Transcript: Creating a Calm Birth Environment

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Preggie Pals
Creating a Calm Birth Environment

[00:00:00]

Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

[Theme Music]

ABBY LACEY:Whether you’re birthing in a hospital, a birth center or at home, you can make your birthing space calming and comfortable. Creating a relaxing environment can help lead to a more pleasant birth experience. I’m Abby Lacey, certified doula, massage therapist, and aroma therapist; and today we’re discussing how your birthing space can affect your birth. This is Preggie Pals.

[Intro/Theme Music]

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Welcome to Preggie Pals broadcasting from the Birth Education Center of San Diego. Preggie Pals is your online, on-the-go Support group, for expecting parents and those hoping to become pregnant. I'm your host, Stephanie Glover.

Did you know that PreggiePals has released more than 130 episodes? Visit the episode guide on our website to scroll through the topics, listen directly from your computer through iTunes, or download our free apps available on the Android, iTunes, and Windows marketplaces; and be sure to check out our new network app where you can listen to all your favorite New Mommy Media shows on the go.

Here’s Sunny on more information on how you can get involve with Preggie Pals.

SUNNY GAULT: Okay, hi everybody. We love our listeners and we would love to hear from you guys. If you guys have any comments regarding the show,send it our way and you can send it through our website. Also, we have some segments and you think are kind of fun and you might want to participate in, one is called “Ask the experts”. So, if you’re pregnant and you have some pregnancy questions, go ahead and again you could e-mail us or you can call our voicemail actually which is 619-8664-775.

Also, we have another segment called “Pregnancy Oops” which is kind of fun where you can share your funny pregnancy stories that have happened to you, or funny things either people have said to you or that you’ve done, or maybe some funny pregnancy brain type stuff, we would love to hear that and share it on the show as well.

If you haven’t visit us on instagram please do so because I like to take some behind the scene pictures as we were recording; so, if you ever wonder, Wow, what’s going on in the studio, you know everyone is audio, I don’t see any video or photos, go ahead and go to instagram and see some photos. And speaking of video, we also record the first five minutes of each episode with video and we put that up on YouTube so, I don’t know, you can kind of get a different perspective of Preggie Pals and in some ways you get involve.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Great, thanks Sunny. So we’ll go ahead and introduce our panelist really quick before we get started. I’ll go first., my name again is Stephanie Glover I host Preggie Pals and also a trained childbirth educator and home with my two girls which is awesome as well, they are four and two, Gretchen my four-year-old born via C-section, and Lydia, my two-year-old was my VBAC, Sunny.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah, so I’m a momma to four kiddos, a five-year-old, a three-year-old, and then twins and I own New Mommy Media which produces Preggie Pals, Parent Savers, The Boob Group, Twin Talks, and our new show Newbies which I should probably plug right now because Newbies, if you guys listen to Preggie Pals, you really need to check out Newbies, we just release it on labor day, ha haha, little birth joke for you guys because we needed to show that picked up where Preggie Pals left off.

Our Parent Saver shows really geared more toward infants and toddlers but there’s so much you need to know that first year once your baby comes out and you’re like, “what do I do” and that’s what Newbies is all about. So if you haven’t had the chance to check it out we’ve got four episodes out now of course we’re going to be releasing this on a weekly basis and so, lots more to come but that’s on www.newmommymedia.com and so all that keeps me busy, I don’t know why, four kids, a company, so that’s me.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: and now we have Kellie joining us in over the phone, okay Kelly can you go ahead and introduce yourself.

KELLY WILLIAMS: Hi, I am Kelly Williams, I am 32 years old. I am a wife, we’ll celebrate our 9th anniversary this month and I’ve got two kiddos, my daughter Story is a little over two-and-a-half, and my son River is 10 months, and Story was actually born via C-section and IV BAC was Rivers and he’s our little Halloween baby, he was born on Halloween. I am also a distributor for Young Living Essential Oil which I do from home, I’m lucky to stay home with my kids as well, so thanks for having me.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Awesome, thank you for joining us.

SUNNY GAULT: Oh! And by the way, I love the name Story, that is super cool and now I’m like hitting myself, why do I have such a hard time thinking of girls names, like why didn’t I think of Story, I am a journalist, it didn’t even occur, [laughing] sometimes it’s the most common names.

KELLY WILLIAMS: My husband is Vio was behind our kids’ names, we’re both fairly creative, but he’s kind of the writer and he came up with both our kids names so he gets all the credit for that but I went definitely on board I think they’re really perfectly coined.

SUNNY GAULT: They’re really awesome.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright, so we have a new segment here in Preggie Pals it is called “Pregnancy Brain Blunders” and we all probably have few stories of funny things we did when we were pregnant, our crazy pregnancy brain and how it works. So, we’re going to start on sharing the stories with you guys; and this first story comes from Samantha and I love this. She says, when I was in a hurry one day and just weeks away from delivery, I left the house to take my son to school and ran a few errand, it wasn’t until the cashier in the market said, “Do you know you have a towel in your head?” And then I realized I hadn’t done my hair after the shower, I had gone to two other places like that before someone actually said something. I got in the car and cried. [Laughing]

Samantha, there’s nothing you can do at that point, right? Just get in the car and cry, plus all the emotions and the hormones going through your body anyways that was the natural response, I get it. So, Samantha thank you so much for sending this and if you have a funny story about something crazy you did about pregnancy brain, we would love to hear it and you can go to our website actually, we have a new way that you guys can submit, and on the side of our website you’ll see a gray little box that says submit voicemail and so that’s a great way to do it, just click on that box and you can actually just use the microphone in your computer to send us a quick little voicemail through the computer and we will use that for future episodes.

Again, Samantha thank you so much and we can’t wait to hear from everybody else and all your pregnancy brain blunders.

[Theme Music]

STEPHANIE GLOVER: So today, we’re learning all about how to create a calm and comfortable birthing environment, joining us here in the studio is Abby Lacey. Abby is a certified doula, massage therapist, and aroma therapist. With her skillset, Abby helps expectant and laboring moms relax and release tension. As an experience doula she helps create a whole space for laboring moms to birth on their own terms. Welcome to Preggie Pals Abby and thank you for joining us.

ABBY LACEY: Thanks for having me.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: So Abby, can you start by explaining how relaxation can help in labor?

ABBY LACEY: Oh, gosh!

STEPHANIE GLOVER: The million dollar question.

