I first heard about doulas when I was pregnant with my third child. My husband was in graduate school and I was working random side-jobs. A friend who had just had a baby enthusiastically shared about her birth experience and the invaluable support she received from her doula. It sounded incredible, but it simply wasn't in the budget for us at that time.

Fortunately, we were able to invest in a high-quality comprehensive birth class and felt thoroughly prepared for my birth. We lucked out with a smooth, uncomplicated labor, and I had the incredible birth experience that fueled my desire to become a birth worker.

But the conversation with my friend and our inability to hire a doula sparked something in me. I feel strongly that financial barriers shouldn't stand in between you and the education and support that you need to have a positive, empowering pregnancy, birth, and postpartum experience.

That's why I offer grants for families with financial constraints. Grants are available in a variety of sizes and can be applied towards birth classes, birth doula services, or postpartum doula services. Although grants are somewhat limited, I'm usually able to offer a grant of some size to those with a need! So if limited finances are stopping you from signing up for a birth class, hiring a birth doula, or moving forward with postpartum doula support, head on over to the grant application page to apply!

All of the pregnancy books recommend swimming as an excellent exercise during pregnancy. The water's buoyancy helps support your belly while minimizing swelling and supporting your joints. And it's a great workout! It always sounded so good in the pregnancy books, and I tried it out a few times... Only to remember why I've never loved lap swimming. Something about inhaling a face full of splashy water just erases the charm for me.

Enter prenatal water aerobics!

I first heard about this class when a doula client, who was taking the class, mentioned that she'd been attending it. It sounded like a great class and something I wanted to check out for myself and tell my clients about. I finally got around to attending class a couple of weeks ago, and really enjoyed myself.

The other class members were welcoming and friendly, even to me in my non-pregnant state. :) As we got into the water, we got to know each other a bit, and then we started with some gentle warm-up exercises in the water. I was surprised by how much difference water resistance made in doing simple exercises like kicks and steps. I could feel that my muscles were engaging, yet the workout was gentle on my joints. Later in the class, we used pool noodles for added resistance, and I was again surprised to find that a super-lightweight pool noodle acted like a light dumb bell in the water! They also made fun flotation devices for other exercises.

In pregnancy, water fitness classes have many benefits. It reduces swelling, is low-impact, carries little risk of falling, alleviates spinal and pelvic pressure, and helps to improve mobility and range of motion. It also encourages increased amniotic fluid production--so discuss this exercise option with your care provider if you have low fluid levels! This class is adaptable for people with all fitness levels and can be done throughout your entire pregnancy--from first trimester through the end of third trimester! Non-pregnant participants who are looking for a gentle workout are also welcome.

Information is at your fingertips. You can Google anything from round ligament pain to pushing positions. Your favorite pregnancy/birth influencers post mind-blowing new information daily. Many childbirth classes are offered online, and you can watch them from the comfort of your home on your own time. Why take an in-person childbirth class?

There's nothing like face-to-face connection with other people. Pregnancy is a unique time in life, and it feels good to connect with other expecting parents who get it. Yes, there are zillions of online pregnancy groups and forums you can join, but the familiarity and connection that happen in person exceed what a virtual group can offer.

Summit Birth Utah's Comprehensive Childbirth Class runs for 8 weeks, so there's ample time to form friendships. They say it takes a village to raise a child--maybe you'll meet your village in your birth class!

I've planned eight classes' worth of material about labor, birth, and postpartum, but it doesn't have to be set in stone! During the first class session, I will ask each class attendee what they're hoping to get out of the class, and will tailor the class series to meet the needs of the class participants. So start thinking about topics and tools that you want to learn, and come ready to share them. I can't wait to personalize the class to fit your needs!

There are so many ways to cope and optimize your comfort during labor and birth. In class, you'll have hands-on practice with a wide range of them. Fill your toolbox with comfort measures so that you know what you can draw on during labor and birth! We'll practice guided meditation, using a TENS unit, counter pressure, aromatherapy, breathing techniques, sounding out your labor, and more!

I have an always-expanding lending library of books about fertility, sexuality, pregnancy, birth, postpartum, breastfeeding, and baby care. I'll bring books from my lending library to each class, and you'll have the chance to check out or exchange books each week. If you're interested in getting a taste for some of the books in my library, give this blog post series a read!

