Special Beginning Indeed

Boy, or should I say girl, it's been a busy week! I attended my 8th birth on Tuesday and then today I attended my 9th birth at Special Beginnings Birth Center in Arnold, MD. She had a beautiful, quick birth with no complications.

This was the first time I have ever been to Special Beginnings. It was awesome! The nurses and midwives were so attentive and available. They made everything peaceful. In addition to being a peaceful place to have a baby, it was also fully stocked with any medical equipment that they might have needed.

I highly recommend Special Beginnings if your circumstances are a good fit. Check out more info about Special Beginnings.

Due Date Baby

Only about 5% of babies are actually born on their due date, but my 8th client was right on time with her baby. She had a beautiful vaginal birth and met her goal of a natural hospital birth on her due date.

While we are on the subject of due dates, let's chat about how they are determined. Your care provider takes the first day of your last menstrual period (LMP) and adds 280 days which is about 40 weeks (or 9 months and 7 days). So if the first day of your last period was on August 1st then your due date would be May 7th. Most women, 80%, deliver between 37 and 42 weeks, leaving 11% preterm and 9% post-term.

So what kind of baby will you have-- early, late or right on time? That's what makes it so exciting...you never quite know.

Folate vs. Folic Acid

Haven't you heard your Doctor say how important it is to get enough folic acid? But is it really folic acid that you need? Well, yes and no. You body needs folate which occurs naturally in food, but if you can't get enough folate naturally through food sources, then you need supplements, which is a synthetic compound called folic acid.

This article helps explain the difference in more detail: http://chriskresser.com/folate-vs-folic-acid

What do you need folate/folic acid for anyway? The human body needs folate to synthesize and repair DNA. Specifically, in pregnancy, your baby needs folate to protect against neural tube defects. However, some studies show that too much folic acid can cause other problems in your and/or baby.

So when you choose your prenatal vitamin, discuss with your care provider some options that have a lower amount of folic acid. And eat your dark leafy greens!

One options is New Chapter's Perfect Prenatal. Be sure to discuss any medications or vitamins you take with your care provider.

When are most babies born?

According to the following study, most babies are born in mid-September. You know what that means...the holidays, or at least the cold weather, is a great baby-making time of year. I guess that means fall will be a busy time for me. Love it!

http://blogs.sas.com/content/iml/2011/09/09/the-most-likely-birthday-in-the-us/

Beautiful Baby Bath

Shouldn't everyone's first bath, be like this?!

The National Birth Center Study II

The Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health published, on January 31, 2013, their second study of birth centers in the US. And like their first study, this study's result were very similar:  “birth centers offer a safe and acceptable alternative to hospital confinement for selected pregnant women, particularly those who have previously had children, and that such care leads to relatively few cesarean sections.”

Here are some quick facts from the Study

• Of more than 15,000 women eligible for birth center care when labor started, 93% had spontaneous vaginal births, and 6% had cesareans.
• 16% of women transferred during labor, and approximately 2.5% of mothers or newborns required transfer to the hospital after birth. Emergent transfer before or after birth was required for 1.9% of women in labor or for their newborns. Most women who transferred in labor had vaginal births.
• There were no maternal deaths. The intrapartum stillbirth rate was 0.47/1000, and the neonatal mortality rate was 0.40/1000 excluding anomalies.

Birth centers are safe and cost effective, so why aren't there more birth centers in the US?

Check out Science and Sensibility for more information on the National Birth Center Study II.

Related to that, a Charleston Midwife will speak in Congress today to address them about the safe cost-effective nature of birth center midwifery care siting the National Birth Center Study II that was just released. Times could be changing!

http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20130207/PC16/130209432/1268/local-midwife-to-testify-before-congress&source=RSS