Visitation Birth Doula

Name: Visitation Birth Doula
Address: 108 Chinkapin Drive, Stephens City, VA, 22655, US
Telephone: +15404549074

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Visitation Birth Doula

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Birth/Postpartum doula providing preparation and resources during pregnancy and continuous physical and emotional support during labor for mothers and their husband/partner as well as postpartum support for mothers during their transition to motherhood

09/12/2024

Saying yes can be hard and scary while also exciting exhilarating.

It may not look like what you originally looked like when you imagined what life would be like, I know that's in my case

This summer has brought lots of changes for myself, my family, and even my business. All good changes, some hard, some easy, some still being processed and some were still waiting on. But I am excited to share one change being that I'm pursuing the call of God to become a midwife.

I'm slowly studying, gaining the births needed, shadowing an amazing midwife and friend, and ultimately giving it all to Jesus through Our Lady of Guadalupe and through the intercession of Servant od God Stanislawa.

While I am no longer taking doula clients, I am still hosting my doula mentorship group, postpartum Prep, and birth navigation calls. Of course we will have our amazing up and running again soon as well!

So for all of you who have faithfully followed along since the beginning, thank you and here's to the next chapter!

Stanislawa, pray for us!
Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us!

06/13/2024

Key things to know about GBS when deciding whether to be tested and/or treated if found positive

-GBS is a bacteria that can live in mom and doesn't affect mom.

-GBS Disease is what can affect your newborn if the bacteria is passed to them in childbirth and their immune system doesn't fight it off

-GBS can come and go, so while you have it one moment, it can be gone the next

-the US does universal screening, which means every woman automatically gets tested

-other places like the UK do risk-based screening which means if you fall into certain higher risk categories you will be offered screening

-if you test positive, you will be highly encouraged to have antibiotics during labor, in the hopes of trying to prevent anything from happening

-antibiotics can have adverse effects on both mom and baby

-if you don't recieve the antibiotics, baby will be more closely monitored after birth for signs of infection (most early onset shows signs within the first 24 hours of live)

-know the signs of what to look out for infection in your newborn when you go home or when your midwife leaves

-do your own research on GBS! if a wonderful resource and has an amazing book with easy to understand information

-know the benefits and risks of all sides

05/16/2024

40 is important in the Bible

40 days the earth was flooded and Noah and his family had no idea when they would see land again

40 days the Isrealites wondered in the desert, yearning for the day they would finally go into the promised land

40 days Moses was up on Mount Sinai, praying and talking with the Lord, eventually receiving the Ten Commandments

40 days a mother would wait after birthing a son before she was to re-enter the community and day to day tasks

40 days Jesus prayed and fasted in the desert, battling with the devils temptations

Each time of 40 days, a new person emerges.

What will your time of 40 reveal about yourself?

40(ish) weeks of pregnancy
40 days of the first part of postpartum when we are healing

Who are you meant to be after?

05/01/2024

Motherhood changes you

It's not necessarily what you want to hear. Many women don't want to loose who they are, loose themselves in motherhood, or even loose their current body.

But changes doesn't mean bad.

Motherhood shows us how to be more selfless in a selfish world, caring for others from the bottom of our hearts

Motherhood shows is how to prioritize our resources especially time, in a world where we waste so much of it through silly things

Motherhood shows us new gifts and talents we may have otherwise never discovered if we weren't pushed beyond our limits and comfort zone

It doesn't take overnight to embrace (we chat all about this on ) and the journey is different for each mama. But it's a journey, one where you can come out on the other side an upgraded version of you.

A version God is calling you to be whether you know it or not.

Acknowledge the change.
Mourn the old
Embrace the new
Learn more about who you are meant to be

04/19/2024

Labor is hard work

Long hours
Sleepless moments
Uterus contracting
Surges intensifying
Breaks short
Pressure building
Body opening
Hips widening
Tissues stretching
Intensity pushing down
Heads crowning

These are the moments women feel as if they can't go on, can't give birth, can do one more surge.

But you are not alone in these moments.

In the moments in life that we are the weakest, physically, emotionally, even spiritually, God is there and He is strongest because He wants to carry you. He wants to use all His strength to carry you through your night, your darkness, your moments of wanting to give up.

Let Him carry you.

Let Him labor with you and hold your hand through each surge.
Let Him dance through each surge with you as you move your baby down and out.
Let Him sit with you and hold your hair back and comfort you in your fears and anxieties surrounding this birth.

Let Him carry you through the hard, through the transformation to the beautiful soul He wants you to meet on the other side.

04/10/2024

What to do in early labor?

This is the longest part of labor, but the least intense with surges. It's just the start of the marathon though so you don't want to come sprinting out of the gate and exhaust yourself.

