Another Childbirth Prep Course Complete!

Last night I finished another 6 week Childbirth Preparation Course. It is always a bittersweet experience for me. One night a week for 6 weeks I am kid free for a few hours, teaching about what I love most. I develop relationships with amazing couples who are reaching out for the information on how to safely, gently, and peacefully bring their babies into this world. I walk away inspired by the women and couples who are taking back their births.

This class was no different. I consider them all friends and sisters in motherhood and life. I am so proud of the work they are putting into their prenatal care and the experience they are going to have so soon.

Every class presents me with different challenges. Every couple is different and every group of couples are different - whether it be VBACers, First time moms, Hospital Birthers, Homebirthers, or Hypnobabies students...No class or course is the same.

Week 6 is always my favorite. It's the class where any final questions are asked and we sit and watch videos of beautiful births, the types of births I hope they all get to experience. I had planned on only viewing "Birth Day" this class, but when I realized it was only 11 minutes long we added "Orgasmic Birth" as well. I love watching all the videos that my husband is so sick of watching with me.

I hope that I was able to help these women on their journeys to motherhood. I have the utmost confidence that all three couples will achieve the birth experience they desire and walk away feeling empowered.


Only two of the couples were able to make it to the final class.

A "Birth Day" 200-Fan Giveaway!

Hello, my lonely little blog.  I have neglected you, and for that I am sorry.

As I attempt to organize my very busy life, I have been noticing my Facebook fanbase growing.  How fabulous!!  I find brief moments throughout my day (usually when I'm nursing my daughter) to post articles, update my status, and answer birthy questions on the Facebook Page, all the while brainstorming different blog post topics.  I promise that I will start finding the time to actually post these - there has to be someone who can magically grant me more hours in a day.

But my REAL promise is a 200-Fan Giveaway!!!  I will be giving away my favorite birth video - Naoli Vinaver Lopez' "Birth Day"!  It is an amazing video!  Wonderful for any Mama-to be, Birthworkers' lending libraries, and/or to be shown in Childbirth Classes.  This giveaway is only for United States residents.

So share away!!!  Let's get Nurturing Nature Doula Services to 200 fans and beyond!  I want to spread the good word about the joys and bliss of Pregancy and Childbirth!  We CAN make a difference!  We CAN change society's norm! 

A New Look, A New Step

I have sat on the computer for DAYS trying to figure out how to personalize my blog and website.  I am so technologically inept, it is ridiculous.  But alas, I have a new look (at least the blog does for now).

Once I attempt to transfer this look over to the website as well, I will get on with my new step in this birthworker process. 

I get calls from a lot of potential doula clients.  I get a massive amount of e-mails and calls for placenta encapsulation.  And I am beginning to get a few inquiries on the Childbirth Preparation Classes.  Yay!  Even if for me (the woman who only takes on 1-2 births per month) this seems like a lot of people interested in bettering their birthing experience, there are SO MANY other women out there who either don't know where to begin in achieving a better birth, or they don't even know it is possible. 

I want to make the blog/website look more appealing in hopes to catch soon-to-be birthing women's eyes.  Once I have completed this task (I totally didn't think it would take me this long), I am going to reprint my pamphlets with my updated information and take a fun drive around the counties I serve and drop them off at health food stores, yoga studios, and chiropractic/wellness centers. 

Here's to spreading the good word about how AWESOME birth can be!

Tell me, how do you like the knew look??

I Love Placentas!!!

I love birth.  I love babies.  And I love mommas.  There is something about Mother Nature's perfection that just draws me to be involved in any way I can with birth.  For those of you who don't know this about me already - I also love placentas! 

I am so very confused and distraught by the fact that so many women don't do anything with their placentas, cut the cord immediately, never even see their placenta, and then allow some doctor to dispose of it like it is garbage.  It makes me want to scream!!  Why can't we show our babies' life source some respect??  There are so many benefits to respecting your placenta. 

