Well Worth Watering

✨ Monday Motivation ✨

✨ Monday Reminder ✨

Whatever you need to replenish the buckets you pour out daily, give yourself permission to claim that REST today.

Early labor can start in many ways.

✨ Suddenly, with mild to barely there contractions that make you wonder if your body is playing tricks on you...

✨ Finally, after days or weeks of watchful waiting or one too many natural remedies to encourage labor...

✨ Maybe with a trickling of amniotic fluid down your leg that makes you wonder if you've peed yourself...

When labor does start, it can be hard to reconcile the feelings that come with it. ❤️

I walk through the stages of labor and what you might feel, see and experience in the first week of Overflow: Introspective Preparation for Birth.🤰🏾

Are you pregnant with a Fall baby? 🤰🏾🍂💗 DM for details about my upcoming virtual (group) birth class!

🍂👶🏾👶🏻👶🏼CALLING ALL FALL BABIES! 🍂

Tell your folks to get ready for the incredible shift of birth with Overflow: Introspective Preparation for Birth.

These are 4 weeknight sessions (2hrs each) that will take place virtually in small group sessions.

✨ WHEN: Starts Thursday, September 7th at 6PM EST.

✔ 8 total hours of live (virtual) class
✔ Educational videos to support sessions
✔ The right balance of information + introspection
✔ Small class size—max registration of 7 couples—to encourage your comfort
✔ Meaningful Birthing from Within processes that guide you to wisdom and resilience you possess

✨ Join the September group for only $225/per couple.

✨DM me for more details!

I recently talked to a family about the mucus plug, so here's another round up about it:

The cervix is like the hallway out and into the uterus. It generally stays shut before and during most healthy pregnancies. We even form a mucus plug so our babies can stay safe.

You might start to lose your mucus plug before you go into labor, BUT many folks don’t see their plug if at all until well into labor. It may come out in bits and pieces at different times or all at once, especially when you are well into labor.

Head over to my blog to read my latest post about it: "What was THAT?! All About the Music Plug." ✨ Or DM for the link!

✨❤️🖤💚Monday Motivation - Lifting up the words of Sojourner Truth today. ❤️🖤💚✨

Activist, evangelist, orator, abolitionist...the first black woman to sue a white man — and win…Sojourner Truth is deeply inspirational for me. Her life’s work towards women’s rights, the abolition of slavery and her unfailing faith in God is a balm, and inspiration for folks that seek to help others.

To the father's doing it with no blueprint.

The ones living what they didn't see.

The ones courageously embracing the names Dad, Daddy and Pop, with love and commitment at their back.

The ones who decided to be everything they never had.

We see you. ✨
We furiously applaud you. ✨
We love you. ✨

💪🏾❤️💐 Happy Father's Day 💪🏾❤️💐

If you do your grocery runs today, don't forget to add some sweet potatoes to your cart. 🍠

Share with a pregnant or postpartum friend you love. ✨💗




🤰🏾

It's the client LOVE for me. 💐🥰✨ So blessed to be able to have this kind of impact on folks' birthing journeys.

Overflow, my 4-part weeknight childbirth classes are designed to get you ready for the incredible shift that happens when we give birth. ✨

Overflow includes:

✔ 8 total hours of live (virtual) class
✔ Educational videos to support sessions
✔ The right balance of information + introspection
✔ Small class sizes—max registration of 7 couples—to encourage your comfort
✔ Meaningful Birthing from Within processes that guide you to wisdom and resilience you possess
✔ FREE postpartum planning session included with registration

Have questions? Click the "Book Now" button in my profile to schedule a free consult. There is no obligation to book after this call, so come with your questions and curiosity. ✨

Gentle Reminder for my expecting mama's + parents: We are called to expand when we are welcoming a new life. 🌱

There's so much happening in our bodies, yes. But expansion occurs in the mind and heart too! ❤️

Get ready for this incredible shift with Overflow: 4-Part Weeknight Childbirth Classes.

The first February session starts this Thursday, Feb. 2nd at 7PM EST. What's included?

✔ 8 total hours of live (virtual) class
✔ Educational videos to support sessions
✔ The right balance of information + introspection
✔ Small class sizes—max registration of 7 couples—to encourage your comfort
✔ Meaningful Birthing from Within processes that guide you to wisdom and resilience you possess
✔ FREE postpartum planning session included with registration

Join the February group for only $225/per couple. Click my "Book Now" button in my profile and scroll down to "virtual classes" to get started!

Or just DM me for more details. ✨

Slowing down and taking a break because that is what is needed. 💕✨

The littles are home and I find myself torn between work and being present with them. I've been feeling cranky, spent and not very joyous at all this week.

When I slow down and ask myself "what do you need," the solutions becomes clear:

Play. Time to create. Rest. Reflect. Grace.

