From the WBWC Blog:

Classes

Funding Needed For Groundwater Approach Presentation

Dear WBWC supporters, We have a specific funding request and would love to give you the opportunity make a community investment. WBWC wants to further walk the walk of racial equity by hosting a “Groundwater Approach Presentation.”    We want to provide an on-site, one-day training with the Racial Equity Institute for WBWC staff and volunteers that will help us work harder to improve equity in our community. In an effort to stay focused on the structural and cultural roots of racial inequity, the racial equity institute developed the “Groundwater” metaphor and accompanying analytical framework to explain the nature of racism and it currently exists in the US.   https://www.racialequityinstitute.com/groundwaterapproach  Please help WBWC cover the costs associated with this important training by sponsoring a staff person’s training. It is $146/person and we have 41 folks on staff. Perhaps you want to help us train 3 staff for $438.   Click here to donate. In the “donation message” field please type Groundwater Training.  Thank you, Brianna Bennett, Business Director

Free Class: Your Pregnant Body/Your Postpartum Body

Introducing “Your Body” Series of FREE Classes developed by Dr. Lori O’Neill, PT, DPT from Vitality Physical Therapy, LLC. These 1 hour free classes are taught the first Sunday evening every month and include information not likely presented in any other  childbirth/parenting class on how to proactively optimize your transforming body during the childbearing years. Class highlights include: Your PREGNANT Body Strategies for encouraging baby positioning and why it matters The biomechanics of a birthing body Protection of vulnerable areas to prevent/relieve common pain patterns Proactive habits to optimize postpartum physical recovery Advantages and disadvantages of various delivery positions Your POSTPARTUM Body Immediate perineum care and scar healing (perineal and c-section) Protective movement strategies for the first month What is “normal” bowel/bladder/sexual functioning after birth? Breastfeeding implications to vulvar tissue and body mechanics Safe return to exercise recommendations including “core muscle” training Questions: www.VitalityPT.org Click here to register

Birth Healing Support Group

Sometimes birth doesn’t go the way we hope it will. When this happens, it can be difficult to find the support we need to move forward with ease and joy. If you are still struggling to make peace with your birth story, you might be interested in WBWC’s new birth healing support group. This will be safe space where deep listening and whole-hearted support can happen. A place where your story can be heard and healed. We will incorporate mindfulness skills to help us stay with what is and, at the same time, move towards greater awareness, clarity, and ease around your birth story. We hope you will join us. We begin August 2nd at 10 AM and will continue every first Friday at the same time. Lorraine Rocco RN, IBCLC and mindfulness teacher will be facilitating. You can contact her with any questions at: lorraine@trianglemindfulbirthing.com or through her website www.TriangleMindfulBirthing.com

Maternal Mental Health Matters!

By Nancy Albrecht MA, RN, BSN Facilitator: Coping with Motherhood Support Group May is Maternal Mental Health (MMH) month, with the fourth annual World Maternal Mental Health Day held on Wednesday, May 1, 2019. We need special focus on MMH to: · Increase visibility because NO ONE IS IMMUNE! · Combat social stigma because ILLNESS IS NOT A CRIME! · Improve detection and treatment because 1 IN 5 NEW MOTHERS EXPERIENCE MMH DISORDERS and 7 IN 10 WOMEN HIDE OR DOWNPLAY THEIR SYMPTOMS! · To earmark more resources to maternal and infant mental health because NO HEALTH WITHOUT MENTAL HEALTH! If you are a mom struggling with mood changes or anxiety, the WBWC midwives, nurses, and staff are here to help. Whether you are pregnant, newly postpartum, or have a toddler, you are not alone and will recover! You may regain your life as you: · Turn to those around you and ask for help. · Seek professional support from your midwife or a referral to a therapist. · Find peer support from a support group like Coping with Motherhood or online at PSI (www.postpartum.net). · Acknowledge and grieve the loss of the “ideal” motherhood experience. · Look ahead to wellness. Spouses, family members, and friends may be the first to notice these changes. You can help by: Ask her “How are you doing, how are you really doing?” LISTEN to what she says! No matter how many people you think are supporting her, there are often way too few who ask and listen. Everyone wants to know how the baby is: how baby is growing and moving or how baby is sleeping, eating, pooping, etc??? Nobody is asking mom if she’s getting rest; if she’s eating regularly; if she gets to take a shower when she needs or wants to. Ask her “How much did you sleep last night?” “What did you eat today?” Help her make a sleep plan and bring her food. Ask her “Are you okay?” Be prepared if she says NO: Call us! Moms and family members can become MMH activists: Support PSI. Participate in the annual Climb Out of the Darkness events sponsored by PSI-NC (https://psichapters.com/nc/): Chapel Hill, Saturday, June 8, 2019 and Durham, Saturday, October 19, 2019. Make sure your professional support team has been trained by PSI. Emily Joubert, CNM will be the most recently trained member of the WBWC staff, attending … Read More

