Monday, February 28, 2011

The Miracle of Homebirth

by Jan Tritten

[Editor's Note: This editorial originally appeared in Midwifery Today, Issue 93, Spring 2010.]
Homebirth is the gold standard, God’s standard, the highest standard of Birth possible. The uplifting feeling a mom gets, having birthed in her own power, is unlike anything else in the world. There is incredible joy and love possible following God’s design for birth as He created it. But it seems humans want to interfere, to tamper with the spirit involved in this natural process. Sometimes the interruption is due to ignorance, but sometimes it is caused by more sinister motives. Either way, the result is the same: mothers and babies walking around with scars that will not heal. This is the most powerful time of their lives. This sets the tone for mothering. It sets the bond between mother and baby—emotionally, spiritually and physically. It is so important that there are no words powerful enough to describe it.

To read the rest of this article please click here

Friday, February 25, 2011

Happy Friday!


It is snowing today in Colorado and it is beautiful! I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Balancing Act

As women we all need to hear that we need to let things go and give up the need to seem like we have EVERYTHING under control. With a new baby this is even more important. Right now it is most important to focus on your baby and yourself, and finding that connection and balance. All of the other things will come and you will get back to normal (or your new normal). As Nicole says, "it won't be this way forever." Cherish this small period of time and soak in every part of it. You have the rest of your life to clean and cook and catch up.

Posted by Nicole Glover (mother of 5 - she gets it!) from www.TheNewBornBaby.com

Many new families know just how much work it is to figure out their life with a new baby. There are so many changes, and it can seem so overwhelming. Days where time was so readily available to just hop in the car and go wherever, whenever. Now, it takes 2.5 hours just to get in the shower. Then we need to feed the baby. Then change the baby. Then feed the baby...
mother, busy mom, baby

To read the rest of this lovely article click here.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Weekly Giveaway!


These weekly giveaways are one of my favorite times of the week! This week we are giving away a Rebozo! If you're a birth professional, this would be the perfect addition to your birth bag. Please comment on this blog or Facebook, or "like" us on Facebook by 10 p.m. MST today to enter! Good Luck!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Implementing Skin to Skin in a Hospital



Alethea, a labor & delivery nurse in a small community hospital, wrote this guest post about how to implement skin-to-skin in a hospital. Sometimes a big change in policy starts with just one nurse's efforts!

If you would like to get in touch with Alethea, please leave your email address in the comments or send me an email, which I will forward on to her. She is more than happy to answer your questions.

As expectant mothers near the end of pregnancy, they begin to prepare themselves mentally and physically for the upcoming birth of their baby. While imagining what labor and birth might be like for them, they often daydream about holding their baby in their arms for the first time, immediately after birth. It is instinctive for new mothers to want to hold their babies close, nourish them, and keep them safe and warm.

To read the rest of this article click here

Monday, February 21, 2011

Natural Births Better for Babies

Babies born by caesarean section are more vulnerable to asthma, allergies and infection as they miss out on receiving their mothers' good bacteria during birth, a scientist says.
Written by: Danielle Teutsch and Kate Benson
Professor Patricia Conway, of the School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences at the University of NSW, said babies delivered vaginally received protective bacteria as they passed through the birth canal. Left on the baby's skin, this bacteria could then colonise the intestine and help inoculate newborns against hospital bugs. Gut flora was also crucial for developing a balanced immune system, Professor Conway said. "With a C-section, the newborn baby misses an opportunity to pick up a lot of mum's good bacteria," she said.
"This can have long-term health implications, as the development of a good intestinal ecosystem is necessary for health and immunity to allergies, from childhood right through to adulthood."
To read the rest of this article click here

Thursday, February 17, 2011

Wednesday Giveaway Winner!

Thank you everyone for supporting our weekly giveaway! We apologize for the delay in announcing the winner, but we are still excited to tell you that Mandee Palmer is our winner! Congratulations Mandee. Please email me your address to kim@birthinbinsi.com and we will get the massage kit out to you right away! Thanks everyone for your entry, please check back next Wednesday and see what fun goodies we will be giving away!

