Have a Baby in Flower Mound!

The spacious family waiting room for Labor and Delivery decorated for the holidays!

Texas Health Presbyterian of Flower Mound or Flower Mound Presby as it is often called is one of my favorite hospitals to work at as a birth doula!  This hospital is where over half of my doula clients that are planning a hospital birth choose to have their baby. Presbyterian Flower Mound is very doula friendly and I love working there! I have a great working relationship with many of the nurses and love walking past the nurses station when the nurses chime in with "Hi Rebekah!" when they see I'm your doula! I'm excited to share what I know about the hospital with you today!

Parking - There is free parking at this hospital and I've never had any trouble finding a parking spot whether it's 3 in the morning or during a busy afternoon. 

Food - The hospital food is pretty good! Dads are brought a tray while your are in the hospital. Depending on your care provider you may also be brought a tray of "clear fluids" in labor that include chicken broth (or a vegetarian option as some of my doula clients have requested), Popsicles, and those lemon chill things like you get at the ball park! One of my favorite things about this hospital and their patient care is that when you discharge to go home, they send you with a meal! 

Rooms - The labor and postpartum rooms are some of the most spacious and nice of any hospital I have been at as a doula in the Dallas, Fort Worth metroplex! The rooms have plenty of space for the birth team and any family you would like to be present. Each room has a private bathroom attached. The postpartum rooms are separate from the labor, delivery and recovery rooms 

NICU - There is a NICU (level 2) at this hospital.

Breastfeeding Support - This hospital has some awesome lactation consultants. They are only in the hospital during the week. If you give birth over the weekend and will be leaving before the lactation consultants are on shift again, the nurses are great and very helpful! 

Hydrotherapy - At this time there are not tubs available to labor in at this hospital but if your provider approves it, you have access to the spacious showers to labor in. 

Well Baby Nursery - Yes. They encourage rooming in but if you prefer the baby can go to the nursery. 

Monitoring - This all depends on your care provider. The hospital has the standard wired monitors beside the bed. Intermittent monitoring is an option if you prefer and are a candidate. There is not a telemetry or wireless option at this point. 

Saline Lock - Again, this all comes back to what you and your care provider discuss but I have seen the majority of my doula clients are able to have a saline lock instead of a continuous IV. 

Family Centered Cesareans - The cesareans I have seen at this hospital have not been family centered. That does not mean that a family centered cesarean can't happen, but it will come down to the care provider. 

Placenta Release - If you are planning to encapsulate your placenta this is a great hospital! They have always been compliant with the Texas Laws for placenta release and they don't raise a fuss at all! 

Special information - Unfortunately this hospital does not offer hospital tours of the Labor and Delivery floor. If you come in after 10 pm you will need to enter through the Emergency Room and someone will escort you up to labor and delivery. You will need to page the nurses station on the box just to the right of the door.

Rebekah Lewis is a professional certified Birth Doula, postpartum belly binding specialist and placenta encapsulation specialist serving families in North Texas including Denton, Flower Mound, Gainesville, McKinney, Prosper, Keller, North Fort Worth and surrounding areas. 

Doula at Inanna Birth Center in Denton, Texas

One of my favorite places to serve as a birth doula for pregnant families in the Dallas, Fort Worth area is at Inanna Birth Center in Denton!

As you may know, in addition to my work as a birth doula, I am a midwife assistant at Inanna Birth Center. When I have a doula client birthing at Inanna, it has such a special feeling. It's always an extra special birth with our midwives and the midwife assistant that attends the birth since we all work together regularly and know each other so well. It really makes for a perfect, cohesive birth team! After a recent birth I was joking that it's kind of like a big birthday party, celebrating the new baby and the strong momma!

Inanna Birth Center is run by Jean Sala-Smith, CNM. It is staffed by Certified Nurse Midwives in Denton and the surrounding areas. In addition to the midwives on staff at the birth center the Midwives from Caring for Women that have offices in Denton, Flower Mound and Frisco also have privileges to practice at Inanna and if a client chooses to, they can deliver at Inanna. Caring for Women is the back up Midwives and OB physicians that Inanna uses if transfer is necessary. Presbyterian Hospital of Flower Mound is the hospital they work with for non-emergent transfers.

There are two birth rooms at Inanna. Both have tubs and one of the two bathrooms also has a shower. Water birth is an option at Inanna, of course you'll need to check with the midwife to make sure that you are a good candidate. Regardless of water birth or not, hydrotherapy is a great comfort measure in labor!

Inanna serves families from all over the greater Dallas, Fort Worth area. Families come for the compassionate quality care from as far as Witchita Falls, Gainesville, Fort Worth, Keller, Grapevine, Denton, Sanger, Decatur, Chico, Carrollton, Farmers Branch, Lewisville, Flower Mound - just to name a few!

If you're expecting and are in search of a doula I would love to chat! Consultations for doula services are always free of charge!

2016 in Review

2016 has been a very busy and wonderful year!

I have had the honor of working with many amazing families in 2016!
I can recall such beautiful details from each birth I had the pleasure of doula-ing for. These families I have served each have a special place in my heart!