ABBY LACEY: Right. So the big reason that we need to relax during labor is that instinctively when we are uncomfortable or when something is painful, our bodies, our reaction is to tensed up and if you tensed up your body is contracting and not making space for that baby to come down and be birth, so relaxation is really important because you really want to give birth.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: That’s the whole pregnancy was about, right?

ABBY LACEY: So, and preferably sooner than later we want labor to be shorter than longer ideally; so relaxation can make a difference, not only in how long your labor takes but your overall experience of the labor because the more you kind of fight the discomfort and the pain, the more discomfort and pain you’re going to have.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Right, that cycle of fear, to tension, to pain, you know it goes around in a circle. So, when you relax then, that could also be an active part of pain management?

ABBY LACEY: Absolutely. That’s one of the reasons that hypno techniques are so popular right now. The two primary hypno techniques being hypno birthing and hypno babies which are two different ones but they’re very, very popular right now, and using the hypnosis can be really powerful for helping you kind of relax and find you own happy place.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Gotcha, kind of create and put you on that little bubble. So, we hear a lot about essential oils and aroma therapy these days, how can these play a role in the birth space?

ABBY LACEY: You know, different oilsdo different things and before we go down this road I want to start up by saying essential oils are serious; they are actually medicinal, very powerful and very potent, so if you’re using essential oils don’t take it lightly, they can have a significant effect on you and your baby and the other people around you. So that said, in the birth space essential oils can make a big difference because if you diffuse them into the air you can actually have a benefit for everybody in the room.

I’ve worked in spaces were moms have asked me to bring out oils particularly in hospital and it’s really kind of fun when the providers walk through the door, they walk-in and they’ve been in the hospital environment and it just smells hospital and then they walk-in into your room and sudden, “oh, hey that smells really good” you know when you get the orange oil because moms have some fatigue and probably at that point of mommas fatigue, most in the rooms are fatigued so you get out any other citrus oils kind of enliven the room and the providers walk-in and they kind of, “whoa, that smells really good”.

So you get the attention of your providers, you kind of standout as that person who that room smells really good, so maybe you get extra TLC from staff because your room smells really great.

You know aside from the aromatic benefit, as far as its helping you relax, there are actual physiological effects that the oils have, something in the lines of lavender or chamomile are noted for their relaxation properties so a lot of people use lavender oil to help them with anxiety or sleeplessness or any of those kinds of things. So, things along those lines can make a significant difference.

The other one being that there are oils you can use to help with the management of the discomforts of labor, so specifically for pain, different distributors have different blends that they make specifically for pain. With DoTerra, its deep blue, with Young Living its Pan Away, you can also make your own blend using any other different oils to have a more analgesic effect like black pepper or any other mint oils can be really potent.

You do have to be really careful when you’re using oils in the birthing environment particularly anything that is contraindicated for infants, you want to make sure it’s not on your hands, on your arm, on your chest, on your belly because you don’t want the baby to come in contact with those things.

So, you do kind of have a care but as far as creating that environment, it’s just create your own little zone, you mentioned the bubble, so you can make your own bubble using the oils whether it’s in an aromatic fashion, or with helping in the calming and relaxing physically.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Now Kelly, did you have experience in using essential oils in your labor?

KELLY WILLIAMS:Yes, actually with my daughter I hadn’t discovered essential oils yet and a little back on my story and how I get into using oils is that actually after Story was born, I suffered from very severe postpartum depression and anxiety and so I was put on an antidepressant that once I got pregnant with Rivers I could no longer take and so I just wanted to find something natural that I could use to kind of help not only with my mood but just as I prepared to give birth again I knew I wanted to try for VBAC and it was just really important to me that I just had a lot of tools in my tool kit I guess you could say.

So, when I went into labor I did apply a little of the calming oil tropically and we are also big fans of having a diffuser in our room, in kind of like you have touch of our own, we kind of became the room known for smelling so good because every single nurse would come in like and just take a deep breath and just having that atmosphere; I mean it, I know it was beneficial for me and the staff, and just that you know that the atmosphere in general is just so nice and I know that I also had a few moments where my labor stalled and we were able to use essential oils to encourage it along.

So it’s just so good to just have something by I could use that not only would just kind of encourage me towards that VBAC that I was really hoping for but also that would set me up for success. I was just, I didn’t know going into disperse, am I going to have postpartum again; like what it’s going to be like, you know for any mom that goes through that it’s a terrifying experience; and so I was just thankful that I had something that I could use that I knew was natural, and that if use in a proper way would be safe around my newborn and my daughter as well.

Honestly it was an incredible birthing experience and I think part of that were the essential oils and my doula. My doula was very knowledgeable about oil application and so just having her with me as well was also really beneficial.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:You know I haven’t considered the effect it would have on staff, in how it could be so positive in helping everyone in the room calm down and so it is really awesome tip for sure.

KELLY WILLIAMS: Yeah, I actually have a kind of thank you gift for the three nurses that really stood out and were such an incredible part of my birth story. I checked out some oils and I made some rollers for them, it’s like thank you that I brought to the hospital afterwards because you know, this whole thing is part of my story and I just want to thank them in some way, and it’s kind of fun to be able to give some gifts to them.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:I bet they love that too. So, Abby can you explain how lighting can help the labor process?

ABBY LACEY:Absolutely. So, we all know about, well hopefully all of us should know about. Many of us know about melatonin and that your body releases melatonin in order to help you with your sleep cycle. A lot of people supplement melatonin in order to help them sleep when they’re sleepless at night. So, what happens to your body physiologically will regulate your sleep and rest cycles based on how much light stimulation you’re getting, that’s one of the reasons we talk about less screen time for kids at night so that they’ll go down a little bit easier.

If you think along those lines of helping create an environment that’s going to be calm, that’s going to be restful, then lowering the light can be a significant key to helping create that environment that is calm, quiet, peaceful, if that’s the environment that you are choosing.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: And now if you’re having hospital birth because I know at home you have free rain with candles, turning-off your lights, or turning the dimmer or whatever, but in a hospital you’re a little bit more limited. So do you have the option with the lighting, I know you can’t bring in candles but what can you may be used instead?

ABBY LACEY:So, most hospitals will have some pretty decent curtains, black-out curtains in the labor and delivery rooms so you can certainly close the curtains to close-out the daylight, you can let your staff know that are working with you probably your nurse that you want a dim light in your room, and you can actually bring candles but they have to be those fan-battery operated once, there’s no open-flame allowed simply because there is oxygen present in birthing suite and you really don’t want to blow-up the hospital. That will not be relaxing.