1. Just leave the cord attached and let the placenta deliver on its own - your baby receiving the last 1/3 of his/her blood supply will thank you.
2. Taking the time to observe this amazing thing can help you to gain more respect for your body and yourself as a mother.  You made that baby.  You made the placenta too - and without it, baby couldn't survive.
3. All of the hormones and the blood and everything you pushed out of you when you birth your baby, is lost.  But your placenta holds all of those nutrients and hormones a woman needs to rebalance herself physically and emotionally.  It is perfect for you because it IS you!
4. And if you aren't comfortable eating your placenta or taking it in capsule form, bury it.  The plants and trees planted on top or around the placenta will thrive (this alone should show you the power of your placenta)! 
Give back to yourself and the earth!  Don't throw it in the garbage.

Now that you know how much I love placentas, I'm sure you can imagine how excited I get when I receive a call or an e-mail to encapsulate a placenta.  !!!  I'm grinning from ear to ear just thinking about it.  I love when women love their placentas!

I just finished an encapsulation today, and loved every minute of it. 

That amazing organ kept a little boy alive inside of his mother for 9 months.  I am so honored that she trusted me with such a precious part of her.  I treated it with the utmost respect as I prepared it through each stage.

And as I bottled up the last of the capsules, I gave the placenta and that beautiful mother/baby a blessing.

Respect and love your body.  Respect and love your baby.  Respect and love your placenta.

Childbirth Preparation Classes: Why wouldn't you?

I can't even come close to describing the number of women (friends, family and strangers) I approach who are pregnant, who giggle or turn up their noses to the thought of childbirth preparation classes.  Now I'll admit, I was one of them during my first pregnancy - and boy was that a mistake.  Thank God I wisened up and took them during my second pregnancy.

What is it about childbirth preparation classes that makes women giggle and turn up those noses?  Did you read so much about birth that you don't think there is anything more you could possibly learn about?  Do you think your careprovider is actually telling you all need to know to have an empowering birth?  Do you think these classes are just for natural childbirth/homebirth/hippy women?
OR
Are you afraid to find out that childbirth is pretty much NOTHING like that childbirth "bible" you read - "What to Expect When You're Expecting"?  Are you afraid to find out that the careprovider you have chosen may possibly be telling you incorrect information - and maybe it's more about their job being made easier rather than you having a satisfying experience?  Are you afraid to discover that the place of birth you have chosen is not where you feel safest?  Are you afraid to find out that labor and birth does not have to be a horrific, out-of-control painful experience?  Do you not want to hear that labor is HARD WORK that YOU (not your careprovider) have to do?  Are you afraid to find out that all those drugs that your friends and family claim to be amazing because they "hurried it up" and "took away the pain", are actually putting that innocent little life you have created, at risk?

Is the giggling laughter, or is it a defense mechanism to hide the fear we have surrounding childbirth?

Why wouldn't you take childbirth preparation classes??  It can't hurt!!!  It is 1-2 hours, 1 day a week, for about 6-8 weeks.  What else were you going to do?  Watch TV?  Finish up some work?  Clean the house? 
Why can't you take 1-2 hours, 1 day a week, for about 6-8 weeks to focus on you and that beautiful baby growing inside of you?

You will learn about nutrition, drugs and interventions, coping mechanisms for labor, different places to birth your baby and different kinds of careproviders.  You will learn about the hormonal blueprint of labor and how different emotions and environments can effect the entire process.  You will discover your personal beliefs and your fears.  You will be in a safe place to vocalize (or write down) your fears and work through them. 
And on top of all that knowledge, you will walk away with confidence and trust in YOURSELF and YOUR body. 

Is this kind of knowledge and confidence harmful to your pregnancy, labor and birth?  Absolutely not.  It could be the very thing that prevents your birth from becoming a surgical birth - whether it being a cascade of interventions leading to episiotomy/forcep birth, or an unnecessary cesarean made necessary because of intervention. It also can help you process a necessary surgical birth due to REAL complications and not someone else's time limit.

So again.  Childbirth Preparation Classes:  Why wouldn't you???

Don't know where to begin and what kind of classes to take???  Start here with my favorites!

BirthWorks
The Bradley Method
Birthing From Within
Also - a lot of doulas provide childbirth prep classes.  Find a doula that you are comfortable with and see if she offers classes or maybe she will have some good recommendations!