To prepare for the 15 year anniversary party, the Tender Beginnings office will be closed from Thursday May 10th until Monday May 14th

Then Mary Anne will be on vacation Sunday 13th until May 23rd with her sisters in the Grand Canyon.
Mary Anne’s husband who will not be going on vacation could assist someone if they have something to pick up of drop off.
In this case please text Kelly at (931) 626 8223 so she can make those arrangements.

During Mary Anne’s absence Lindsey Carr-Ruck will be carrying the pager.

Daphne McIntosh will handle any Midwifery issues above Lindsey’s capabilities.

Kelly will be in the office:
Monday, May 14th
Wednesday, May 16th
Monday, May 21st
Wednesday, May 23rd

If you need to contact a midwife please call the pager:  (615) 407 9976.

We are planning a Tender Beginnings 15
year Anniversary Celebration,

Saturday May 12^th, 1:00 to 4:00

At the Saint Philip’s Catholic Church
Community Center in Franklin TN

(on the corner of 2^nd avenue and Main St.)

The Franklin Rodeo Parade is also that day.  To avoid the Parade traffic,  avoid going down Main Street or around the Square.   You can take Hwy 96 which is also third street and Murfreesboro Rd to Margin Street,

Turn right on to Margin and then Left onto 2nd Ave.  The garage will be on your left down a couple of blocks.

The entrance is on 2^nd
avenue right across from the “Second Avenue Parking Garage”.

We are so excited to see old and new friends of Tender Beginnings at the party.  Bring a finger food to share and plan to have fun with like minded friends.

Callie’s birth story

It was March 31st 2012, a Saturday afternoon, around noon or so that I started to feel what seemed like “real” contractions.  I was 39 weeks 3 days pregnant with baby #3.  We were just hanging out at home and the contractions started out feeling very deep inside.  It felt like I was opening up.  So I just paid attention a bit more closely as I went about my household duties.  I mentioned it to my husband, and after about a half hour decided to call my midwife to let her know I felt like I was in early labor.  I didn’t want to wait too long to contact her this time around, my 2nd baby came in just three hours and my midwife was still 20 minutes away when baby arrived. (I caught her myself in our bathtub, it was amazing!)

I continued to go about my business at home just cleaning up and organizing things, and paying attention to the contractions. They weren’t real strong or regular and I wondered how long I would be laboring since each labor and birth is different. Just because my 2nd one came fast didn’t mean my 3rd one would.  A bit later (I have no idea exactly what time everything occurred) the contractions felt a bit stronger, so I called my midwife back and told her just to come.  All I wanted to do was walk around, I did not like sitting down, it was uncomfortable and made the contractions feel stronger.  My older two children were still at the house with us and I was ready for some peace and quiet.  It was hard to focus on my labor with them running around and playing loudly.  I kept retreating to my bedroom as I walked around.

My midwife Mary Anne arrived around 2:50pm, and shortly after that my neighbor came over as well.  She was going to take the kids to her house to play while I labored. I rubbed some essential oils on my feet, hips, and neck.  Some Peace & Calming and Valor.  My midwife’s assistant Lindsey arrived shortly after Mary Anne.  Things started to pick up after they got here and after the kids left.  The contractions were getting stronger and closer together.  Lindsey had the doppler on my belly to listen to the baby during my contractions.  I remember her saying “this baby is loving labor!”  LOL!  I was standing in the master bathroom and trying to text my husband’s phone number to my neighbor so she would be able to contact him, and I remember it took me forever just to text her back because the contractions just kept coming.  At that point Mary Anne asked me if I would like to get in the tub.  So she started to fill it while I continued laboring on the bathroom floor.

I got in the tub and the contractions were just coming one on top of the other.  All I could do was breathe through them and hold on to the sides of the tub.  Mary Anne asked me if I wanted them to call my friend Melissa to come since she was going to take photos.  I told her that was fine.  We had the video camera set up on the tripod and my husband had started it while I was laboring in the bathroom.  Lindsey continued listening to baby with the doppler while Mary Anne added more hot water to the tub.  My friend Melissa arrived and started taking photos with our camera.  Labor was intense at this point.  I remember Mary Anne would ask me to try and take a drink between contractions, but I just couldn’t!  And at one point when Lindsey had the doppler on my belly I just pushed it away.  LOL!  She wasn’t at all offended and just stopped using the doppler.   I was getting a bit more “grunty” now during some of my contractions.  Baby was just about ready to come.  I remember during one grunty contraction I heard and felt a “pop”.  I said “I think my water just broke” and sure enough it had.  Now it was on!  I started pushing with my contractions, it was an overwhelming urge to push, and I really just wanted the pushing part to be over with!  I was on my knees and and I remember what felt like one giant push and the head was out, then body and it was done!  It was 4:10pm, just one hour and twenty minutes from when my midwife arrived, and 4 hours from my first contraction. I yelled pretty loudly while I was pushing, it was just so intense!  Lindsey caught the baby from behind and then had me lift my leg and pick up the baby while I sat down.  The cord was short so I couldn’t pull the baby up too high. The first thing I said when I sat down was “I’m glad that’s over with!”  LOL!!  Mary Anne asked “so what do we have?” and I looked down and it was a girl!  My husband got the whole birth on video, which is so awesome to have!  And my friend Melissa took lots of great photos as well.  We have no video or photos of the actual births of my first two, so I am very grateful to have them this time!

