Doula Tips and Tits with Kaely Harrod

Get ready for a brand new season of Kaely Daily: Doula Tips and Tits. I'm excited to start dropping episodes next Wednesday, Sept 7th. Keep an eye out!

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Doulas do advocate, we talked about that in the last episode which is linked below. But HOW? How do doulas advocate without making decisions for our clients? Or making a birth scenario about us? That’s today’s episode. How do doulas advocate for their clients during a birth? What are some phrases and strategies doulas can use to advocate for their clients?

One big prenatal step is writing a birth plan. This gives the client time to decide what their thoughts are on things and also gives you a reference to point back to. Either in the form of reminding the client of their plan and desire OR of reminding the team to read the plan/desire. Both can be incredibly helpful.

“Let's say a provider is saying ‘Okay, we really want to have continuous monitoring’, for instance, and your client says, I don't remember what I wanted. One thing you can say is, ‘oh, hey, I know that on your birth plan, you wanted intermittent monitoring? Do you remember the difference between those two? Do you want your provider to explain the difference or why they're wanting to expand continuous versus intermittent?’ Because that adds some nuance, right? Like, it's entirely possible that the provider is saying, We want you on continuous monitoring, because we're really concerned about your baby's heart rate, well, then that's a very legitimate and super important reason to be on continuous monitoring. It's also possible that the provider is just like, annoyed with intermittent monitoring and wants the person on continuous, I'm not saying these are scenarios where the provider is saying something that is always wrong, that's not necessarily the case, sometimes it's that they lack explanation, or they lack client or patient consent.”

Doula Advocacy Scripts:

“(name of client) I know you mentioned in the prenatal visits that you were concerned about X do you have any questions about that now?”

“(name of client) wrote out on their birth plan their desires around (insert issue)” especially if someone is mid-contraction

“(name of client), you let us know when you’re ready for X” (when someone has said yes to an exam after this next contraction but isn’t opening eyes, etc.

“I heard (name of client) say no. Is that right (name of client)?” when a client is being ignored

“Name of client do you want your water broken?” if you see a provider preparing for a procedure that your client has not consented to

Listen to the previous episode here:

https://www.harroddoulaservices.com/kaely-daily-podcast

CONNECT with Kaely on TikTok or Instagram

https://www.tiktok.com/@doulacoach

https://www.instagram.com/Harroddoula/

If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @harroddoula

Kaely Daily is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services

It is sponsored by The Birth Prep Blueprint Childbirth Class

Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay

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This is the beginning of a series for the whole month of July featuring various providers who are answering questions they want doulas to know about when clients can use their services and when/how to refer to them. This is a vital part of every doula’s work because there are many providers who should be referred to and who our clients can benefit greatly from.

Dr. Teiya Qualls is our first provider! She is a wonderful Pelvic Floor PT in the DC area and is doing amazing work to bring better pelvic health to the area one client at at a time. See her full bio below.

Doulas often think of Pelvic Floor PT for post-delivery, but there is much more to a Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist’s role in a pregnant person’s whole pregnancy as well! There are a wide range of issues treated by a Pelvic Floor PT from muscle pain in the pelvic floor to pelvic pain in the sacrum or hips! The pelvic floor is connected to the whole body, so there are many issues that can impact its health and tone.

OUR GUEST:

Dr. Tieya M. Qualls, PT, DPT, PRPC is the founder of Quality Touch Physical Therapy & Wellness, serving the DMV area. She is a licensed Physical Therapist with additional certification in pelvic health. She earned a B.S. in Biology from Hampton University, in Hampton, VA in 2002. Following this, she received both her Master and Doctoral degrees in Physical Therapy from Howard University, in Washington, DC in 2005 and 2012, respectively. Throughout her 16+ year career, she has attained experience working in a variety of clinical settings including, orthopedic outpatient, skilled nursing, home healthcare, and acute care. Dr. Qualls is also trained as a birth doula, providing education, emotional and physical support for the pregnant and postpartum population.

She values being a part of their birth team, whether it is educating, serving as an advocate, or simply holding space for her clients during a time when they are most vulnerable. She is always honored to be chosen by her clients, to assist them during this important period of ushering new life into their world. She has served as an Adjunct Clinical Assistant Professor at Howard University, in The College of Nursing and Allied Health Sciences. She is also an APTA Credentialed Clinical Instructor, utilizing her knowledge and skills to assist with educating the next generation of Physical Therapists.

After completing the pelvic floor course series with the Herman & Wallace Pelvic Rehabilitation Institute, Dr. Qualls earned the Pelvic Rehabilitation Practitioner Certification, also offered by the organization. This certification designates her as a pelvic rehabilitation specialist, possessing the knowledge and skills to accurately diagnose and treat pelvic floor dysfunctions for all genders. She has also served as a TA for the organization, assisting instructors as they educate other healthcare professionals on topics within the pelvic health field.