So, one of the neat little tricks since we are talking about dimly-lit rooms and aromatherapy, if you make a little sign to hang on your door that says, “Thank you for sharing our peaceful birthing environment,” or “Hey, we’re hypno birthing,” something that lights up the staff before they walk through your door or what kind of environment you’re establishing that can really be helpful as well because then you don’t have a nurse walk-in and, “Oh, time to wake up” and flip on the lights and you know just kind of …

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Just kind of throw that door open and use loud voices.

ABBY LACEY:Exactly. So, a little sign on the door when you’re laboring can really be helpful. Usually if you’re in a facility that is more of mom and baby friendly they’re going to be on top of that already in passing that information on but super helpful.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Awesome.

KELLY WILLIAMS: I think to, I mean this is a little off the topic of lighting, I know communication with the staff is very important because I know when my son was born we really wanted it to be quiet in the room and my husband had some things he just want to read over him and speak his name out loud for the first time because we hadn’t shared his name with anyone, so I think just letting the staff know our wishes and having that open communication is really important.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Definitely, particularly in a hospital that they get to be so used to their own ways and so communication is important. Awesome, so when we come back we’ll going to discuss more ways to make your birthing space relaxing, we’ll be right back.

[Intro/Theme Music]

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Welcome back. Today we’re discussing how to create a calm and relaxing birth space; certified doula, massage therapist, aroma therapist Abby Lacey is our expert. So, we’ve touched on aroma therapy and lighting, what are some ways that can be soothing to the touch during labor?

ABBY LACEY:Touch is very important either the absence of or the use of some women just don’t want to be touched at all. So listen, if a woman tells you during labor don’t touch me, don’t touch her.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:[laughing] because she will remember.

ABBY LACEY: Actually she probably won’t but yeah, I’ve had women who the absence of touch was more comforting for them, they needed to be in their own zone. So truly if a woman says, no I don’t need anything, don’t touch me, you should really honor that. That said, there are plenty of women who want to be touched the entire time. There aren’t any number types of touch, it’s not always the heavy get in here squeeze my hips, counter-pressure, you know make it go away kind of touch.

Believe it or not a really light touch can be very successful and very comforting in helping a woman calm down or relax or kind of distract her from some other sensations that she’s having, that she’s not liking; it’s almost like that tickle touch you’re just barely, barely touching

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Almost giving like a Goosebumps.

ABBY LACEY:And you just focus on the face can really be nice, so if the partner can stroke her face really gently, sometimes as a doula I will just stroke that space between the nose on top of the eyebrows and just help her remind her, let’s relax your forehead a little bit. Interestingly enough often tension in the face will be mirrored in the pelvis, so if we can help you relax your face and you just kind of focus on chilling out there that can be helpful. Just nice soft light touch on the face, playing with the woman’s hair can be really soothing

STEPHANIE GLOVER: I can be talked into anything if someone’s rubbing my hair. Like, sign me your life inheritance, “okay” [laughing]

ABBY LACEY:Right, just a nice shoulder rub can be really nice and guess what, sometimes dad needs that. Sometimes it’s dad who needs that more than mom.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:And we picked up on each other’s energy too. So keeping dad relax…

ABBY LACEY:Absolutely. So there will be times I’ll walk up as a doula behind dad and give him a nice shoulder rub and you’ll see him just kind of melts. I didn’t even realize how tired I was. So, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a strong heavy touch, it can be the light touch, it doesn’t have to be touch at all; you can use massage tools, the little roller balls can be fun and give your hands a break if mom wants nothing but touch, tag-teaming out is good but often times especially when a woman is hitting transition in their labor.

They’re going to have one person they want to touch them and so just kind of be mindful if you’re doing the massage that you need to take care of your own body especially for dad, but I always remind dad be careful what you’re doing with your body because you got to take mom and baby home and you have to take care of them.

So, yeah; but massage is fantastic, massage is wonderful, it’s a great way to bond with partners as well.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:And so, one thing that I didn’t just consider in my births was the used of sound or music, and I remember it was in my childbirth educator training that we did it a practice, I think it was an ice cube game if anyone is familiar with it. You try to hold an ice cube and try swaying, look at the clock; you don’t look at the clock you listen to a song and I realize music for me out of all that was very helpful and I already had my two kids and I was like, dad why don’t I know that you can touch more on sound, and you can use sound in labor whether it’s music or other sounds.

ABBY LACEY:Yeah, I think most of my clients have used sound in some way. It’s very rare that someone doesn’t want some kind of sound especially if you’re in a hospital environment to at least mask what’s going on the hallway so you don’t hear anything. You know what I say to my clients is, stop and think about what kind of space you going to be in, you’re going to be really comfortable and what brings you the most peace when you’re uncomfortable. I’ve had clients who want to play nothing but the Pandora relaxation channels, whether it’s the enya

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Enya? Yeah, that’s me.

ABBY LACEY:Yeah, whether it’s the enya or nature sounds

STEPHANIE GLOVER:or birds chirping

ABBY LACEY:Yeah, any of that kind of thing. I had a client who, she was really fantastic. She was using hypno birthing and she didn’t want to play tracks, she actually puts together a whole playlist of trance music and that was her vibe, and I was like, alright girls just love it. Well, it didn’t have that heavy downbeat, or the heavy bass it was more like the electronica kind of sound and it wasn’t the heavy beat at all, there wasn’t heavy bass, there wasn’t heavy beat, it was just this kind of flowing electronica trance that she’s listening to and I got the, it was the same day Stephanie had her baby

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Abby was my doula by the way

ABBY LACEY:I had three births that day, yeah three babies came in twelve hours and she was the last baby and she played this fantastic trance music that I walked-in and I was like, yeah! It did set a different tone than the other births that I have been to, so you really kind of think about your personality and what really suits you; also you have to think about other people around you might respond to it because if you’re playing punk metal and that’s what get you in your zone you might be creating an antagonistic environment with your care provider. So, you really don’t want to have someone walk in into your room and be like “Oh my god, these crazy cozies making me insane”

STEPHANIE GLOVER:My girlfriend had a natural birth at a birth center but was playing like gangstarap the whole time.

SUNNY GAULT: Are you serious?

STEPHANIE GLOVER:It’s like hey, whatever floats your boat, and her midwife was fine with that but it cracks me up, I would never have thought of that but if that what keeps you going.

