Dr. Rion, D.C.

Do you think chiropractic and pregnancy don't go together? Think again. Dr. Rion Zimmerman visited us in class last week. He taught us a mini-anatomy lesson about the many ligaments and tendons that involved in pregnancy, the tightness or misalignment of which can cause discomfort and pain, and possibly lead to malpositioned (breech, posterior, etc.) baby.

Dr. Rion sees many pregnant patients for wellness throughout pregnancy. As a dad himself, he also developed some specific stretches and exercises while his wife was pregnant that he could help her with for both the purpose of relieving that tension as well it being another way to be involved. Both moms and coaches in my class enjoyed feeling a good stretch and learning about some exercises.

One exercise in particular that he shared with doing gentle squats using an exercise ball. You put the ball between your back and the wall. When you bend your knees slightly and then return to standing, the ball rolls with you down the wall slightly, giving comfortable support in proper alignment. As Dr. Rion said, you don't have to go down very far to begin to strengthen your legs and gluteal muscles. Strengthening your glutes is not only good for labor and birth, but can also help with urinary incontinence (in combination with kegels) and is another good life-long toning exercise.

Dr. Rion Zimmerman is the owner operator of Flintridge Family Chiropractic and is certified in the Webster technique. If you want to find out more information about the Webster technique, which is used to help allow the baby to turn to the vertex (head down) position, please give Dr. Rion a call or send him an email through his website. There is also a video of some mothers sharing their testimonials on the website.

Presence of Meconium

In class last week, one of my students had a question about meconium (baby's first stool) presence in the amniotic fluid and possible aspiration. She was wondering about how meconium aspiration syndrome was diagnosed and treated. I found a concise article in the PubMed Health Dictionary about MAS, that pretty well covers the questions asked. It is good to know that in not all cases of presence of meconium in the amniotic fluid is it inhaled requiring treatment and in general there are no long term health effects.

Professional Assistant Coaches

While we were on the topic of assistant coaches in Class 5, Tracy Hartley, doula and owner of the local B.E.S.T. Doula Service, shared with us about how to work with your hospital birth team to obtain your desires. This is an important topic since sometimes couples who take the Bradley Method classes sometimes feel that their desires differ from the normal hospital policy or the doctor's way of doing things. Hopefully the couple will have prepared ahead of time and openly discussed their desires with their doctor, decided which if any things will be compromised, and written up a clear birth plan (of course, knowing that flexibility is a necessity in childbirth).

One of her tips to use a compliment as a way of stating your preference for something that the doctor may or may not usually support. For example, she told how she had used this tactic with a doctor who alway wants his laboring moms to give birth on their back, legs in stirrups. This position is known to be the worst possible position for comfort of the laboring woman and the ease of exit for the baby, but is the easiest position for the doctor to see and catch. So Tracy kindly said to the OB as the mom was about to start pushing, "Thank you so much for supporting her choice to use an alternative position for giving birth!" He looked surprised and confused, but then didn't make her get on her back! It worked!

While Bradley coaches are trained to be the primary support for the laboring woman, there is something special that another woman can offer. If you have more questions about doulas, their services, costs, benefits, or how to go about hiring a doula, feel free to contact Tracy or visit her website, search for a good fit from the 300+ doulas in DASC (Doulas of Southern California), or let me know.

Finally, Tracy offers to all childbirthing women, the opportunity to participate in The Letters Project. It is basically a personal letter drafted to the hospital administrator where you plan to or have given birth, telling him/her your birth preferences. Simply select your preferences from scroll down menus, edit if desired, print, stick a stamp on it and mail it. The hospitals won't know your preferences if you don't let them know! Let's be part of the change in hospitals offering more choices to birthing women! I just did it and it only take a few minutes!

Evidence for an extra few minutes

Do you know that it is considered "delayed" cord clamping if it is more than 30 seconds after baby is out?