Doula! Film

I'm not sure why I haven't seen this video, but I have just ordered it and am very excited to see it. I will post again once I have seen it. You too should see it!

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Wednesday Giveaway!!

BINSI is more than just labor and birth apparel. Did you know that we have a line of labor support products too? According the Delta Doula, one of our good friends, a fellow doula, and soon to be a Mommy again:

"I love the new products! I couldn’t wait to use them so I decided to give them all a try now. I took a hot bath with the salts and love them. I’ve been achy all over from fighting a chest cold. The salts are soothing – not too scented or greasy – just enough. I’ve also been dealing with a big dry spot on one nipple that really hasn’t responded well to lotion and I have been hesitant to use a regular thick nursing ointment on it because I didn’t want to have to wear a nursing pad already. Well, the BINSI nipple balm is perfect. It goes on smooth, absorbs well and by the next morning my dry spot was GONE. I thought while I was at it I would use the labor massage oil in lieu of my bio oil stretch mark regimen. I can’t really gauge the stretch mark prevention but since it’s all about moisture and my skin felt great even the next morning, I think it just might be a dual purpose oil – perhaps triple – pregnancy, birth and beyond!"

You deserve to be pampered before, during and after your birth so today we are giving away a massage pack:

1 Soothing Labor Massage Oil
1 Hits the Spot Hot Pack
1 Omni Massage Roller

To enter this giveaway please either comment on this blog, "like" us on Facebook or message us via Facebook by 10 p.m. MST today. Good luck!

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

The Lie of the Estimated Due Date

Written by Misha Safranski
We have it ingrained in our heads throughout our entire adult lives-pregnancy is 40 weeks. The “due date” we are given at that first prenatal visit is based upon that 40 weeks, and we look forward to it with great anticipation. When we are still pregnant after that magical date, we call ourselves “overdue” and the days seem to drag on like years. The problem with this belief about the 40 week EDD is that it is not based in fact. It is one of many pregnancy and childbirth myths which has wormed its way into the standard of practice over the years-something that is still believed because “that’s the way it’s always been done”.
The folly of Naegele’s Rule

To read the rest of this post please click here.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

Since most of you reading this blog are pregnant, and it is Valentine's Day, I thought this post was appropriate. I hope you have a wonderful and romantic day!

The Best Positions for Pregnancy Sex
Because your body doesn't change that much in the first trimester, sex can pretty much continue as it has in the past. Later, as the uterus grows, some positions may become more difficult to perform. Sex expert Pepper Schwartz, PhD, offers these suggestions on the best sexual positions during pregnancy:
Spoon: The spoon position can be very cozy and intimate. In this case you should lie on your side curled in a C, with your partner facing your back and curled around you. He then enters your vagina from behind while both of you are lying on your sides.
Side by side: Another good choice for late pregnancy, this position will control thrust and keep weight off your belly. You and your husband lie side by side, facing each other. He slips his leg over yours (your leg can be either straight and to the side or bent at the knee) and enters you from an angle. In a variation of this, you lie on your back and he on his side. Put your leg that's closest to him over his legs. He can enter you from the back and side, and still have his face next to yours.
To read the rest of this article click here

Friday, February 11, 2011

Happy Friday!


With 3 boys and 1 little girl, I have learned that girls are innately different from boys. My sweet girl is a little mommy at heart, and it is absolutely precious. She is proof to me that most women are born to be mothers, and that we all have what it takes to be the perfect mom for our children. Have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Our First Winner!

I had such a fun time with this giveaway! Thank you all for playing along and for all your fun messages. The winner of our first giveaway is Melanie Sarnoff Kalbach. However, since this was our first giveaway, and I was so excited about all of the entries, everyone that entered will receive a coupon for 25% off their next order PLUS a free massage oil! If you entered our giveaway yesterday please e-mail Kim at Kim@birthinbinsi.com to get your coupon code. Don't forget to check back next week for our next giveaway!