ABBY LACEY:Right, so I have clients who have played the Beatles, I have had clients who played environment music, I had the electronica

STEPHANIE GLOVER:And Kelly, have you used any instrument in any of your labors?

KELLY WILLIAMS: Yeah, I actually used; I created a playlist for both of my labors. I kind of joke like my son got the short end of the stick

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Second baby

KELLY WILLIAMS: Because I used the same songs from my daughter’s, added in a few extra; but I mean, for my husband and I, we look at our births like very like spiritual and so for us we actually had a lot of just worship music and it’s really neat because I feel like now, you know. Whenever I hear you know one or two of the songs from my playlist whenever we were just playing music it really brings me back specifically there’s one song I can hear with my son that whenever I hear it, I mean it really brings me back to that space and I personally love music in my daily life and when I work out I love to listen to music and it’s so, it already is naturally relaxing for me to do that and so it seems like a no brainer. I would definitely want music not only for relaxation but out of distraction during you know those painful contractions, so yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: Did you guys see the, it was a YouTube video, it was going around Facebook of the momma that was laboring, she was actually dancing.g

ABBY LACEY: The tootsie roll

KELLY WILLIAMS: Yeah, I saw that

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah, I posted it to the Facebook page of Preggie Pals, if you haven’t seen it go check it out because I was like, why didn’t I do that, I would have been good because the last thing I wanted to do was to stay still, I like needed, like engagement you know, I just could before I had my epidurals I was like I need to move, don’t keep me into this bed, you know I was like why didn’t I danced. That was so awesome.

ABBY LACEY: And I actually tell my clients you’ll never know how you’ll going to respond so have that preferred playlist for down sleepy time kind of relaxation but also what do you work out to? Eye of the tiger

SUNNY GAULT: Right, when the baby’s coming out,

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Throwing punches

ABBY LACEY:I actually another birth that I attended with the family, this mom wanted her family to be around her so it was very like crowded but very energetic birthing room, that was her environment of choice and I think it was her sister kept looking at different songs and playing songs and cracking jokes about him, and when it came time to push her baby out, she got out salt and peppers push it [laughing] and started pushing it.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:I love it.

ABBY LACEY:Yeah, music can be great inspirational, it can be really calming.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Okay, one more question for you Abby since you talk about some of the sense and we did discuss lighting and how that could help but use of a focal point or pictures, how can that come into play that relaxations and the feeling of comfort in your space.

ABBY LACEY:So, a focal point gives you to do something in particular your focus on. Some people and this kind of relates back some of the use of hypnosis, right? That focal point gives you something to kind of just really narrow everything down to and oftentimes when people choose to use a focal point it helps them kind of almost put their blinders on so they are not really aware as much of what is going on in the room; they can just focus on one thing, it can be a person, it can be an object in the room.

If you are into doing a blessingway, oftentimes those blessingway women will make art for you as the birthing mom and it’s supposed to be an inspirational poster that reminds them

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Like a necklace, like they bring beads and make a necklace.

ABBY LACEY:Or yeah, any of those kinds of things so you can choose to wear your focal point, it can be a sign in the room that means something to you. I worked with a momma who was having her third baby and hadn’t quite yet had the birth experience that she wanted and someone made a sign that said, “Your body is not a lemon.”

STEPHANIE GLOVER: [Inaudible]

ABBY LACEY: Yeah, it’s an [Inaudible] quote and so they made that sign for her and that came a point where that was what she really focus on. My body is not a lemon I can absolutely do this. So focal point can be really helpful either throughout or even for short period of time. It doesn’t have to be something that you have thought out or planned out ahead of time, it can be completely spontaneous.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:The nurses shoe

SUNNY GAULT: Not if she’s moving though

STEPHANIE GLOVER: But in that moment you stay put and look at her shoe

SUNNY GAULT: Hopefully, she’s not going to go off-shift

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Leave your shoe.

ABBY LACEY: But yeah, focal points can be really great because it just gives you something to just kind of narrow in and focus on as oppose to really just distracted about everything else that’s going on in the room.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Awesome. Well, thank you so much Kelly for joining us on the phone, Abby for been our expert today. For more information about Abby as well as information about any of our panelists you can visit the episode page on our website. These conversations continue from members of our Preggie Pals club. After the show, Abby will discuss to help create a comforting setting in the operating room. To join our club, visit our website www.newmommymedia.com .

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright, so it is time for fun segment we have here on Preggie Pals called “Pregnancy Oops”. It is where you guys share your funny stories that have happened to you when you are pregnant and this story comes from Stephanie. This is pretty funny, she says; “When I was almost three months pregnant with our first daughter, my husband and I went out one night to buy Christmas tree for our house. I had taken my prenatal vitamins with dinner earlier but thought nothing of it. Unfortunately they disagreed with my stomach on the way to the tree lot and we were on a one way street with no place for my husband to pull over and me needing to puke now.

I was hanging my head up the passenger window for three blocks straight on a Saturday night as sick as a dog. So you know the Downtown home boys loitering the street corners where staring at me when we had to stop at the red light. So much for dignity!”

I think that can be applied to lot of different things when we are pregnant, right? So much for dignity!

Alright, we would love to hear your “Pregnancy Oops” stories and if you have any and you would like to submit to us, all you have to do is head on to our website www.newmommymedia.com click on that grey little box on the side of the website that says send voicemail and in just a few quick steps you can actually sent that voicemail straight through your computer and we will in cooperate it on our future episode.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: That wraps up our show for today. We appreciate you listening to Preggie Pals.

Don’t forget to check out our sister show:

• Newbies – For postpartum moms during baby's first year
• Parent Savers for parents with infants and toddlers
• Twin Talks for parents with multiples and
• The Boob Group for moms who breastfeed

This is Preggie Pals. Your pregnancy, your way!

[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. The information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. While such information and materials are believed to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, medical advice or care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

SUNNY GAULT: How would you like to have your own show on the New Mommy Media network? We're expanding our lineup and looking for great content. If you're a business or organization interested in learning more about our co-branded podcasts, visit our website at www.newmommymedia.com.

[00:33:44]
[End of Audio]

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Episode Transcript

Preggie Pals
Creating a Calm Birth Environment

[00:00:00]

Please be advised, this transcription was performed from a company independent of New Mommy Media, LLC. As such, translation was required which may alter the accuracy of the transcription.

