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Preparing for Birth

5/4/2018

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​Having a baby is so exciting!  If this is your first baby, it’s not like anything you’ve ever done before.  If it’s not your first, this baby’s birth still may not be anything like the first one. Preparing both mentally and physically is important and will make things easier when the time comes!  Here are 7 things you can do to be more prepared for the arrival of your new little one:


  1. Be active.  Staying fit and active during your pregnancy is important!  However, if you happen to be a personal trainer or gym rat type person, there is such a thing as too strong of a pelvic floor.  You might consider seeing a physical therapist that specializes in pelvic floor in the early days of pregnancy to make sure that your fitness routine is going to help you rather than make things harder.  This is NOT an excuse to sit on your butt and do nothing for 9 months.  Just be smart about what you’re doing.
  2. Eat dates starting around 36 weeks of pregnancy.  Research is showing that eating 6 dates a day for the last several weeks of pregnancy seems to help prepare your body for labor.  Less likely to hit 42 weeks and less likely to have your water break before labor.  If you have gestational diabetes, please talk to your doctor before trying this.
  3. Drink Red Raspberry leaf tea.  The tea can help tone your uterus and make contractions more effective when the day arrives.  Be aware that the recommendation is to drink lots and lots of tea.  I’ve had few clients prefer a tincture that you can find online.
  4. Get regular chiropractic care.  Chiropractic care can help with the “normal” aches and pains of pregnancy while also helping to balance your body to provide more space and optimal positioning for baby.  Chiropractic can also help you body recover it’s normal balance after baby arrives.
  5. Take a childbirth preparation course and make sure your partner comes as well.  Most hospitals that offer maternity care also offer childbirth classes. There are also many independent childbirth classes for particular specialties such as HypnoBabies, The Bradley Method, Birth Bootcamp, or the course I teach, GentleBirth.  Each course type has its own advantages and disadvantages and all help prepare you for the birth of your baby.  If you would prefer a natural, medication free birth, an independent birth class will often provide you with more tools.
  6. Practice the techniques you learn.  Whatever course you choose, practice what you learn.  Practice relaxing, practice hypnosis/mindfulness/breathing, practice positions practice guided imagery .  Use your birth ball.  Dance.  Imagine your baby’s birth in the most positive way you can.  The more you practice, the more prepare you’ll be for the big day.
  7. Hire a doula.  You probably wouldn’t be reading this blog if you weren’t considering a doula.  We provide emotional support, hands on help during labor, and education to mothers and their partners during pregnancy, labor, and postpartum.  Research shows that having a doula at your birth increases both the mother’s and partner’s satisfaction in the event, lowers caesarean rates, and lowers risk of postpartum depression.  The research is compelling enough that Dr. John H. Kennell, a medical doctor and founder of DONA International said, “If doulas were a drug, it would be unethical not to use it.”

Preparing both mentally and physically before the birth of your baby will make things easier when the time comes.  Get excited!  You’re having a baby!
Interested in a doula?  Looking for childbirth education? Planning a VBAC?
I would love to help!
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Chiropractic Care in Pregnancy

1/15/2018

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There are few things I’ve seen that make as big of a difference in labor and birth as chiropractic care.  At one point, after a series of very long births, I considered only taking clients who were being seen by a chiropractor.  I didn’t make that change but I do strongly suggest to all my clients that they see one.  It makes that much of a difference.

Prenatal-specific chiropractic care during pregnancy helps address all the aches and pains that are considered normal.  That low back pain?  This will help.  Having trouble with your pubic bone?  This won’t solve it but it will help.  Previous tail bone injury?  This may make a big difference for you.  Adjustments also help promote balance in the pelvis to provide baby with the most room to move around possible. This in turn encourages baby to move around and more easily move to the best possible position for birth as the time approaches.

In addition, continuing care after your pregnancy can help your body regain its normal balance as you adjust to no longer being pregnant.  Your body make a big change in those 9 months of pregnancy and then a pretty quick one at birth.  It takes time to heal and recover.  Chiropractic care can aid in that recovery.

If you are looking for a chiropractor or would like to speak with one more about the services they offer, we have an abundance of wonderful chiropractors in our community that treat pregnant women.  Here are a few that I highly recommend in no particular order:

Shrout Family Chiropractic in Carmel with Dr. Melissa Shrout & Dr. Tracy Reichert. They have a float tank too!