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Wednesday Giveaway!!


We are so excited to start our weekly giveaways! Our giveaway today is a black BINSI Sport Skirt One of our most popular products and easily my favorite skirt. I probably wore it a little too much the last month of my pregnancy. Nothing really fit anymore, and I refused to buy one more piece of maternity clothing; but this skirt was so soft and wasn't tight anywhere, and I just loved it. This was also the skirt I chose to wear for my the birth of my daughter because it was so comfortable :)

To enter this giveaway please either comment on this blog, "like" us on Facebook or message us via Facebook by 10 p.m. MST today. Good luck!


Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Birth Story

This birth story comes from the Brio Birth website. Brio Birth is a wonderful new childbirth preparation course that empowers both you and your husband with a wonderful education and confidence to have the best birth possible for you. Please visit their website at: www.briobirth.com
Adelle’s Birth - by Jo Garrett, CBRE, CD(DONA)
I’m a big wimp. I always have been. In fact, I wouldn’t even learn to ride a bike as a child because I was afraid I’d fall and get hurt. My mother always said that they would have to hook me up to an epidural the moment I found out I was pregnant.

To read the rest of this beautiful birth story click here

Monday, February 7, 2011

Friday, February 4, 2011

Happy Friday!


For those of you following the blog I wanted to announce that we are going to start offering giveaways on Wednesdays, so make sure to check back next week! Have a wonderful weekend!

Thursday, February 3, 2011

Why Invite a Doula?

Here is a great article from the Birthing From Within Website. If you haven't heard about Birthing From Within, please read their book and consider a class for your upcoming birth. Great information and wonderful approach that is empowering!

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A doula is a woman who is experienced in childbirth, through becoming a mother herself and/or by attending many births. A doula can be trained and certified or may enter the profession via her life and birth experiences. Doulas provide emotional, practical, and physical support throughout labor and birth. Many doulas work with expectant parents during pregnancy and in the postpartum period as well.
Ideally, doulas provide support to both the laboring mother and her partner or family. Research shows that when the mother and father are “mothered” in labor and early postpartum, the parents experience a “halo” effect postpartum, i.e. they start off feeling more confident in their new parenting role.

To read the rest of this wonderful article please click here: http://www.birthingfromwithin.com/why_invite_a_doula

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Breast-Feeding Canadian Moms Create Flash Mob at Mall

Canada is up in arms about breast-feeding and whether it's really OK to do it in public. And with the help of blogs and Facebook, angry moms are taking it to the streets -- or to the mall, in this case.

About a hundred mothers in Montreal staged a "nurse-in" protest at a downtown shopping complex last week, breast-feeding simultaneously before a curious crowd of reporters, mall security guards and passers-by. The event was retribution, they said, for a store that had thrown out a mother for breast-feeding earlier this month. This week, they began a petition drive to protect the rights of women to breast-feed in public in the Quebec province.

nurse-in protest by breast-feeding women in Montreal
Selena Ross for AOL News
These four breast-feeding women were among about 100 who took part in a "nurse-in" at a Montreal mall on Jan. 19.
It all started when Shannon Smith, a 36-year-old mother of three, stopped by a children's clothing store in the mall on Jan. 5. When her youngest started crying halfway through the trip, Smith retreated to a semi-secluded kids' corner and nursed the baby under a blanket.

She said she was surprised and upset when a female employee of the store, Orchestra, came over and told her to stop.

Smith left humiliated. But her embarrassment quickly turned to anger, so the next day she created a blog, breastfortheweary.com.

"I'm pissed," she wrote. "My older kids were sitting in their stroller watching the movie when my youngest got hungry. So I fed her. She's 5 months old, and she eats breast milk. From my actual breast. Shocking, I know!"

