Jodi the Doula

Doula Service and COVID-19

03 Dec 2020 Leave a Comment

by Jodi in Most Popular

As of June 29, an Executive order from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy acknowledges the importance of doula support in maternal/fetal health, and specifies that doulas are not counted as additional support people, but are acknowledged as essential staff. This means that your doula may be by your side in labor in the hospital, along with your partner/chosen primary support person. So, the answer to “Can you come to the hospital for my birth?” is a great big YES!

We can talk more during an initial consult about the steps that are currently in place to keep everyone safe, and what to expect from doula services.

Birth services will continue to include three 1 1/2 hour visits prenatally to discuss birth options, comfort measures, and to create a personal birth comfort plan. These visits can be conducted by Zoom or Skype, or by phone, and can include virtual companionship to cover specific questions during medical provider office visits.

Conversation by phone is available after every medical provider office visit to discuss any questions or concerns you may have.

Unlimited phone call, text, and email support is available throughout pregnancy and the first 6 weeks postpartum.

Continuous labor support will be offered any time day or night.

Two 1 hour postpartum virtual visits will be available anytime in the 6 weeks following delivery, with continued unlimited phone, text, and email support to address any questions or concerns about infant feeding, baby care, or self care.

To best support the families and community in which we serve, your doula remains in communication with the New Jersey Department of Health and local hospitals and medical professionals to continue to provide the best possible support with consideration for current safety recommendations.

Availability for service is limited, so please call or text 856.419.3690 or email jodithedoula@gmail.com today to schedule your initial interview.

Talk soon!

Jodi

Doula Service and COVID-19

26 Mar 2020 Leave a Comment

by Jodi in Most Popular

During this period of COVID -19 uncertainty, labor support is as important as ever. With safety recommendations changing day by day, limiting the support options available for birthing people, your doula remains at the ready to provide continuous informational and emotional support throughout pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum weeks. Currently, we are prepared to support the CDC’s recommendations surrounding COVID -19 by transitioning temporarily to virtual prenatal and postpartum appointments, labor support, and childbirth education.  

As of March 17, 2020, there can be no visitors in local hospital waiting rooms during labor and delivery and only one (1) person in the delivery room. There can be no switch off between support people for the duration of the hospital stay.  Only the client is allowed in the examination room during a visit at the prenatal clinic.

As of March 23rd, all home visiting services in New Jersey are to be offered as virtual services only.

In response to these state guidelines, while continuing to prioritize the support of pregnant and postpartum persons and in upholding the CAPPA Code of Ethics and Scope of Practice, labor doula services will be offered as follows:

Birth services will continue to include three 1 1/2 hour visits prenatally to discuss birth options, comfort measures, and to create a personal birth plan. These visits can be conducted by Zoom or Skype, or by phone, and can include virtual companionship to cover specific questions during medical provider office visits.

Conversation by phone is available after every medical provider office visit to discuss any questions or concerns you may have.

Unlimited phone call, text, and email support is available throughout pregnancy and the first 6 weeks postpartum.

Continuous labor support will be offered any time day or night by Zoom or Skype throughout labor and delivery and the first hour postpartum to ensure informed decision making.

Two 1 hour postpartum virtual visits will be available anytime in the 6 weeks following delivery, with continued unlimited phone, text, and email support to address any questions or concerns about infant feeding, baby care, or self care.

All current doula clients will remain in service with no interruption, and we are currently receiving new clients at this time.

To best support the families and community in which we serve, your doula remains in communication with the New Jersey Department of Health and local hospitals and medical professionals to continue to provide the best possible support with consideration for current safety recommendations.

Availability for service is limited, so please call 856.419.3690 or email jodithedoula@gmail.com today to schedule your initial interview.

When “Rare” Becomes Real

15 Apr 2016 2 Comments

by Jodi in Most Popular

If you’ve been following recent news at all, you’ve no doubt heard the hubbub about the new documentary Vaxxed, which was pulled this week from the Tribeca film festival in New York, where the film was scheduled to be shown. Robert DeNiro is under fire in recent media, both for pulling the film from the festival and for stirring up the ongoing controversy around vaccine safety. Vaccine controversy is hardly anything new – it’s a question that parents have been facing for the last twenty years.

As a doula, I hear “the vaccine question” from many families I work with. My answer is always, quite simply, “It’s not ever my role to give medical advice. This is, however, an important topic to learn about and have an informed conversation with your child’s doctor about the right decision for your own family.” I will gladly recommend evidence-based resources to support parents in educating themselves. Professionally, I’m Switzerland – as neutral as can be. I typically don’t even mention my own point of view, because it’s irrelevant to the decision another family may make.

A quick Google search would have us believe that there are only two extreme schools of thought. One side of the fence says “All vaccines are bad, the general public is brainwashed” and the other states just as clearly that “all scheduled vaccines are necessary, and only the misinformed Tin Foil Hat Brigade thinks otherwise” There is, however, an often-unmentioned middle ground. This is one parent’s story of what living in the invisible no-man’s-land really looks like.