Discussing hypothetical scenarios, though helpful, isn't quite as effective as participating in role plays. To really help prepare for birth and make concepts stick, we'll do some role playing. Think of it as a dress rehearsal for your birth! You'll feel more at ease during labor and birth if it doesn't feel like the first time you've encountered anything like this.

Watching birth videos can be a great way to prepare for your birth. They can help you visualize a variety of ways that birth can go. And watching an empowering birth helps your mind create that expectation for your own experience! I find that birth videos are most helpful if you watch them with a specific purpose in mind, so I'll be weaving them into the class curriculum with prompts to maximize your learning.

It can be tricky to get the hang of breastfeeding! We'll go over the basics of lactation and preparing to breastfeed, and we'll practice several different ways to hold Baby. I'll explain the benefits of each of the positions, and give you a doll to practice each position with. When you have a baby in your arms, you won't be experimenting with different holds and positions for the first time! This familiarity can ease some first-latch nerves.

Have I convinced you yet that in-person birth classes are the way to go? I hope you'll join me at an upcoming series of my Comprehensive Childbirth Class. The next series starts in just two days, on October 15! It runs through December 10, so this is a great class to take if your estimated due date is in early 2023. My next class series will begin in January 2023. I hope to see you in an upcoming class!

Last week, I polled my Instagram followers. Did you give birth without pain medication? Are you planning to? Tell me why!

The reasons came rolling in, and they were as different and varied as my followers themselves. So let's consider the question:

Why unmedicated birth?

Some choose unmedicated birth (sometimes called natural birth​) because they feel it will best connect them with their bodies. They feel confident that their body is powerful and capable, and feel that birthing without pain medication will enable them to best tap into that power.

Others choose unmedicated birth because it helps them feel more in control of their body. Without pain medication, you're able to move around freely and choose the positions you labor and birth in. You aren't restricted to a bed and can walk, dance, sit, stand, kneel, squat, shower, bathe, use the bathroom... In short, you can move as you'd like!

Some want to give birth without pain medication as a way to connect with their ancestors and the generations of people for whom anesthesia wasn't an option.

Many believe that it is safest for them and their babies to avoid interventions in the birth process. Some are grateful for the option of medical intervention in birth when necessary, but want to avoid it--including pain medication--unless it becomes necessary.

Others trust that birth will unfold in the way it is meant to only if the body has the opportunity to orchestrate its own hormonal symphony, without interruption from medication.

For others, unmedicated birth isn't a choice. One follower shared her experience with me:

Went into labor really fast, baby was born 20 minutes after we pulled into the hospital... Spent most of that 20 minutes yelling at the nurse that this was not my birth plan.

This birth experience highlights the emotional strain of having an unmedicated birth without feeling prepared for it. For this mom, the right choice for her second and third births was to birth with pain medication, and those births were peaceful and empowering for her. Others who have had an unmedicated birth that caught them off guard choose to double down in their preparation for future unmedicated births.

Whatever your reason for unmedicated birth, it will go most smoothly if you prepare both your mind and your body for the experience. There are many different approaches to preparing for unmedicated birth, oftentimes adopting a method such as Hypnobirthing or the Bradley Method.

As a doula, I've found that most of my clients prefer a "toolbox" approach. Rather than learning a specific method, they learn about lots of different tools that they can use to be as comfortable as possible and manage pain during labor. These tools range from learning as much as possible about what happens during birth, to deep breathing and meditation, to using a TENS unit, to aromatherapy ... and much more!

After five years of working as a doula specializing in unmedicated birth, I'm adding a comprehensive birth class series to the services I offer. This class is the toolbox. We'll begin by building a deep understanding of labor and birth. (Knowledge is power! ... And it helps provide pain relief.) Then, we'll learn about alllllll of the tools that will help you be confident, calm, and open during your labor. We'll spend a while learning about communication and decision-making, giving you the skills and practice you need to make informed decisions you feel good about and to advocate for yourself in the birth space. We'll finish out the series by exploring the postpartum phase, newborn care, lactation, and building a community of support.

Are you preparing for to birth without pain medication? If you'd like to learn about all of the tools and skills I've honed as a doula over the last five years, come join my Comprehensive 8-Week Childbirth Class.

This class is interactive, engaging, memorable, and ... Dare I say it? ... Fun! Watch for next week's blog post that will give a sneak peek into some of the activities we'll be doing in class.

​I hope to see you there!

​My path to becoming a birth worker started with Clomid.

