By Amy Peterson CD(DONA), CLC, an affiliated doula of the Wentworth-Douglass Hospital Women & Children’s Center  What is a birth doula? If you have an expecting or new mom in your life, you may have heard the word Doula in passing. It is a relatively new term used to describe someone who supports families through […]

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Winter in New England can feel endless, and never more so than when you are home with a newborn. I have assembled a list of my favorite ways for new moms to break free from the house without feeling like they need to have their shit together. These are all activities that you can do […]

Reach way back to your high school biology class and remember how the  sympathetic and parasympathetic systems work.  The sympathetic nervous system is our “fight or flight” system. It raises heart rate and increases blood flow to the muscles and  brain.  We tense up and  become more alert and perceptive as our body releases adrenaline […]

Nesting is the act of creating a safe and comfortable space to give birth, where your body can make oxytocin; the love hormone.  Just like a cat will escape to a secluded dark spot to deliver her kittens, humans too do best delivering in a private, safe, dark location. In order for our body’s natural, […]

The message is finally getting out.  Preterm induction (before 39 weeks) is not good for babies. But what about induction at 39, 40 or even the common 41.6 weeks?   The rate of induction of labor in the U.S. has risen from 9.6% in 1990 to 25.7% in 2018, including 31.7% of first-time births. but unlike […]

  These are my grandparents, Frank and Madelin Raven.  They were young and newly married in this photo, with no idea what life had in store for them.  WWI was won, my grandfather safely home, and the hard times of the depression were not yet visible on the horizon.  It was a happy time for […]

Most babies, whether breast or formula fed, will drink from a bottle at some point. With all the breastfeeding support and education that is out there, there is very little help available to learn optimal bottle feeding.  Most parents just assume it is as simple as putting the nipple in baby’s mouth and waiting for […]

Lately the doula profession has become kind of “cool”,  and every year there are more and more doulas and doula groups popping up in NH and on the Seacoast.  On the surface, the option of more doulas from which to find a good match might seem like a new parent’s dream; but it actually makes […]

Technically known as “Vernix Casoesa,” vernix is a white substance often found coating the skin of newborn babies. Vernix is made up of a mixture of lipids (fats), proteins and water, secreted by the baby’s sebaceous glands. It is similar to cream cheese in appearance, but very waxy and difficult to wipe or wash off. […]

At a recent doula meeting, a member wondered aloud at the fact that many a well written birth plan is tossed aside when the parents are actually in labor. There is a great debate within the birthing community about the value of birth plans, how they should be created and presented, and who they should […]

It’s pretty common for doulas to present their clients with a lovingly written account of their birth as a gift for them to cherish. Often doulas will try to capture the emotion, the atmosphere, and the feelings in the room during this amazing experience. This can be a huge mistake; and here’s why. Doulas are […]

  I had new head shots done last night with Tara Photography. It was a big deal for me because I HATE to have my picture taken. It’s the whole “I don’t like what I look like ” thing that so many of us struggle with. I know I am supposed to love my body. […]

The #1 variation to their birth plan that expecting parents fail to prepare for is Cesarean delivery. Everyone thinks it won’t happen to them. It can be scary to think about, let alone plan for, and you may feel it is bad luck to even consider the possibility. Unfortunately 1 in every 3 mothers will […]

The placenta begins developing immediately after conception. Recent studies have shown that when the fertilized egg divides to form the first two cells, one is already destined to form the placenta, while the other becomes the baby. It develops rapidly, and by about the 12th week of gestation it fully takes on the role of […]

You may have made many plans and gone to great lengths to avoid the use of Pitocin for inducing or augmenting your labor; but did you know that many providers have a standard practice of injecting mothers with Pitocin immediately after delivery? If you have, or had, an open IV line at delivery, you may […]

Soup is a quick and easy meal for postpartum, and is also a great choice for preparing ahead and freezing. The best way to make your soup as healing and sustaining as possible is to always start with a rich bone broth base. Bone broth contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not […]

Breast feeding your baby is a full time job. It requires you to nourish yourself and to make time to nourish your baby. This is not a time to skip meals or cut calories, but often mom’s have a hard time finding an opportunity to feed themselves well, and many of these moms may struggle […]

Stretch Marks. Ugh. Women all over the world lament this common side effect of pregnancy.  The majority of women will get some stretch marks during pregnancy, usually appearing at around 30 weeks. But whether or not you get them, and how many you get, depends a lot more on your genetics than on how much […]

      The large brains that give humans so many evolutionary advantages have created a head that is disproportionately large in comparison to the pelvis it must pass through during birth.  Luckily this potential problem is solved by the amazing design of the infant skull.  Our craniums (the domed part of our skulls above and behind […]

Most moms are familiar with the small hand held doppler used to listen to your baby’s heart beat at prenatal appointments.  But once you are at the hospital there are other options for fetal heart monitoring. Which is best, when and where, is not the topic for today. We will specifically be looking at Internal […]

Let’s face it, being a labor partner can be pretty stressfull;  especially when you slept through most of the childbirth class.   You might not even be sure if you really want to see everything that may happen between the time you pull into the hospital parking lot and your new baby is finally handed […]

New doulas always seem so curious about what to put in their doula bag. As a new doula I too looked for advice on what to bring along to help me support families in labor. As my skills have developed and my experience has grown, the contents of my bag has changed a lot and […]

 Every labor is different. While there is no way to know in advance if yours will be easy or more difficult, or if you will require interventions or not; there are many things you can do to increase your chances of a simple, uncomplicated, “easy” labor. Often when labors are more difficult, longer, or require […]

When you tell people your baby is due in the summer you get a lot of comments about how miserable you will be. Dragging a belly full of baby around in the summer heat while everyone else is lithely enjoying sports and activities in tiny outfits with lots of brown skin showing, can promise to […]

Part of being an effective doula is exploring the fears of your clients so that they can move forward through labor, birth and parenting with confidence, and the freedom to experience the joys unhindered by unfounded or unaddressed fears. During our prenatal meetings we always discuss each parent’s fears around labor and birth. 99.9%  of […]

I run across a lot of articles talking about using TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) for labor, but had never seen or heard of it being used in my area.  Many of the people who wrote about their experience with TENS were in the UK, where it seems to be more commonplace – as is […]

Loveies, softies, teddies and blankies… Those endearing, well loved,often tattered  objects of security and unconditional love. They’re adorable, but are they good for your baby? Yes! Several studies have been done on the effects of security objects and they have found many positive results with no negative effects. Whether it is a blanket, a stuffed […]

On July 19th, 2011, HealthGrades Obstetrics and Gynecology in American Hospitals (an independent source of physician information and hospital quality outcomes) released a study that puts the US Cesarean rate at 34%. Hello people; that’s more than one in three!  Look around your childbirth class, or the waiting room at your midwife’s. Count heads and […]

The last 24 hours have been some of the fullest of my life.   In the morning I was with my husband and his family as his father passed away; and before the sun had risen again I watched a brand new life slip into the world.  Try to go through a day like that and […]