So, this summer, my baby sister had a baby. No big deal or anything. (Eeeek! Most exciting blog post I’ve ever shared!).She wanted to share her story because she hopes that “more women can learn to trust their bodies and have empowering birth experiences like mine!” I’m pretty much in love with this little guy. He’s pretty darn cute, don’t you… Read more →
In the doula training program I teach, something we spend a lot of time discussing is how to assess what phase of birth a woman is in with practical behavioral and external signs. In my experience, external signs are far more indicative and helpful in terms of what’s happening in a birth than routine cervical checks. In fact, the vast majority… Read more →
I don’t blog too much about cesareans, as most of my focus is on educating women on how to maximize their chances of having a healthy vaginal birth and there is only so much time in the day!
However, one of my favourite topics is the importance of delayed cord clamping. Normally when I speak about this topic, I speak about it in the context of normal vaginal birth. Most of my clients choose to leave the umbilical cord intact until after the placenta has been born and it is clear that the baby has received all the blood, oxygen and nutrients possible from the life-giving placenta, and after the family has had some time to bond with the baby and had some time to come down from that post-birth rush. However, recently, I captured this rare footage of delayed cord clamping during a cesarean and couldn’t resist sharing it!
Though the cesarean rate in our country is way too high (close to 30%) and many of them are thought to be unnecessary, in some rare circumstances they are a good option to have access too. For babies who ARE being born by cesarean, it is definitely still possible to delay cord clamping in the OR!
The following video is only 47 seconds long, however, this baby actually had the cord left intact for about 90 seconds. Encourage your hospitals keep to keep getting more and more patient with this process to maximize the health of babies born both vaginally and by cesarean!
Check out the cool video above of delayed cord clamping during a cesarean to see it in action!
Side Note: you can learn more about the importance of delayed cord clamping during our upcoming Wise Woman Way of Birth doula training course. Our next series is starting ONLINE Wednesday March 17th to Wednesday June 2nd, 2021 7-9pm (pst). View details and sign up here.
I’ve been reflecting lately on why the “birth activist” in me has been publicly quiet lately, at least relatively speaking. A year or two ago, I was blog-posting with feistiness on the regular, attending regular birth rallies, and was part of youtube videos talking about why change in birth needs to happen. That participation was fulfilling, productive, and created a LOT… Read more →
She let go, by Rev. Safire Rose She let go. Without a thought or a word, she let go. She let go of the fear. She let go of the judgments. She let go of the confluence of opinions swarming around her head. She let go of the committee of indecision within her. She let go of all the ‘right’ reasons.… Read more →