[Theme Music]

ABBY LACEY:Whether you’re birthing in a hospital, a birth center or at home, you can make your birthing space calming and comfortable. Creating a relaxing environment can help lead to a more pleasant birth experience. I’m Abby Lacey, certified doula, massage therapist, and aroma therapist; and today we’re discussing how your birthing space can affect your birth. This is Preggie Pals.

[Intro/Theme Music]

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Welcome to Preggie Pals broadcasting from the Birth Education Center of San Diego. Preggie Pals is your online, on-the-go Support group, for expecting parents and those hoping to become pregnant. I'm your host, Stephanie Glover.

Did you know that PreggiePals has released more than 130 episodes? Visit the episode guide on our website to scroll through the topics, listen directly from your computer through iTunes, or download our free apps available on the Android, iTunes, and Windows marketplaces; and be sure to check out our new network app where you can listen to all your favorite New Mommy Media shows on the go.

Here’s Sunny on more information on how you can get involve with Preggie Pals.

SUNNY GAULT: Okay, hi everybody. We love our listeners and we would love to hear from you guys. If you guys have any comments regarding the show,send it our way and you can send it through our website. Also, we have some segments and you think are kind of fun and you might want to participate in, one is called “Ask the experts”. So, if you’re pregnant and you have some pregnancy questions, go ahead and again you could e-mail us or you can call our voicemail actually which is 619-8664-775.

Also, we have another segment called “Pregnancy Oops” which is kind of fun where you can share your funny pregnancy stories that have happened to you, or funny things either people have said to you or that you’ve done, or maybe some funny pregnancy brain type stuff, we would love to hear that and share it on the show as well.

If you haven’t visit us on instagram please do so because I like to take some behind the scene pictures as we were recording; so, if you ever wonder, Wow, what’s going on in the studio, you know everyone is audio, I don’t see any video or photos, go ahead and go to instagram and see some photos. And speaking of video, we also record the first five minutes of each episode with video and we put that up on YouTube so, I don’t know, you can kind of get a different perspective of Preggie Pals and in some ways you get involve.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Great, thanks Sunny. So we’ll go ahead and introduce our panelist really quick before we get started. I’ll go first., my name again is Stephanie Glover I host Preggie Pals and also a trained childbirth educator and home with my two girls which is awesome as well, they are four and two, Gretchen my four-year-old born via C-section, and Lydia, my two-year-old was my VBAC, Sunny.

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah, so I’m a momma to four kiddos, a five-year-old, a three-year-old, and then twins and I own New Mommy Media which produces Preggie Pals, Parent Savers, The Boob Group, Twin Talks, and our new show Newbies which I should probably plug right now because Newbies, if you guys listen to Preggie Pals, you really need to check out Newbies, we just release it on labor day, ha haha, little birth joke for you guys because we needed to show that picked up where Preggie Pals left off.

Our Parent Saver shows really geared more toward infants and toddlers but there’s so much you need to know that first year once your baby comes out and you’re like, “what do I do” and that’s what Newbies is all about. So if you haven’t had the chance to check it out we’ve got four episodes out now of course we’re going to be releasing this on a weekly basis and so, lots more to come but that’s on www.newmommymedia.com and so all that keeps me busy, I don’t know why, four kids, a company, so that’s me.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: and now we have Kellie joining us in over the phone, okay Kelly can you go ahead and introduce yourself.

KELLY WILLIAMS: Hi, I am Kelly Williams, I am 32 years old. I am a wife, we’ll celebrate our 9th anniversary this month and I’ve got two kiddos, my daughter Story is a little over two-and-a-half, and my son River is 10 months, and Story was actually born via C-section and IV BAC was Rivers and he’s our little Halloween baby, he was born on Halloween. I am also a distributor for Young Living Essential Oil which I do from home, I’m lucky to stay home with my kids as well, so thanks for having me.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Awesome, thank you for joining us.

SUNNY GAULT: Oh! And by the way, I love the name Story, that is super cool and now I’m like hitting myself, why do I have such a hard time thinking of girls names, like why didn’t I think of Story, I am a journalist, it didn’t even occur, [laughing] sometimes it’s the most common names.

KELLY WILLIAMS: My husband is Vio was behind our kids’ names, we’re both fairly creative, but he’s kind of the writer and he came up with both our kids names so he gets all the credit for that but I went definitely on board I think they’re really perfectly coined.

SUNNY GAULT: They’re really awesome.

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright, so we have a new segment here in Preggie Pals it is called “Pregnancy Brain Blunders” and we all probably have few stories of funny things we did when we were pregnant, our crazy pregnancy brain and how it works. So, we’re going to start on sharing the stories with you guys; and this first story comes from Samantha and I love this. She says, when I was in a hurry one day and just weeks away from delivery, I left the house to take my son to school and ran a few errand, it wasn’t until the cashier in the market said, “Do you know you have a towel in your head?” And then I realized I hadn’t done my hair after the shower, I had gone to two other places like that before someone actually said something. I got in the car and cried. [Laughing]

Samantha, there’s nothing you can do at that point, right? Just get in the car and cry, plus all the emotions and the hormones going through your body anyways that was the natural response, I get it. So, Samantha thank you so much for sending this and if you have a funny story about something crazy you did about pregnancy brain, we would love to hear it and you can go to our website actually, we have a new way that you guys can submit, and on the side of our website you’ll see a gray little box that says submit voicemail and so that’s a great way to do it, just click on that box and you can actually just use the microphone in your computer to send us a quick little voicemail through the computer and we will use that for future episodes.

Again, Samantha thank you so much and we can’t wait to hear from everybody else and all your pregnancy brain blunders.

[Theme Music]

STEPHANIE GLOVER: So today, we’re learning all about how to create a calm and comfortable birthing environment, joining us here in the studio is Abby Lacey. Abby is a certified doula, massage therapist, and aroma therapist. With her skillset, Abby helps expectant and laboring moms relax and release tension. As an experience doula she helps create a whole space for laboring moms to birth on their own terms. Welcome to Preggie Pals Abby and thank you for joining us.

ABBY LACEY: Thanks for having me.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: So Abby, can you start by explaining how relaxation can help in labor?

ABBY LACEY: Oh, gosh!

STEPHANIE GLOVER: The million dollar question.

ABBY LACEY: Right. So the big reason that we need to relax during labor is that instinctively when we are uncomfortable or when something is painful, our bodies, our reaction is to tensed up and if you tensed up your body is contracting and not making space for that baby to come down and be birth, so relaxation is really important because you really want to give birth.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: That’s the whole pregnancy was about, right?