Eighteen years ago, when my son was three months old, at his standard well-baby checkup he received three shots. Having been through the usual routine with my older child, this was nothing new. What happened in the aftermath, however, became a completely different story. My son had what is generally referred to as an atypical reaction. It’s nothing unusual for babies to run a slight fever and be a little cranky the day after shots. In the wee hours of the night, a few days later, however, my baby wasn’t just fussy, he screamed. I don’t mean he cried very hard – this was a high-pitched, piercing wail that lasted for hours, unending. He ran a high fever. The soft spot on his head began to bulge. The membrane that surrounds his brain was swelling. This is called encephalopathy.

The Center for Disease Control, the same CDC that advocates for routine scheduled vaccination, notes that this encephalopathy is a real, though rare, known possible side effect of one of the three vaccines he had received. Our doctor provided excellent medical care, and access to solid information. The US government has a Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System in existence since 1990, and a VAERS report was filed about my child.

I am acutely aware that this is unusual, though the exact statistics of specifically how uncommon are harder to pin down. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) states that “approximately 30,000 VAERS reports are filed each year. About 85-90% of the reports describe mild side effects such as fever, arm soreness, and crying or mild irritability. The remaining reports are classified as serious, which means that the adverse event resulted in permanent disability, hospitalization, life-threatening illness, or death.” The probability of serious adverse effects is minimal, with only 3000-4500 serious adverse effect reports per year, out of the over ten million vaccines adminstered per year to infants under the age of 12 mos. This statistic can be reassuring to some parents. However, when your own child becomes the statistic, the viewpoint changes.

The challenges we have faced were only beginning. My baby stopped smiling and cooing. His milestones, like rolling, crawling, and walking were delayed. Other developmental delays began to follow. Speech delays caused him to be only minimally verbal until the age of six. He didn’t develop a dominant hand (become left- or right-handed) until seven. He was in physical and occupational therapy until the age of eight. A visual disability thrown into the mix meant that learning to read at all was delayed until the age of nine. Writing with a pencil (illegibly, but intentionally) wasn’t obtained as a skill until age 11. He didn’t sleep through the night until he was 12 – years, not months – when it was finally accurately diagnosed that an existing neurotransmitter deficiency requires medications that tell his body when to wake up and when to fall asleep. He has moderate multiple sensory processing challenges, and an autism spectrum diagnosis. It has taken many qualified and dedicated professionals to figure out how my kid learns, working as a team to ensure his success. He was homeschooled or tutored at home until fifth grade, when he was mainstreamed into school with a 504 (a document that provides exceptions for children with disabilities) and an Individual Education Plan (IEP.) This is the reality of living with a special needs child.

So, do I believe that vaccines cause autism? Put simply, no. Current evidence bears proof that most reactions, if they happen at all, are mild, and the benefits outweigh the risks. Most children who receive them will be fine. My child, however, will not receive another one. With no explanation for why the extreme reaction happened, it’s not worth the risk to his health and safety. I’m grateful for herd immunity that occurs when most children are vaccinated against disease, because that’s what keeps my child safe from these diseases.

On a positive note – he’s come a long way. In a month, he’ll be graduating high school with honors and will attend college on an engineering scholarship. He’s in the National Honor Society, plays on the football team, loves to act and sing, and has a fondness for really corny jokes. Social skills have had to be vigilantly taught in baby steps, and he’ll never be neurotypical, but he’s going to be ok. He’s a little awkward, perhaps, but given that he’s going to be an engineer, it’s possible nobody will find that strange.

I don’t blame “modern medicine.” I like aromatherapy and all, but if my kid has appendicitis, we’re going to the hospital. I’m aware that the highly-publicized “MMR Causes Autism!” Andrew Wakefield study from 1998 has been debunked. I don’t think our pediatrician was participating in any sort of conspiracy or “cover up” when he recommended vaccinating our baby. While I do also believe that diet and lifestyle are important factors in everyone’s health, I work within the health system. I’ve witnessed lives being saved by modern medicine with my own eyes. I run an evidence-based doula practice, and I believe in science. My son has been seen by numerous specialists, including heads of department in a reputable children’s hospital.
All of that said, the missing piece here becomes glaringly obvious. We still don’t know why this happened, and we are not alone. Parents across the country, another 3000-4500 serious VAERS reports per year, are telling their stories of similar events. Their babies were fine, got vaccines, and weren’t fine anymore. Some have serious illness, and some are no longer living. With 23.2 million children under the age of five living in the US at the time of my son’s birth, even being one in 10,000 is no longer a small number, and it’s only growing larger.

Most children will be fine. A small percentage will have reactions that are classified as severe. That small percentage happens to a few thousand children a year. Unfortunately, none are born with stickers on their foreheads that say, “I’m the one who’s going to be injured,” but there is hope that perhaps there are other clear signs that we can learn to see. This is worth attention. We need to learn more.

There are many theories currently being suggested by respected medical authorities. Is there a genetic component that makes some children more vulnerable to adverse events than others? Maybe. I have multiple autoimmune diagnoses, and my son’s father had severe mental health issues. In fact, at the age of 40, my son’s father had an adverse reaction to a routine Hepatitis B vaccine, developed a lesion on the cerebellum of his brain, and was hospitalized for a week.

