The Midwives Of New Jersey
Serving Women, Honoring Birth
You are likely SUPER interested in having a perineum that stretches and springs back rather than one that does not stretch and then tears (or stretches so slowly that your provider is tempted to perform an episiotomy). Here are a few tips for a “springy” vagina! Protecting Your Perineum Before Labor Consume plenty of healthy …
Vitamin D is the Answer to the COVID-19 Crisis The results of a study published October 2020 in the Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology “Effect of calcifediol (Vitamin D) treatment and best available therapy versus best available therapy on intensive care unit admission and mortality among patients hospitalized for COVID-19: A pilot randomized …
Edema, swelling in extremities such as the ankles and feet, is a common occurrence in pregnancy especially in the heat of summer. Women report more swelling in pregnancy during the last trimester. Two Things That Cause Normal Swelling in Pregnancy Some women experience swelling in pregnancy that is unrelieved by rest and position change. Again, …
5 Last Minute Ways to Avoid a Cesarean Birth 1. Carb Load in Early Labor Labor is incredibly hard work and your body needs fuel. Think of your labor like running a marathon. As you start to feel contractions or when your water breaks, eat plenty of carbohydrate foods, you will store Glycogen in your …
Labor is uncomfortable. Women in general are very frightened of the pain associated with labor. This fear keeps many women from even considering natural childbirth. Women who often refrain from taking any medication at all their entire pregnancy will allow very strong medications injected into their epidural space for their delivery. Even when they know …
Pre-planning pregnancy is a good idea Many people just find themselves pregnant one day without any prior preparation. Even if they “planned” their pregnancy, that planning only involved an intentional non-use of birth control and appropriately timed intercourse. Two new studies (source 1; source 2) were published further confirming that entering pregnancy in optimal health …
The Importance of Preconception Health The Lancet agrees with us! The Preconception health of both parents is crucial to the health of their future children. This past fall, Midwives of NJ rolled out their two-night series called “How to Make a Baby” which provides couples hoping to conceive in the next 3 -12 months with …
Many families today are seeking a more natural, empowering, and low-intervention birth experience. A major benefit of choosing a birth center birth, is a significantly lower risk of cesarean section. Cesarean section rates tend to be significantly higher in hospitals compared to birth centers. National data shows that cesarean rates in accredited birth centers are …
Water birth safety continues to be debated by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). Substantial evidence has been published in the past 3-4 years in support of waterbirth and so I expect to see an updated opinion to be published soon by ACOG and endorsed by …
A large meta-analysis released 4/2/19 showed a clinically significant increase in stillbirth for pregnant women who routinely went to sleep on their back compared to those who fell asleep on either of their sides. The effect of falling to sleep position was not significant until the 3rd trimester. The study found a 2.6-fold increase in …
Best Baby Shower Gift Baby showers are an important tradition intended to equip new parents with the essentials of parenting a little baby. These days, the mother chooses many of her gifts ahead of time but traditionally each person attending would bring a gift that they found helpful themselves as a new parent or something …
This Canadian study shows that low-income women and babies benefit from Midwifery care. “Across the board, in all outcomes, women were doing better in the care of midwives,” Daphne McRae, a post-doctoral research fellow at UBC and the study’s lead author, said in an interview with CBC Radio’s Saskatoon Morning. As a matter of fact, all women benefit from care …
We have all heard that high-stress levels are not good for our health. But why? How does chronic stress affect your fertility and the health of your pregnancy? When people are faced with a stressor, they move into their sympathetic nervous system or fight or flight. The chronic effects of stress on a woman can …
6 Lifestyle Changes You Can Make Today to Improve Your Fertility At the Midwives of NJ, we are vitally aware of the importance of the Pre-Trimester, the period prior to conception, where your Epigenetic Environment can be prepared to conceive a child. Here are 6 changes you can make today to improve your fertility and …
This blog series might be hard to read. Those of us who care for people during pregnancy and birth like to believe that if WE do everything correctly, the problems we currently have with high rates of cesarean birth and maternal mortality and morbidity would improve to an acceptable and comparable (to all other 1st …
Opposing Views on Waterbirth When the concept of waterbirth is posed, people tend to have polar opposite reactions. They may imagine it to be disgusting, swimming in a pool of body secretions or they believe it is relaxing like being in a spa. They may envision it to be completely natural (because of course, the …
The Inspiration Behind our How to Make A Baby Program In October, the Midwives of New Jersey launched a new program designed to assist couples in achieving optimal conditions for conception leading to the healthiest possible pregnancy and birth. This is part of the Midwives of New Jersey’s core goals of having the best pregnancy outcomes …
Why You Should Attend Our How to Make a Baby Conception Program We are celebrating the one-year anniversary of How to Make a Baby conception program. This program was born out of the Midwives’ experiences with grieving families when pregnancy results in loss or illness. We are compelled to promote healthy pregnancies in any way …
