From the Creative Director: SarahKate I’ve finally found my role in life: I am an artist, in service to women & families who are birthing babies, caring for little ones and those who care for these people, the Birthing Community. This magazine, Artfull Mother, is something I do which brings me the incredible gift of meeting, listening to and actually hearing so many girls, daughters, mothers, grandmothers and great grandmothers. Listening, hearing a woman’s visions, attempting to “feel” her heart, desires and dreams, which I then do my best to translate to the language of art. Then I begin, using what I have learned and adding a bit of myself, I create. The pungent smell of eucalyptus permeates our conversation, sometimes active and intense, other times sad, sleepy or quiet, mostly this time is full of hope and joy. When the last details are in place, the design complete, a connection is forged. A few days later, we meet again for photos, now her design has gone from the rough black paste to its peak, rich henna color. We dive into my wardrobe, a rainbow of silks and skirts, summoning our femininity. It is especially in these moments, I feel most blessed to behold: a woman, blooming in her femininity. We have a connection... our art, adorning her now. Wrapped in silk and color, the petals naturally unfold, glowing with creation herself, the women eternal, moving through this rite of passage, the common thread
which binds us, one and all. This said, I am very pleased to share another wonderful issue of Artfull Mother magazine with you, the first of 2017! This issue highlights some special local midwives, revered members of the Birthing Community. I would like to extend some thank yous: to my amazing husband, who works tirelessly behind the scenes on ArtfullMother.com as well as supporting and encouraging me! He & I do a lot of the photography of mine that you see together. I would like to give a special thank you to Stacey Malik, for editing and fixing so much of my writing; I surely would have died from embarrassment by now without her help. Once again it’s winter and that means... time to get outside to take some snowy pregnancy photos! We have 2 brave models, Sara and Julie, and we got some great photos. These lovely photos with Sara are near frosty Boulder Creek on the morning after a nice snow. Julie came by my studio for some henna and we stepped out into my freshly snow covered Lafayette, CO backyard for this mama’s snowy photos. She reported back after her birth that her henna belly art, still visible a week later, was a great point of focus and empowerment during labor. Denver mama Jaya, came to my studio with her youngest daughter for some tea and henna. I adorned
them both with flowers. Later I heard her amazing birth story where she went into into labor “on her own” after her other 3 births had been induced. There is an interesting interview with Diana Buckwalter, a midwife at a Denver Birth Center. Denver Artfull Mother, Deena Marcum Selko, followed her dreams to become a trapeze artist with the MOTH circus school (www.contemporarycircuscenter.com). Deena talks about being a pregnant athlete. Another Denver mama I’ve gotten to know through my art, Chelsea Avery, has a popular blog, www.thenewwifestyle.com, and in this issue she shares some of her birth affirmations with us. Gaze upon the gorgeous collaged artwork honoring pregnancy by an amazing Boulder Artfull Mother Jessica Goodson. And of course, our most talented regulars: Monet Nicole’s stunning work captures and shares a mama’s story. Miracle Kisses photographer - Samantha Jessup (Aurora), shares Karine’s challenging & inspiring nursing journey. In preparation for Baby #2, Denver doula Mclean Confer is arranging to create a better family bed.