Were environmental factors involved? Maybe. We do live in New Jersey, where the autism rates in the US are at their highest, along with our air and water pollution levels. Or, on the other hand, perhaps our early autism screening system just works more effectively in New Jersey than it does elsewhere. The thing is – we don’t know. Science can’t tell us yet how to discern who will be fine, and who is more likely to not be fine. “Why did this happen?” is a question that my family, and many others like mine, still have unanswered.

This is where research is leaving a gaping hole. Studies are being conducted left and right to prove that vaccines don’t cause autism. What isn’t being focused on, however, is the answer to WHY, exactly, these serious reactions happen to some children and not others, and what we can do to make it safer for everyone.

What’s being brought to light, here, is that research needs to be done on the “maybes,” so that they become answered. When we know more about the facts, when we learn the “why,” we can make a more effective plan than “It probably won’t happen to you.” This happens. It’s rare, but real. I’m not angry, but I am aware. The parents who live with this reality are simply asking for answers. All we’re looking for is the truth. No tinfoil hat required.

What Should I Buy for the Baby?

05 Oct 2015 2 Comments

by Jodi in Most Popular

At prenatal visits, I’m often asked what the necessities are for bringing baby home. The lists offered by most baby registries are long and overwhelming. Keep in mind, too, that the more “stuff” you register for, the more profit the store makes when your friends and family come to shop for you there. What’s a new family to do?

In short, as long as you have your breasts, your arms, and some diapers, you’re going to be ok in the beginning. Tiny babies don’t need much. Here are a few things that, as a doula, I see most families use and enjoy.

1) A Carseat. Don’t skimp here. Get the best one you can afford, and please make sure that it’s correctly installed. Call your hospital and ask if they offer carseat safety checks, or if they know who does. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, although most parents believe that theirs is installed correctly, seven out of ten carseats are improperly installed. Get it checked by a professional. I’m serious about this part.

2) Onesies, newborn gowns, and sleep sacks. Tiny babies tend to be leaky at one end or another several times each day, and require changing of diapers and clothing. It’s amazing how much laundry one little person can generate in the course of a week! Onesies are easy because they’re simple, soft, and low-fuss. If a diaper is a real blowout, the folds on the shoulders of a onesie allow the whole thing to be pulled straight down toward the baby’s feet – no need to take a messy thing off by pulling it over baby’s head. Newborn gowns, which have long sleeves and simple elastic at the bottom, are the best invention ever when, at 3am, you can’t keep your eyes open when your little one needs a diaper change. They pull up and pull down – easy to do one-handed, and no tiny snaps to fuss with in the dark. Sleep sacks are a warmer version of nightgowns, for when the temps are cooler. Remember that your babe will only be in newborn sizes for about five minutes, so don’t buy a ton. Half a dozen onesies and gowns, and a sleep sack or two is a good place to start.

3) Light, thin blankets. These are great for covering baby and parent for skin-to-skin time, which is so important for bonding and breastfeeding success in the early days. They’re also great for throwing over Aunt Irene’s shoulder when she asks to hold the little one who has just been fed, so that she doesn’t get blurped on. If swaddling is your baby’s thing, light blankets are just the right weight. Remember that babies don’t need blankets for sleeping, though. That’s what nightgowns and sleep sacks are for.

4) A safe place to sleep. In the “Safe Sleep Seven” handouts written by Sweet Sleep author Dianne Wiessinger and published by La Leche League International, guidelines are given for the safety of babies who cosleep with parents. The American Academy of Pediatrics, in their guidelines for safe sleep, recommend room sharing, though not necessarily bed sharing, in the early weeks. Whether bed-sharing or room-sharing, newborns need to be close to their parents, and aren’t ready for cribs in separate rooms just yet.

5) A sling or soft carrier. Very small babies tend to be happiest when they are in-arms and at-breast. How is a parent to get anything done that requires two hands? Babywearing is a great solution to keep parents and babies both happy. There are many soft carrier options to choose from. Babywearing International has good safety guidelines on their site, along with great information on how to choose the carrier that’s right for you.

6) One safe place to set baby down. There are so many options – bouncy seats, swings, rocking seats, and the list goes on and on. Really, it’s not necessary to have one of each. No need for your house to look like you’ve decorated in Early Fisher Price. Just one thing will do. Pick one. Will your baby like it? Probably not, at least in the beginning, but in a few weeks, the beloved bouncy seat may be the one thing that allows you to get a shower.

7) A way to get baby fed. If you are planning to breastfeed, hold off just yet on the bottles, pacifiers, sterilizers, and warmers. Breastfeeding has a bit of a learning curve in the first month. It’s best to get really good at breastfeeding before adding other things into the mix. That can come later.

8) Diapers and wipes. Whether disposable or cloth, you’re going to use a lot more of these than you might think you will.

9) SUPPORT. Whether you have a postpartum doula or family and friends who can pitch in, let someone else do the laundry, the errands, the cooking and the housework. It’s Mom’s job to take care of the baby, and it’s everyone else’s job to take care of Mom.

That’s it – the “Doula’s List” of what you really need. What would you add? What did you use more than you thought you would? What did you have that didn’t get used at all? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.