From the WBWC Blog:

News

Latest news non-related to individual births.

“We’re Havin’ a Heat Wave…”

By Allison Koch, CNM …And pregnant ladies are especially at risk to get dehydrated in a heat wave! Being well-hydrated can increase your comfort, improve the body’s ability to nourish itself, prevent preterm labor, and help avoid unnecessary inductions for oligohydramnios (low amniotic fluid). So how do you know when your hydration is adequate? First, be sure you are drinking AT LEAST 64 ounces of water daily. In the third trimester increase it by 8-16 ounces, to 80 ounces daily. If you don’t really like water, try electrolyte or vitamin waters. Popsicles count, too! (They are frozen water with a little flavor and color!) Second, your urine should be clear and colorless. You may pee frequently at first, but as your body gets better hydrated, you will adjust to the increased fluid intake. Eat foods that help to hydrate you – watermelon, cantaloupe, cucumber, summer squash, and greens are all high in water. Those foods also can have a diuretic effect on you and decrease swelling in hands and feet. Try getting in a pool for awhile. Your skin will absorb water and the osmotic pressure makes your kidneys get rid of excess extracellular fluid (the kind that collects in your extremities). A good rule for yourself: Fill two 1-quart bottles with water every morning. The first one has to be gone by lunch and the second one has to be gone by dinner. Here’s Why… The number one cause of preterm labor is dehydration. The pregnant body is required to make 1.5 times its normal blood volume just to support the pregnancy. Approximately 2 liters wash over and through the placenta every hour in order to nourish the baby and carry away the baby’s waste, which is excreted through the mother’s kidneys. When you become dehydrated from not taking in enough fluids, it creates a stressful environment for the baby. Hormone levels begin to rise, leading to an increase in Braxton Hicks contractions. The more Braxton Hicks contractions, the more prostaglandins are released, which leads to even more contractions. Sometimes, the stress is great enough to put the mother into true labor. If it goes on long enough, the cervix begins to change, and we are unable to stop the labor. Those contractions from dehydration can lead to a hospital transfer because of the risk of a preterm birth. You can end up with an IV and medications you … Read More

News from the WBWC Board

by Kaaren Haldeman                Happy summer, everybody! At our board meeting on May 9 we installed Connie Semans as Secretary and Bruce Nelson as Vice-Chair. We also launched three new committees: Human Resources (Kia Caldwell, Chair), Planning (Jane Brown, Chair) and Executive (Kaaren Haldeman, Chair). We’ll soon be seeking staff to help with committee work in HR and Planning.       The WBWC Board has also made substantial progress on re-negotiating our current lease, including additional space, more designated parking spaces and improvements in the 2nd floor air conditioning system. Here’s to a more comfortable and efficient work space!       At our next meeting, July 18, we will be scheduling a “meet the board” event. Please stay tuned and we look forward to meeting everyone soon!

Raising Great Big Brothers and Sisters!

by Claire C. McKiernan WBWC patients (much like the staff) are a select group of strong, caring, nurturing, independent-minded women. So, if you are expecting another child, I’m going to assume you know the value of preparing an older sibling for a new baby. Here are some tips and resources on how to go about this task. DO: 1)    Talk, talk, talk. No matter how young the soon-to-be older sibling is, talk to your child about the new baby long before the big day. Insert short conversations casually, not in a lecture. Give your child time to absorb snippets of information. Talking can include your expectations of what the baby will be like, pointing out what will be different in the house (baby furniture, baby gates, etc.) and with the family dynamics (such as relatives stopping by to help out).  If you are already overwhelmed by these changes, your child will know it, so for your sake and his, put a positive spin on things. Just as important, point out what will be the same. Kids and adults alike fear change, so make sure he knows how many things will remain unchanged, such as mealtimes, bedtimes, and story time. Talk to your child about his birth and what he was like as a baby. Once the baby arrives, this can help him connect with the baby (“Did I do that when I was little, too?”)  If you have siblings, share your own happy memories. Point out how he can do certain things, but a baby can’t. “You are using your fork so nicely. A newborn isn’t even allowed to hold a fork!” Give him a sense of pride in being his age, not to mention being more competent than a baby. 2)    Listen, listen, listen. When your child is talking about the baby, either with you or during the course of her play, notice what she already understands about a baby, any misinformation, and especially her fears and concerns. Ask questions and don’t be afraid to put into words what you think is worrying her. This can be difficult because you may be afraid that if you are wrong, you have just introduced a new fear. However, you know your child best, so follow your instincts, and don’t worry. Reassuring words are never wasted. 3)    Read children’s books about pregnancy and welcoming a new baby into the family. See “resources” … Read More

