Postpartum Care

Postpartum visits are made at your home every day for the first five days. If you and your baby are doing very well and you have plenty of family support, these visits may be modified. We want to be available to you to support you in breastfeeding and in helping you with anything else that you may need. During the visits we will be completing a newborn examination, taking footprints for a special

keepsake certificate and filling out the baby's birth certificate After the baby is 24 hours old we will also do the Newborn Screening Test which is a battery of tests done on 4 drops of blood taken from the baby's heel. These tests check for 27 different metabolic disorders and are very important to do. We will provide you with information on ordering the test kits when your due date is near. If you have given birth at the birth center, you can stay for 24 to 48 hours. The postpartum visits will take place at the center, when you go home we will come and see you there. If you have given birth at home, we will come to you for these postpartum visits. We love to pamper you after you have given birth, while you are falling in love with your new baby, we will get busy in the kitchen and make some delicious and nutritious potato/vegetable soup. This is very good for you as root vegetables like carrots and potatoes have many electrolytes in them to help give you energy and replace any that were lost during

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your labor. We will be cleaning up around you and start a load of laundry at your home and at the center we will be tidying up so that you will have a comfortable, clean and uncluttered space to enjoy your "babymoon" in. When you feel ready, we will help you take a shower. While you are in the shower we will change the sheets on your bed and you will return to a lovely clean bed with the pillows fluffed just right. We will not disturb you during the first day. We can perform all of the examinations of the baby while you are holding him/her. On the second or third day, we will give you a heated stone massage of your belly. This is done to help replace the heat that is lost from your body after the birth. Chinese medicine teaches that when there is a sudden shift in the heat in the body, such as childbirth, the process can lead to depression. They recommend replacing this heat as a prevention of depression. We use heated stones with massage oil to warm up your tummy. Sometimes we also use a moxa pot with mugwort to achieve the same results. The mugwort is placed in a small brass pot and lit. It burns in the pot and the coals provide the heat that is then "ironed" on the tummy through a cloth that is placed between the pot and the skin. Because this is a smoky process, the stones are usually preferred. Each one works well and we will provide you with the type of treatment that most suits you. Some women do not want to have either, and we respect this.

After the first five days have passed, we will visit you on day 10. At this appointment we can do a special massage and reboso treatment called "bone closing". This is a traditional Mexican therapy for postpartum women. The full treatment involves an herb bath and is very helpful for postpartum healing of emotions and body. The next visits are individually based, but we like to get to see you at 2 weeks, 3 weeks, and then at 6 or 8 weeks. If you would like to have a FemCap, which is a barrier method of contraception, we can provide you with one at our last visit at 8 or 12 weeks postpartum. I believe that the postpartum is the most important and the most overlooked part of the childbearing process. Postpartum depression is a very serious problem and when women are honored and loved during this period, it can smooth raw nerves and help encourage new mothers. I strive to teach all of the apprentices who come to learn from me this principle so they can continue this very important service to women and their families.

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