One of my students asked me for some research to present to her OB that suggests delayed cord clamping is beneficial, since the OB's opinion is that it is better to clamp and cut immediately due to increased risk of jaundice. As a side note, I would like to say that I always recommend my students also do their own research and then consult their personal health care provider to be the best consumer of health care and advocate for your family as possible. Secondly, props to my student for asking about these issues early on to figure out what is best in your situation and what your provider recommends. And thirdly, yay for a doc who is willing to listen to what the "research shows." This is a great example of how medical opinion varies and that in some cases, while the studies do "show," there may be either a delay in the change of the practice or even resistance. 


So, to help you my students and consumers of health care on your way to discovering for yourself what is best for you and your family, I wanted to share links to some studies that that you may find interesting, in addition to a previous post of mine.

• Very interesting video of grand rounds at University of South Carolina - 2011 Dr. Nicholas Fogelson presenting data to show positive physiologic and clinical outcomes. I watched the whole thing and really recommend it, if you (or your provider) are on the fence about allowing the intervention of "early" cord clamping.
• World Health Organization - current commentary in their Reproductive Health Library recommends delaying of cord clamping, with the caution of taking into consideration that there is a increased incidence of jaundice requiring phototherapy which may not be available in underdeveloped countries.
• Journal of Midwifery and Women's Health - 2001 literature review showing many benefits in the first week through 2 months of age.

Car seat safety

Although you already know you need one and have probably registered for or bought the car seat for your baby, it can be a little tricky to make sure you use it correctly. It seems silly to read instructions for something like that, but seriously read them and keep them. More often it is the installation of the car seat (or base rather) that is done incorrectly, but I've seen the baby strapped in incorrectly as well (yes, I did say something). Some of you may be getting close to 36 weeks or more - it is a good time to get it set up and checked out. While the nurse won't let you go home from the hospital without visually seeing the car seat, she won't check the installation for you.

Here is a link to CHP law and from there you can find a place to have your installation of the car seat checked.

Here is a link to a video of how to install the infant seat base.

Here is a link to a video of how secure the baby in the car seat.

Help with breastfeeding

While breastfeeding your baby is completely natural, we generally don't have much experience in our current society regarding normal, healthy breastfeeding. So last week in class, we had Mariana come speak with us about breastfeeding - the variations in the initial experience, importance of skin-to-skin, milk production, and a basic "how-to" lesson.

Mariana works at Bellies Babies and Bosoms, a cute little store pertaining to all things mama and baby, in Montrose/Glendale and is a lactation consultant. Bellies offers a free prenatal breastfeeding class, as well as a "Going Back to Work" class (fee applies).

She gave us a lot of info, but the take home lesson would be to get help and support if you need it while breastfeeding. There are a number of places to do so, including attending La Leche meetings, but Bellies is another great place to try.

Avoiding Preeclampsia

The Bradley Method® encourages pregnant moms to follow the Brewer Pregnancy Diet, for MANY reasons, one of which is avoiding preeclampsia, as we learn in class. When you have to pee in a cup at essentially every appointment, one of the things they are looking for is protein in your urine (a symptom involving malnutrition and/or preeclampsia).


Preeclampsia is a disorder that occurs only during pregnancy and the postpartum period and affects both the mother and the unborn baby. Affecting at least 5-8% of all pregnancies, it is a rapidly progressive condition characterized by high blood pressure and the presence of protein in the urine. It can lead to eclampsia, which can cause convulsions and is potentially fatal (2% of cases).


Although it is not a well-understood disease, it is very serious and incurable, generally needing to induce or deliver the baby to avoid further complications. Amazingly, Dr. Brewer discovered a well-balance and high protein diet essentially eradicated this previously unknown disease from a susceptible population of women, repeated through many years. Unfortunately, possibly because it was not a randomized, double-blind trial which would have included the purposeful malnourishment of pregnant mothers to show the non-placebo effect of the diet, the Brewer Pregnancy Diet has not been as widely taught to OB/GYN and therefore as many pregnant moms as you might think.


Remember that eating well for your baby is the single most important thing you can do while he/she is growing inside of you. You might ask your doctor or midwife about their knowledge/recommendation about the Brewer Pregnancy diet and see what they say... let me know!