Clomid is an ovulation-stimulating drug. After a year of trying for a baby, normal test results, and a diagnosis of “unexplained infertility,” my OB prescribed Clomid to increase our chance of becoming pregnant.

The good news? It worked! The second month of taking Clomid, I conceived two babies—my wonderful twin daughters. My husband and I were ecstatic that our dream of becoming parents was coming true! I love these sweet girls and their twin bond and am so grateful they came to our family when they did.

The bad news? This approach to fertility treatment did nothing to help my confidence or trust in my body. After a few blood tests that ultimately didn’t turn up any real reasons for infertility, my doctors stop trying to find a “why” and just moved ahead with a “Band-Aid” approach. I was already regularly ovulating each month, but my OBs figured that if I ovulated more eggs, there’d be a higher chance of me getting pregnant each cycle. They weren’t wrong.

But I started my pregnancy feeling broken and confused. And I’m confident this affected the choices I made during their birth.

After my twins were born and we were ready to start trying for another baby, I really wanted to figure out why it had been so hard for us to conceive. Turns out, trying to get pregnant the second time wasn’t really any easier.

But I had a thirst to try to figure out why. One day, I was reading an email newsletter and saw that a local fertility educator was hosting a free one-hour workshop on fertility awareness. I really had no idea what that meant, but I knew I wanted to be more aware of my fertility, so I went to the workshop.

It was eye-opening. The teacher talked about all of the signs our bodies give us to indicate how fertile we are at different phases of the menstrual cycle. I had heard about temperature charting—and had it dismissed offhand in a doctor’s appointment as something that didn’t actually work! But I had no clue about the other cues she was talking about: cervical position, firmness, openness, fluid, vaginal wetness, and more! I got my hands on a copy of Toni Weschler’s Taking Charge of Your Fertility and dove in.

TAKING CHARGE OF YOUR FERTILITY: AN OVERVIEW

Taking Charge of Your Fertility is a comprehensive book that describes fertility signs, how to identify them in your own body, and how to use this knowledge to either avoid or achieve pregnancy and be informed and empowered about your own body. The book begins with a review of the current common options for birth control and bodily awareness that are offered for women: the long list of birth control options and their accompanying side effects do nothing to help us take charge of our own fertility, and they leave us with a long list of negative side effects!

When I first learned about the children's book Nine Months by Miranda Paul and Jason Chin, I knew before even reading it that I wanted to add it to my bookshelf. Paul (author) and Chin (illustrator) collaborated on a family favorite picture book, Water is Water, that poetically teaches about the water cycle and water phases. That book is done so masterfully, with such beautiful illustrations, that I was giddy to discover that Paul and Chin had collaborated on a book about pregnancy!

As of right now, this is the only book in my Lending Library written for children. But I feel it's the perfect book for big sisters- and brothers-to-be. Each two-page shows what happens during a month of pregnancy: through poetry, simple facts about the growing baby, and beautiful life-size illustrations of the baby in-utero and a fictional family preparing to welcome the baby. The language and paintings appeal to the youngest children as well as older children and the adults reading the book. Here's a taste of the beauty of this book:

I love how the simple, rhyming words, paired with paintings of what's going on inside and outside the uterus, come together to tell the beginning of this incredible story of new life!

The side-by-side illustrations of the fetus growing and the family preparing help kids make sense of doctor's visits and mom's growing belly.

Aren't those illustrations beautiful?!

For especially curious young (or older!) minds, the book ends with four small-type pages of information of how a fertilized egg grows from embryo to fetus, detailing when each body system forms and develops. It gives additional information about fetal skills and abilities, compares human gestation to other mammals, and explains multiple gestation (twins and more), prematurity, and miscarriage.

Truly, if you're looking for an info-packed, thoughtfully-made, accessible, gorgeous book to help older siblings prepare for a new baby, Nine Months is it!

This is the sleep book I wish I'd had when my kids were babies.

Being a new parent is tough! Adjusting to a new sleep schedule and meeting the seemingly-constant needs of a new baby is exhausting. Worst of all, when you Google anything about baby sleep, you get experts on all sides disagreeing about the best way to teach kids to sleep! No matter how you proceed in trying to get some more sleep for you and your baby, someone out there will tell you that you're doing it wrong.

As a new parent, I also struggled with guilt when we resorted to cry-it-out methods, desperate to get more sleep for our babies (we started with twins) and ourselves. While one or both of my babies cried themselves to sleep in their room, I, myself, was crying in our room, wishing there was a better way to get everyone some more sleep!

