Great Expectations Doula Services, LLC

Great Expectations Doula Services, LLC Great Expectations provides birth doula services to Boulder County and surrounding communities.

A birth doula is a person, typically a woman, who provides emotional, physical, and educational support to the birth couple before, during, and after the birth of the baby. She can help the birth couple develop a birth plan, encourages them to “own” their birth experience through education, and can help them to achieve the birth they desire. Great Expectations provides birth doula services to Boul

der County, including Broomfield, Erie, Lafayette, Longmont, Louisville, and surrounding communities.

09/25/2020

It's been several months since I've last posted anything. The Coronavirus has really shaken up the world, as well as the birth world! I wasn't able to attend three births in April because of the hospital restriction due to the pandemic. It was hard to miss them and each couple responded in a different way to my not being there. Two of the couples just texted me progress reports of what was happening and only one of those asked for any advice. The third couple included me in their birth via FaceTime. It was difficult not being there to help, but I at least felt more involved. The dad was so sweet to "move me" (his phone!) around the room so I could see what was going on! The hospitals were just opening up when my fourth client went into labor and that was a great birth for us all! Now that the hospitals are considering doulas as essential medical workers, I was able to attend the most recent three births. It still isn't the same as before the virus - not only is wearing a mask for hours uncomfortable, but I don't feel like I'm connecting with the couple as well as before, and not connecting at all with the medical staff. You could line them up after a birth, and without their name tags, I wouldn't recognize them at all! I'll try to post something more positive and educational next time!🙂

02/05/2020

From time to time I like sharing quotes from books I've read. This quote is from "Natural Hospital Birth, The Best of Both Worlds", by Cynthia Gabriel. "You need confidence that your primary coach will respond as you want in your moments of greatest fear or overwhelming pain, and you will gain that confidence only by practicing labor management techniques together...the two of you have to practice over and over again to make your responses second nature." I've started incorporating this into my prenatal meetings because I've noticed in births I've attended that if the laboring mom will trust and listen to her partner and me, she's more able to get back in control of her breathing and relaxation, making her contractions more manageable again. More quotes from Cynthia Gabriel's book next post...

12/17/2019

Lately, I've been a little fixated on baby's position in utero, so much so that I even had a dream about it last night! I've known for a long time that some of the things that make labor progress smoothly are the mom's mental and emotional state and baby's position. But I've learned more about the details of baby's position - not just baby's back along mom's left side - that can greatly affect labor progress. I've attended a couple births in the last year or so where the moms were dilating normally, but the babies weren't moving down. In both of those circumstances, having the moms get into certain positions that opened up that particular part of the pelvis allowed the babies to move down and be born without the need for a Cesarean. And it makes me wonder how many moms have gone through a Cesarean birth unnecessarily because they were told their babies wouldn't fit through their pelvis? So I'm excited to use these techniques at future births and maybe prevent an unnecessary Cesarean!

11/15/2019

I'm a big advocate of having a birth plan for several reasons.
Here are some excerpts on birth plans from the book, "Natural Hospital Birth", by Cynthia Gabriel, pages 39 and 40. She writes: "In birth as in the rest of life, the clearer you are about what you want, the more likely you are to get it...The more direct and specific you are, the more direct and specific you are asking other people to be...Your birth plan should be able to accommodate the unpredictability of birth...We may prefer not to write things down in black and white because vagueness can seem "Nicer". The price that we may pay for being nice, however, is missing out on the birth experience that we truly want...Getting attached to your birth plan, like getting attached to anything or anyone in your life, makes you vulnerable. You are, indeed, risking not getting what you want. The alternative is virtually ensuring that you don't get what you want by leaving events to chance."

10/16/2019

I recently read a book called, Natural Hospital Birth - The Best of Both Worlds, by Cynthia Gabriel. If I could write a book, this would just about be it. A quote from her book: "I have heard proponents of anesthetized birth say, 'There's no medal for birthing naturally.' For many women, though, natural birth brings the greatest reward that any life experience can provide - a sense of joy, achievement, and satisfaction. Through this physical, mental, and emotional challenge, you will know yourself and your body more deeply than you ever could otherwise. You will recognize your own physical, mental, and emotional strength...Women who have given birth naturally often relate how this knowledge has helped them triumph in subsequent life challenges." I would certainly say this was true for me! More later...

08/17/2019

I have known since I began my doula career that babies make crucial rotations during labor, and their "starting" position during labor is very important - I don't mean breech or head-down - but where is baby's back? Then early on I had a mom whose labor was long and hard. I didn't know at the time that her baby wasn't in that ideal position, but learned through her doctor's exam that he wasn't. I didn't know what to do to help this baby to rotate. This mom managed to push him out through sheer determination. Other moms haven't been so fortunate and ended up having a Cesarean. But that experience lead me on a quest to find out what could have been done to help her. With her next baby, she could tell this baby was in the same position as the first, so I encouraged her to see a chiropractor who worked with pregnant women and was proficient in the Webster Technique. She faithfully went to the chiropractor and her second birth was smooth and easy - not a coincidence! A woman's pelvis isn't a rigid bony structure, but has ligaments that move and stretch - or don't! Ever since then, and more now than ever, I encourage moms to see a chiropractor during their pregnancy. And I have also learned techniques, through a Spinning Babies Workshop, that can be used during labor to help baby rotate into that ideal birthing position.

07/31/2019

As a doula, I've always thought that turning off the hospital lights and putting up white Christmas lights instead, and playing instrumental music was just a nice thing to do to make the room feel more "homey" and relaxing. But there are actually physical benefits. Dimmed lights encourage the production of Melatonin, a hormone that helps us sleep, in the brain. And Melatonin works in conjunction with Oxytocin to produce more effective contractions. Labor is a right-brain function and Melatonin works to "turn off" the laboring mom's thinking-brain, or left-brain, and helps her respond to her body with her right-brain. Not having the TV on also helps, as well as, instrumental music. It's also been found that Pitocin may reduce the release of Melatonin, therefore making it more difficult for her to get into the frame of mind she needs to labor well. Who knew that Melatonin was such a useful hormone in labor!?

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Berthoud, CO
80513

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+17208787739

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