Hi, friends! Well, I *had* good intentions for this sweet blog! But the past couple years have been a whirlwind of clinic days and sleepless nights and catching babies and writing papers and doing homework and filling out paperwork, and oh yeah, having a husband and 2 kiddos and...surprise...another on the way! So, grace abounds and the wisdom of the phrase "something's gotta give" won out. ...BUT... ...guys... I have officially finished all the requirements for midwifery sch

okay. okay. so there are a lot of these lists out there, and i recognize this list probably isn’t going to shatter anything you ever knew about pregnancy…but i still think sharing in one place things that i personally find essential to a more confident, comfortable, encouraging, and empowered pregnancy will be helpful for you mamas out there. this was actually quite hard for me to narrow it down to 10…so i actually had to make it 11. haha. false advertising! you get 11 for th

hey party people! it's been too long since i've shared a birth story for ya! and i have a beautiful one for you! settle in to hear about the birth story of sweet mila! Mila’s birth story For 2 weeks I was having contractions, painful and intense ones that were anywhere from 10-20 minutes apart on most days. We kept thinking each day was “the day” until nothing happened. Brian was so supportive and took time out to practice some of the things we had learned in our class with

welcome to the second installment of diaries of a doula. things i'm learning on my journey. things i find poignant and want to share with you. things i think are worthy of discussion. or just things that you might now know about doula life. you know, every birth is different. it teaches you things. and just when you think you KNOW something, anything really, about birth, you realize that you know nothing about this particular birth, this particular dance, this particular stor

what the what? yes, you heard right. the following was put in motion by the Placenta Works site, and you can find their full breakdown of everything here. Here's your step-by-step guide to help guide you towards reimbursement for placenta encapsulation. while we're at it, we might as well add doula support and childbirth education to the list, too, right?! i say: WHY NOT?! 1. Talk with your care provider about your plans to encapsulate. While they should already have heard of

christin and jacob are friends of mine from church, and as their guess date approached they thought it might be nice to have someone else alongside them for the birth of their (surprise gender!) baby. i was super honored they thought of me, and was beyond blessed to be a part of their birth story. so prepare to feel all the feels and tear up at just the sweetness of this birth! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

this post was originally a part of my beautiful and encouraging friend Marie Osborne's crazy amazing blog, for her middle of the night mothering series back in october 2014. it was an honor to write alongside women whose hearts are to encourage others along in the journey, whatever that journey may be. it was humbling to be asked to be a part of it, and it also awoke a piece of me that hadn't been shaken up in far too long. i love to write. it was cathartic and vulnerable and

Hey, friends! Grab some hot tea, snuggle up with a warm blanket, and prepare to read a birth story that is going to just absolutely warm your heart. Cassidy, along with her good friend Alison, took my classes while Cassidy’s husband was deployed. Both Cassidy and Alison are L&D nurses at a local naval hospital, it was so great having their feedback and insights in the class as well! Cassidy knew her husband wouldn’t be home for the birth of their daughter, and she was SURROUN

i read this awesome story in my inbox recently and went to respond to the mama by saying “holy cow! that sounds aaahhhhmazing!” it’s extra awesome when first time parents have amazing births- i think it sets families up for health in many, many ways. rhiona and ricky took my essentials for childbirth class and are a super fun couple. we have mutual friends, which is how they came to find my class, and i am so thankful they did! we wanted to work out a doula situation as well,

This was Rosy and Damien's second pregnancy, and Rosy was looking for something different from her first experience that was filled with a lot of tension, pain, and more interventions than she originally desired. It was SO fun getting to know them during our time together, a super sweet and fun couple! Here is their story, as told by Rosy ——————————————————————————- So what I wanted to share with you was about my birth story and how I really believe the [placenta] pills are m