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Doula Du Jour Supports Preemie Milkbank

As Spartanburg Regional Hospital opens the areas only Milkbank for preemies, Doula Du Jour's Erin Shreve explains the benefits.  Erin is the coordinator for Doula Du Jour and lactation instructor at Carolina WaterBirth.

We are pleased to see such a wonderful program for the Upstate's babies who need it the most.
Full story and link below:

http://carolinawaterbirth.com/home/doulasdoulasdoulas.html

SPARTANBURG, SC (FOX Carolina) -

At Spartanburg Regional Medical Center the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is dark and quiet. It's kept that way to simulate life inside the womb for babies born too early. It's those babies who are most vulnerable and depend the most on human breast milk.

"For our very low birth weight babies having breast milk can be the difference between life and death," said Elizabeth Kissinger, the Director of Women's and Children's Services at Spartanburg Regional.

But according to Kissinger, procuring human breast milk is a hard task.

"Right now it is hard to come by and it's expensive," she said.

So within the last month, Spartanburg Regional Medical Center partnered with Medical University of South Carolina and Mothers Milk Bank of South Carolina to become a milk depot, the first in the Upstate where mothers can donate breast milk.

Kissinger said donors are likely mothers who produce more milk than their own newborn needs or mothers who have experienced a loss and want to donate their milk in their baby's honor.

Kissinger said the hospital will provide donors with everything they need, including breast milk bags and that the entire process is free.

“They can donate their milk here and then we ship it to the milk bank so that they can pasteurize it and test it and do all that they need to do,” said Kissinger.

After that, she said the milk bank then sells the milk back to the hospitals to use for their neonates. Kissinger said by being a donation site, the hospital hopes they'll now always have a steady supply.

"There's no first-come, first-serve type of a thing, but it certainly is good to have a great relationship with the milk bank, so they know that we are consistently bringing milk in and sending them the donor milk,” said Kissinger.

Erin Shreve a labor doula with Doula Du'jour at the Carolina WaterBirth Center says having a milk depot in the Upstate will be valuable.

“I think throwing breast milk away makes any mom feel like wow, what a waste because it's like liquid gold to us and there's no formula that can duplicate breast milk, what's in breast milk and what breast milk does for children,” said Shreve.

And with a local option, Shreve believes more women would be likely to donate.

“It's the same thing with blood,” said Shreve. “The blood mobile goes all over the place so people are more likely to do it, but if you had to send your breast milk off somewhere or take it somewhere really far away, you're not as likely to do it.

Kissinger said the hospital is currently awaiting some equipment, but said she expects to be able to begin accepting breast milk donations as early as the end of March.

For more information on donating, visit Spartanburgregional.com

Copyright 2015 FOX Carolina (Meredith Corporation) All rights reserved. 

Read more: http://www.foxcarolina.com/story/28311133/spartanburg-regional-to-open-upstates-first-breast-milk-donation-site#ixzz3TzWQVSPX

#milkbank #doula #midwife #birthcenters #breastfeeding

Our Birth, Sammy tells us about meeting her baby, Phoenix #midwife #birthcenter

One of our biggest concerns was where Phoenix would be born. After looking at several hospitals and birth centers, we decided to give birth at Carolina Water Birth. We instantly liked the midwife, Sandy, and we liked the idea of being able to give birth naturally...and we REALLY loved the tub... :-)

On December 23rd, 2013, we celebrated Brian's birthday with the girls.

On December 24th at 4:30am, I woke up feeling like I needed to use the bathroom. I sat up on the edge of the bed and my water suddenly broke. I called out to Brian, telling him that my water had broke. The water kept coming and coming as if someone had turned on the bathroom faucet. The floor and bed were totally drenched. We frantically called our midwife, thinking we'd have to rush to the birthing center. But since I wasn't having any contractions, she told me to get some rest and call her when I started having regular contractions. She also told me exercises to do.

Brian helped me clean everything up and we happily got more rest. Brian's sister Sarah came and took the girls for some fun holiday activities while I rested and did my exercises. When it got later and I still wasn't having regular contractions, my midwife had me come in. Although it wouldn't be until much later that I had regular contractions, my midwife declared that I was in active labor at 7:30pm as I was fully dilated. My contractions never got as strong and regular as they needed to be so it took a lot of walking and other exercises all night long to get Phoenix to come.

In the morning hours, my midwife asked me if I was ready to push. So tired of labor and ready to get in the tub, I said, "Yes!" But it was soon evident that it wasn't time yet. I came out to labor more. I had been going through back labor this whole time and had seen very little progress for all my efforts. The nurse- midwife checked me out to see what was going on. She discovered that my cervix was blocking Phoenix's head. She moved it out of the way, and when she did, he flipped. I was no longer in back labor and he was suddenly coming!

We got back in the tub. I pushed and pushed - I was starting to be afraid he would never come, but my midwife, the nurse midwife, and my doula kept encouraging me. Then, I finally was able to feel Phoenix's head. As soon as I could feel that it was like the reality hit and I knew I could do it. I pushed with more vigor, and at 9:55am, Phoenix came!

Daddy was right there to catch him as Phoenix came out in the water. Phoenix was born beautifully. Despite his size, I didn't tear at all. Brian picked Phoenix up and placed him in my arms. I couldn't help but just stare at this beautiful baby - his skin was beautiful and dark. He nursed almost immediately. He weighed 8lbs, 6oz and was 20.25 inches long.