Congratulations on your pregnancy and parenthood journey! As you embark on this transformative time, practicing mindfulness can greatly enhance your experience. Here are five valuable tips from Miranda, yoga teacher and birth doula, on mindfulness tailored to pregnancy and new parents… 1. Embrace the Present Moment: Pregnancy and early parenthood can be overwhelming, with thoughts constantly focused on the past or future. Mindfulness encourages you to fully embrace the present moment. Take time each day to tune into your body, …
Essential Newborn Items (With Links!!)
Bringing a newborn into the world is an exciting and joyous experience, but it also comes with its fair share of questions. As a new parent, you want to ensure that your little one has the best of everything, from clothing to nursery essentials. Thankfully, our seasoned postpartum doulas have curated a list for you that offers a wide array of newborn products that are both functional and reliable. Baby Car Seat: Graco SnugRide SnugLock Infant Car Seat is a …
Three Prideful Children’s Stories I’m Sharing With My Children This Pride Month
Happy Pride Month friends! This June has been extra special in getting to share Pride festivities with my kiddo; who’s now 5 and can participate and engage in new, exciting ways. My son, Maddox, and I had a ton of fun attending his first pride parade & learning about what the expression of freedom meant for individual people we encountered. As the month comes to a close, we’ve kept the pride celebrations and talk going in our household all …
How to Feel Your Best Postpartum
Postpartum is among the most challenging times in a familys life. Your body is healing, hormones are running wild, you’re more exhausted than you knew was possible, and in the midst of it all, you’re learning how to be a caregiver to the amazing little human you created. Even if you have not physically given birth, the early days of a new baby can be exhausting and scary, and finding time to care for yourself isn’t easy. Basically — it’s …
So What Exactly Does a Postpartum Doula Do?
What exactly a postpartum doula does is such a hard question to answer, because it is so uniquely tailored to our clients. All I can say is so many people enter a new parents’ home, and the focus is all on the baby. Even all the doctors and lactation consultant visits in the initial months focus almost solely on the baby. The birthing person gets ONE visit at 6 weeks. The Partner doesn’t get a check in. The main thread through everything …
10 Questions to Ask Your Provider about Pregnancy, Birth, & Postpartum from BBS Senior Doula Kerry Reynolds
Kerry Reynolds is a Balanced Birth Support Senior Doula serving Metro DC & Greater Maryland. She has been a birth doula for over a decade with tons of experience supporting all kinds of births including home birth, medicated and non–medicated hospital, cesarean birth, twin deliveries, LGBTQ families and VBAC deliveries. Learn more about Kerry by visiting her Balanced Birth Support profile. Getting to know your doctor or midwife is an important part of preparing for birth & postpartum. Its essential that …
How To Choose & Evaluate Reliable Sources As You Begin Your Parenting Journey
Ariel Rubin is a certified Lactation Counselor & Postpartum Doula. She is the mother of four children, including a set of twins! She is passionate about helping families during the postpartum period with a focus on feeding issues including breastfeeding, pumping, & bottle feeding. Contact her here! If I had to sum up all of the advice in the eight or so care of twins books I read, it would be easy: keep the babies on the same schedule. Feed …
A Note To New Parents: Your Health and Happiness Matter. Because YOU Matter.
The Tidal Wave of Complicated EmotionsA dear friend texted me last week, after coming home from a pediatrician appointment for her newborn daughter. When the pediatrician did the obligatory check-in on Mom’s mental health, my friend was honest and shared that she had been struggling, and experiencing some postpartum mood symptoms. The pediatrician responded: “You want to take care of yourself, because your mental health can have long term effects on the baby.” Last night, another friend texted me, …
Important Questions to Ask Your OB-GYN at Every Stage of Life (Free Printables too!)
Christine Huegel is a health and wellness blogger who specializes in women’s health topics. She believes knowledge is power when it comes to the female body and hopes to not only educate women, but empower them to make every aspect of their health a priority. The female body is an extraordinary thing. It’s also complicated, and it can be difficult to understand what’s normal or what your body needs on your own. Like many women, you may be wondering what’s …
You Are Not Alone: Statistics, Resources, & Support for Victims of Domestic Violence
“Domestic violence is the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another. It includes physical violence, sexual violence, psychological violence, and emotional abuse. The frequency and severity of domestic violence can vary dramatically; however, the one constant component of domestic violence is one partner’s consistent efforts to maintain power and control over the other.” National Coalition Against Domestic Violence The victims of domestic violence and its …