We sat in the tub for a bit, then got out to deliver the placenta on the bed, and get settled in together and start nursing and bonding.  My neighbor brought the kids back and they were very excited to meet their new baby sister!  My four year old son was very interested in learning about the placenta, so Mary Anne brought him in the bathroom with her while she inspected it, and she let him wear a pair of gloves and he touched it while she explained it to him.  I thought that was so fun!

It has been almost 4 weeks now since our sweet Callie was born.  We have all adjusted well and just love her to pieces.  And I am thankful for another quick labor and beautiful homebirth with my midwife, family, and friends.

We are excited to announce that Tender Beginnings now supplies Newborn Hearing Screening in the comfort of the newborn’s home or in our home/office.   We will be offering this service to any newborn babies in the central Tennessee area.   We have available four staff members trained and ready to go.   Every day, 33 babies (or 12,000 each year) are born in the United States with permanent hearing loss. With three of every 1,000 newborns having a hearing loss, it is the most frequently occurring birth defect.

There are two basic screening tests used to test infant hearing. Both are painless and the newborn can sleep right through them. No needles are required for testing. We will be using the OAE: The OAE screen (Otoacoustic Emission) measures an echo from the inner ear in response to a presented sound from a probe placed in the ear canal. This test confirms that the infant responds to sound at the cochlear level. The screens give good information about the infants hearing. More detailed information can be found on several web sites including www.infanthearing.org and www.babyhearing.org.

I contacted Mary Anne and her team in April when I was 7 months pregnant.  I decided to do a home birth right after I submitted my birth plan to the hospital where I was going to deliver.  The hospital basically laughed in my face during the tour and told me that they have a protocol and my plan “just wouldn’t work”.  My husband and I researched having a home birth and decided it felt right.  The moment I met Mary Anne, I was greeted with a tender smile and warm hug.  She made all doubts about having a home birth disappear.  She walked me through every detail, leaving me with an eagerness that I had not yet felt during my pregnancy.  I had a hospital birth and epidural with my first child, and was very nervous about not using any medication with a home birth.  Mary Anne gave me a lot of information about alternative ways to deal with the pain.  She wanted to make sure that I was well educated before I went into labor.  She was concerned with my overall health and made sure I was where I needed to be physically before the big day.  She made sure I was hydrated, recommended supplements, and made me feel like I was her only patient.  She would spend four times the amount of time with me during visits than my OB/GYN did during my first pregnancy.  I felt well cared for and knew that I was in good hands.

I was four days overdue when I started having labor pains.  I notified Mary Anne when the contractions were 8 minutes apart, just to let her know that today was the day!  At 10:30 am, the contractions were 5 minutes apart and I paged Mary Anne to let her know.  Mary Anne and her team arrived 11:05 am and started setting up.  My husband, Jason, had already blown up the tub and the water was starting to fill it.  It was so exciting!  Mary Anne checked me and I was nearly 7 cm!  Becca, Mary Anne’s assistant, was my doula, along with Heather, another doula-in-training, and together they helped me with my pains.  They would push on my hips and on my back.  They were wonderful about getting my husband involved.  We were both scared, but Mary Anne and Becca were great about getting us through each contraction.

Mary Anne was constantly making sure that my baby and I were doing okay throughout the labor.  She was always looking to make sure we were safe, and knew exactly what to do if an emergency situation came up.  I never once felt like my life was in danger.

I got in the tub at 12:30 pm.  The team made sure that the water was always the temperature it needed to be, helped me through each contraction, and were constantly making sure our health was the first concern.  I was in a lot of pain, but they kept me positive and reassured that my pain would end.  They always made me the main focus; never once did I hear them discussing something not related to my labor.  It meant a lot to me that they were completely focused on me.  They also made sure to keep my family informed via text messages.  It eased my mind that I didn’t have to worry about anything but giving birth. They took care of EVERYTHING.