New Class For WBWC Parents-To-Be

We are thrilled to be offering a new class for WBWC families having their first baby or first birth center birth! Great Expectations: Preparing for Your Birth Center Birth will cover topics including birth center routines, normal variations of labor, how to prepare at home, what to do in early labor, and more! The class is taught by 2 WBWC nurses who are also WBWC moms. There will be birth stories from WBWC parents, discussion, and plenty of time to get all your questions answered! First class: June 9, 4-6 PM in the Living Room (3rd Floor) Cost: $10/couple (free with Medicaid or Tricare) Class will be offered the 2nd Sunday of every month Register at https://ncbirthcenter.org/classes/register/ *This is a supplement to a childbirth course, NOT a comprehensive birthing class*

Prenatal & Postnatal Yoga at Triangle Yoga

Prenatal Yoga (Sunday at 12:30pm) focuses on postures that are appropriate for pregnant women with an emphasis on connecting with the baby, breathing, relaxation, and muscle toning. Benefits include building stamina, strength, balance, soothing the nervous system, releasing tension in the lower and upper back and preparing you for labor through conscious breathing. No experience necessary. Postnatal Yoga (Tuesday at 12:30pm) helps new and returning mothers stay centered, strong and aware during their first months together. Bring your little one from as young as 4 weeks to this nurturing class. The majority of the class is for moms and we also do baby yoga incorporating poses that help baby with digestion and development. Common postpartum and baby handling/carrying issues, are addressed with toning, core strength, and stretching. No experience necessary. No experience necessary, drop-ins welcome! PRENATAL YOGA’s Elyse Ribbons structures her prenatal classes to offer a well-rounded safe combination of poses for strength, flexibility, and endurance with opportunities to increase mental awareness and time for bonding and sharing expectations POSTNATAL YOGA’s Brianna Bennett is a certified yoga teacher, and works at Women’s Birth & Wellness Center. As a new mom, she is forever grateful to her son for the opportunity to learn from his youthful wisdom as she leads her yoga classes!

Hormone Madness

Future workshops will feature a deeper dive into herbal allies, traditional therapies for women’s healing, coping strategies for the mental and mood challenges of changing hormones, the power of women’s circles and healing, spiritual practices  that support women’s health and healing, modern shamanism as a healing tool, sexuality/libido and hormones… and other topics by popular request. Look for some great guest speakers as well!  Womyn, this is for YOU, whatever age you are! We at WBWC recognize that childbearing is a “season” of a woman’s life. Women’s Birth & Wellness Center offers you the same kind, caring supportive midwifery to guide you through the life and health challenges a woman may face. Midwives are trained to be “With Women, for a Lifetime”! This is how HEALTHcare should be.  Come join us!

Jammin Baby Registration

Registration for the winter session of Jammin Baby is now open! You can get your little music-maker signed up here: https://www.jamminbaby.com/register.aspx We’d like to thank Erica for coming out to the WBWC birthday party and providing a phenomenal demonstration of this program.

The Power of Menopause

By Allison Koch, CNM How much do you know about the life transition we call Menopause? Menopause is what is known as a retrospective diagnosis. That means that women are defined as “in menopause” or “menopausal” when they have had no period for a full year. Women may go 10 or 11 months without a period, then have a period. We call that “peri-menopausal.” Once women have achieved Menopause, they are considered Post-Menopausal. In the USA, the average age of menopause is 51. Despite women’s shorter lifespan throughout history, age 51 has remained the average age of menopause for the past 300 years. Most women will experience some symptoms that make them aware that their bodies are changing, but few women that I have seen in my practice are aware that there are nearly 100 symptoms that may coincide with the menopausal transition. The hormones involved in the changes of menopause are likely to be estrogens and progesterone, but also could be DHEA, testosterone, or an imbalance in another body system brought on by changing hormones. Hormones are natural chemicals present in our bodies that interact with each other or with our cells and organs. Hormones exist primarily to regulate processes and keep our body in homeostasis, a state of natural balance. Menopause is a process, frequently taking 10 years or more, designed to change our bodies and prepare us for a lifetime beyond the fertile years! In perimenopause, most women experience some of the same hormonal symptoms that heralded menarche. Anxiety, emotionality, irregular periods are all normal in young girls approaching puberty. Worsening PMS is often the first symptom noted as we enter the perimenopausal period.  Although our youth-oriented culture doesn’t generally approach the Elder “rites of passage” with as much anticipation as other milestones, there is still cause for celebration (raise a glass of red wine!) The main focus of my practice at Women’s Birth & Wellness Center is peri-menopause and menopausal care. I am here to guide and support you through the menopausal transition. I want to optimize your experience, your health and your adjustment to the power of a new way of life. Together we will explore the process and your options for managing challenges. Our mission: Your Life. Your Health. Our Commitment. Since last September, I have been hosting a recurring workshop titled “The Power of Menopause.” Menopause is one of the Women’s Mysteries, along … Read More