New Arrivals

*Sahaya Lucan Adhikari – 6 lbs., 8 oz. – October 4 *Charlie Lorraine Hulick–Fink – 9lbs., 13oz. – March 31*Jill Audra Jacobson – 9 lbs., 10 oz. – April 1  Edan William Jedidiah Derby – 7 lbs. – April 3 *Dianne Adele Lunsford – 7 lbs. – April 7 Kayleigh Elizabeth Staples – 8 lbs., 6 oz. – April 8 Mya Ann Chung – 7 lbs., 14 oz. – April 8 *Genevieve Francis Williams – 7 lbs., 15 oz. – April 9 *Stuart Jack Ritchie – 6 lbs., 9oz – April 10 Evan Alexander Patterson – 8 lbs., 11 oz. – April 11 *Victoria Nahuel Chambers – 5 lbs., 9 oz. – April 11 *Lily August DeBrecht – 7 lbs., 9oz. – April 14 Cole Anderson Chappell – 8 lbs., 10 oz. – April 16 *Cora Verity Johnson – 10 lbs., 12 oz. – April 16 *Maclain Chase Lunsford – 6 lbs., 12 oz. – April 16 Ella Lou Bainbridge – 8 lbs., 9 oz. – April 17 Lucinda Simone Turlington – 9 lbs., 15 oz. – April 23 Ashton Haswell Stephenson – 8 lbs., 7 oz. – April 25 Vivani Lila Fiorentino – 6 lbs., 7 oz. – April 29 Cyrus Michael Mehdizadeh – 7 lbs., 12 oz. – April 30 *pictured above Welcome to the world, little ones! If you would like your baby’s birth announced in the newsletter, send an email with baby’s name, weight, and birth date to missy_swanson@hotmail.com.  Feel free to include a picture. We’d like to hear from all WBWC moms, whether your baby was born at the birth center or UNC!

MILC at the Women’s Birth and Wellness Center: Mother’s and Infant’s Lactation Care

     We are so proud of the community we have through Women’s Birth and Wellness Center! We recently completed a survey of some of you to see how our community was doing with breastfeeding over the long term. Thank you to all the families who participated in the survey, and our apologies to those who might have gotten the survey in error. It was our first breastfeeding survey, and we learned some extra steps we will use when doing future surveys. We knew there was a lot of breastfeeding going on, but this survey helped us understand just how much there was!      The results we got were astounding! We knew that our community was special, but this survey quantifies one aspect of what makes it so remarkable.      We emailed our survey to 416 WBWC families who had babies between 6 months and 18 months of age to ask a short series of questions about their breastfeeding experience. Out of the email surveys we sent, 215 were completed, which was about a 52% response rate. Most of our respondents (95%) intended to exclusively breastfeed for the first six months of their babies’ lives; 28% of those intended to nurse just at the breast, while 72% planned to mix breast feeding at the breast and using pumped breast milk. Five percent of our mothers were planning on breast milk and formula feeding in the first 6 months. No one planned to formula feed exclusively.      Sometimes, despite the best of intentions, women who plan to breastfeed are not able to continue to breastfeed because of problems, or lack of support. For instance, in one group of about 900 women, when asked prenatally (different from our survey, which asked women to remember what their intentions were), about 75% of the original group of women wanted to exclusively breastfeed. By the end of the first month, 15% of them were still exclusively breastfeeding; the rest had introduced formula or were fully formula feeding. While women who choose to give birth in an out of hospital birth center are different from the general population in many ways, this is one example of what things might look like in other settings.      In our community, almost everyone who responded to the survey wanted to exclusively breastfeed for the first 6 months. At six months, almost everyone had met their goals. At 3 months, 91.5% were … Read More

News from WBWC Board

by Kaaren Haldeman           Greetings from your Board! In our full board meeting May 9 we made some wonderful progress in beginning the committee work that will strengthen the WBWC. Mary Alexion of Executive Service Corps attended the meeting and helped to bring into focus the goals and objectives of our three committees: Planning, Human Resources, and Executive. Board members will be connecting with staff to request help on these committees, so please take this opportunity to join us in this great work! 