Rangeline Chiropractic in Carmel with Dr. Hilary Hushower

Sacred Spines with Dr. Kristen Hartwell.  Her office is located inside Sacred Roots Birth Center on the west side.

Mommy & Me Chiropractic with Dr. Stephanie Muir located on the Southside.

Indy Kids Chiropractic in Castleton with Dr. Kristin Huber

Pala Chiropractic with Dr. Shawn Pala in Noblesville.

Himsel Chiropractic with Dr. Jared Himself in Noblesville.

Chiropractic during your pregnancy can make you more comfortable and shorten your labor.  Even if this is something you’ve been skeptical of in the past, I encourage you to try during your pregnancy.  Find someone you like.  It could make a big difference in your comfort level now and  birth later.

Interested in doula services?  I'd love to work with you!
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Past Your "Due Date"?  How to Get Things Rolling...

1/9/2018

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First and foremost, know that going past your due date is totally normal!  Average first time babies come 8 days after their due date (so a lot come later than that too!) and second babies come an average of 3 days past their due date.  Totally normal.  It’s even not that unusual for a second baby to come later than the first baby.  That’s particularly difficult because you expect things to be similar the second time around.  I know this is not what you want to hear.  You want to have your baby here and in your arms and for all these pregnancy symptoms to be behind you.  But.  Sit back.  Relax.  Your baby will come.  Your body knows what to do.  You will actually go into labor.  I promise.  Unless there is a complication, there’s no big rush!  Babies come when babies come.

But…there are few things that can help things get rolling or at least give you something to do that might help so you don’t feel quite so frustrated by the waiting game.


  1. Get moving!  Take a walk, get moving, go about your day.  Scrub floors, be on your hands and knees, rock on your birth ball.  Firstly, staying busy keeps your mind off still being pregnant.  But being upright and moving helps baby move down and put pressure on that cervix.  Being in forward leaning positions, like hands and knees, helps encourage baby towards optimal positioning.  I have written before about prenatal exercise.  Even at the end it's beneficial.
  2. Go to a chiropractor.  Many a baby has been welcomed quickly after a chiropractic adjustment.  Sometimes those hips need some opening and balance and suddenly, baby is ready to come!  Here's a whole post about chiropractic care.
  3. Try some acupressure points.  There are a few acupressure points that can be used to prepare your body for and to promote labor.  Debra Betts is an incredible resource for acupressure both before and during labor that you, your partner, or your doula can learn and do relatively easily.   
  4. Have a session of acupuncture.  A session with a trained acupuncturist may be just what your baby needs for his or her grand entrance!  Acupuncture can also be helpful to convince a breech baby to turn.  We are fortunate to have several great acupuncture options here in in the Indy area, including Cardinal Acupuncture & Natural Wellness and Indiana Reproductive Acupuncture.
  5. Clary sage.  Depending on how receptive your body is, clary sage essential oil, especially when paired with rose and jasmine can help bring about labor and intensify existing contractions.  These oils are considered contraindicated for VBAC women because of the potential for intensity.  Therapeutic grade, reputable brands are of course best (this is my favorite) but even the lower quality options available for walk in purchase can be helpful.
  6. Sex.  For some of you, this is easier to think about that actually accomplish but the natural prostaglandins in semen help ripen your cervix, orgasm and nipple stimulation can create contractions, and the whole process releases your natural oxytocin.  This might be your last opportunity for bit anyway.

These are all options to try that “can” get things moving. These can help increase the hormones in your body that prepare it for labor and bring about birth.  Ultimately, until baby is ready and your hormones have reached that necessary peak baby’s not going to come.  Be patient and if you have any questions or concerns related to your specific situation always talk to your care provider.
Interested in doula services?  I'd love to work with you!
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"Best" Birth

6/30/2016

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I get asked more often than you might think what kinds of births I support.  What my favorite kind to attend are, or even if I leave when things don’t go the way they were planned.  This breaks my heart.  Every birth is unique.  The needs of every laboring mother are unique.  No birth looks the same and the best birth possible looks different for every woman!  And I don’t leave.​ 

As your doula, my role is to support you in YOUR choices, not to make sure you make the choices I think you should.  For that matter, it’s pretty rare that I even have an opinion. This is your day, your experience.  I am not in your body.   Yes, there are benefits to a natural birth but there are very valid reasons (including just desire) for that not to be your goal.  My goal for all is not that everyone would have a “natural birth,” but that everyone would make their choices from a place of confidence.  