Prenatal and Postnatal Yoga at Triangle Yoga

  Prenatal Yoga (Mon at 6:15 pm and Sat at 11am) will focus on postures that are appropriate for pregnant women with an emphasis on connecting with the baby, breathing, relaxation, and muscle toning. Benefits include building stamina, strength, balance, soothing the nervous system, releasing tension in the lower and upper back and preparing you for labor through conscious breathing. No experience necessary. Classes taught by Brianna Bennett & Kathy Peillot. Our Postnatal Yoga class (Tue at 12:30pm) helps new and returning mothers stay centered, strong and aware during their first months together. Bring your little one from as young as 4 weeks to this nurturing class. Common postpartum and baby handling/carrying issues, are addressed with toning, core strength, and stretching. No experience necessary. Classes taught by Liz Harden. “Class has been the one time a week for my baby and me to connect without distractions. I have appreciated every class and am thankful for the way that you lead, inform and care for the women in your classes.” Nancy Triangle Yoga is located on the 3rd floor of the WBWC building.

Making Music Together

Babies love music. This will come as no surprise to you if you’ve ever soothed your newborn to sleep with a lullaby or bounced him to the beat of your favorite song. But did you know your son or daughter is also a natural music-maker? It’s true: We are each born equipped to respond to music from a remarkably early age. There is a lot you can do to nurture your new little musician—even if you don’t think of yourself as a “musical” person. Making music together from the very beginning will lead to a lifetime of shared musical enjoyment for both you and your child. The Music Together® Babies Class will start you on the path to becoming a musical family. Specifically designed for infants eight months and younger, this one-semester introduction to Music Together allows babies to embrace, enjoy, and express their inborn musicality. In your weekly class, you will spend forty-five music-filled minutes singing, dancing, and playing with your child, all in the company of other new parents and guided by an early childhood music specialist. You’ll learn how your child is developing musically and how you can support this growth at home. Plus, you’ll leave with lots of ideas on how to play and bond musically together and infuse music into your baby’s everyday life. Erica Berry, the owner of Jammin Baby, has been teaching children’s music for over 11 years. She is a classically trained vocalist and a musician. She will sing and play the flute for your babies in this class and lead you in making music of your own in the class and at home. Join our Fall Session by visiting www.jamminbaby.com. While babies are welcome in all of our many mixed aged classes, we have made this special class for our new mommas on Mondays at 9:45 a.m, starting September 10.

Fit4Baby Testimonial

Becca Lynn, mom of 2 (Saylor, age 4, and Murphy, 14 months) The statement ‘no two pregnancies are alike’ is truer than true. During my first pregnancy, I spent much of my time reading, researching, and preparing for the baby.  During my second pregnancy, I turned the focus on caring for myself. This meant taking care of the magnificent body I already had, that was meanwhile housing another human being. Taking care of myself meant that my baby, nestled deep in my womb, was getting the best care possible before the magical day of birth. This also meant I would be at my physical best to care for not only a newborn, but a toddler as well, after baby’s birth day.   The two most important pieces of this care were Women’s Birth and Wellness Center and Prenatal Fitness Fit4Baby program through FIT4MOM Chapel Hill. While my first baby was born at a birth center (in a different state) as well, WBWC was amazingly supportive, in regards that my strong opinions regarding my health and birth were heard, validated, and taken seriously. My questions were answered honestly, resources provided, my desires for the pregnancy and birth were honored, and I felt empowered. From the front desk, to the nurses, to the midwives and beyond, my time at WBWC was wonderful!   I found Prenatal Fitness Fit4Baby while researching prenatal exercise programs.WBWC encouraged me to keep up with a consistent exercise routine (which had been lacking in my first pregnancy). Fit4Baby was the perfect complement. Not only was I able to take a couple hours a week to focus on my body and the baby it was growing, but being with other women who were experiencing the same things I was, from sugar cravings to sleepless nights, was reassuring and comforting. These women became a consistent part of my week, and quite frankly, the favorite part of my week. The classes consisted of cardio, strength and core exercises. The instructors were so knowledgeable and were able to provide modifications for all levels of abilities and stages of pregnancies. They always checked in to see how each of us was feeling and created classes that supported the pregnant mama, wherever she was that day. Even if it meant, I did zero exercise that day. It was a judge-free, supportive, and positive environment, where I could chit-chat with other women, all while getting … Read More