ABBY LACEY: So, and preferably sooner than later we want labor to be shorter than longer ideally; so relaxation can make a difference, not only in how long your labor takes but your overall experience of the labor because the more you kind of fight the discomfort and the pain, the more discomfort and pain you’re going to have.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Right, that cycle of fear, to tension, to pain, you know it goes around in a circle. So, when you relax then, that could also be an active part of pain management?

ABBY LACEY: Absolutely. That’s one of the reasons that hypno techniques are so popular right now. The two primary hypno techniques being hypno birthing and hypno babies which are two different ones but they’re very, very popular right now, and using the hypnosis can be really powerful for helping you kind of relax and find you own happy place.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Gotcha, kind of create and put you on that little bubble. So, we hear a lot about essential oils and aroma therapy these days, how can these play a role in the birth space?

ABBY LACEY: You know, different oilsdo different things and before we go down this road I want to start up by saying essential oils are serious; they are actually medicinal, very powerful and very potent, so if you’re using essential oils don’t take it lightly, they can have a significant effect on you and your baby and the other people around you. So that said, in the birth space essential oils can make a big difference because if you diffuse them into the air you can actually have a benefit for everybody in the room.

I’ve worked in spaces were moms have asked me to bring out oils particularly in hospital and it’s really kind of fun when the providers walk through the door, they walk-in and they’ve been in the hospital environment and it just smells hospital and then they walk-in into your room and sudden, “oh, hey that smells really good” you know when you get the orange oil because moms have some fatigue and probably at that point of mommas fatigue, most in the rooms are fatigued so you get out any other citrus oils kind of enliven the room and the providers walk-in and they kind of, “whoa, that smells really good”.

So you get the attention of your providers, you kind of standout as that person who that room smells really good, so maybe you get extra TLC from staff because your room smells really great.

You know aside from the aromatic benefit, as far as its helping you relax, there are actual physiological effects that the oils have, something in the lines of lavender or chamomile are noted for their relaxation properties so a lot of people use lavender oil to help them with anxiety or sleeplessness or any of those kinds of things. So, things along those lines can make a significant difference.

The other one being that there are oils you can use to help with the management of the discomforts of labor, so specifically for pain, different distributors have different blends that they make specifically for pain. With DoTerra, its deep blue, with Young Living its Pan Away, you can also make your own blend using any other different oils to have a more analgesic effect like black pepper or any other mint oils can be really potent.

You do have to be really careful when you’re using oils in the birthing environment particularly anything that is contraindicated for infants, you want to make sure it’s not on your hands, on your arm, on your chest, on your belly because you don’t want the baby to come in contact with those things.

So, you do kind of have a care but as far as creating that environment, it’s just create your own little zone, you mentioned the bubble, so you can make your own bubble using the oils whether it’s in an aromatic fashion, or with helping in the calming and relaxing physically.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Now Kelly, did you have experience in using essential oils in your labor?

KELLY WILLIAMS:Yes, actually with my daughter I hadn’t discovered essential oils yet and a little back on my story and how I get into using oils is that actually after Story was born, I suffered from very severe postpartum depression and anxiety and so I was put on an antidepressant that once I got pregnant with Rivers I could no longer take and so I just wanted to find something natural that I could use to kind of help not only with my mood but just as I prepared to give birth again I knew I wanted to try for VBAC and it was just really important to me that I just had a lot of tools in my tool kit I guess you could say.

So, when I went into labor I did apply a little of the calming oil tropically and we are also big fans of having a diffuser in our room, in kind of like you have touch of our own, we kind of became the room known for smelling so good because every single nurse would come in like and just take a deep breath and just having that atmosphere; I mean it, I know it was beneficial for me and the staff, and just that you know that the atmosphere in general is just so nice and I know that I also had a few moments where my labor stalled and we were able to use essential oils to encourage it along.

So it’s just so good to just have something by I could use that not only would just kind of encourage me towards that VBAC that I was really hoping for but also that would set me up for success. I was just, I didn’t know going into disperse, am I going to have postpartum again; like what it’s going to be like, you know for any mom that goes through that it’s a terrifying experience; and so I was just thankful that I had something that I could use that I knew was natural, and that if use in a proper way would be safe around my newborn and my daughter as well.

Honestly it was an incredible birthing experience and I think part of that were the essential oils and my doula. My doula was very knowledgeable about oil application and so just having her with me as well was also really beneficial.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:You know I haven’t considered the effect it would have on staff, in how it could be so positive in helping everyone in the room calm down and so it is really awesome tip for sure.

KELLY WILLIAMS: Yeah, I actually have a kind of thank you gift for the three nurses that really stood out and were such an incredible part of my birth story. I checked out some oils and I made some rollers for them, it’s like thank you that I brought to the hospital afterwards because you know, this whole thing is part of my story and I just want to thank them in some way, and it’s kind of fun to be able to give some gifts to them.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:I bet they love that too. So, Abby can you explain how lighting can help the labor process?

ABBY LACEY:Absolutely. So, we all know about, well hopefully all of us should know about. Many of us know about melatonin and that your body releases melatonin in order to help you with your sleep cycle. A lot of people supplement melatonin in order to help them sleep when they’re sleepless at night. So, what happens to your body physiologically will regulate your sleep and rest cycles based on how much light stimulation you’re getting, that’s one of the reasons we talk about less screen time for kids at night so that they’ll go down a little bit easier.

If you think along those lines of helping create an environment that’s going to be calm, that’s going to be restful, then lowering the light can be a significant key to helping create that environment that is calm, quiet, peaceful, if that’s the environment that you are choosing.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: And now if you’re having hospital birth because I know at home you have free rain with candles, turning-off your lights, or turning the dimmer or whatever, but in a hospital you’re a little bit more limited. So do you have the option with the lighting, I know you can’t bring in candles but what can you may be used instead?

ABBY LACEY:So, most hospitals will have some pretty decent curtains, black-out curtains in the labor and delivery rooms so you can certainly close the curtains to close-out the daylight, you can let your staff know that are working with you probably your nurse that you want a dim light in your room, and you can actually bring candles but they have to be those fan-battery operated once, there’s no open-flame allowed simply because there is oxygen present in birthing suite and you really don’t want to blow-up the hospital. That will not be relaxing.