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Julie was adorned on December 9th and told me her baby’s gender would be a surprise! She gave birth to a boy 6 days later. During his labor, she ended up in a position that put her eyes on her belly and the henna was a fabulous focal point that really helped during birth. “I believe
your henna helped to remind me to be an advocate for myself during labor and delivery. My labor was very much self-directed (I pushed when my body told me to push rather than being coached) and it was incredible.� ~ Julie (Denver mama of 2)
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Let me start out by saying, I have never gone into labor on my own. All three of my previous deliveries were induced by means of Pitocin. At the beginning of each pregnancy I have always showed signs of preeclampsia. So, I have never made it to my due date either. About 10 pm on the night of the 23rd I started having some pelvic pain. I wrote it off as what I call “growing pains.” These pains continued throughout the night coming every 1-3 hours maybe. About 4 am, August 24th, these pains started to be more frequent. I knew then that my “growing pains” were contractions. I got out of bed and rocked the pain through until about 6 am. Then I woke up my husband and told him, “I’m having contractions. I don’t know how to time them so I need you to. I’m going to try and poop because I don’t want to poop during delivery and take a shower.” (No joke, priorities right? lol) So, I do my thing and hop in the shower. I stayed in there until the hot water ran out. It felt so good to have the hot water massaging my back during the peak of my contractions. By this time my con 7
tractions were roughly 6 mins apart and about 1 min long. We called Kaiser and they said, “Oh no, rush. We usually have our patients go in when the contractions are 5 min apart.” (We also got diverted to a different hospital than we registered at due to there not being any rooms available. Crazy! Everyone was having a baby that day.) So, I was thinking cool, we can drop one kiddo at school and the other at childcare. Perfect timing! We waited an hour, hour and a half before leaving. I couldn’t take it anymore. Our poor kiddo, Davin, was dropped off at school super early. (Well, maybe 20 min early.) I felt like we kicked him out on the curb in front of the school. (No, he was not alone, there were maybe 10 other kiddos and the crossing guard.) Then we dropped off our little girl, Trinity. (I feel like the car was still rolling when we dropped her off.) Okay, now we are finally off to the hospital. It’s about 8 am by now and my contractions are something like 3 mins apart and every bump brings on another one. About 10 min before we get to the hospital, I tell my husband they’re coming too close. We get to the hospital, thank God they have a Momma baby wing because we had no idea where we were going; my husband races in for a wheelchair. I tried to sit in the wheelchair and that was not happening. There was
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way too much pressure. If I would have sat down our sweet baby would have been delivered in that wheelchair. So, I proceed to walk to my room. No stopping at admin or triage. Contractions are maybe a min apart. We get to the room, and the nurse asks me to put the gown on and try and use the bathroom. So…..I try. As soon as I bent down I knew. There was too much pressure and I needed to push. Got my pants fully off as I was dragging them around my angles from the bathroom, and climbed in the bed. The nurse checked me and I was complete plus three. I have never seen a group of nurses and doctors come together so quickly in the delivery room. It was crazy! Doc said, “Okay next contraction you can push.” then “Okay I have the head….oh, and one shoulder. OH, WE HAVE A BABY!” said the doctor. My one-push wonder baby, lol. I was told that we got there at 8:30 am and Olivia Nichole was delivered at 8:35 am! Olivia Nichole was 6 lbs 1 oz and 19 inches long. ( And I pooped anyways! UGH! She was worth it though.) Jaya (a Denver mama)
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and travel down the halls delivering babies to mothers to feed. SARAHKATE: Wow, it is hard to imagine such an intensely different environment compared to your practice today. What other experiences in your career helped shape your desire to advocate for women’s choices in birth?
