Felicity Birthing Services

I always look for this ☺️

The rhombus of Michaelis (sometimes called the quadrilateral of Michaelis) is a kite-shaped area that includes the three lower lumber vertebrae, the sacrum and that long ligament which reaches down from the base of the scull to the sacrum.

This wedge-shaped area of bone moves backwards during the second stage of labour and as it moves back it pushes the wings of the ilea out, increasing the diameters of the pelvis. We know it’s happening when the woman’s hands reach upwards (to find something to hold onto, her head goes back and her back arches.) It’s what Sheila Kitzinger was talking about when she recorded Jamaican midwives saying the baby will not be born ‘till the woman opens her back’. I’m sure that is what they mean by the ‘opening of the back’.

“The reason that the woman’s arms go up is to find something to hold onto as her pelvis is going to become destabilised. This happens as part of physiological second stage; it’s an integral part of an active normal birth. If you’re going to have a normal birth you need to allow the rhombus of Michaelis to move backwards to give the baby the maximum amount of space to turn his shoulders in. Although the rhombus appears high in the pelvis and the lower lumbar spine when it moves backwards, it has the effect of opening the outlet as well.

“When women are leaning forward, upright, or on their hands and knees, you will see a lump appear on their back, at and below waist level. It’s much higher up than you might think; you don’t look for it near her buttocks, you look for it near her waist."

Image of mother shared from .herbs and Text by : Dr Sara Wickham
Photo cred of mom:

THIS LIBRARY WAS CREATED in FEBRUARY 2020. The posts were crated using information published in The Lancet on February 12, 2020. Our understanding of COVID-19 continues to evolve. _________________

As our community prepares to face a new and novel virus we need to be prepared - not just for the virus but for people's anxieties and fears.

One of the most important things we can do as providers and advocates is to empower people with information. When we all have the facts it's easier for us to make informed decisions.

http://nationalperinatal.org/COVID-19/

DISCLAIMER: The global picture of COVID-19 is a fluid, evolving situation and although we will endeavor to stay as updated as possible, the information posted here may not reflect the latest news and practice guidance.

-19

Container Baby Syndrome: 10 Things Doctors Say Cause It (And 10 Ways To Avoid It) It delays their muscle development - and it's difficult to catch up.

9 Dads Describe What It’s Like To Do Skin-To-Skin For The 1st Time Before I became a mother, I assumed skin-to-skin contact, or "kangaroo care," with a newborn was meant to aid breastfeeding and that's it. Yeah, I was wrong. Turns out, skin-to-skin is the preferred way to hold and bond with all babies, regardless…

Support Evelyn Bussell Join. Share. Donate. Stand against postpartum depression.  Help us climb out of the darkness, fight

Passing this along...

“Seeking research participants: if you have given birth within the last 6 months and are interested in coming to UNC in December for a one-hour in-person individual meeting with research team members to provide feedback on a bassinet design, please contact [email protected] Gift card provided. Parking is close and free.”

“I think my babies and husband would be better off without me”; I said through the tears as I sat in my OBs office at 2 weeks postpartum.

“I feel like a burden, they deserve better than a mother and a wife like me.”

But guess what, the thought of our babies being better off without us is bu****it.

It’s a fu***ng lie created by postpartum depression, anxiety, and ocd. Your babies WILL NEVER BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT YOU.

They need you, broken or not, they need their mama. They don’t know you’re broken right now, all they know is you wake up every morning and give them everything they need.

I know it’s hard to believe, trust me, but you have to fight the sh*tty part of your mind telling you this.

Think about it, would you really want someone else to raise your babies? Stay with me, mama. We can conquer this together, I promise.

Credit-

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Feel free to become apart of our private mom community to gain some support ❤️

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Did you know that rates of mastitis go up around holiday periods?
Why? Well, loads of reasons to be honest.
Let's picture it shall we?

It's your first christmas with your baby. You're mega excited and so is everyone else to have this gorgeous bundle in their lives. Christmas is going to be AWESOME.
Lots of travelling around in the car visiting friends and family, making the most of maternity leave to see everyone and proudly show off this little person, taking up offers to go over and be cooked for! And that is genuinely fabulous.
But all that travelling leads to lots of time in the car seat, and for most babies the car seat sends them to sleep. And long sleeps mean long gaps between feeds, which leads to full breasts with potential for blockages...

Then the parties, the gatherings, celebrations! Lovely right?! Yes! Except everyone wants a hold of little baby Rupert and once again he has longer stretches between feeds. And when he does come back to you he's over stimulated and over tired and only takes two minutes on the breast before he falls asleep leaving you with, you guessed it, full breasts....

Or the guests seem to think they know better than you do about baby Josie's feeding cues and tell you she doesn't need feeding, they can settle her for you. They talk about how 'when they had babies you only fed every four hours and it didn't do them any harm'. You're then stuck between a rock and a hard place, because you would like to feed your baby, but you don't want to upset family or the way they did things, and maybe they're right?

Feeds are often cut short around celebrations, because you have lots of people offering to help and hold the baby so your dinner doesn't go cold, or guests arrive, or you're due somewhere, or you'reupstairs feeding and want to get back down to the party...the list goes on. So your breasts don't get 'emptied' like usual and can you guess what happens next? Yep....

Maybe you don't feel comfortable feeding around Auntie Ethel and Uncle Bernard, so you don't quite expose your breast as much as you might normally, and your clothes/bra are digging in a little and restricting milk flow and cause a blockage...

Maybe you're sleeping somewhere different, the bed is different, you can't quite get the angle of the feed right on this squishy mattress and the latch goes a bit dodgy, but you put up with it because you don't want the baby to cry and wake everyone. Dodgy latch leads to breast not emptying efficiently...and you know the rest.

Christmas is lovely, but for a huge amount of people it's also very stressful. Stress hormones can impact on oxytocin, which is the hormone needed to let your milk flow. So stress can temporarily inhibit milk flow leading to those full/blocked breasts again.

I might be coming across as a bit Bah, Humbug! but I've been around enough mothers with mastitis to know its REALLY not what you want to be dealing with at any point. It is not to be messed with, it is a serious condition and you can potentially end up very poorly.
What I'm saying is, take it EASY. Plan ahead now to make sure this holiday season is one where you can feed whenever and wherever you need to. Be led by your baby. Don't stretch out or cut short feeds.
Listen to your body, not Auntie Denise.

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