Birth Confidently.
We hope this collection of articles will help you prepare for birth — Body, Mind and Heart.
These articles are general information. They are not intended to specifically diagnose or treat any condition.
Please ask your care provider for specific support.
If there’s a topic you are interested in that is not covered here, please let us know. We’re happy to answer your questions.
Family Planning
Whether you're planning to expand your family soon or want to avoid another pregnancy for now, understanding your fertility and tracking ovulation can be a helpful tool. Frisco Midwifery has prepared this article to help you with your natural family planning.
Testing for Gestational Diabetes (GCT)
During pregnancy, a hormone made by your baby’s placenta may prevent your body from using insulin effectively causing glucose to stay in your blood, cross the placenta, and over-feed the baby. This metabolic error causes Gestational Diabetes. This article explains the process of testing for gestational diabetes, and the steps that follow diagnosis.
Gestational Diabetes: Your Care Plan
The first step to managing your glucose is understanding the ins-and-outs of gestational diabetes. Here are some resources to help you learn about blood sugar and nutrition so you can succeed.
Headaches
Most expectant mothers experience headaches, especially during the first 3-months of pregnancy when hormones flood your body. They can also return in the last 3-months when posture and stress may trigger muscular pain. Headaches may even be an indication that there is a significant health problem we need to investigate. Frisco Midwifery & Birth Center has created this resource to offer you some evidence-based options to help you manage headaches.
Iron Deficiency
During the first half of pregnancy, you increase your blood volume by 50%. Then, you have to add extra red blood cells to all that extra liquid. In the meantime, you will probably have low iron. This link explains how to increase your iron.
Jaundice
ometime in the first couple of days after the birth, many parents notice that their baby’s skin is turning a little bit yellow. Jaundice - yellowing skin (and sometimes even the whites of the eyes) - is not uncommon. We prepared this link to help you understand what jaundice is, how to know if it’s normal or a sign of a serious problem, and what you can do to help your baby avoid jaundice.
Kick Counts
Babies have sleepy times, and wake times throughout the day. Knowing your baby’s normal movements will help you respond quickly in the rare event that something changes. This simple daily check-in can literally save a baby’s life.
Helping Baby Find the Right Position
We call it “labor” when you have Predictable, Timeable contractions that get Longer, Stronger and Closer together over time. Until then, we say your contractions are a sign you are warming up or your body may be trying to nudge the baby into a better position so labor can start. This article offers some suggestions to help position your baby and relieve these “on-again-off-again” pre-labor contractions.
Honey - It’s Time!: Recognize the onset of labor
If the is you first birth (or the first time you get to go into labor spontaneously) you might be anxiously anticipating that moment when you get to utter those classic TV words . . . “Honey! It’s Time!”. If only it was that easy to know if labor has started. Often, you won’t know exactly when labor started until you reflect back after labor is pretty advanced.
You birth is Your birth story!
Here’s to beginning the journey toward birth! These next weeks . . . months . . .will be filled with dynamic changes, transformation, exploration, and growth — both figuratively and metaphorically. As we begin this journey together, we want to share our vision for your care. You are the hero of your own (birth) story.
Nausea
Up to 85% of expectant mothers experience “morning sickness”, In some cases it can interfere with a woman’s ability to function. In severe cases it can even be a serious cause for concern. We created this resource to help you uderstand what’s going on with your pregnancy, and offer you some evidence-based options to help you manage pregnancy-related nausea.
Safe Feeding & Safe Sleeping
There are some beliefs about newborns that we want to challenge. Despite what you’ve heard, breastfeeding should not hurt. Babies should never cry themselves to sleep. And, babies are supposed to wake up to eat at night time! This article addresses those topics, and points you to upcoming baby care and bonding classes to help you prepare for parenting.