Rest. Nourish. Hydrate.

If it's daytime, do daytime things! (Don't go on a 10 miles hike or start a home project) but do keep your mind distracted!

If it's nighttime do nighttime things, meaning go back to sleep! Take a bath, a benadryl, a glass of wine (all talk to your provider with) then go back to sleep

Don't start timing, don't even download a timer! Let labor chase you and if you time to early you'll be having to really think if you had a surge or not.

Don't do all the things to "get labor going". This is how mothers exhaust themselves. You can't speed up early labor by walking, hiking, bouncing on the ball, etc. Just let it come on its own.

Rest when you can
Nourish yourself with good whole food
Hydrate with electrolytes
Don't start timing till you can't ignore them anymore
Ignore, ignore, ignore!

What helped you in early labor?

04/04/2024

Calling all Catholic and Christian doulas!

I've been blessed and honored to have been practicing as a doula for 4 years and built my business to not only being booked out but even bringing on two other doulas in the process! I've learned so much and have gotten tons of messages from others to help them so I'm excited to announce

Doula mentorship group!

Whether you want to become a doula and don't know where to start, are thinking about it but it's just not time, or are wanting to grow and expand your practice and foster community with like minded women this group is for you!

Check out the self paced recordings to learn with new ones each month
Join in for once a month live online gatherings
Join a private group with other like minded doulas to learn and foster community

Check out the link to join monthly today!

03/13/2024

When birth doesn't go the way we had hoped for

We can do all the things to prepare for our ideal birth, but sometimes things happen outside our control

An overly long birth
A not optimally positioned baby
A laspe in care
A poor team
Your least favorite provider
Not being what you expected
A transfer of location
A wonky heart rate
An induction

We as women need to acknowledge when something didn't go our way, whether someone is to blame or not and grieve what didn't happen

But this can't happen when we're trying to bond with our new baby because our brains can't physically do these two things at the same time

So we need to make time to grieve.
Even if it's 6 months or almost a year after the birth but we need to process and help to let go to make way for the new

Write it down
Talk with a professional
Take it to prayer

Listen to more about birth trauma on the episode

02/22/2024

Motherhood has changed me

I've been deeply reflecting on this as my oldest who made me a mom turns 7 today.

When I first had her I fought the changes....hard.

Wanting to wear my old clothes
Wanting to easily be able to grab coffee with friends
Wanting to just get out the door or go out without coordinating care
Wanting to sleep in whenever I wanted

But motherhood has changed me for the better

It has gotten me to look outside of myself more to others needs while seeing what it is that I am able to give

To prioritize certain relationships and hobbies instead of feeling like I need to be everything to everyone all the time

Embrace and respect the body that has grown and nurtured 3 beautiful children and find clothes that help celebrate and honor that

Diving deeper into prayer as I am constantly humbled with knowing that I can't do this on my own

Knowing that community is so vital in helping to not only raise saints but to become one myself

And finally to slow down. Some days it may not feel that way with having young kiddos who constantly need me. But that's just it. Taking the time to involve them, to listen to them, to sit with them. It helps me to do so even more with God in my prayer since I'm practicing more now each day.

Motherhood has changed me and it may have taken me seven years to fully embrace it but praise God I'm here and loving what He has given me.

My prayer is that motherhood changes you too ❤️

02/08/2024

When you have a whole food based diet during pregnancy, you can prevent many pregnancy complications

Protein helps balance blood sugar which is a leading cause of nausea in early pregnancy

Fish and foods rich in omega 3s help support liver function, which helps to prevent pre eclampsia

Salting foods to taste and eating foods like cucumbers can help balance blood pressure

Vitamin C helps to strengthen your amniotic sac to help prevent early release of waters and lemon water first thing in the morning supports liver function

Foods rich in Iron help to keep your hemoglobin stable, preventing anemia and helping support your postpartum blood loss

Magnesium helps promote better sleep at night, which in turn can even help stabilize our blood pressure levels (that's a new one I recently learned too)

Most complications in pregnancy arise due to poor nutrition; eating lots of processed foods, seed oils, sugars, and unrefined carbs. When we eat whole, fresh foods with protein at each meal or snack, it can help create healthy mothers and babies.

Real Food for Pregnancy is a great resource that helps to understand true nutrition (not the silly food pyramid we were taught growing up), and even debunks some food myths we have been told most of our lives (spoiler alert you can eat deli Meats and sushi while pregnant).

Need to start? Add one serving or protein each snack or meal!

Address

108 Chinkapin Drive
Stephens City, VA
22655

Telephone

+15404549074

Website

http://visitationbirthdoula.com/

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