Meet Denver Center for Birth and Wellness’s Clinical Director, Certified Nurse Midwife and Family Nurse Practitioner, Diana Buckwalter. Diana is a pioneer of nurse midwifery in the Denver area, and is known for her attention to women’s birth desires. She has many years of experience in facilitating the choices that women make in regard to how their babies enter the world. It is her desire to continue supporting and facilitating birth based on a woman’s personal choices. She believes that in addition to the physical care a woman receives, it is also imperative to foster a climate for rich emotional and spiritual experiences. In a world that is consistently distracting and busy, Diana believes that having a baby is a time for reflection, care, and love. SARAHKATE: Tell us a little bit about your first experiences working with women in labor and delivery. DIANA: I have spent almost my entire life in a hospital setting providing care to mothers and babies. The beginning of my career was in the south where many years ago there was something called “twilight sleep” and “active labor wards” and women were taken to surgical suites where they were restrained and babies were pulled out with forceps. Fathers were not allowed to be with their wives. Their babies were taken to nurseries where they were lined up in baby carts and kept strictly away from their families unless it was feeding time. Family members could look at the babies through the window. We would line the babies up in a train
DIANA: In the 1970s, Lamaze and Bradley began to be discussed among several groups of women. Hospitals began to allow fathers into the “delivery room” only if they had gone to a class and only if they wore a gown and mask and stayed away from the surgical instruments and surgical arena. This was major progress. As I continued my experience and career in women’s health, I became a strong advocate for natural childbirth, breastfeeding, babywearing, and baby massage/touch. I had seen first hand the many benefits of all these activities. I had 7 children and 7 different birth experiences. I was always looking to improve the previous experience. I rebelled against the medical status quo, the forced laying in the bed, not eating or drinking and having my baby whisked away for evaluation. I encouraged all my friends to request a more natural experience. When I became a nurse, I loved helping women through this most delicate and special time of their lives, but I continued to be unsettled by the medical interventions that frequently turned a low risk labor into an emergent cesarean. Women began to expect to be induced for convenience since they were told that it didn’t really matter how or when a baby was born as long as it was full term. Babies were being induced at 36 weeks, 37 weeks and consequently had problems with eating, keeping their temperatures stable and even breathing. They couldn’t breastfeed and so were started on bottles of formula. (I promise I am not a formula hater, just a hater of inducing babies that are not ready to be born). SARAHKATE: It sounds like your personal experience as a mother was so charging for your advocacy as a nurse. What did you do to grow your capacity to help low risk mothers avoid unnecessary medical intervention? DIANA: I became a Certified Nurse Midwife and continued to work within the constraints of the hospital
with their policies, procedures and protocols. I was always trying to find a way for my mamas to have the birth they wanted while keeping the nurses and hospital staff contented with obeying their policies etc.. It was a juggling act. After many years of hospital deliveries, I was given the opportunity to build a very large, beautiful birth center in the midwest. I was a bit wary of the lack of policies, procedures and protocols that had been my way of life for so long. However, as women began to have their babies in the birth center without all the monitoring, without all the interferences and distractions of a typical hospital experience, I began to have a sincere appreciation for the “natural” low risk unmedicated birth. Moms and dads and babies were so happy. The bonding experience was immediate for most because the baby never left the parents. I actually love high risk obstetrics and being a medical provider. I also very much enjoy the freedom that a birth center can offer. It would be difficult to go back
Mother Grandmother Birth Mother
Diana and her grandchildren.
to the hospital and function with the rules and regulations that accompany that medical structure for low risk birthing. I am so grateful that my experience in the care of women has come full circle. It is fantastic to have the knowledge needed to identify when a pregnancy stops beinglow risk and other monitoring and surveillance is needed.
“It is a good time to be a
birthing mother because the options are so much greater than they used to be.
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A Circus Woman (This Fierce Mama Isn’t Clowning Around.)
I am always on the lookout for mothers who are artists too women who express themselves creatively in motherhood and beyond. I am excited to introduce you to a fine example of an Artfull Mother: welcome Deena Marcum Selko, mother of a 9 year old daughter with a second one well on the way. Deena is a practicing “circus - trapeze artist.” Yep, that’s right; flying through the air with the greatest of ease, kind of trapeze artist and yes, pregnant! SARAHKATE: Hi Deena, welcome and thank you for taking some time with us today. So I think the first question everyone has right now is: Do you still “fly through the air ...” while you are pregnant? DEENA: Circus is multi-faceted. On one hand, I’m an athlete, but on the other hand it’s the art that compels me to move forward. Being pregnant is really interesting, it changes the body, so I had to take a step back from the athletic side and in its place, I would say the creativity part becomes stronger! After all, it’s the most creative thing a human can possibly do and it sparks more creativity in me. SARAHKATE: Talk about your family and children from the perspective of an Artfull Mother - mother and artist. DEENA: My 9 year old has become a fine singer with amazing pitch, something I do not have, though I sang to her constantly. I am often asked: ”Is she going to be a circus performer?” She’s a performer for sure, but she’s her own artist. The one in my belly, we’ll see, the important part is that my babies do what they love. Teaching by example is really important, especially in raising daughters. Through circus, I get to show them that being feminine can be fierce! That they’re not really separated and just because you’re soft (pregnant) doesn’t mean that you’re not fierce. SARAHKATE: Thank you so much for your time, and as far as I can see, you’re setting a great example!