With just the one post, the blog quickly started gathering hits -- almost 7,000 so far. A day later, a Facebook group had been created to organize the nurse-in for Jan. 19. Newspapers and blogs across Canada and the United States soon picked up the story, creating a national debate over whether Smith or the employee had been right.

Many commentators compared breast-feeding to eating lunch and even urinating, even saying it should happen in bathrooms. Parents fought back, arguing that babies deserve to eat whenever and wherever they are hungry, and that breast-feeding is convenient and healthy.

At 1 p.m., the appointed time for the nurse-in, managers at Montreal's Complexe Les Ailes shopping mall waited anxiously for the promised pack of mothers and babies to appear. They arrived en masse, like a nursery school flash mob, and the babies quickly got down to business as cameras clicked and mall employees handed out juice boxes and goody bags. Most mothers said they had heard about the event through Facebook or friends.

"I think that, basically, you should be able to do it anytime and anywhere," said Frances Moxant, 40, as she fed the youngest of her four children. "Even my parish priest tells us to go ahead and do it in church. Jesus was breast-fed -- he wasn't bottle-fed. So it's definitely all right."

Smith said she was happy with the turnout, especially with the many dads and grandparents who stood nearby. She said she had been shocked by the frenzied response to her blog, but tried not to read too much into the negative comments.

"I figure a lot of people just don't care," she said, shrugging. "A lot of people are pro-breast-feeding, and they don't talk about it because they just think it's normal."

The clothing store has apologized to Smith, blaming the mistake on a poorly trained new employee. So has the general manager of Complexe Les Ailes, Johanne Marcotte, who breast-fed her own two children in malls and has long instituted a pro-breast-feeding policy. In fact, Complexe Les Ailes has two dedicated rooms for nursing moms, which Marcotte said have been used by 20,000 moms in the past eight months -- something she knows because the rooms have traffic counters.

Rebecca Coughlin, 30, who came to the nurse-in with her 6-month-old twin daughters, said she likes the breast-feeding rooms but thinks it's unreasonable to expect women to pack up their children and walk across the mall with a screaming baby.

"I don't think there's any reason women should be relegated to a room," Coughlin said. "It's something that we should be encouraging women to do. The last thing we should do is create a stigma around it."

Most Canadian provinces, including Quebec, do not have laws explicitly allowing mothers to breast-feed in public, although courts looking at specific cases like Smith's have generally ruled in favor of nursing moms.

Sponsored Links
All American states except for Idaho, Michigan, Nebraska, South Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia have passed laws allowing women to breast-feed in any public or private space, as well as several that exempt breast-feeding from public indecency laws or excuse nursing mothers from jury duty.

Shoppers at the mall last week looked amazed at the sea of nursing babies. But when asked if they felt uncomfortable having to walk by so many breasts on their lunch break, they said no.

"I don't have a problem with that," said Ulysses Montero, 34.

Moms who read Smith's blog vented about being called exhibitionists.

"Maybe we need to find something else for society to obsess about/sensationalize/demonize, instead of breasts," wrote a commenter named Sheila. "Preferably something that isn't part of my body. Oranges, maybe? 'Hey, lady, you can't eat that orange in here -- this is a respectable business ...'"

This article was from : http://www.aolnews.com/2011/01/27/breast-feeding-canadian-moms-create-flash-mob-at-mall/

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

The Legal Right of Pregnant Women

If there is one thing I have noticed since becoming pregnant with my first child and actively working in the childbirth community… it is the fact that most women do not know all of their rights as a pregnant woman.
Contrary to popular belief, pregnancy does not make us all the perfect patient, and we do not have to listen to every last demand, test or suggestion of procedure our provider presents us with. In such a hostile birthing climate, these are rights that all pregnant women should know to help protect themselves and get the best care possible during pregnancy.



To read the rest of this article click here: http://blogs.babble.com/being-pregnant/2011/01/20/legal-rights-of-pregnant-women/