childbirth education – Your Labor Neighbor LLC

Questions To Ask Your Care Provider in Pregnancy

From before conception to after your baby is born, there will be a multitude of things you’re not so clear about. Naturally you’ll want to turn to your care provider for insights on any issues that arise, or to elaborate upon what you’ve learned elsewhere. When a policy is announced or enforced, a test orContinue reading “Questions To Ask Your Care Provider in Pregnancy”

Basic Labor Strategies

Behold, basic labor strategies for a natural birth! Alas, we do know the labor process is largely unpredictable (shall we say wonderfully mysterious?) and typically not wanting to follow any kind of measured, mechanical pattern. This list of ideas can be helpful even if your labor doesn’t compartmentalize itself into neat and easily identified “stages.”Continue reading “Basic Labor Strategies”

Pitocin & Postpartum Depression/Anxiety

First things first: Pitocin is not oxytocin. Oxytocin is the “love hormone” generated in labor that primarily contracts the uterus, but as a brain-based hormone its influence spans the body. It’s very active in the birth giver’s brain, and plays a role in protecting certain receptors in the baby’s brain, too.Pitocin is a synthetic formContinue reading “Pitocin & Postpartum Depression/Anxiety”

Care Provider’s Disposition in Pregnancy vs. Approach to Birth

What does your care provider’s bedside manner in prenatal appointments say about their disposition in the birth room? Well, it can give hints, or it can say nothing at all… When you meet in pregnancy, you’re clothed, you usually meet one-on-one, you have your head on relatively straight, you’re not in pain (hopefully!), and you’reContinue reading “Care Provider’s Disposition in Pregnancy vs. Approach to Birth”

Book Review: “Breastfeeding Made Simple” by Kendall-Tacket & Mohrbacher

I’ll start with this: baby-feeding questions tend to be high on a new parent’s priority list! Breastfeeding is an important part of the baby-making continuum that includes pregnancy and birth and is extended with the growing of baby outside the womb. Understanding how to feed your baby is crucial to learn during pregnancy, and knowingContinue reading “Book Review: “Breastfeeding Made Simple” by Kendall-Tacket & Mohrbacher”