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Deena has a daughter (9) and her second is due January ‘17. She lives in Golden with her husband Gabe. Deena is teaching classes at MOTH Contemporary Circus Center as long as she can and she’s collaborating on a new performance. You can find out more about her at her website: www.contemporarycircuscenter.com 13 11 Photo by Kacey Cole. www.kaceycole.com
i want to share some of the positive pregnancy and birth affirmations i used that i believe helped me have the healthy pregnancy and birth i desired. i wrote these out on notecards and taped them next to my bed. i was sure to look at them every morning i got up and before i went to bed. i have all the tools i need i am a powerful woman! i am capable i am strong my baby is growing exactly as she should be right now i am healthy and developing my baby perfectly i instinctively know and crave the right foods to feed myself and my baby well i will have the birth experience i need to have my body knows exactly what to do my baby knows exactly what to do i deserve a comfortable, easy, uncomplicated birth my body was designed perfectly for pregnancy and birthing i believe in my ability to give birth with ease, comfort and safety i have a choice in what i think, feel and do birth is a natural, normal process i am an active participant in my pregnancy and birth birth is empowering i gain confidence through my birthing experience i trust my body it is up to me to set the tone and mood of my birth i can do hard things i am prepared birth will never get bigger than i can handle both me and my baby are safe i gained confidence through my birthing experience during my birthing time, i see my body as soft, relaxing and open every pressure wave brings me closer to meeting our daughter 14
it is better to keep our sense alive if we are to experience the true wisdom and power that birth has to offer (taken from ‘ina may’s guide to childbirth‘)
Chelsea is a Denver mom shown here pregnant with her first child. Check out her blog: thenewwifestyle.com
I’d love for you to meet local artist & Artfull Mother: Jessica Goodson, who I first met last summer when I celebrated her pregnancy with body art. I loved seeing her mixed media art and had to share it with you! Jessica: “This is my ongoing visual journal centered around pregnancy and motherhood. I used a vintage book and altered it, adding in ephemera and personal photos. Many elements are in progress and continue to evolve. I have kept journals for some time where I paint, collage, draw, write, and add hand lettering. I started creating books like this in 2008, after an art retreat with a wonderful group of women, and we still send mixed media journals back and forth to each other. Often I make a copy of what I create in their books and will rework it in my own to continue to develop the idea. I tend to work this way, working
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and reworking imagery to process my life and experiences. During my pregnancy I felt creative, feminine... What I create is very personal, but I believe that this creativity is relatable though pregnancy. I wanted a book that was dedicated to my experience of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood. Ultimately, I collected much
more than I could keep up with before my son’s birth, and now, I have many ideas I still plan to incorporate. I have my whole life, and being able to share my work and experiences is something I really enjoy doing! Jessica Herman Goodson is a full time mama, mixedmedia artist and maker of books living in Boulder, CO. Enamored with all things paper, she spends her time collecting bits of flotsam and jetsam, making pictures with her trusty Diana camera, carving stamps, sewing on paper, and fitting it all into her visual journals. See more of her artwork in the books: Real Life Journals, No Excuses Art Journaling, Map Art Lab, as well as the upcoming A World of Artist Journal Pages. Jessica shares her visual journaling practice on her blog, www.jessiestarling.blogspot.com.
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This 6th time mom planned for a homebirth for her 6th baby, but needed to transfer to Denver Health at 42 weeks. She labored peacefully and with much strength. Her husband and her midwife never left her
side. After a morning of labor, she finally felt the urge to push...and gave birth to her beautiful (almost 11 pound) baby boy. He was born with a veil (remnants of the amniotic sac) covering his face.