So this is a reminder to us all, Mama's and parents to be: rest is a necessary act after periods of outpouring.

Have a great holiday and stay warm. ❄️✨❤️

Nursing isn't easy. I have a family full of nurses to confirm this.

The video making its rounds this week of the since fired labor & delivery nurses at Emory University hospital in Atlanta—sharing their "icks"—was disturbing on so many levels.

On the surface, there's the wild lack of foresight. This wasn't just venting from overwhelm. This was boldy being filmed (whether they thought it would be posted or not isn't relevant) talking about what grinds their gears about working in L&D...while actively onsite in L&D. 🤦🏾‍♀️

Then, there is the sad, sick irony that these nurses were "icking" about patients in a state with this nation's highest maternal mortality rate (Georgia). Patients who mostly look like them. Whose birth outcomes are deeply affected by the care they receive in medical institutions like these.

And most shocking for me, not just a black mother, not just as a childbirth educator, but as someone passionate about pouring into birth experiences of black families (because they MATTER DEEPLY)...there is this complete disrespect for the sacredness of birth! ✨ The massive blindspot for the part they are playing in someone's entry into this world. ✨

If you are a trained professional charged with a responsibility to care for and protect folks' vulnerability, then act like it. I know medical training doesn't typically come with a sense of holistic duty to people but it should.

📣 No question is a stupid one.
📣 No familial situation is open season for you to gossip on camera about.
📣 No desire for unmedicated birth is open to your judgement.

The nurses in this video shouldn't be serving new families but the issue goes far beyond firing them. It's the culture, the heartbeat of this and so many medical institutions that needs fixing.

The weight of realizing we have so far to go hit me like a weighted blanket I never asked for watching this.

Family, we deserve better.

Swipe + Learn: ⏩ Membrane Stripping ⏩

Share with an expecting parent 💕

Happy Saturday ✨ If you're introverted and getting ready to have a baby, here's something worth reading.

I recently wrote a piece about how introverted and highly sensitive birthing parents can get ready for this remarkable journey. 💕

You can find the link to read this piece in my bio link. Or just DM me. 🌻

Are you expecting a baby or do you know someone who is? I'd love for ya'll to share these upcoming (virtual) events with friends or family that are welcoming winter babies in the New Year:

✨ 11/26: 2-Part Weekend Childbirth Preparation | Have you been keeping busy with nursery decorations and stroller comparisons out of avoidance? No judgement, I’ve been there! Take this as a sign to dedicate a weekend to a class series that’s designed to prepare you for an informed birth experience.

✨ 11/30: Drop Into Birth Sessions | On the last Wednesday of each month, I host virtual drop-in sessions. Join me for an hour of conversation around a birth related topic. They are free and hosted via Zoom. This month's topic is Planning for Your Postpartum Healing - Part 1.

✨ 12/8: 4-Part Childbirth Preparation | This year's last offering of Overflow—my in-depth childbirth class series—is starting on Thursday, December 8th at 7PM. Overflow combines the invaluable inner work of what it means to become a parent with the practical knowledge of labor, birth and postpartum recovery. This class meets for 4 Thursday nights in December.

Check the link in my bio for links! ⏫

✨ Monday motivation ✨

So many changes, growth and new revelations happen in pregnancy. One of the most significant is the shift in YOU. ❤️

Swipe + Learn: ⏩ The super food Okra ⏩

If you're anything like me and have a texture phobia (Jello, I'm STILL looking at you with a mean side eye 👀), then you may have avoided okra for a while.

I recently wrote a piece about my complex relationship with okra. It's up on the
blog. ✨

Visit my bio to read it + consider giving okra another try, especially if you are pregnant or just delivered. 🌱

Share with an expecting parent you love 💕 and okra fans, please sound off in the comments 📣: What's the best way to enjoy okra?

🎁🎉📣 Giveaway Alert 📣🎉🎁

October is a special month for me. It's my birth month and it marks the 2nd anniversary of the Well Worth Watering podcast AND one year since I became a certified childbirth educator! 💗

I'd been wanting to do a giveaway for so long! Now is the perfect time as I celebrate another trip around the sun and these meaningful milestones. 💗

One winner will get a few of my favorite self-care goodies from some of my favorite black mama makers:

💅🏾 A beautiful maroon nail polish, "Strong Willed"—vegan + non toxic—perfect for this time of year from
🌌 A transformative deck of Black Mama Magic affirmation cards, created by one of my favorite podcasts,
🧼 A yummy bar of handmade ginger lime soap from

💌 RULES FOR ENTRY 💌
✏️ Follow
✏️ Like this post
✏️ Tag 2 mama friends who would love some new additions in their self-care pantry. Moms, both expecting mamas + pregnant people are welcome to enter.
✏️ Share to your stories and tag to get a double entry!

