Welcome to My Blog!!

"So what do you do?" "I'm a Doula." "(pause) What's that?"

This is the usual response I get from people when I'm asked about my work. Every hundred or so people I get the "Oh really? That's great", and I nearly fall over in surprise that they know what it is!

Doula's are still a fairly new breed within Australia, and even newer in SA, so it's a bit of an uphill battle to educate people about who we are and what we do, particularly as the period of time that someone needs us is relatively short, but we're getting there.

I absolutely love my job. Supporting women and their husbands or partners during the most significant time of their lives is an incredible privilege, one I do not take lightly. I have toyed with the idea of midwifery, but for me, I am far more interested in supporting a woman to have the most magnificent birth experience she can have, than in worrying about the clinical side of things. I want to be there to support women and their families on an emotional, mental and spiritual level, to "hold the space", as I watch a woman transform into a mother. What can be more beautiful than that!

I hope you enjoy my blog. There will be plenty of joy, some helpful tips for those on the journey toward parenthood, and lots of things that inspire me as a woman, wife, mother, Doula and friend! Welcome!!

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

"Brains 'rewired' to aid motherhood"

This is the little article in Sunday's paper that caught my attention;

Science has finally caught up with what mothers have been saying for years.
They are superwomen with superpowers thanks to an influx of hormones during pregnancy and labour to enable them to cope with the demands of childrearing.
Neuroscientists have discovered that women's brains are rewired during that period making them faster, more robust and less stressed than before.
Professor Craig Kinsey, a neuroscientist at the University of Richmond, Virginia, found the lifelong transformation is caused by an influx of hormones, including estrogen and oxytocin, to the brain.
The revolutionary findings could lead to a new world of chemical therapies to transform "bad" mothers.
Professor Kinsley said if females with a deficit of the brain chemical oxytocin can be identified, "when they are first interacting with the baby you can give them a boost of oxytocin at a critical time".
Sunday Mail April 27, 2008 p26

Have they considered the natural rush of oxytocin that a mother's brain is literally washed with when she births naturally? This rush of hormones only happens during a natural birth, as the drugs used for epidurals stops the natural oxytocin from doing it's job. Synthetic oxytocin fools the body into producing contractions, but it blocks the natural oxytocin from being produced and having the incredible effect it is designed for.
Maybe, instead of trying to identify the "bad" mothers (their quote) after birth, perhaps they should be working on supporting mothers properly before and during birth, to maximise the opportunity for these women to start motherhood with every advantage that should be theirs, naturally.

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