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Karine and her baby, photographed by Samantha 24
The Bond Project The Bond Project by Samantha Jessup by Samantha Jessup
Karine’s Story: Totally Committed
Totally I promised Committed myself that I would breastfeed this time around. She is my second baby, and I didn’t get the chance to breastfeed Karine’s my first – so this time, I was Story committed! Originally, I was looking for that early bond that I didn’t get to enjoy with my first daughmyself that I would breastfeed ter,I promised as well as the obvious health benefits that come this around. She is my second baby, and withtime breastfeeding.
I didn’t get the chance to breastfeed my first I think it all started with me saying “I will try to –breastfeed.” so this time, I was committed! Originally, I I think that’s the most common thing was looking for that early bond that I didn’t that new moms say. But deep inside I was really get to enjoy with my first daughter, as well committed and wanted to make it work this time as the obvious health benefits that come with around. I gave myself 6 weeks to see how this would breastfeeding. go. In order to help facilitate this, I did decide to take I thinkoff it all started 3 months from work. with me saying “I will try We to had breastfeed.” I think that’s the most a rough beginning. She had low blood common thing that new moms say. But deep sugar when she was born, so she received donor inside I was really committed and wanted to milk within a few hours of being born. That broke make it work this time around. I gave myself my heart, but there wasn’t really anything that I 6could weeks to see how this would go. In order do at that point. to help facilitate this, I did decide to take 3 Then we some latching issues. For some unmonths off had from work. known reason, she wouldn’t latch on my left side. We had a rough beginning. She had low The lactation consultant in the hospital did come to blood sugar when she was born, so she rehelp, but it didn’t seem to help. It was simply difficeived donor milk within a few hours of cult to get her to latch on that side. being born. That broke my heart, but there Challenges just kept on coming. First, had wasn’t really anything that I could do she at that trouble latching, then she lost quite a bit of weight point. – we had to supplement. We had 3, one-on-one apThen we had some latching issues. pointments with a lactation consultant at the hospiFor some unknown reason, she wouldn’t tal. latch on my left side. The lactation conAnd every timehospital it was thedid same.come Her latch sultant in the to was help, but it didn’t seem to help. It was simply difficult to get her to latch on that side.
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Challenges just kept on coming. First, she had trouble latching, then she lost quite a bit of weight – we had to supplement. We had 3, oneon-one appointments with a lactation consultant at the hospital. And every time it was the same. Her latch was not very good. She would suck and bite at the same time. And she wasn’t transferring much. So we would keep on supplementing until she got back to her birth weight. Out of the 3 appointments that I had at the hospital, I would say that the 3rd one is what really helped me. I met Katie. She mentioned that she was running a breastfeeding support group at the hospital. So I started going - every week. We would do a weighted feeding, and adjust the supplementation as needed depending on her transfer and the weight gain from the week before. It really helped ease my mind because I
could keep a close eye on her weight gain. Plus, I would get to know how much she was really getting. I was also doing triple feedings. I don’t think there’s anything more exhausting than that. Triple feeding is when you breastfeed, give a bottle, then pump... Every 2 to 3 hours. That was a nightmare. Last but not least, I did some CST sessions as well as Chiropractic sessions for my daughter. CST is CranioSacral Therapy, “a gentle form of hands-on bodywork that directly works with the membranes of the Central Nervous System and its related structures (the brain, spinal cord, sacrum).” I truly believe that helped. The delivery was really difficult on me, and on her too. She was a big baby after all. After a few sessions both she and I were more relaxed.
When it came to nursing in public, at first I bought a nursing cover because I was scared. But I think I used it twice. I am pretty comfortable breastfeeding in public now, but it wasn’t that easy at the beginning. Probably partially due to the fact that I was not comfortable with her weight gain and other issues we had in the beginning. It wasn’t that I minded nursing in public, it is just easier said than done. Support was definitely crucial for our success. Going to the support group at the hospital was huge. First the fact that I could keep an eye on her weight, and adjust the plan on a weekly basis. A lot of it was having the reassurance that I wasn’t starving my baby. Learning the fact that she was fussy and itwas not necessarily due to my supply. The other main reason is because it made me see that I wasn’t alone. Alone in the struggle, alone in trying to make it work.