I started to feel the urge to push at 2:15 pm.  My husband held my head above the water, and Mary Anne and Becca helped me know when and where to push.  At 2:24 pm, I pushed one last time, and Mary Anne told me to reach down in the water and lift up my baby!  I looked at her in disbelief as I took hold of my precious baby boy, lifted him up out of the water, and held him to my chest. Nobody came and took him away; no one started to do tests on him right away.   It was such an incredible moment as I now had no more pain, and my baby was safe in my arms.  I did it.  He came into the world in a peaceful place, with no bright lights and remained in my arms for as long as I wanted him there.

The team did the necessary checks on him while I was getting cleaned up.  They made sure that the house was clean, the laundry was washed, and that I had a meal in the oven.  They went above and beyond to make sure I was okay after the birth and that my baby was healthy.  Mary Anne came to visit as much as I needed the following days.

This birth was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced.  I have recommended Mary Anne and her team to many people, and if I ever have another baby, I will do another home birth and make sure Mary Anne is there.

7 weeks gestation

Although we do not require all our clients use the doppler for fetal heart tones, we at Tender Beginnings try to make available to our clients  the latest technology.

In clinical trials the EchoHeart Probe detected the fetal heart tones (FHT) in 71% of patients between 6 and 8 weeks gestation.
Unlike imaging ultrasound, the EchoHeart Transvaginal Probe does not provide a visual picture for instant location of the fetal heart. Instead, it brings industry-standard continuous-wave Doppler technology in closer proximity to the uterus.
 
Our hope is that the EchoHeart TV Probe will enhance our ability to:

• Confirm Pregnancy (rule out blighted ovum)
• Early Detection at low cost
• Acquire fetal heart tones on obese moms

This technology will give me and my patients an easy and convenient way to peace of mind by hearing their babies’ heartbeats for the first time — as early as eight weeks and save our patients unnecessary ultrasounds.

After a 14-year decline, home birth increased by 29%, according to National Center for Health Statistics on January 26.   We still have a long way to go to meet the statistics of other industrialized countries. 

In 2009, 1 in every 90 births for non-Hispanic white women were home births

• 90% of the total increase in home births from 2004-2009 was due to the increase among non-Hispanic white women
• By contrast, the percentage of home births declined from 1990 to 2004, and remained the same from 2004-2009, for non-Hispanic black women and women of other racial minorities
• Large differences in the % of home births by race and ethnicity have widened over time
• Montana has the highest rate of home birth at 2.6%
• Louisiana and Washington, DC have the lowest rate of home birth at 0.2%
• Tennessee sits at a home-birth rate of 0.64%.  That is an increase of .08% in five years.

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db84.htm

Check out this site.  It makes it very real that the other organs are “smashed” as the baby grows. 

http://www.msichicago.org/whats-here/exhibits/you/the-exhibit/your-beginning/make-room-for-baby/interactive/

The State of Tennessee has adopted a law that requires health care providers inform their patients about cord blood donations.  Unfortunately,   I haven’t been able to find a facility that will accept cord blood from a home birth for the purpose of donation.   Of course there are cord blood banks that will take your money to store the cord blood. 

 Umbilical Cord Blood Banking

In accordance with state law (TCA 68‐32‐105) health care professionals who provide health care services that are directly related to a woman’s pregnancy are encouraged to provide a woman with information on umbilical cord blood banking by the end of her second trimester. Pregnant women should consider contacting the organizations below for more information that will be helpful in deciding to participate in an umbilical cord blood banking program.

American Academy of Pediatrics (www.aap.org)

American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (www.acog.org)

March of Dimes (www.marchofdimes.com)

National Cord Blood Program (www.nationalcordbloodprogram.org)

National Marrow Donor Program (www.marrow.org)

US Department of Health and Human Services (http://bloodcell.transplant.hrsa.gov)

As I sit at my desk, the office quiet with the occasional bark of a dog, preparing the books for the end of the year,   I can’t help to think about the events of the year.   I have been blessed with the privilege to attend MANY births and work with my fantastic apprentices. 

We as a practice celebrate the holidays with an annual Christmas party.   My husband exhibits his gratitude to the staff by preparing PRIME RIB!  Good job Kemp!   We all enjoy the joy of the season together.  

I am so very thankful for:

My lord and Savior who gives me strength,

the support of my family, 

the clients who invite me into their homes, life and the most blessed event,… their births, 

the doctors and nurses who work with us,

And last but not least my staff.