doulas.  In short, a doula is a childbirth assistant that provides continuous emotional, physical, and informational support throughout labor and delivery, and helps with initial breastfeeding. The doulas at Get Babied also provide extensive prenatal assistance, pregnancy and postpartum massage, lactation consultation and many classes.  Highlights of a doula’s job include providing comfort measures for moms in active labor including massage, acupressure, heat compresses, and focused breath work. Doulas stay by the mother’s side throughout her labor. She is there to answer any questions the mother may have about medical procedures and to advocate for the birth the mother wants. The Get Babied ladies are all mamas themselves and are experts in pregnancy and childbirth.

The MamaCents consignment sale at the Palmer Auditorium begins September 17th and is the largest and most established consignment sale in central Texas.  Register online at www.mamacents.com in order to attend the exclusive presale.

The Get Babied Doula Collective (www.getbabied.com) is co-hosting the VIP presale for pregnant moms only on Friday night. Download a Get Babied registry shopping list of must-have items from their website in the docs section and bring it to shop some amazing deals on gently used baby clothes, gear, & more.

By Duke Medicine News and Communications

A new kit-based umbilical cord blood pilot donation program under way at Duke University Medical Center could significantly expand options for mothers who want to donate their baby’s cord blood to a public bank.

“Right now, there are fewer than 200 hospitals in the United States designated as collection sites for mothers who want to donate their baby’s cord blood to a public bank,” says Joanne Kurtzberg, MD, professor of pediatrics at Duke and director of the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank (CCBB), a public bank. “We simply need more. Cord blood cells are increasingly seen as a valuable resource, and we are seeing a pressing need for more cord blood donation, especially among Asian and African-American mothers and those with mixed ethnic backgrounds.”

Umbilical cord blood stem cells, normally discarded after birth, have the ability to grow and develop into various types of cells throughout the body. They can be harvested after birth and stored for future transplantation in patients with many types of cancer and blood disorders, and increasingly, in other diseases as well.

In addition to Duke, two other sites are participating in the program, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston and the Texas Cord Blood Bank in San Antonio. All three sites are members of the National Cord Blood Inventory’s public banking network of the C.W. Bill Young Cell Transplantation Program and are coordinating their efforts through the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP).

Donated cord blood will be listed on the NMDP’s Be The Match Registry and will be made available to patients with diseases that can be treated with transplantation.

“Research shows that many more mothers would donate their baby’s cord blood if given the opportunity,” says Michael Boo, chief strategy officer for the NMDP. “This pilot program may uncover a successful way to allow more expecting parents to donate, providing hope to more patients.”

Expectant mothers interested in donating cord blood through the program need to call one of the sites at least six weeks before their baby is due. Eligible donors must be 18 years old or older and be pregnant with a single baby. A coordinator will pre-screen applicants to see if they are eligible to become donors, asking questions about age and any history of HIV, cancer, hepatitis, malaria, organ or tissue transplant, sexually transmitted diseases, and tattoos and body piercing.

There is no charge to the mother for the kit or for donating her cord blood through the kit program.

Participants need to inform their physician or midwife of their intention to donate through the kit program. The physician or midwife must successfully complete an online training and certification in cord blood collection through the NMDP.

Participating moms will be sent a kit prior to their due date and will take the kit to the hospital upon admission for delivery. The doctor or midwife will collect the cord blood after the baby is born. The cord blood must be packed and shipped back to one of the three participating sites and must be received within 40 hours of the infant’s delivery.

The kit itself is specially designed to protect the cord blood in transit. Duke’s bright red box is temperature-controlled and contains an informed consent, a medical history questionnaire, and forms to be filled out at the hospital. It also contains everything needed for the cord blood collection, plus additional vials to store some of the mother’s blood that will be tested for infectious disease.

“We are enthusiastic about this program because if it successful, it could potentially be expanded to additional hospitals nationwide,” says Kurtzberg.

Kurtzberg, who is also director of Duke’s Pediatric Blood and Marrow Transplant Program, is internationally recognized for her trailblazing work in cord blood stem cell therapies.  She provided care for the first person ever to receive a cord blood transplant and was the first in the world to perform an unrelated cord blood transplant.

Mothers interested in donating their baby’s cord blood to a participating public bank may contact the Carolinas Cord Blood Bank Public Kit Collection Program by calling 919-668-2071 (daytime only).

To reach the M.D. Anderson coordinator, call 713-563-8000.

To reach the Texas Cord Blood Bank coordinator, dial 800-292-5534; option 7.

Room Available in Hip East Central Office
$375/month

The office space across the hall from us is now available. We’d love to have another wellness practitioner or maternity friendly business as a neighbor – please spread the word!

100 square foot office available for $375/month, 6 or 12 month lease.  3823 Airport Blvd, Suite A, 78722 (on the southeast corner of Airport & 38 1/2 St, in the building with the lime green awning). Othertenants whose offices are in the same suite include:

Get Babied! Doula Collective

Mint Massage

Sunflower Chiropractic

Neighborhood Acupuncture Project

Ko-op Radio & City Theatre

The suite has an alarm and shared photocopier, fax, mini fridge, & microwave.

For more info please contact our landlord Greg Brooks at tgregorybrooks@gmail.com or (512) 799-8973, and tell him we sent you!

We’re growing.  And we’re adding some apprentice doulas to our team.

The natural fit for the interim is to have other members of our practice fill in the gap while we interview and hire new doulas.  Amy Nevland is our childbirth class instructor.  She is DONA trained, and is an apprentice doula, she needs only one more birth to become a certified doula.  Janet Jones is our resident Lactation consultant.  Janet also has DONA training, and has done all of the requirements with the exception of the required births for certification.  Both of these mamas have two children of their own, have attended many births, and are skilled and compassionate in their roles as doulas.

