Goodbye Frappr!

For a couple years and with over 47,000 views, it's been fun to have a map at the end of this blog, just to watch the points on the globe where people are from who read this blog. But alas many good and free things come to an end and after January 1, the map will disappear. (I thought when they added the ad for their book that we were safe.)

Thanks for all those who lit up the world...together we are changing the world of birth!

My OB Said What

I am a fan of My OB Said What (although most days I gasp, shake my head and am totally disgusted and angry to think that women hear this stuff on such an important journey to birth and welcome their baby.)

The creator of the website has added a new focus and will now be posting the kinds of comments women should hear on Thursdays!

My OB said WHAT?!? is delighted to be introducing “Thoughtful Thursdays” in 2010, where every Thursday we share the kind, thoughtful, helpful comments made to women during their childbearing year by doctors, midwives, nurses, childbirth educators, doulas, lactation consultants, etc.

Women remember both the kind and unkind comments said to them, and often times, there is a birth professional who says something that really makes the difference in such a positive way! Especially when a birthing woman is surrounded by the hurtful, unproductive comments so casually thrown at her.

Send in your “Thoughtful Thursday” submissions and look for them in future Thursday blog posts starting in the New Year! If you remember, please include “Thoughtful Thursday” in the subject line, but don’t worry if you don’t! It shouldn’t be hard to tell!

22 years ago....

22 years ago today I was in labor with my first born! And he is currently on a boat somewhere in Caribbean - he is serving in the Coast Guard and they are out on a 2 - 4 month cruise to points he can't tell us until he gets back to his home port - Key West Florida.

He makes us so proud! (3rd from the right)

Stand out in a crowd

Are you a childbirth educator in a crowded market? Wonder how to compete? Think of ways to stand out!

How to Stand Out

Thanks Made to Stick

Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me

Listening to NPR on Saturday and smiled when I heard these questions and the Wait, Wait Don't Tell panels' attempt at humorous responses to the answer.

French obstetrician says which of these should not be in a birth environment
a. crying
b. men
c. babies

An Australian childbirth educator has changed her classes to attract men by doing this:
a. held the classes in Pubs
b. had a model of a womb made with chicken wings
c. taught in the nude


To listen in to hear the right answer (starts around 5:40):

Adding fish oil to your curriculum?

The HMHB newsletter recently included this information:

STUDY: EFFECTIVENESS OF FISH OIL IN PREVENTING PRE-TERM LABOR
A recent study has shown that supplementation of asymptomatic pregnant women with one fish oil capsule per day is a potentially cost-effective intervention in the prevention of pre-term labor before 34 weeks of pregnancy. Published in the December 2009 edition of the journal Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, the study authors investigated the potential cost-effectiveness of alternative “test and treat” strategies in the prevention of spontaneous pre-term birth before 34 and 37 weeks’ gestation. They studied asymptomatic women in early pregnancy and symptomatic women with potential pre-term labor in later pregnancy. Systematic reviews found evidence on the accuracy of 22 types of tests and on the effectiveness of 40 possible interventions. The authors conclude that the use of effective, affordable and safe interventions, like supplementation with fish oil capsules, are likely to be the most cost-effective strategies for prevention of spontaneous pre-term labor
and birth. To access the study abstract online, go to Alternatives in pre-term birth prevention

As I read this abstract, I had visions of bowls of fish oil capsules instead of bowls of popcorn when you show dvds!

Stand by me

One of my favorite "labor support" songs - creatively produced globally!

Did you know the reindeer are female?

According to the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, both male and female reindeer grow antlers in the summer annually. Male reindeer drop their antlers at the beginning of winter, usually late November. However, female reindeer keep their antlers until after they give birth in the spring.

Therefore, according to EVERY historical rendition depicting Santa's reindeer, EVERY single one of them, from Rudolph to Blitzen, had to be female. I wonder how many of them are pregnant?

See how you can make almost everything related to birth?

Teaching a large class about breastfeeding?

I spotted this on etsy - it's sold out but it made me pause....I guess if you have a lot of people in your class you would need such a large visual aid! Me, I would rather keep the class small!

Sugar cookie idea!

Kathryn Berkowitz shared this photo of a plate of cookies she was taking to a LLL meeting - so cute!

Kathryn is one of those creative people - check out her bead work at Etsy! Blue Ridge Diva

What Matters Now

This is a sample page from a FREE on-line book. 70 BIG thinkers have created s thi downloadable book:
What Matters Now

It's not related to the birth field - although I began to think what a similar book would look like - created by 70 BIG thinkers in birth...maybe I will add that to the to-do list.