So, one of the neat little tricks since we are talking about dimly-lit rooms and aromatherapy, if you make a little sign to hang on your door that says, “Thank you for sharing our peaceful birthing environment,” or “Hey, we’re hypno birthing,” something that lights up the staff before they walk through your door or what kind of environment you’re establishing that can really be helpful as well because then you don’t have a nurse walk-in and, “Oh, time to wake up” and flip on the lights and you know just kind of …

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Just kind of throw that door open and use loud voices.

ABBY LACEY:Exactly. So, a little sign on the door when you’re laboring can really be helpful. Usually if you’re in a facility that is more of mom and baby friendly they’re going to be on top of that already in passing that information on but super helpful.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Awesome.

KELLY WILLIAMS: I think to, I mean this is a little off the topic of lighting, I know communication with the staff is very important because I know when my son was born we really wanted it to be quiet in the room and my husband had some things he just want to read over him and speak his name out loud for the first time because we hadn’t shared his name with anyone, so I think just letting the staff know our wishes and having that open communication is really important.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Definitely, particularly in a hospital that they get to be so used to their own ways and so communication is important. Awesome, so when we come back we’ll going to discuss more ways to make your birthing space relaxing, we’ll be right back.

[Intro/Theme Music]

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Welcome back. Today we’re discussing how to create a calm and relaxing birth space; certified doula, massage therapist, aroma therapist Abby Lacey is our expert. So, we’ve touched on aroma therapy and lighting, what are some ways that can be soothing to the touch during labor?

ABBY LACEY:Touch is very important either the absence of or the use of some women just don’t want to be touched at all. So listen, if a woman tells you during labor don’t touch me, don’t touch her.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:[laughing] because she will remember.

ABBY LACEY: Actually she probably won’t but yeah, I’ve had women who the absence of touch was more comforting for them, they needed to be in their own zone. So truly if a woman says, no I don’t need anything, don’t touch me, you should really honor that. That said, there are plenty of women who want to be touched the entire time. There aren’t any number types of touch, it’s not always the heavy get in here squeeze my hips, counter-pressure, you know make it go away kind of touch.

Believe it or not a really light touch can be very successful and very comforting in helping a woman calm down or relax or kind of distract her from some other sensations that she’s having, that she’s not liking; it’s almost like that tickle touch you’re just barely, barely touching

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Almost giving like a Goosebumps.

ABBY LACEY:And you just focus on the face can really be nice, so if the partner can stroke her face really gently, sometimes as a doula I will just stroke that space between the nose on top of the eyebrows and just help her remind her, let’s relax your forehead a little bit. Interestingly enough often tension in the face will be mirrored in the pelvis, so if we can help you relax your face and you just kind of focus on chilling out there that can be helpful. Just nice soft light touch on the face, playing with the woman’s hair can be really soothing

STEPHANIE GLOVER: I can be talked into anything if someone’s rubbing my hair. Like, sign me your life inheritance, “okay” [laughing]

ABBY LACEY:Right, just a nice shoulder rub can be really nice and guess what, sometimes dad needs that. Sometimes it’s dad who needs that more than mom.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:And we picked up on each other’s energy too. So keeping dad relax…

ABBY LACEY:Absolutely. So there will be times I’ll walk up as a doula behind dad and give him a nice shoulder rub and you’ll see him just kind of melts. I didn’t even realize how tired I was. So, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a strong heavy touch, it can be the light touch, it doesn’t have to be touch at all; you can use massage tools, the little roller balls can be fun and give your hands a break if mom wants nothing but touch, tag-teaming out is good but often times especially when a woman is hitting transition in their labor.

They’re going to have one person they want to touch them and so just kind of be mindful if you’re doing the massage that you need to take care of your own body especially for dad, but I always remind dad be careful what you’re doing with your body because you got to take mom and baby home and you have to take care of them.

So, yeah; but massage is fantastic, massage is wonderful, it’s a great way to bond with partners as well.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:And so, one thing that I didn’t just consider in my births was the used of sound or music, and I remember it was in my childbirth educator training that we did it a practice, I think it was an ice cube game if anyone is familiar with it. You try to hold an ice cube and try swaying, look at the clock; you don’t look at the clock you listen to a song and I realize music for me out of all that was very helpful and I already had my two kids and I was like, dad why don’t I know that you can touch more on sound, and you can use sound in labor whether it’s music or other sounds.

ABBY LACEY:Yeah, I think most of my clients have used sound in some way. It’s very rare that someone doesn’t want some kind of sound especially if you’re in a hospital environment to at least mask what’s going on the hallway so you don’t hear anything. You know what I say to my clients is, stop and think about what kind of space you going to be in, you’re going to be really comfortable and what brings you the most peace when you’re uncomfortable. I’ve had clients who want to play nothing but the Pandora relaxation channels, whether it’s the enya

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Enya? Yeah, that’s me.

ABBY LACEY:Yeah, whether it’s the enya or nature sounds

STEPHANIE GLOVER:or birds chirping

ABBY LACEY:Yeah, any of that kind of thing. I had a client who, she was really fantastic. She was using hypno birthing and she didn’t want to play tracks, she actually puts together a whole playlist of trance music and that was her vibe, and I was like, alright girls just love it. Well, it didn’t have that heavy downbeat, or the heavy bass it was more like the electronica kind of sound and it wasn’t the heavy beat at all, there wasn’t heavy bass, there wasn’t heavy beat, it was just this kind of flowing electronica trance that she’s listening to and I got the, it was the same day Stephanie had her baby

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Abby was my doula by the way

ABBY LACEY:I had three births that day, yeah three babies came in twelve hours and she was the last baby and she played this fantastic trance music that I walked-in and I was like, yeah! It did set a different tone than the other births that I have been to, so you really kind of think about your personality and what really suits you; also you have to think about other people around you might respond to it because if you’re playing punk metal and that’s what get you in your zone you might be creating an antagonistic environment with your care provider. So, you really don’t want to have someone walk in into your room and be like “Oh my god, these crazy cozies making me insane”

STEPHANIE GLOVER:My girlfriend had a natural birth at a birth center but was playing like gangstarap the whole time.

SUNNY GAULT: Are you serious?

STEPHANIE GLOVER:It’s like hey, whatever floats your boat, and her midwife was fine with that but it cracks me up, I would never have thought of that but if that what keeps you going.

ABBY LACEY:Right, so I have clients who have played the Beatles, I have had clients who played environment music, I had the electronica

STEPHANIE GLOVER:And Kelly, have you used any instrument in any of your labors?

