Lindsey Bliss - The Doulas Guide to Empowering Your Birth: A Complete Labor and Childbirth Companion for Parents to Be

An inspired and essential guide to creating the birth you desire! The Doulas Guide to Empowering Your Birth offers a golden opportunity to have your own personal, experienced doula guide you to an understanding of the many choices you have for you and your baby in birth and beyond. Lindsey Bliss, an experienced and wise doula, has witnessed birth in many ways and in these pages she provides the tips and wisdom you need to prepare for a safe, empowered, powerful, and truly memorable birth.

Debra Pascali-Bonaro, doula, doula trainer, creator of the Pain to Power childbirth program, and co-author of Orgasmic Birth

Lindsey Bliss is an exceptional woman with years of life experience as the mother of seven children and hands-on experience as a doula who has dedicated her life to serving new mothers in both prosperous and underserved communities. The Doulas Guide to Empowering Your Birth translates medical language into plain English and explains the many choices available to you, so that you can be empowered in your birth.

Elizabeth Bachner, owner, midwife, and clinic director, GraceFull birthing center, Los Angeles

A COMPLETE LABOR AND CHILDBIRTH COMPANION FOR PARENTS-TO-BE

LINDSEY BLISS

You cannot use someone elses fire. You can only use your own. And in order to do that, you must first be willing to believe that you have it.
Audre Lorde

Are you pregnant and left with a bunch of burning questions? Do you lack nonjudgmental support from your friends, family, and/or partner? Are you afraid to give birth? We are inundated with media depictions of childbirth as a fear-filled emergency event with an epic water breaking scene and an explosive delivery with lots of screaming. In this book, I am going to challenge this cultural conditioning and show you that childbirth can be a beautiful and transformative journey.

Countless friends have said to me, After the birth of my first child, I kept thinking, I wish someone had told me about this possibility, or I wish I had known about that fact. This book is based on my passionate belief that it is time to restore the power of giving birth to its rightful owner: you, the birthing person. As an experienced birth doula who has seen more than 250 births over my eight-year career, and as the mother of seven kids (including two sets of twins), I want to share with parents-to-be all the possibilities out there for making their birthing experiences their own. It is your body, your birth, and your baby, and you are entitled to all the power that those facts provide.

This book will give you everything you need to know so you wont be left wondering what could have been. Knowing what birthing options there are will allow you to make informed choices and have an empowered childbirth experience. I will share my personal experiences and nuggets of wisdom through unfiltered tips and suggestions that will inform and guide you on your childbearing journey. Ill cover everything pregnancy: handling the highs and lows of the journey; figuring out your birth preferences and the place thats right for you; and knowing all your options. Then Ill go over laboring and birthing tips and scenarios, and how to deal with everything going right or wrong. Finally, Ill talk about the often neglected fourth trimester: self-care, infant care, being cared for, and so much more. I am not scared to talk about everythingthe real deal, unfiltered birth in all its beautiful and messy gloryand I want to make sure you arent scared either.

YOUR PATH TO BECOMING PREGNANT MAY HAVE BEEN meticulously planned, or it may have been a complete surprise. You may have needed assistance in becoming pregnant, or your birth control may have failed. You may be having a rainbow baby after an infant loss or miscarriage. No matter what the road has been like, take a big, deep breath and honor your journey to becoming pregnant. All our stories are wonderfully different. Be open to processing any feelings and emotions that may come up when you find out that you are pregnant. Excitement may not be your first and only emotional response, and thats okay. There is no manual or rulebook on how to feel or how to process this life-altering news. Be gentle on yourself. The range of possible responses is vast and varied. News of a pregnancy can be dark and scary; not everyone celebrates it. I processed through shock, fear, grief, and awe before I even got close to excitement. I had one doula client tell me that she was in such an extreme state of shock that she didnt make an official pregnancy announcement until her final weeks of pregnancy. Another client was so overcome with joy that she literally wet her pants from the uncontrollable glee giggles!

You may pee on four or five pregnancy tests before the news really sinks in. Well, I did, anyway. I tried every single brand and type of home urine pregnancy test, because I know they are not always accurate for every person. Some people get negative pregnancy test results but are indeed pregnant. My aunt, for example, never had a positive urine pregnancy test and only confirmed her pregnancy through a missed period and a blood test. She also got a baby at the endhows that for confirmation?!

ESTIMATING YOUR DUE DATE

Youre pregnant! Now what? First, figure out your estimated due date. Did you notice that I used the word estimated? Even if you know exactly when you conceived, and even if you had fertility assistance, you cant be completely certain as to when your little one will be joining you earth-side. There is no due-date crystal ball, especially at this early stage of the game. I like to refer to a due month instead of a due date.

Blood Test

You can go to your general care practitioner and get a blood test as early as ten days after your first missed period. A blood test is much more accurate than a urine test at detecting the pregnancy hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). If youre pregnant, levels of this hormone increase rapidly.

Our ancestors used the phases of the moon to predict when babies would be born. An average menstruation cycle is twenty-eight days, and the moon has a similar cycle. This method proved to be very accurate. Even today, many care providers and birth workers swear that the full moon brings all the babies. This has not been scientifically proven, but the thinking is: When the moon is full, its gravitational pull creates high tides, and because we are made up of mostly water, this can throw us into labor. Id like to believe that we are all in sync with the powerful energy of the moon, and Im going to guard that belief. My husband is a surfer, and he