In the spirit of fairness and authentic community, please don't follow/unfollow my account. ✨

🏆 The winner will be randomly selected and announced in this post on Monday, October 31st at 7PM. Here's to you!

October is a month dedicated to many causes, Pregnancy and Infant Loss awareness being one of the most important. ❤️✨

Today (and always) we lift up those who have felt the pain of loss, have weathered the storm of miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, stillbirth and sudden loss of your newborn through SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome). ❤️✨

We see you, we love you, we hold space for you. ❤️✨

Gratitude to for recently publishing a piece I wrote about my "second taste" of okra: the star ingredient in a dish I grew up hating, but grew to see as a gift when I became a mother. ❤️🌿

Link to read is at the top of my bio link. ⬆️

"I thought knowing would land softer. It didn’t. It landed hard and it hurt. I thought about a lifetime of clinic visits, the pain, the complications…the obstacles that our daughter may face.

And I cried. I mourned a future that I hadn’t even seen. I blamed myself. I felt selfish and guilty. 'This is your fault! You knew the risks. You knew since you were little that this was a risk.'

I was not gentle with myself. 💔
And I was so sad for my baby who had no say in her genetic coding.

But I had to center the facts. We knew the chances of us having a child with sickle cell. But the fact is, we created our daughter in love, and that is exactly what I needed to center as we raise, nurture, teach and fight for her."

⬆️ Excerpt from an upcoming blog post, "My Daughter Led the Way: A Sickle Cell Diagnosis Story"

Sickle cell is an inherited blood disorder that affects significant portions of the black and brown community. It causes the body to make sickle shaped blood cells instead of healthy, round shaped cells. 🩸

This compromises the body's ability to make oxygenated blood and the malformed cells can cause blockages that can result in severe pain crises. 🩸

September is Sickle Cell Awareness Month. Here are some actionable things you can do to become aware of your status and to support the care + keeping of individuals affected by sickle cell:

❤️ Visit sicklecelldisease.org to find out how far research has come—and has YET to go!
❤️ Ask your medical provider for you and your partner to be tested for your sickle cell trait status. If you and your partner are traits, there is a 1 in 4 chance that your children will have sickle cell disease.
❤️ Donate to organizations that support sickle cell research.

Let’s talk about something on many expectant parents' minds: PAIN. 😭

When we get curious, peek behind the fear, open up the perspective even more and look at the role of pain in birth:

🌿 Labor pain is a normal part of the birth process. There is a purpose to it. It's different from other kinds of pain we may experience from injury or a root canal.

🌿 During a contraction, your brain sends a signal to the uterus, telling it to contract. The abdomen becomes hard to the touch. The upper part of the uterus (fundus) becomes tight and thickens while the cervix, the lowest portion of the uterus stretches and relaxes, causing gradually more intense discomfort.

🌿 Your baby's head pressing against your cervix and moving deeper into your pelvis may add to the pressure and discomfort.

✨ There are hormones at play during birth that offer natural relief from the intensity of contractions. (Beta-endorphins, I'm looking at you.) 👀❤️

✨ Continuous support during labor is one of the most important comfort + coping mechanisms. Understanding the labor and birth process allows you to build confidence and coping strategies and tools to help you navigate the journey.

Remember when I mentioned that Let's take a closer look at the hormones at play during labor:

✨ Oxytocin—aka the Love Hormone—is responsible for reaching or**sm.

✨ Prostaglandins are found in abundance in semen.

✨ Beta-endorphins: feel good state/euphoria.

But what role do they play in labor?

✅ Prostaglandins: ripen the cervix, getting it ready to open and flatten.

✅ Oxytocin: there are triggers sent to the pituitary gland—pea sized, base of our brains, behind the bridge of the nose—in periodic bursts to release oxytocin that stimulates a contraction.

✅ Beta-endorphins: counteract the pain of contractions.

This goes on and on in a rhythmic pattern—oxytocin releases, causes contraction, contraction does its work of opening and stretching the cervix, we feel pain, our body responds with bursts of beta endorphins to ease the pain. 🎵

This rhythm will change throughout labor like a song. It looks different for every birth. It's a necessary part of the progression of labor. 🎵

Understanding what is happening in the body during labor and birth allows us to build confidence and motivation to support the process, not fear it. ❤️

What are the most important aspects of postpartum healing?
REST + BONDING. ❤️🤱🏾

There will be time to make sense of what happened. To get back to your routine. Right now, surrender yourself to the rhythm change taking place. Birth has a way of cracking us wide open.

Take your time and (re)member. 💕

Swipe + Learn: ⏩ Curating Your Birth Space ⏩

Share with an expecting parent you love 💕

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