There is also a Facebook group where breastfeeding moms connect. That’s a great support, plus ideas are shared within the mom community. It helps moms who are scared or running into some challenges with family members on nursing around them and even everyday questions that come up. My husband was also very supportive. Maybe not at first, but now he definitely is. Seeing me more comfortable I think made him be more comfortable as well. Thankfully, my work has been very accommodating when it comes to pumping. But it is still difficult to pump at work. It’s hard because you have to try to stay on baby’s schedule for pumping as much as possible while working around meetings and deadlines. I ended up blocking some time in my calendar every day just to make sure that people wouldn’t be scheduling meetings when I was sup posed to go pump.
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Last week as an example, I was in a last minute meeting called by management. After waiting for 30 minutes past my time to pump, I ended up walking out of the meeting. Not sure how the big boss felt about that, but I had to do it. My current goal is to continue to breastfeed and pump at work for another four months – until my daughter turns one. This goal has changed as time has gone from 3 months to 6 months now to a year. I believe we can do it, together.
Miracle Kisses
Motherhood is a journey we never want to forget. My passion is documenting all the tiny, precious details and special moments in your little ones’ first year of life and beyond.
Breastfeeding Group Photo. February 11th or 12th $35 to participate. Group photos, small mini session with one digital file included. Option to purchase longer session and additional products.
Samantha Jessup 29
720.541.0775 www.miraclekisses.com
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Expanding the Family Bed to Fit One More When I was pregnant with my first I didn’t put a lot of thought into where our baby would sleep. We were gifted a crib and set it up in our room, our tiny home not allowing for baby to have a room of her own. Like many parents, our research hadn’t expanded much further than birth and basic baby care. I had read bits about a family bed in Dr. Sears’s The Baby Book and didn’t think much of it. As time went by, that crib just collected dust and laundry, my baby slept in it for maybe 2 naps. When we played with the idea of converting it to a toddler bed the manufacturer told me that they didn’t have the parts and it would be months before they would be able to send me what I needed. So we packed it up and put it in storage. All the while my kiddo was sleeping quite happily in the middle of our bed, where he had done so since the day he was born. My research had expanded quite a bit as my journey to becoming a doula was also in full swing and my love for Dr. Mckenna and his research on mother-baby sleep began. Knowing that we had created a safe sleeping environment for our child that also supported our breastfeeding journey and everyone was sleeping well was wonderful and our family has remained in the same sleeping arrangement ever since. Jump forward to now... Something needed to shift as my belly started to grow. Our queen size bed and our preschoolers refusal to sleep anywhere but next to me was not quite conducive to our space. He had a toddler bed, but much like the crib it was just for show. I really wanted to do something that would serve the whole family and we clearly need more space to sleep, not just for my belly, but for the baby that will be here sooner than later. Since we are still in our tiny home with our one bedroom, I got creative. I did some research and found the best way to side-car our crib. After four and a half years, our crib finally has a purpose! We did rearrange the bedroom pretty early into the pregnancy to help ease the distress of the big change on our kiddo and to help us all get used to the new sleeping arrangements before baby arrives. The actual process of getting the crib into a side position was simple and only took one trip to our local Lowes for flat bungee cords. I have set it up to have the preschooler sleep there, not the baby, so it does have a pillow, blankets, and a rotating supply of stuffed animals and books. Plus, my pregnancy pillow now fits in the bed (more on the pillow itself in an upcoming blog!) When the baby is born we will make the proper changes to make our bed a safe place for the 30
baby to join our family bed (we follow Dr. McKenna’s safe sleeping guidelines. Click here to see those guidelines). In the time being we are still adjusting to the change, loving the extra space at the foot of the bed, and the kiddo is slowly but surely coming around to giving his pregnant mama a little more room to sleep! By Mclean Confer Mclean’s passion for birth started with her own journey through pregnancy and blossomed into a desire to nurture other parents-to-be in all types of birth settings. She is a certified birth doula and postpartum doula in Denver. http:// www.lovingmamadoula.com/