Let's compare

Does anyone use the Tummy Tub in their childbirth class when they are covering newborn care?



I have been in touch with them and they sent me the link to a YouTube clip of it being used in an Italian hospital. It was quite a contrast to a clip that was circulating a couple years ago featuring a newborn bath in a hospital....

Choosing a care provider

Check out this decision making tool about choosing a care provider.
Deliver My Baby

Could you design a similar exercise for people in your early childbirth class or have a homework assignment and send them to this site...

Another Twilight male sling wearer!

After the seminar in Tucson, I blogged about the creative use of a cardboard Edward - star of the Vampire movies - to highlight babywearing.
Well, I recently spotted a picture of another star of Twilight actually wearing a baby! And he wasn't the cardboard version!

The Mommy Playbook

Do we cram too much in?

Lenn Millblower is a trainer/blogger I follow every now and then. As a former Disney staff member, he calls his program Learnertainment. I recently read his post about the lessons that can be learned from Muppetvision 3D video where 3 hours of material is chaotically crammed into 1 1/2 minutes by the character Sam Eagle.

Millblower writes:
Sometimes trainers, educators and speakers are Sam Eagle. Certainly our subject matter experts can be that way. Many instructors think that everything they know is important. They fear that they might never see these learners again and that they have only one chance at getting it right. In an attempt to deliver real value, they throw everything they’ve got at the poor unfortunate learners. The result is often comprehension chaos. And unlike Sam Eagle, it is not funny. Our learners usually have specific needs that are more basic than that.

How true is that for our childbirth education programs?

He lists:
Learners want relevance
Learners don't care about history
Learners want minimal detail
Learners want connections
Learners want focus
Learners want applications
Learners want practice

Read the entire post

Put a sling on 'em!

This You Tube video is going viral - how fun! Thanks to Sharon Muza and Jeanne Green for sharing.

Little chuckles

I am feeling the need for a little light heart-ed-ness. We spend a section at the PfB seminars talking about communication and situations where people don't hear what you think you said.

Someone sent me a list of Q & A from science exams. While these are young students - I am sure many of the words we use in a typical childbirth class could be broadly interpreted by some people.

But hope these make you pause and give you a little smile a today.

Give the meaning of the term Cesarean Section:
The Cesarean Section is a district in Rome.

What does the word "benign' mean?
Benign is what you will be after you be eight.

What does "varicose' mean?
Nearby

What happens to your body as you age?
When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.

How can you delay milk turning sour?
Keep it in the cow.

Six tips for effective training

Six tips

It's always nice to get something you've been promoting for decades gets support by experts in the field of training.

1. Relate to their workplace
2. Involve participants
3. Be flexible
4. Treat participants as adults
5. Create a functional learning environment.
6. Make the experience FUN!

BABIES

New film coming out in 2010! Babies



















































Thanks to everyone who is posting on Facebook about this preview! Can't wait to see it and think about how we can include it in our childbirth program. And you?

The pink glove dance

A Portland Hospital - St Vincent's has created this YouTube video - in honor of breast cancer awareness. I smiled at the creativity and the fun they were expressing... I have since heard that they are going for clicks (a million?) and if they reach that Medline (the maker of the pink gloves) will make a large donation to the hospital and offer free mammograms to a targeted group.



What song could childbirth educators choose?

Being efficient with Google Reader

In an earlier post, I mentioned that using Google Reader had made it easier to keep up my favorite blogs. Someone asked me to share how Google Reader works. I found the video below that's a good introduction. Basically I find a blog I like and find the little "feeder symbol" and when I click it gets added to my list. Then I only have to go to my google reader website and I can tell how many new posts my favorite blags have added and click on them and read away with out leaving the Google Reader website. I don't have to remember to check the blogs or remember the url of a new one I found, etc etc. And while some are birth sites I also track Coast Guard sites, a recipe site and creative/inspirational type sites.

While I tell myself it's a time saver, if I really paused and thought about it - it does save time by being efficient but I also now keep up with more sites...

Do you have another way that you keep up with all the great information that now appears on blogs? Has it made you a more up to date childbirth educator? For the time it takes, do you feel that you get a "return on your time investment?"

World AIDS Day

I was a Peace Corps volunteer in the beautiful country of Lesotho in southern Africa in the 80s.
AIDS/HIV was not even in our vocabulary but the virus was already beginning to grab hold. The life expectancy at the time was 60, I just learned that that has been lowered to 35. About 25% of all Basotho are HIV positive.

It makes my heartache. Take a moment to think what you can do to battle this disease!