But because they are not certified – they are offering their services to our collective at a discounted rate.  Amy and Janet will be attending births to clients who are open to a more junior doula, for a 50% discount from our $299 standard doula package.  If you are open to having Janet or Amy attend your birth, you will be charged $150 for the service (or refunded $150 if you have already paid in full).  For the upper two packages the package price will be discounted $150 if you’d prefer Janet or Amy at your birth.

As an aside – we’ve also decided to change our refund policy – if you decide that you do not need a doula at any time before we arrive at your labor, we are going to refund the entire doula fee ($299) – this changes from the $250 we have recently offered.  It is our continued policy to provide the best doula care we can in and out of the delivery room, so we want you to be 100% comfortable in signing up with us, and 100% comfortable that if you change your mind at any time you won’t be financially penalized.  I’m not sure of any other doula in town that offers a flexible policy like this so we want to be the best. 

N E W S

Release:     Immediate

Date:           March 18, 2010

Contact:      Get Babied!: Ame Shillington doulas@getbabied.com, MamaCents: teresa@mamacents.com

Baby registry list in hand; free, experienced personal shopper on arm

Austin, (Texas) — Shopping for a new baby can be an expensive, exhausting and overwhelming experience.  According to CNN Money, the typical new mom and dad spend $6,200 outfitting their baby in the first year, from cribs and car seats to clothing and formula.  In a tight economy, there are ways to save a buck, and buying baby registry items gently used from a consignment sale is one savvy way to go about it.

MamaCents (www.mamacents.com) consignment sale at the Palmer Auditorium in Austin starting March 26^th is the largest and most established consignment sale in Central Texas.  And this year it takes on an even more essential role in prepping for baby by providing personal shopping services to first time moms.

As part of the consignment sale, the Get Babied! Doula Collective (www.getbabied.com) is co-hosting the “Very Important Preggers” baby shower this year; and as part of the shower they are helping moms become even more efficient in outfitting their nurseries.  They have created an inclusive list of items, and are helping moms to navigate the more than 30,000 items to fulfill their list requirements.  In addition to being experts on pregnancy and childbirth, the Get Babied! Doulas are moms themselves, and can offer candid advice on if their escorts ‘really’ need that name brand luxury glider or if the knock-off is just as good; which breast pump gets the best reviews from lactation experts; and how many onesies a baby actually needs.

Can’t make it to the sale?  Email the Get Babied! Doulas (doulas@getbabied.com) for a copy of the list so you can still be sure you still get everything you need.

Get Babied! 3823-A Airport Blvd. Austin TX 78722   (661)-DOULA-61

www.getbabied.com

Release: Immediate

Date: March 2, 2010

Contact: Get Babied! (661) DOULA-61

Meet the doula: the new must-have accessory for moms-to-be

Austin, (Texas) — Arriving at the hospital in labor can be an exciting but scary moment for many first-time parents.  Even though mom may have an excellent, trusting relationship with her doctor, the reality of modern hospital delivery is that the doctor is not called upon until the final throes of labor when the baby is about to be delivered.  That leaves the other 12-24 hours in the hands of the nurse that is assigned and with the ongoing shortage of nurses in most hospitals, patients end up sharing nurses with one or two other laboring mothers.  Instead of leaving the experience of childbirth to the fate of the quality of the nurse, a growing number of women are engaging outside help from doulas.

No doubt the new popularity of doulas owes something to celebrity endorsement. Nicole Kidman had a doula at the birth of her baby, Sunday Rose, last year. ‘I’d heard horror stories of 40 hours of labor,” she said, ”and I was sure that would be me, but I had a very easy labor” Nicole reported to Oprah when discussing the effect of a doula at her birth. Kelly Ripa had a doula.  So did Demi Moore, Cindy Crawford, Jennifer Garner and Ricki Lake. Doulas are the latest Hollywood “pregnancy essential” and moms all over Austin are following their lead.

Ricki Lake’s doula-assisted birth (ABC television)

Doulas are professional childbirth assistants who offer support and information to pregnant women in areas such as prenatal care, breast feeding, mother-infant bonding and postpartum care.   They also provide continuous emotional, physical, and information support to parents during labor and delivery.

Research indicates that mothers who used doulas during pregnancy are healthier, more satisfied with their birth experiences and more likely to breast feed.  Some studies even suggest that if all pregnant women used doulas, childbirth costs could be dramatically reduced, because women who use doulas tend to have shorter hospital stays and fewer complications, use less medication and are less likely to need caesarean sections.

The Get Babied! Doula Collective (www.getbabied.com), the first and only practice of its kind in Austin, takes the role of doula to a higher level of service and professionalism.  The four doulas in the collective share a 24/7 on-call rotation for assisting their clients in labor.  As soon as a mother goes in to labor, she calls the 24/7 on-call number, (661)DOULA-61, and the doula on-call for that day will be at the mother’s side within the hour.  Applying a traditional on-call concept to the practice of doula birth assistance ensures that Get Babied! doulas are well rested, and available any time of the day or night for their clients.  In addition to their unique on-call rotation they also offer many full service packaged childbirth experiences including pregnancy massage, childbirth and breastfeeding classes, lactation consultation, meal delivery, photography, pregnancy bookstore, prenatal and postpartum support, and monthly seminars on pregnancy and childbirth topics.  Get Babied! hosts a “Meet the Doulas” night the last Monday of each month where moms-to-be can meet and get to know the doulas in the collective and the various services Get Babied! provides to ensure a pampered pregnancy and blissful birth.

Get Babied! Doula Collective doula Stephanie Scott applying massage and counter-pressure to comfort her laboring client Manue Reynolds.