KELLY WILLIAMS: Yeah, I actually used; I created a playlist for both of my labors. I kind of joke like my son got the short end of the stick

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Second baby

KELLY WILLIAMS: Because I used the same songs from my daughter’s, added in a few extra; but I mean, for my husband and I, we look at our births like very like spiritual and so for us we actually had a lot of just worship music and it’s really neat because I feel like now, you know. Whenever I hear you know one or two of the songs from my playlist whenever we were just playing music it really brings me back specifically there’s one song I can hear with my son that whenever I hear it, I mean it really brings me back to that space and I personally love music in my daily life and when I work out I love to listen to music and it’s so, it already is naturally relaxing for me to do that and so it seems like a no brainer. I would definitely want music not only for relaxation but out of distraction during you know those painful contractions, so yeah.

SUNNY GAULT: Did you guys see the, it was a YouTube video, it was going around Facebook of the momma that was laboring, she was actually dancing.g

ABBY LACEY: The tootsie roll

KELLY WILLIAMS: Yeah, I saw that

SUNNY GAULT: Yeah, I posted it to the Facebook page of Preggie Pals, if you haven’t seen it go check it out because I was like, why didn’t I do that, I would have been good because the last thing I wanted to do was to stay still, I like needed, like engagement you know, I just could before I had my epidurals I was like I need to move, don’t keep me into this bed, you know I was like why didn’t I danced. That was so awesome.

ABBY LACEY: And I actually tell my clients you’ll never know how you’ll going to respond so have that preferred playlist for down sleepy time kind of relaxation but also what do you work out to? Eye of the tiger

SUNNY GAULT: Right, when the baby’s coming out,

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Throwing punches

ABBY LACEY:I actually another birth that I attended with the family, this mom wanted her family to be around her so it was very like crowded but very energetic birthing room, that was her environment of choice and I think it was her sister kept looking at different songs and playing songs and cracking jokes about him, and when it came time to push her baby out, she got out salt and peppers push it [laughing] and started pushing it.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:I love it.

ABBY LACEY:Yeah, music can be great inspirational, it can be really calming.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Okay, one more question for you Abby since you talk about some of the sense and we did discuss lighting and how that could help but use of a focal point or pictures, how can that come into play that relaxations and the feeling of comfort in your space.

ABBY LACEY:So, a focal point gives you to do something in particular your focus on. Some people and this kind of relates back some of the use of hypnosis, right? That focal point gives you something to kind of just really narrow everything down to and oftentimes when people choose to use a focal point it helps them kind of almost put their blinders on so they are not really aware as much of what is going on in the room; they can just focus on one thing, it can be a person, it can be an object in the room.

If you are into doing a blessingway, oftentimes those blessingway women will make art for you as the birthing mom and it’s supposed to be an inspirational poster that reminds them

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Like a necklace, like they bring beads and make a necklace.

ABBY LACEY:Or yeah, any of those kinds of things so you can choose to wear your focal point, it can be a sign in the room that means something to you. I worked with a momma who was having her third baby and hadn’t quite yet had the birth experience that she wanted and someone made a sign that said, “Your body is not a lemon.”

STEPHANIE GLOVER: [Inaudible]

ABBY LACEY: Yeah, it’s an [Inaudible] quote and so they made that sign for her and that came a point where that was what she really focus on. My body is not a lemon I can absolutely do this. So focal point can be really helpful either throughout or even for short period of time. It doesn’t have to be something that you have thought out or planned out ahead of time, it can be completely spontaneous.

STEPHANIE GLOVER:The nurses shoe

SUNNY GAULT: Not if she’s moving though

STEPHANIE GLOVER: But in that moment you stay put and look at her shoe

SUNNY GAULT: Hopefully, she’s not going to go off-shift

STEPHANIE GLOVER:Leave your shoe.

ABBY LACEY: But yeah, focal points can be really great because it just gives you something to just kind of narrow in and focus on as oppose to really just distracted about everything else that’s going on in the room.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: Awesome. Well, thank you so much Kelly for joining us on the phone, Abby for been our expert today. For more information about Abby as well as information about any of our panelists you can visit the episode page on our website. These conversations continue from members of our Preggie Pals club. After the show, Abby will discuss to help create a comforting setting in the operating room. To join our club, visit our website www.newmommymedia.com .

[Theme Music]

SUNNY GAULT: Alright, so it is time for fun segment we have here on Preggie Pals called “Pregnancy Oops”. It is where you guys share your funny stories that have happened to you when you are pregnant and this story comes from Stephanie. This is pretty funny, she says; “When I was almost three months pregnant with our first daughter, my husband and I went out one night to buy Christmas tree for our house. I had taken my prenatal vitamins with dinner earlier but thought nothing of it. Unfortunately they disagreed with my stomach on the way to the tree lot and we were on a one way street with no place for my husband to pull over and me needing to puke now.

I was hanging my head up the passenger window for three blocks straight on a Saturday night as sick as a dog. So you know the Downtown home boys loitering the street corners where staring at me when we had to stop at the red light. So much for dignity!”

I think that can be applied to lot of different things when we are pregnant, right? So much for dignity!

Alright, we would love to hear your “Pregnancy Oops” stories and if you have any and you would like to submit to us, all you have to do is head on to our website www.newmommymedia.com click on that grey little box on the side of the website that says send voicemail and in just a few quick steps you can actually sent that voicemail straight through your computer and we will in cooperate it on our future episode.

STEPHANIE GLOVER: That wraps up our show for today. We appreciate you listening to Preggie Pals.

Don’t forget to check out our sister show:

• Newbies – For postpartum moms during baby's first year
• Parent Savers for parents with infants and toddlers
• Twin Talks for parents with multiples and
• The Boob Group for moms who breastfeed

This is Preggie Pals. Your pregnancy, your way!

[Disclaimer]
This has been a New Mommy Media production. The information and material contained in this episode are presented for educational purposes only. Statements and opinions expressed in this episode are not necessarily those of New Mommy Media and should not be considered facts. While such information and materials are believed to be accurate, it is not intended to replace or substitute for professional, medical advice or care and should not be used for diagnosing or treating health care problem or disease or prescribing any medications. If you have questions or concerns regarding your physical or mental health or the health of your baby, please seek assistance from a qualified health care provider.

SUNNY GAULT: How would you like to have your own show on the New Mommy Media network? We're expanding our lineup and looking for great content. If you're a business or organization interested in learning more about our co-branded podcasts, visit our website at www.newmommymedia.com.

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