Research and resources for perinatal professionals.
February 02, 2021 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
In honor of Black History Month, everyone has a responsibility to be knowledgable about Black perinatal organizations that are led by amazing Black maternal-infant health professionals. We need to identify both local and national, that are uniquely qualified serve Black expectant families. Can you commit to adding information on your organization’s website so that Black people who are growing their families can find and access Black medical providers and perinatal professionals to serve them if that is their desire? Now is the time. Lives depend upon it.
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January 30, 2021 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
Welcome to 2021 and the continuing global COVID-19 pandemic. For most of us, we are one month shy of a full year of conducting virtual childbirth classes. Hard to believe I just typed that statement, but it is true. I have tried to seize on the advantages that have come with having the families in my classes participating from the comfort of their homes and incorporate that opportunity into our class time together. This month’s Brilliant Activities for Birth Educators idea builds on that statement and offers you something fun and quick to do with your families no matter if you are meeting with them once or over a series of weeks. I hate to waste even a minute of learning time with the classes I teach, whether in person or virtual. “So much information, so little time” drives me make every second count for the families who are getting ready to meet their babies! I ask families to bring an object from their home to class that they share virtually with others when we first start our time together. Read more to get some ideas on how you can do this too! You can find all the Brilliant Activities for Birth Educators posts here, for lots of creativity and ready to use teaching ideas to make your classes fun and exciting to teach and to take!
January 26, 2021 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
The American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology published a study, “Pandemic-related pregnancy stress and anxiety among women pregnant during the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic” that found that anxiety and stress was more common than it had been before with the combined stressors of pregnancy and new parenting and the complications of dealing with COVID-19 pandemic concerns.
One of the ways that this increased stress and impact of PMADs can be moderated is by information, awareness and screening. Childbirth classes are a great source of all three of these components that contribute to lower PMAD rates. Unfortunately, the number of people currently attending childbirth classes is reduced due to restrictions on public gatherings and appropriate concerns for personal safety and health. People may not be aware that many childbirth classes have moved to virtual platforms and are still available.
January 20, 2021 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
Childbirth educators and other perinatal professionals are being asked time and time again by pregnant and lactating people if it is appropriate and safe to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Initial testing for the vaccines did not include pregnant or lactating volunteers and there is limited information on efficacy, safety, impact on the fetus or human milk. Resources to help you answer these questions today on the blog.
January 07, 2021 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
Google has announced that they are committed to providing specific information and screening tools when someone uses their search engine to search on the topics of perinatal mood disorders. This is the fourth mental health self-assessment directly available from Google Search. Previously, people who searched for information about anxiety, depression and PTSD were directed to screening tools. Now perinatal mood disorder screening tools will be provided too.
December 11, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
In 2017, a travel ban targeting people from countries that were predominately Muslim was instituted through an Executive Order signed by the President of the United States. A newly published paper indicates that this Executive Order can be associated with an increase in preterm births for pregnant people from the seven targeted countries who were living in the United States at the time.
November 30, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
November 2020 was the eighth consecutive month that I, like many of you, have been teaching all my childbirth classes virtually. I am fully planning that the first half of 2021 will remain virtual. With that in mind, for the November 2020 Brilliant Activities for Birth Educators idea, I thought I would revisit Jeopardy, a fun online game that has been in use as a learning tool for many years. The longtime host of Jeopardy, Alex Trebeck, passed away this month at the age of 80, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. Jeopardy, the popular game show that requires the answer to be in the form of a question translates very well to a childbirth class activity. For a wide variety of activities , please browse all 66 previous Brilliant Activities for Birth Educators ideas, by following this link.
November 24, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, CD/BDT(DONA), LCCE, FACCE, CLE
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare just released their National Core Maternity Indicators (NCMI). These indicators are a measure of perinatal clinical activity and outcomes from births in the nation of Australia. The data are meant to be used as baselines, applied to quality improvement efforts and improving best practice. Information is collated from 2004 through 2018, the most recent year of published results. There are 12 indicators that are tracked and the information is summarized for the antenatal period, labor and birth and finally birth outcomes.
November 19, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
Connecting the Dots has an occasional series on Welcoming All Families. The goal of this series is to help childbirth educators and other perinatal professionals create a physical and emotional environment and culture that is supportive of the wide variety of families and people who may be attending perinatal classes or receiving perinatal services.
Today’s post discusses a challenge that people of size have when finding clothes that properly fit their changing pregnant bodies. Just like with any other person, larger sized individual experiences the physical changes of their bodies during pregnancy differently. For some large sized pregnant people, their body size and shape does not change very much during pregnancy and for others, there is significant change. Both situations are normal and the challenge becomes finding maternity clothes that fit the plus sized pregnant body. Living in a larger body brings its own set of challenges when it comes to sourcing clothing in the larger sizes needed, and throw in a pregnancy and the challenge becomes even more difficult.
November 17, 2020 | by: Sharon Muza, BS, LCCE, FACCE, CD/BDT(DONA), CLE
Today, November 17th, is World Prematurity Day. Globally, this day is set aside to recognize the signs and risks of premature birth and to understand the impact that premature birth has on babies and families. . One in ten babies are born prematurely around the world. The most recent rate in the United States is 9.7 and that is an increase from the year before. You can find out more global current stats here. Being born prematurely impacts the health and well-being of babies from the moment of birth and throughout their entire life. Additionally, the medical dollars dedicated to caring for premature babies from the time of birth and often continuing for their entire life is immense.
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