I thought it would be fun to look at some statistics from 2016. As you may know, in addition to being a birth doula, I also serve families as a midwife assistant at a local birth center & have included the births I had the honor of serving at in the count.

I have dubbed this year the year of holiday births!
I served families that had babies on the 4th of July, Labor Day, Patriots Day, Thanksgiving and New Years Eve. 

Of the 41 births I attended, there were 23 girls and 18 boys born. I served families using a variety of providers, both OB's and Midwives in Denton, Gainesville, and Flower Mound. 

I can't wait to see what 2017 has in store!

Contact me today to book doula services, my calendar is filling up quickly!

Rebekah Lewis provides birth doula services in the North Texas area including Denton, Decatur, Gainesville, Krum, Aubrey, Flower Mound, Grapevine, Coppell, Highland Village, North Fort Worth, Keller, McKinney, and surrounding areas.

Breastfeeding with Denton County Birth Network

I want to invite each of you to Denton County Birth Network's December meeting! It is a free event open to all women in and around Denton County. The next meeting is on Monday, December 5 at 7 pm at the North Branch Library in Denton, Texas. The meeting topic is Breastfeeding: A "boob"camp! 

We have some great local professionals lined up to share information and resources! I will be sharing information on pumping and returning to work! 

You can get more information about the meeting on the DCBN website or on our facebook page!

I hope to see you there! 

Rebekah Lewis provides birth doula services in the North Texas area including Denton, Decatur, Gainesville, Krum, Aubrey, Flower Mound, Grapevine, Coppell, Highland Village, North Fort Worth, Keller, McKinney, and surrounding areas.

Placenta Encapsulation with Angie's Birth With Love

I am so happy to share one of the great local resources that Denton County has available for expecting families! Angie Stewart is a placenta encapsulation specialist working with families in Denton, Decatur, Gainesville and the surrounding areas. Without further adieu, everyone, meet Angie!

Hi Angie, thank you so much for taking the time to share with us today! Can you tell us a little about yourself and what you do?

Hi!  I am Angie Stewart.  I am mother to four amazing kids.  I have been in the birth world for 20 years.  I am a local certified birth and postpartum doula.  In the last two years I have added placenta encapsulation to the services I offer.

What first got you interested in placenta encapsulation?

I learned about placenta encapsulation during my retraining for my doula certification.  I found the information and benefits very fascinating.  I did some research on my own to back up and confirm the things I learned about it during my retraining.  

Do you have any particular passions within the birth field?

I enjoy working with all types of families.  I always learn so much from each of them.  I enjoy working with young moms and first time moms.  It is such a gift to see their reactions to all of the new things they're experiencing.  VBAC (Vaginal Birth After Cesarean) moms amaze me whether they have a successful VBAC or RCS (Repeat Cesarean Section).  Their determination, the moms finding their voice if they felt they lost it in the birth resulting in a c-section is so uplifting and powerful!  It has been very eye opening to work with families who have a different faith then me.  I love getting to hear about what they practice, what their beliefs are, getting to be a part of their religious practices and rituals.

Tell me about one of your favorite experiences working in placenta encapsulation.

I like to listen to music.  So I usually will play music while I am working on preparing the placenta for dehydration.  One day I was playing music while working on a placenta listening to Marvin Gaye.  I wondered if it added a little more happiness to the capsules.  I am always amazed working with the placenta's, what they represent and the role they play in helping to develop the baby.  

You have been in the birth industry for two decades. What has it been like to work with two generations?

The coolest placenta I worked on was for a friend's daughter.  I was there when she was born 20 years ago and now she was a child of her own, that I would welcome into the world as well.  It was neat to see life begin and that life to birth a new life.  I am sentimental.  I had a mom who I worked with as a birth doula and there was some concern she could experience postpartum depression.  We had discussed getting her placenta encapsulated but they didn't have the extra money, so we let it go.  She ended up having a c-section and I felt with things not going as expected she may have a few more difficulties.  So I encapsulated her placenta.  She was grateful for what I did.  It was a blessing!

How do you feel you are having a positive impact with your clients?

I always try and follow up with moms I have encapsulated for and they all seem to report back that it is going well.  They feel like they have more energy, milk supply and overall feel great.  I have had some who hold on to them to use later as needed.

To close, how do you believe placenta encapsulation can make a positive difference in the birth and postpartum experience for women?

I have read articles that have spoken to the fact that all mammals, except humans, consume their placentas. I feel there is some truth to the benefits the mammals receive in doing so.  I feel it is the same for humans as well.  When I had my children a woman choosing to encapsulate her placenta was not something that was discussed or was still considered taboo.  If I wasn't passed the years of having children I would encapsulated my placenta, especially because of the benefits.  I wish there could be more studies done on the benefit of consuming a placenta but would hate for the FDA to be that involved because it could change the true effect it has on women.  For the skeptics I would say try it.  What's the harm in seeing if you feel the benefits?  As new moms we all could use the energy those early days when we feel tired.   

Thank you so much for chatting! Let us know how can we find you?

My website is:  

http://www.angiesbirthwithlove.com/extra-services

Angie Stewart, CD(DONA)

Angie's Birth With Love Doula Services

940-594-8297

"Trust your instincts; Follow your heart and birth with love."