Heartsfull Birth

You aren’t meant to go it alone

It’s all fun and games
And sexy breathing exercises for birth
And romantic plans about how he’ll take the baby while you do yoga every day

Until you’re 10 days postpartum
Still bleeding and soaked in breastmilk
Riding a roller coaster of hormones and sleep deprivation
And your lovely partner forgets to pick up a smoothie on his way home from the grocery store

And you lose your sh✨t
Like sobbing into the bathroom sink
Like cursing his mother
Like wondering why you ever procreated with someone capable of such unimaginable selfishness

And then, when the storm has passed, and you’ve had a snack- you realize
Two shaky, raw, sleep deprived humans
Trying to be life rafts for one another
While sinking into the depths of exhaustion and stress
Keeping the tiniest, most fragile, precious being afloat
Is hard AF

We weren’t meant to do this alone
We were not meant to be sent out to sea on a tiny little life boat with no map
Even the most loving, stable partnership can sink under the weight of operating in survival mode while finding your footing as parents

So, if you’re out there, treading water
Buried in laundry and breastmilk
Surviving on freezer pizza and three hours of sleep
Thinking mildly unkind thoughts about the person you chose to parent with
Because he can’t seem to calm the baby or remember your smoothies or grasp the depths of the earth shaking transition you’re navigating
You’re not alone
And it will get easier
One sleepy, shaky day at a time

❤️ Image and words by:
・・・

That time when you were hanging out in your grandma’s womb

This is so amazing..

Did you know that your grandmother carried part of you inside her womb?
But how?
Well, a female fetus is born with all the eggs she will ever have in her lifetime. So when your Grandmother was carrying your Mother in her womb, you were a tiny egg in your Mother’s ovaries. The three of you have been connected for a very long time. Women are amazing!

I just love these beautiful illustrations

http://www.spysparrow.me/story/873/the-breathtaking-beauty-of-female-anatomy-as-depicted-in-a-series-of-inspiring-illustrations/?utm_source=Social&utm_medium=FB873&utm_campaign=shuffle

The Breathtaking Beauty Of Female Anatomy As Depicted In A Series Of Inspiring Illustrations These illustrations help to understand the beauty of women bodies

Dr. Lown warned [of our industrialized medical system] that “healing is replaced with treating, caring is supplanted by managing, and the art of listening is taken over by technological procedures.”

He called for a return to the fundamentals of doctoring — listening to know the patient behind the symptoms; carefully touching the patient during the physical exam to communicate caring; using words that affirm the patient’s vitality; and attending to the stresses and situations of his life circumstances.

Opinion | Doctors, Revolt! What I learned when a famous 96-year-old physician became my patient.

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Instead of "Push!" "Push!" "Push!" 💞

Women in Labor Stop Pushing, See Amazing Results - Mothering What if we stopped telling women to push when they’re in labor? That’s the philosophy behind a new program at a U.K. hospital, and the results are amazing.

Celebrate Valentine's Day a fun new way: learning to massage each other https://t.co/lve8k4YEh2 https://t.co/ZjKfRAWmyd

Angelique Devlin (@AHeartsfull) posted a photo on Twitter Get the whole picture - and other photos from Angelique Devlin

Congratulations of on you newest book, Simply Leap. I loved it &… https://t.co/Gieh7BLSLF

Instagram photo by Terra Firma Massage • Dec 8, 2016 at 2:12am UTC See this Instagram photo by

Ohmie wanted to visit his favorite chiropractor before the crowd at tomorrow's Grand Opening… https://t.co/uF60GBtwUi

Instagram photo by Terra Firma Massage • Dec 7, 2016 at 10:40pm UTC See this Instagram photo by

This Sunday: There are just a few remaining seats for our 8/21 Couples Massage Workshop in Beacon, NY https://t.co/kUcKVP500R

8/21 Couples Massage Workshop (Terra Firma Massage / Beacon, NY) Learn the secrets to giving a great massage. Focus areas: shoulders, neck, scalp, hands & feet.

I really do hope this wakeup call is heeded & we put a swift stop to birthing abuses & the resulting PTSD in this country.

I wish you better days, Caroline Malatesta.

"Another Nurse Held My Baby's Head Into My Va**na to Prevent Him From Being Delivered" Caroline Malatesta was just awarded $16 million in a lawsuit against the hospital where she delivered her fourth child.

Public Service Announcement:
How to Have a Happy Va**na

How to Have a Happy Va**na This animated short from two RNs and student midwives Margaret Ladner and Aimee Clark gives a brief run down of how to keep vaginas happy. The pair cover all the…

What are/were your favorite sleeping positions during pregnancy?

Have any of you tried the Cozy Bump? Let us know if you liked it
http://www.cozybump.com

Pregnancy Body Pillow | Maternity Pillow Pregnancy Pillow: Online shopping for a pregnancy body pillow. Find and buy the best maternity pillow for you baby at reasonable price.

