birth story

June 6th is International Homebirth Day – as I saw others share their experiences in celebration, I too reflected on my own homebirths. Homebirth was an amazing experience for me and my family, and it set the course for our lives in a very different direction. Homebirth is becoming more and more popular around the world, as families are beginning to see the benefits of giving birth at home. In this blog post, we will discuss why homebirth is such an important experience for families, and how including your children in the process can change the way the world sees homebirth.When I had my first child, I did what many first-time parents do – I followed the recommendations of my doctor and had my baby via a scheduled c-section in the hospital. It was not the experience that I had imagined for myself. While I was grateful.......

Dreaming of your perfect natural birth and not having the support of those around you? This can be a very hard place to be and can only add stress to what should be a beautiful experience of growing and bonding with your baby. So many people today have a vision of what childbirth is like and to the majority it is a scary, medical emergency that needs to be controlled and is only safe in a fully staffed hospital. If your loved ones aren’t supporting you the way that you thought they would, here are some things to keep in mind......

Last week I shared how important it is to always keep learning and how that realization came to me as a brand new parent caring for our tiny little girl. With information at our fingertips there is no reason we can’t seek out the information we need to make knowledgeable decisions for ourselves and our families. We are all capable of learning, right?On that same token it can be completely overwhelming to go to Dr. Google and start looking for information if we aren’t sure where we are heading. I want to help you with that.Here are 3 resources that I have used and believe are a great place to start......

Are you the type of person that does a ton of research before you buy, invest, or move forward with something? I’ll be honest, I’m that way with many things, however, there was a time when I didn’t really think about the things I was doing or deciding outside of the here and now.Whether you are that type of person or not I think that it is really important to think deeply on this topic, especially when it comes to having children. Our walk starts when we are trying to conceive and goes through the next 19 years once we conceive and there are so many decisions we will have to make over those years.......

If you have not had children prior to thirty-five, or even if you have, you may find it shocking to be labeled as “Advanced Maternal Age” and being treated as high risk, based on your age alone. If you are healthy and even if you aren’t in the best of health and choose to take care of yourself through your pregnancy, you can have a pregnancy with no medical issues or complications.You are not TOO OLD to get pregnant and have babies if you are thirty-five+ years old or older. If you are trying to conceive and feeling negativity from your care provider you are not alone. Women are having babies later in life at a much higher rate now and if you connect with women who had a strong belief in their bodies, you will find that they didn’t have a rough pregnancy or had anything high risk about their pregnancy, like me. 

Can Childbirth Be Pain-Free? - If you are pregnant, wanting to start a family, or maybe you had a traumatic experience with a previous childbirth and wonder if pain-free is even possible. The answer is, yes it is possible..... I heard an acquaintance say she had a pain-free birth.....I was blown away with her story and intrigued, I WANTED that experience!!!

How can I stay positive through pregnancy and childbirth? - I see so many posts and comments where so many women are being bombarded by other people’s opinions as they walk through the personal journey of becoming a mom. This is so aggravating and I feel for all women who have had to deal with the naysayers along the way......Here’s the thing though, you have to set boundaries because no matter how close you are or aren’t with your family this is YOUR journey and it has nothing to do with them! If you want to have 1 kid and be done or have 7 and counting, that is your decision with your husband. NOBODY ELSE GETS A SAY IN THAT!!!

Be a voice that stands out from the crowd….. - Do you realize that a lawyer, hairdresser, or even the guy who washes your car is the same as the doctor you go to for your healthcare needs?They are all paid professions. YOU pay them to provide you a service! Meaning that they work for you and that YOU are the ultimate decision maker in everything. Yes, doctors are the ones that go to school for years and have the degrees, I’m not denying that. That does not, however, give them authority over your body......

Have you ever thought.........Can I Have a Homebirth? - You were made to do this one thing without a doubt!!! Many women are more than capable of having a homebirth, EVEN when they don’t think so........If you have been thinking about having a homebirth and are wondering if it is something that you can do, I want to encourage you to seek out as much information as you can before deciding that you can’t...... 

Are they taking your power? - One of the things that keeps coming up in conversations that I find extremely disturbing is how our medical system is dictating our care and how they are training their labor and delivery teams on how to handle having a doula attending and assisting their patients in the birth of their baby........