Those Awful Aversions!

By Claire C. McKiernan           You wake up one morning and the smell of your favorite hand cream is suddenly revolting. You walk into the kitchen and run out again when you get a whiff of fresh-brewed coffee. You walk back in a few minutes later, hand protectively covering your tummy, and can’t imagine why you are the only one who thinks the eggs being cooked are more sulfurous smelling than the house of Hades. Thinking of going outside for a breath of fresh air? Maybe, as long as the smell of wet earth, mulch, and budding trees doesn’t send you running back to the bathroom.           Maybe the nausea ends every morning after you’ve been awake for an hour or so. Or maybe, your sense of smell stays in high gear. All. Day. Long. Perfume, coffee, fast food, spicy ethnic foods, seafood, tomatoes, tomato sauce, veggie burgers, garlic, rare beef, ground meat, chicken, sweet foods, and cooking vegetables were all on the list of WBWC patient aversions. WBWC patient Alisa wrote, “In my first trimester, I couldn’t hear or even think the words ‘popcorn,’ ‘macaroni and cheese,’ or ‘steak’ without wanting to hurl. Thankfully that’s not happening anymore, as I’ve had cravings for both popcorn and macaroni and cheese several times in the last month alone!” Basically, anything that is on the craving list for some women can be on the aversion list for others, and can completely reverse from pregnancy to pregnancy and even within the same pregnancy. Heck, even the smell of your husband/SO can become an aversion (and you craved him at least once, didn’t you?)           And so goes those awful aversions of pregnancy: the unfortunate flip-side to the fantastic cravings. Each woman and each pregnancy is different. Sometimes there are aversions, sometimes there are cravings, sometimes there are both, and sometimes there are neither. They come and go, or last and last throughout the pregnancy (and possibly beyond).           Here’s what WBWC patient, Danielle (who also had incredible cravings), experienced: “When I found out I was pregnant, I was working as a cheese maker at a local goat dairy. I found out I was pregnant while on vacation for Christmas, and a few hours into my first day back in the cheese room I took a break to snack on some cheese and crackers. When I started eating, the cheese tasted as if it … Read More

Give Infant Potty Training a Try!

by Claire C. McKiernan     I began researching Infant Potty Training (IPT) eight years ago. Perhaps it was that first poop that shot up to my firstborn’s armpits that made me put my skepticism aside.  I wound up buying Infant Potty Basics by Laurie Boucke (about 100 pages) along with the 500 page companion Infant Potty Training by the same author which covers potty training around the world. There are other books and websites on the topic, but these cover the basics.     IPT is unconventional in America: I didn’t try it until my firstborn was eleven months old. On that glorious day, I showed her the new potty and she happily sat down and peed in it.  That day she peed six times on the potty!  Two months later, I introduced the potty ring on top of the toilet and she used both potties. By 14 months she was pooping twice a day, but I was only changing one or two poopy diapers a week.     When my son came along 2 ½ years later, I couldn’t wait to put IPT to the test. I started him at 6 WEEKS old! Now this was real infant potty training!  I bought the smallest, simplest potty I could find. I gently placed him on it with his back resting against my belly while we happily gazed at each other in a mirror. That first day, he peed five times in the potty, and the second day he pooped for the first time in it. A week later we were catching three of his six poops a day in the potty.  I only held him on the potty for a minute or two at a time, and only if he was content. He quickly associated pooping with the potty and enjoyed being clean in his diaper. By the time he was 4 months old, I was only changing one poopy diaper a week. By 8 ½ months, he would let me know he had to go. By 10 months, he rejected his potty in favor of a potty ring.     I also started my third child, another son, at 6 weeks old with much the same success. According to my baby journal, by the time he was 4 months old, I had only changed one poopy diaper in the space of three weeks! My fourth child is now 19 months old. She did equally well early … Read More

Tell Me Your Food and Odor Aversions!

by Claire C. McKiernan       I am working on a follow-up to my Food Cravings article for next month. Whether or not you experienced (or are experiencing) food cravings, you may have had some serious food or odor aversions during pregnancy. Please email me at cmckiernan@yahoo.com with the subject title “WBWC:Aversions” (or something similar). I will not use any names in the article! However, if you have a specific anecdote to share and want me to use your name, let me know.  Thanks!