I wish I'd heard then about The No-Cry Sleep Solution by Elizabeth Pantley. That's what I needed! No tears, for either of us.

The book begins with important information for getting started, like basic sleep facts for newborns through two years, and safe sleep practices for newborns. (If you're reading the first edition, which I have in my library, some of the safe sleep recommendations do need updating. I've annotated my copies with sticky notes.) Pantley then describes the in-depth process of creating sleep logs, then reviewing your sleep logs and choosing solutions to improve your baby's sleep patterns. Solutions are divided into those for newborn babies (up to four months) and those for older babies (four months to two years). Pantley cautions that, in order to have an impact, you have to try out new solutions for at least two or three weeks. This approach to a better night's sleep isn't a quick fix, and will require dedication and persistence.

Pantley recommends continuing to keep detailed sleep logs and analyzing them every ten days and making any necessary changes. Throughout the book, she gives examples of possible solutions, when they are likely to be effective, and alternatives to try if they are not. And she ends with a reminder that sleep patterns continue to change as children grow up, so keeping these tools and the book handy in coming months and years will continue to be helpful!

Although I can't vouch for the efficacy of this baby sleep approach from personal experience, I've heard this book highly recommended by a very experienced postpartum doula I trust. And, though I didn't get the chance to try out any No-Cry strategies on my newborns, I did use its wisdom to navigate a sleep problem with my four-year-old, who still slept with a pacifier.

I knew it was time for him to quit the pacifier habit, but all of my ideas of how to do it without lots of crying (from everyone!) were falling short. Then, using an idea from The No-Cry Sleep Solution, I wrote him a picture book--starring him, as the main character. It told the story of him growing up and saying goodbye to his pacifier (with compensation prizes to salve the hurt). When I read it to him, he did cry a bit about having to say goodbye to his pacifier, but only briefly. He didn't stormily protest (as he was in the habit of doing), and the whole transition went far, far better than I imagined it would.

This experience, plus recommendations from professionals I trust, gives me confidence that Elizabeth Pantley knows what she's talking about when she writes about no-cry (or low-cry) sleep solutions. Ready for your baby to sleep better? Or preparing to have a baby and wanting to get things right from the get-go? I'd love to lend you my copy of The No-Cry Sleep Solution in my Lending Library.

Penny Simkin writes, "How a woman gives birth matters--to her baby's long-term health, to her family (including her relationship with her partner), and to her mental and physical health and her self-confidence and self-esteem as a woman and a mother" (The Birth Partner, Fourth Edition, p. xi). Because this is true, Simkin also asserts that "How a woman is cared for and supported during birth is a major influence, not only in how she gives birth but also in how she feels about it" (p. xi). Quality support during birth is important. The way women are supported during birth affects how they birth, how they feel about it, and how the experience impacts their roles and relationships for a lifetime.

Given the importance of high-quality support during birth, wouldn't it be nice if support people (husbands, partners, family, and doulas) had a manual for how to give high-quality support? The Birth Partner answers this call. The book is a comprehensive go-to for support people during the last week's of pregnancy and birth. It's written by Penny Simkin, the co-founder of DONA International, the largest and oldest doula training and certifying organization.  

In The Birth Partner, Simkin writes to spouses and partners to help them prepare to be an active and supportive participant in the birth process. She describes in detail what to expect in the final weeks of pregnancy and through each stage of labor, and how birth partners can be helpful at each stage, while also caring for their own physical and emotional needs. Throughout the book, Simkin also briefly discusses the doula's role during labor and birth and how it complements the husband/partner's role.

She then describes some of the common tests, interventions, and procedures that may be recommended during pregnancy and labor and gives a framework for making informed decisions. In this section, Simkin does normalize some interventions that aren't necessary in many healthy pregnancies, but that's my biggest (and most nit-picky) complaint about the book. The book closes with a section on the first few days postpartum, and Simkin again shares helpful information and tips about how to be a supportive help at home in the days after birth.

In all, The Birth Partner is an info-packed and accessible guide for preparing to support someone through the experience of giving birth. I keep multiple copies of it in my Lending Library so that my clients can benefit from reading it! If you'd like to get a taste for an abridged version of ​The Birth Partner, Penny Simkin also published a pamphlet, "Comfort in Labor," that touches on many of the same topics covered in The Birth Partner. If, after reading "Comfort in Labor," you feel that you want more, then The Birth Partner is probably for you!