Read & share. And, read & share some more:

"because of the mandate on happiness and flowers and all things wrapped in bows—women are asked to smile and hold their losses alone. On a day when they are being ‘celebrated’ women are often left entirely isolated in their own experience—especially with regards to loss"

Helping women hold both joy and sorrow on Mother’s Day. “She who reconciles the ill-matched threads Of her life, and weaves them gratefully Into a single cloth – It’s she who drives the loudmouths from the hall And clears it for a different celebration. ” — Rainer Maria Rilke The Mother’s Day we have is not big enough to hold all of a woman’s heart on Mo...

Happy Mother's Day!

Expecting in Beacon? Find your OM tomorrow:

Special Mother's Day Pre-Natal Yoga Class

Sunday, May 8th at 8:30am

We will be moving through a guided meditation and relax and melt into restorative poses.

Go NY! A nice step in a mama & baby friendly direction

New York just passed the nation's most radical paid family leave policy It's the first -- and only -- policy in the United States that guarantees 12 weeks of paid leave for women and men.

Beautiful work. Thanks for creating these safe havens for refugee moms & babies

MOTHER- BABY TENTS Protecting the world's most vulnerable

Happy World Doula Week to all my sister doulas

In honor of World Doula Week
"A doula is an advocate for the birthing mom and her partner. Whether a women wants to birth in a hospital with or without drugs or interventions, or whether she wants to birth at home with a midwife or other trained attendant, her doula will be there to help her feel involved, safe and empowered." To read "What to Expect from Your Doula" visit: http://pathwaystofamilywellness.org/Pregnancy-Birth/what-to-expect-from-your-doula.html

Keep those babies with their mommies
https://www.bostonglobe.com/lifestyle/health-wellness/2016/02/06/nurseries/Ur4Xi846SPStbUx5PhxQtJ/story.html

Hospitals shift away from nurseries - The Boston Globe Hours after the birth of Emily Gatti’s first child, a nurse offered to whisk the infant off to the nursery so mom could rest. “It was wonderful,’’ said Gatti, recalling those two blissful hours of sleep.

"As a hospital-based pediatrician, I know that delayed bathing is the safest medical choice for babies. As a mom, it just seems right."

Delaying Baby's First Bath: 8 Reasons why doctors recommend waiting up to 48 hours before... My newborn daughter was screaming during her first bath as I watched helplessly from my bed. She was only about an hour old. I was trying to breastfeed her when the nurse took her from my arms, telling me that the baby had to be bathed before I was transferred to a different room. We …

What are your favorite ways to claim peace during pregnancy?

media.giphy.com

Elephants need midwives [& doulas] to birth calmly

Elephants Need Midwives To Birth Calmly & Safely Elephants in the wild have midwives who surround them in a circle during their labor, protecting the pregnant mother and swaying along with the laboring elephant. The elephant midwives may care for the pregnant elephants throughout their long gestation of 21-22 months, in labor, and through infancy.…

Great news NYC moms

Harlem nonprofit brings free doula care to women across NYC In the wake of a study released earlier this month on the benefits of doula care in bringing down health care costs, the Northern Manhattan Perinatal Partnership—a Harlem-based nonprofit offering comprehensive health and social services to families—has renewed its commitment to bring doula care to N…

Can you afford not to have a doula?

Doula Support For Pregnant Women Could Improve Care, Reduce Costs Doulas provide emotional support for a woman through pregnancy and childbirth. A study finds that women with doulas are less likely to have cesarean or preterm births.

Consider delayed cord cutting

I guess this is one way to do it. :)

Most of my clients wait until the placenta is out before they cut their umbilical cord. This way they know their baby has gotten all of the benefit from the blood in the placenta. It also gives them more time to bond with their new baby and come out of the endorphin haze from the birthing process. This can take upwards of 15 minutes to one hour. Patience pays off.

Request that your care provider waits to cut and clamp the cord until after the placenta is birthed, that way you know there is no connection the the blood supply. Links in the comments about the benefits of physiological cord clamping.

Here is a link to my blog post with more information and links about delaying the cord clamping for longer then the suggested 1-3 min. http://tiny.cc/intactcord .

Please feel free to share. :)

Were you scared during your pregnancy by reports of your too large baby? Was the baby more than 8 lb. 13 oz. at birth?

"Only one in five US women who were told that their babies might be getting quite large actually delivered infants weighing ≥4000 g. However, the suspicion of a large baby was associated with an increase in perinatal interventions, regardless of actual fetal size."

Labor and Delivery Experiences of Mothers with Suspected Large Babies -... To characterize the prevalence of and factors associated with clinicians’ prenatal suspicion of a large baby; and to determine whether...