All posts tagged: 6 min read

What is a Birth Plan Exactly?

by Becca Gordon   Pregnant folks, have you all been told to write a birth plan? Have you seen funny mock birth plans on the internet? Does it seems strange to you to try to lay out a plan for something as unpredictable as labor? Did your hospital or birth center provide you with the

Conscious Birthing: What is it and how do I do it?

By Britt Fohrman   In my practice as a Birth Doula, Prenatal Yoga Teacher and Birth Educator, I am devoted to helping women prepare for a conscious birth. I used to focus more on “natural birth” but after years of attending all sorts of births, I started to see how limiting that focus was. Any

How to Interview a Doula

Doulas are trained to provide emotional, physical and educational support for mothers during all parts of birth, and are considered by many to be indispensable to women wanting to have a positive birth experience. So consequently this is one of the most important decisions that an expecting family can make while planning for the birth

Finding Sleep for Your Newborn

You probably spend many, many hours during your pregnancy preparing for labor, birth, and breastfeeding. You may have even taken an infant care class. But most of these preparatory classes do not cover in detail a topic which turns out to be the #2 concern of new parents—sleep. Considering the amount of time newborns spend

What’s the Deal With Omega 3

Many of the fad trends in foods can come off so confusing and misleading to moms. It becomes so frustrating to women, especially with the lack of information from medical professionals, as to what is really important during Pregnancy and Breastfeeding. As a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist that is specialized in this field, it is a

Parenting Styles… Ditch Labels and Trust Your Instincts

By J. McKenna In the last few years, I’ve heard a lot of talk about the various styles of parenting. What method will you use? So and so practices “attachment parenting” ((http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attachment_parenting)) but I am much more prone to “RIE” ((http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/28/rie-parenting-treating-baby-with-respect_n_4681448.html)). Society tells us everything needs a “label” but why? Does having a label make

The Fellowship of the Birth

I remember years ago—long before our daughter was even a thought in our mind—Crys mentioning she wanted, someday, to do a water birth (which, from all the things I had seen on Baby Story and all those TLC and Discovery shows, also meant birthing at home). My initial thought, back then, was one of, “Damn

Why Fewer Interventions Make for Safer Births

by Elon Bartlett, D.C. As a prenatal chiropractor, my professional, and personal, experiences validate my belief that our bodies know how to birth babies, and that fewer interventions lead to safer births. I was born at home in San Francisco in 1970. My mother had had a previous birth in a hospital and let’s just

The Birth of Gus: First Trimester Miscarriage

I was elated on March 29th, 2015 when I peed on the stick and two lines appeared. I wasn’t expecting my period for at least five more days but that day, I felt like peeing on the stick. I didn’t expect it to come back positive. It was only the second time my husband and