In addition to her passion for treating conditions of the pelvic floor, pregnancy, and the postpartum period, she also treats a variety of musculoskeletal and chronic pain conditions. She has taken multiple advanced manual therapy courses addressing not only the pelvic floor and pelvic girdle, but also other regions of the spine and soft tissues of the body, globally.

In an effort to maximize patient outcomes, she incorporates a variety of manual therapy techniques into her treatment approach. These include myofascial release, muscle energy and trigger point dry needling, including dry needling to the pelvic floor, when appropriate. She uses her specialized training and evidenced-based practice to create individualized treatment programs that focus on the whole person. She also values empowering her pa

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Are you loving Doula Tips and Tits? If so We’d be so appreciative of your support! You have the option to choose monthly support starting at just $3 a month. https://www.buzzsprout.com/1916032/supporters/new

Traditional Moroccan Postpartum Care and the closing of the bones ceremony are just a few of the wonderful things our podcast guest today does in the birth world. Fatima is a birth and postpartum doula who brings her clients a postpartum experience that really encompasses the whole self and not just the survival mentality we often have in the early days after births!

This is helpful to know as a doula both for the purpose of referrals, but also for the purpose of considering new services you could offer. I talk in this episode about my desire to have a closing of the bones ceremony even 9 years postpartum because I honestly feel I rushed past that holistic healing that my body probably needed after birth!

OUR GUEST:

Fatima is a birth doula and traditional postpartum doula serving families in the DC Metro area. She focuses her postpartum care on traditional services and has trained in Traditional Moroccan Postpartum Care and through Innate Traditions. Other than her passion for birth support and building birth options awareness, she has a passion for bringing to light stories of global postpartum care practices that are familiar across time and space. Fatima offers a workshop on Ancient SWANA/African/Asian Postpartum Care Practices and specializes in the Moroccan Closing the Bones Ceremony. She is constantly in search of global postpartum stories and the lessons that birth and the postpartum have to offer.

Resources Mentioned:

Innate Traditions: https://www.innatetraditions.com/

First 40 Days Book: https://www.amazon.com/First-Forty-Days-Essential-Nourishing/dp/1617691836

A resource from Fatima: 6 Tips for Postpartum Support: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rWsORvBJb29iWkFI1q1c1VyyZ3ibfiRm/view

Fatimas's virtual postpartum classes/workshops: https://oasisbirthdoula.com/childbirth-classes/

CONNECT with Fatima:

Website: https://oasisbirthdoula.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fatimaoasisdoula/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fatimaoasisdoula

CONNECT with Kaely on TikTok or Instagram

https://www.tiktok.com/@doulacoach

https://www.instagram.com/Harroddoula/

If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @harroddoula

Kaely Daily is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services

It is sponsored by The Birth Prep Blueprint Childbirth Class

Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay

Support the show

Each Birth Doula works slightly differently, that’s part of the beauty of our work! Some doulas have a variety of options in terms of what is included in a doula package and others have a set standard of what they do with clients. While I can’t guarantee that this episode covers all the variety of how individual doulas work, however it does cover the types that I most often see!

Many birth doula packages include some form of prenatal education and interaction with a pregnant client and their support person/partner. Oftentimes you have virtual access via text, email and calls, as well as one or more prenatal visits. One of the things you can ask doulas when you’re doula interviews is what kind of prenatal interactions you will have with them.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Many doulas include the following prenatal interactions in their packages
  • Text/Email support during pregnancy and sometimes a short time during postpartum
  • One prenatal to plan for birth and sometimes write a birth plan
  • One prenatal for planning comfort measures or practicing things together
  • An on-call period that either starts from date of hire or from 36 weeks (that’s a good thing to ask!)
• Not all doula packages are the same, so ask what is included when you’re interviewing doulas!

RESOURCES

FREE OXYTOCIN GUIDE:

6 Ways to Increase Oxytocin for Labor Progression

https://www.harroddoulaservices.com/free-guide-6-oxytocin-tips

CONNECT with Kaely on Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/Harroddoula/

This podcast is hosted by the Birth Prep Blueprint - comprehensive Childbirth Education for expectant parents to feel calm, prepared and confident about labor and birth. Podcast listeners (that’s YOU!) get 10% off! Use the link below to get that great deal!

https://thebirthprepblueprint.com/offers/884d5a56-9089-4482-a944-6bb7c26c9b04

** The Birth Prep Blueprint is offered for only $20 to anyone who qualifies for any kind of social services (meaning that a family has a lower income to the point that they would qualify for WIC or SNAP or Medicaid, etc.). No need to disclose your income, just which service you qualify for and the link can be sent right over. Just email [email protected] to learn more.

If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me @harroddoula

Kaely Daily is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services

It is sponsored by The Birth Prep Blueprint Childbirth Class

Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay

Support the show