I look back on all the families I’ve had the privilege of working with and each one has a special place in my heart.  The long births, the fast ones, the ones that ended in surgery.  Every mother was amazing.  Every father stepped up.  It’s such a joy and privilege to be part of that.  I would truly not be able to choose a favorite.  


No matter if your plan is all natural, an epidural, or even a planned csection, (and certainly when things don’t go quite how you plan) doula support can have a role and enhance your experience.  My hope for every woman is that they are able to look back on their birth, be confident in their decisions and be at peace.  That’s the best birth.
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You NEVER Fail

6/23/2016

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Fail is the “f” word of birth.  It does NOT apply to you.  And everyone need stop stop saying it.  What a terrible word to apply to inductions and VBACs and everywhere else they use it. What a way to set mothers up. Ranks right up there with Advanced Maternal Age.  Sometime the system fails.  Sometimes part of the care team fails.  Sometimes what you perceive (or are told) as a failure really is the very best choice for you and your baby.  But I’m telling you, and listen, YOU NEVER FAIL.​
Birth is a journey for which we can never fully prepare.  Sometimes the road is smooth and uneventful.  Sometimes it’s not.  Sometimes we can do all the “right” things to ensure the birth we think we want and it works.  Or sometimes we get thrown a curve ball and it just doesn’t. When it doesn’t work, it’s not a failure.  It’s a birth.  There is a baby.  There is a mother.  A family grows.   
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Somehow we’ve got to figure out how to promote normal birth without making people feel terrible when it doesn’t work.  Somehow our care system has to figure out how to intervene as necessary rather than as standard procedure so we can trust the system.  I don’t pretend to have all the answers but I know this to be true. Because sometimes, the interventions we are trying desperately to avoid really are the right choice and the best thing for us as mothers and our babies. 

I know, right about now someone will be thinking that, “if they just had a home birth….” Sure.  But not always and the women who are risked out (and those for whom it is just not a comfortable choice) also deserve to have good, evidence based care and to not be told that they should have had a home birth and all would be well.  

Whether or not you did things “right” doesn’t matter.  Having adequate information to make good decisions matters.  Good as in the best for you.  How you, as a mother, are treated matters.  What happens to your baby matters. How you feel about it in the moment and looking back matters.  But there is no failure no matter what.   
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Christmas Reflections

12/21/2015

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Silent night, holy night, all is calm, all is bright
Round yon virgin Mother and Child
~Joseph Mohr​
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Tonight I’m thinking about Mary.  I’m thinking about her journey on her donkey (or more likely walking since the donkey comes from tradition rather than scripture) from Nazareth to Bethlehem.  I’m thinking about how many miles she covered, full term, presumably in early labor.  I’m thinking about her arriving nearly alone in an unfamiliar place, surrounded by people she didn’t know, about to give birth.  Actually, not unlike what most women experience today birthing in a hospital I suppose.

I wonder as I wander out under the sky
How Jesus, the savior, had come for to die
For poor on'ry people, like you and like I.
I wonder as I wander out under the sky.
~John Jacob Niles
I wonder if Joseph was there at all as Jewish custom would not have permitted him to be involved with the birth.  Maybe there was a group of women from Bethlehem that assisted.  I hope so.  Were they loving and kind to a young, unmarried, laboring stranger in their midst?  I wonder if she missed her mom.  Or sisters, if she had them.  I wonder if she was scared.  I wonder if she knew her time was near before they found somewhere to stay.  I wonder if a woman about to give birth was part of why a stable was their only option.  
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know
That your baby boy will save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
That your baby boy has come to make you new?
This child that you've delivered
Will soon deliver you
~Buddy Greene & Mark Lowry 
She knew this baby would be special - that he wasn’t ordinary.  But he was still her child.  I know that despite her surroundings, the moment that baby was in her arms (maybe she even caught him herself) were moments she’d never forget.  Her heart was full of joy and her eyes full of tears - just like every other mother before her and since then. 

May the Peace of Jesus be with you this holiday season.  
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    Adina Nelson, CD(DONA)

    I am a birth & postpartum doula and chlidbirth educator practicing in North Idaho.

    Serving families in North Idaho and surrounding areas including but not limited to Coeur d'Alene | Post Falls | Rathdrum | Liberty Lake | Newman Lake | Spirit Lake | Athol | Spokane | Spokane Valley 

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    Free eBook!
    She was there every step of the way for me and my husband...I thank Adina for everything she helped us with. She truly is a special person and we will be forever grateful for her! ~Erin

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