Golden Lotus Doula Services

Happy Mother’s Day to all of our clients and Pittsburgh parents. This weekend is for you. We love and appreciate you, watching you grow in your motherhood journey is the honor of our lifetime. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

Goals your postpartum doula can help with: Get some sleep. Learn to better soothe your newborn. Better breastfeeding support. Someone to help with the family, house, pets, baby, and you. Advice for healing, bonding, and a happier postpartum season. Catch up on meal prep, dishes, and laundry. Learn how to navigate postpartum with the expert guidance of a postpartum doula. Basically making you feel like a million bucks is our job.

Some reminders this Mother’s Day!

Happy Day of The Midwife! You monitor us and keep us safe, you hold our lives, babies, and our hearts. You hold space and give us confidence in our strength. Thank you

2021 the count is out! Out of 69 doulas we are in the top 2 groups in Pittsburgh per Expertise.com Thank you for the recognition! #pittsburghdoula #thegoldenstandard

One of our favorite day cares!

On this week’s episode of How do we advocate for our clients? We have a client, let’s call her Amanda. Amanda is told during a prenatal that she will need to have a cesarean due to extenuating circumstances it is medically necessary, she understands the risks and benefits and agrees to schedule it. She asks about a doula in the OR at AHN and is told she probably will not be able to have her doula there. What did we do? Well her nurse was unable to grant permission to have... the doula there, so do we accept the no? No! We escalate to patient experience, president of West Penn, and loop in her OB to help her express the importance of this support. We got a Yes. Magee is much more used to accommodating patients with doulas and AHN is coming around to all of us being involved more in the OR. All of our doulas have experience in the OR and one of our doulas is even on the Patient Advisory Council at AHN! We will escalate on your behalf; we will show you where and how to ask for the yes!. See more

Let’s grab coffee! All of our doulas are vaccinated, we would love to chat with you more about our services. Your initial consult is free. You can have a better birth. What are you waiting for?!

Happy Easter of you celebrate! If not- enjoy your weekend sunshine

In honor of Cesarean Awareness Month we created a guide just for our Pittsburgh families! Here are our tried and true best tips!

We are your doula soulmates- and we are ready to meet you! What are you waiting for?! Shoot us a message!

Sharing our lactation cookies recipe we make often for new parents!

Kids Plus Pediatrics Sleep Class!

Lots of our clients pay with HSA and FSA! It may be an option you haven’t considered... enroll for 2021 now and use your account to pay for our services! #birthdoula #pittsburgh #childbirtheducation #pregnancy

Chrissy Teigen’s Loss story/thank you letter to her supporters.

The more you know...

We have waited for this day since March! AHN we are back!

DUE DATES ARE NOT A DEADLINE! Let's talk about this "due date" thing. Most "due dates" are calculated based off of Naegel's rule, which adds 280 days... to the 1st day of the last menstrual period. This issue with this method is it assumes everyone's cycle is 28 days with ovulation occurring on day 14. Other times due dates are calculated through ultrasound, which can be more accurate, but they do still have a margin of error. (Let's not get into all the other issues with ultrasounds today). Most babies make their appearance between 37-42 weeks, so your "due date" is more like a due month. It is an estimate. Approximately only 5% of babies will be born on their due date. Only 10% of pregnant people go into labor by 39 weeks, half will go into labor by 40 weeks and 5 days (for 1st time mothers, 40+3 for 2nd time plus) and 90% will go into labor by 42 weeks. If you are a low risk pregnancy with no complications, it's best to let the process happen on it's own. During those last few weeks your baby's lungs are finishing maturing. Once they are mature enough, a protein found in lung surfactant actives macrophages (immune cells), which will then begin to migrate to the uterus wall. Once there, a chemical reaction takes place, stimulating an inflammatory response in the uterus that begins the process of labor. Your "due date" is not an expiration date. There is no such thing as an exact due date . Please quit evicting your baby based on an estimation. I can not say this enough. Trust your body. Trust your baby. See more

PLEASE SIGN AND SHARE FAR AND WIDE!

If you’ve been thinking that you can’t have a doula because of Covid-19, I’ve got some news for you! You absolutely can have a doula, it just might look a littl...e different than in the pre-pandemic days. I am so passionate about making sure pregnant people have access to support that I wrote a blog about how you can still have a doula, even during a pandemic. Read about it here and then go find yourself a doula! http://www.charlottencdoula.com//yes-you-can-have-a-doula- #doulasupport #doulasindemand #virtualdoula

Every year we take part in Light and Unite with Pittsburgh Bereavement Doulas. We honor and remember babies gone too soon, on stillbirth and pregnancy loss awareness day

COVID Update: Magee and TMC (The Midwife Center) are allowing doulas/birth photographers who are also doulas! I know with COVID everyone is concerned about their birth plans changing, we are really grateful to have places that are putting their patient's desire for doula support as a priority! Other changes- (That we have noticed) ... -Magee is not currently offer Nitrous Oxide, TMC is. -TMC is not doing water birth, you can labor in the water though. -Magee is temping and requiring mask and ID for visitors. -AHN is not currently allowing more than one person supporting and not temping people, only doing questionaires upon entry of guests. (We are working on escalating this to allow more folks to have support, especially for losses and during delivery) -TMC has been the most flexible through the pandemic, Magee temporarily didn't allow doulas at the height but recognized them as essential members of the care team. -Known inductions are doing a COVID test as well as some of the scheduled cesareans. See more

Hello little one capturing your first hello is our favorite! Birth photography is so much more than just the moment of birth. Photos of your partner supporting you, you meeting your baby, your partner’s first snuggles, first latch and more!

Stop asking if Homebirth is safe and start asking if hospital birth is safe! We have some amazing evidence-based providers in our region in and out of hospitals. Your doula can help guide you to the best fit. This client birthed with her dream team, who will be at your birth?

This moment Laura allowed me to share with you some beautiful photos of her birth. I was honored to be invited back to support her for her third home birth. Her second I was their midwife assistant, and this time around I was a doula, photographer, and also encapsulator for them. Dr. Rupp is a pediatric chiropractor and takes care of a lot of our families. I am so lucky to not only call them repeat clients, but friends. Welcome to the GLDS family baby Maverick!