Andaluz Waterbirth Center

Back from Haiti & successful potluck

fernandogallardo — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:31:00 +0000

I’m back from Haiti and updated my blog with photo’s and stories. Going there was one of the most amazing things I have done in my life.

www.andaluzhaiti.wordpress.com

I hear things were busy at Andaluz in Oregon while I was gone. Lots of babies born. We also had a potluck at the Children’s Museum with the biggest turn out ever (471 people!). Thank you to my husband and all the midwives and staff at Andaluz who kept things running smoothly while I was away.

Haiti Blog

fernandogallardo — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:36:55 +0000

For those of you interested in following my trip to Haiti, I started a new blog that I hope to update every couple days. I return in March!

http://andaluzhaiti.wordpress.com/

Haiti in 12 days…

fernandogallardo — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 08:26:30 +0000

I leave for Haiti February 19th. I am gathering supplies and asking for donations to buy tarps, tents, vitamins, formula, etc. The birth center will donate all the medical supplies needed. Email me for details if you can donate. I will be staying in Hinche and traveling from there doing mobile prenatal clinics (this means getting on a motorcycle and driving up into the mountains on dirt roads to do prenatals out in the open air in small villages). During the nights I will be doing night shifts at the hospital catching babies and such. I have heard from my dear midwife friend who is there right now that the situation is truly heartbreaking and the need for help is so great. Today she had hundreds of people in line to see her and she had to turn many away when it got too dark to attend to them. They brought babies and children and pregnant bellies for medical care. I don’t know if the stories from there will be appropriate to blog on this website, so I will probably start a new blog for Haiti in case someone is interested in all the details. I will post the URL here as soon as I get it set up.

25 babies, 2 breech, 0 cesareans

fernandogallardo — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 08:04:42 +0000

From January 1 – 31 we had 25 babies born at the birth centers. Both breeches were planned and had APGAR scores of 10/10 (Ok, those were born at home because of birth center laws, but I had to include them in here). Everyone had a vaginal birth. Way to go momma’s and babies and midwives!

Twins in less than two hours

fernandogallardo — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 06:59:59 +0000

I was driving to a midwife meeting today when I got the call “Contractions just started and are 8 minutes apart.” I let my client know I’ll keep my phone right next to me and be ready to leave my meeting at a moments notice. Fifteen minutes later her husband calls, “Contractions are every 2 minutes.” I take a turn off the highway and head to her house. I am only 15 minutes from her home, and I arrive to find her looking radiant in her huge white bathtub, filled with warm water. Her belly is large and ripe with 2 babies. I listen to one, then the other. Both sound fabulous. I’m the second midwife to arrive, and only 10 minutes after I get there momma feels pressure. I text the other midwives “baby one being born”. No sooner do I hit the send button when I hear the front door open and they quietly come in. They sit silently and get up as needed to listen to fetal heart tones, take pictures, wipe momma’s brow with a cold washcloth. I have gloves on to help catch baby, and the 3 year old sibling insists she needs gloves on as well. We give her gloves. She pouts when I am listening to heart tones and won’t let HER do it. She leans over the tub with a glass of ice water for her mom to sip from a straw. It isn’t much longer before baby brother is born gently into the water, picked up and held close in momma’s arms. He greets the world with a strong cry, and stretches his arms and legs. He gets 8 minutes with mom before we must cut the cord and place him in big sister’s arms, as momma is feeling pressure again. Here comes baby sister. Into the water and then on momma’s chest. We let a little water out and put both babies together on momma’s belly. After a while of skin to skin contact in the tub, momma births 2 placenta’s and snuggles into bed to nurse both babies. Two babies in less then two hours. No stitches needed. No cesarean. Just the miracle of birth.

Where did November go?

fernandogallardo — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 07:35:28 +0000

Oh… I’m not so good at keeping up with this blogging thing! So, November has been busy. Actually, October was as well. In the past 60 days we have had 45 Andaluz babies born! (57 due during October and November, but of course some babies are waiting to spill into December). Maybe that’s part of the reason I haven’t had time to blog?

A fast breech birth

fernandogallardo — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:00:48 +0000

Today we had a first time mom have a planned breech birth at home, in a warm pool of water. I got the call this morning saying she had just started early labor with contractions every 6 – 8 minutes apart. She was still chatty and sounded excited, and we told her to call us if things changed in any way, and that we would check in with her in an hour if we didn’t hear from her sooner. We had 2 midwives and 1 apprentice assigned to this birth. I spoke with the other midwife on the phone and told her I felt this mom would have a fast labor (I was thinking 4-6 hours of active labor…. which is pretty quick for a first time mom), and that we should head to her home shortly. Since we are not allowed to do breeches at the birth centers (because of birth center laws) this was a home birth that happened to be far from where I live. Thirty minutes after the first call we get a call that mom’s water broke and contractions are very close together (one of the midwives was already driving to her home). I am driving there when I get a call from the midwife who has arrived there that mom is pushing. I call a second midwife who lives nearby but is off call (she is on maternity leave because her baby was born about 3 weeks ago) and ask if she can head over since I am worried I might miss the birth (still 20 minutes away). She happily obliges and discovers she only lives 4 blocks away from this mom’s home. I get a call 10 minutes later: baby is born. APGARs 10/10. I arrive at the home to find mom and baby in the tub, happily snuggling. This first time mom had a one hour labor and a beautiful breech waterbirth. Despite having attended over 850 births, I’m still blown away with the miracle of birth!

5 babies in 1 day

fernandogallardo — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 05:00:39 +0000

Today we had 5 babies born, including a planned breech birth and the birth of the first baby of one of our midwives, Jesica. It was a busy morning with 3 momma’s water’s (amniotic fluid) breaking within 10 minutes of each other around 6am. All the midwives were busy taking care of women in labor (even Jesica, who’s water broke at 6am, didn’t want to miss the breech birth so was labor sitting until she realized SHE really was in labor and better head home for her own babies birth!). After the breech I went straight to Jesica’s birth. Katherine made it to Jesica’s birth as well, after our only birth center baby that day (this is odd for us to have so many home births on one day, as the majority of our clients have birth center births… but we do have 29 babies due in September!). By the end of the day we had 5 happy babies. One breech born at home on the birth stool. One VBAC (vaginal birth after cesarean) at home. One first time mom with a waterbirth at the birth center. One first time mom with a cesarean after a very long labor at home (the hospital was fabulous and even let her labor some more with an epidural). One first time mom and midwife with a waterbirth at home surrounded by her midwife friends. This day is imprinted in my mind forever. Warmly, Jennifer

Paint Colors for Portland Birth Center

fernandogallardo — Fri, 11 Sep 2009 07:07:03 +0000

So, I keep getting requests for the paint colors in Portland. Everything excepting Tierra is from Miller Paints the Devine line. Here goes:

Reception is Teak and Oak. Reception bathroom & kitchen is Blush. Brisa Room is in Reflection. Solana Room is in Cashew. Hallway is in Oak. Florencia is Reflection. Ella’s Room is in Brick. Tierra room is in Miller Rediscover 0408.

Our new site is being uploaded today!

fernandogallardo — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 15:45:18 +0000

Our new website is being uploaded today, September 8th, and should be fully functioning today or tomorrow. Please visit us again later to see our new and improved website! Thank you to everyone who helped with this huge project the past few months. Needmore Design for making it, Fernando and Jennifer for designing it, Luisa Vega for taking most of the photo’s, Christine Anderson for the lovely photo on our contact page.