Saturday, April 3, 2010

Doula... What?

I have been telling people about my doula training, and mainly people have been asking "What is a D-oooola." "Is that like the lady who came to your house when you gasp had your son at home?" I politely reply, "No that is a midwife.... A doula and then I begin to describe. I find this sad that our society doesn't even realize all the resources out there for women during pregnancy, birth, and postpartum.

One day someone asked me what I was going to school for and I explained I was in nursing school because I wanted to be a midwife. This person looked at me with a very serious face and said "Aren't you already one of those?" Confused I replied "No" The person replied "But you are already married."

So I think it is extremely important to know about all of your options and to be educated about these options so you can really have choices. I really liked the blog about doulas that my friend Britta wrote this afternoon and I thought I would share. http://www.squidoo.com/do-I-need-a-doula

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Labor and Birth Apparel

Check out these incredible outfits for women during labor and birth http://www.BirthinBinsi.com. I definitely wish I had known about these fantastic outfits for my births. I would've felt much more comfortable in an outfit that let me birth in many positions without feeling self-conscious and exposed, especially my first birth in the hospital.


Monday, March 29, 2010

Beginnings

About three years ago I was faced with incorporating my yoga business and I never did because I was unable to come up with a name. Names are extremely important to me, and you don't just pick any one. I know my close friends and family are silently laughing at this statement as they try for the last time to spell T-A-D-H-G and then pronounce it. Names to me give off energy and we are molded by them, take them on, and grow with them. A name must feel absolutely right. Being stuck without a name wasn't about my commitment to yoga, but my commitment to being a for profit yoga instructor. Teaching yoga to try to support myself removed everything teaching yoga meant to me. I also knew in my heart that although yoga is a huge part of me and that I strive daily to live a yogic lifestyle, there was something else I was called to do.
In the mist of agonizing over a name, Blossoming Beginnings came to me. I knew it was the perfect name for my future career, what that was I wasn't sure, but something to do with pregnancy. At the time I didn't realize that this little seed planted into my thoughts would blossom into one of the greatest passions of my life. One morning I woke up and my prayers of what to do with myself suddenly appeared. I felt this urge inside of me, something so much greater than myself and I felt absolutely certain that I was to serve women during birth and that I would become a midwife.

My path to becoming a midwife has gone down a very interesting road this past year. My difficult second pregnancy, withdrawing from nursing school two months before graduation, and many other personal struggles and growing pains took me down a path to postpartum physical and mental hell and I began to wither. I believe we are never given more than we can handle or more than what we spiritually commit ourselves to. In my darkest hours I wasn't sure of this. God brought along with all of this, a blissful homebirth, a beautiful little soul, and the most amazing women any woman could ask for. I have learned the true lesson that we are forever changing, blossoming over and over. My midwife during all of this taught me and continues to teach me what it truly means to serve women. I am forever grateful for her. I have recently begun a new beginning, I just finished a doula training. I am hoping I am beginning to blossom into a woman that can serve other women and this blog is where I wish to share my journey.