Childbirth, Parenting, Pregnancy

Excerpt from Feng Shui Mommy

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If you like what you see… order here 🙂

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The most zealous of all the sperm has nuzzled into your waiting egg, and it’s all systems go. Your body (and mind, and spirit) are now pooling their reserves of building blocks to create a new human. How do you feel about that? Thrilled? Terrified? In denial? Whatever your answer is, it is perfect. Pregnancy is the epitome of change, and it’s your prerogative to completely freak out (in a good or bad way) over this development. It’s strange to have a brand-new person growing inside of you! It’s extraordinary! It is an everyday miracle in a global sense, but a cataclysmic shift in a personal sense. You are allowed to break down, whatever that looks like for you. There’s no time when it’s more socially acceptable to “lose it” than when you find out you’re pregnant. And by losing it, you just might find all of it.

Pregnancy can trigger an identity crisis. You are no longer the person you thought you were, but you are not yet the person you will become. It’s a time of awesome transition and change, which is always scary. Becoming a mother doesn’t mean you stop being yourself — your fun Self, your carefree Self, your sensual Self. What it does mean is that you have the unique opportunity to become the person you truly want to be, the person you’re meant to be: a woman who experiences herself as centered, whole, and stronger than she’s ever been before, your true Self. During this time, your feng shui, composed of the energy connecting your mind, body, and spirit, is shaken up in the great cosmic maternal martini shaker — and you don’t even get to have a drink! But once the head spinning slows, you will find that you have more resources, more resilience, and more creativity than ever before.

It’s All Connected 
Because you are a holistic being, your mind, body, and spirit are designed to work together in a state of dynamic fluidity, constantly realigning around your optimal balance point. When you bring awareness to this connectivity, you allow powerful change to happen.

Pregnancy is a profound chapter of life, for sure, but it’s not the whole story. What pregnancy offers is a chance to get your holistic house in order so you are beautifully prepared for the rest of your life. Now is the time to find your joyful and courageous core. Now is the time to connect with your authentic and best Self.

Eating fried bacon–wrapped pastries for breakfast but thinking happy thoughts won’t optimize your holistic connection. Doing an hour of yoga while focusing on the stressful tasks you have to do afterward won’t optimize your holistic connection. Removing your partner’s action figure collection from the bedroom while panicking about your future ability to breastfeed won’t optimize your holistic connection. What will optimize it is becoming grounded in your experience, learning to express your needs, and finding the right kind of support.

Read more at New World Library! Feng Shui Mommy Cover

Childbirth, Pregnancy, Self Love, Travel

Mini Guide to a Lake Tahoe Baby Moon

IMG_9428Are you due this summer and looking for one last dip into relaxation before the real fun begins? I’ve had a few readers ask me for summer #babymoon ideas and I thought of one of my fave spots, Lake Tahoe, and some fun (#pregnant lady approved) activities.

Here’s your mini guide to the ultimate Lake Tahoe baby moon:

Stay: Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe

While packing a baby in my womb I like to strap a seat belt on about as much as I like to drink two gallons of water and go for a jog. So, this resort is ideal as it allows you to walk to pretty much all of the following spots and offers rooms so comfortable you’d be happy to skip the activities and enjoy your final days of pregnancy resting and binging on television and room service. 

Eat: Stillwater Pool Bar & Grill

This spot is my personal fave as it allows you to enjoy a meal while still wearing your damp bathing suit. A juicy cheese burger at this pool side eatery is just what the midwife ordered – and you already have a round belly so who cares about a bit of poolside bloat.

Explore: Sunset Catamaran Cruise

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Explore Lake Tahoe without having to move your legs! This sunset cruise usually includes a captain overflowing with strange yet interesting history of the area and crew members that are rich with wit and jokes that are actually funny.

Pamper: Stillwater Spa & Salon

A spa trip is obligatory if you’re preggers, and you can tell your partner I said so. Ask about the Citrine Dream treatment, Basil, Cilantro and Avocado treatment, and couples packages – and don’t skip the pomegranate mocktail.

Happy baby mooning!

Hyatt Regency Lake Tahoe Resort, Spa & Casino #Pregnancy #Travel#SummerVacation

Childbirth, Mind-Body-Spirit, Parenting, Pregnancy, Self Love, Video

Author Interview for Feng Shui Mommy

Note: Because I can be a total verbal klutz I said “childcare provider” when I meant to say “medical care provider”. See if you can find the snafu! 😛

Preorder your copy now on Amazon or Barnes & Noble

Childbirth, Mind-Body-Spirit, Parenting, Pregnancy, Video

Birth Transformed: How to Dissolve Fear

A sneak peak of the prenatal and postpartum preparation online course Taryn Longo (women’s transformation teacher and birth doula… and badass) and I are releasing Mid-May on BirthTransformed.com (website to be birthed the same days as the course!)

Childbirth, Mind-Body-Spirit, Parenting, Pregnancy, Reviews and Giveaways

“Mind/Body/Spirit Principles are finally showing up in the world of pregnancy/childbirth” – First Early Review!

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The first early review of Feng Shui Mommy is in! Many thanks Anna Jedrziewski at Retailing Insight!

“Mind/Body/Spirit principles are finally showing up in the world of pregnancy/childbirth and Gaddis is at the forefront of it. Her own pregnancy was an unexpected push in a new philosophical direction and she has made the most of it. Finding limited information to help her through the shift and making the rest up as she went along, she made careful note of not only what kept her going but also helped her to maximize the new experiences toward enlightenment (and a return to sanity). She tells readers that it begins by getting honest. The feelings are messy (beginning with the sudden blow to personal identity) but they must be faced if one is to find the buried treasures contained within the powerful experience of bringing another soul into incarnation. Gaddis used the five elements of Feng Shui, applied to three levels (physical, mental, spiritual), to anchor her perceptions and process what she was experiencing. With or without that framework, she has written a book which offers pregnant women and new mothers a way to maintain balance in all areas of their lives and always find the joy in what is an extremely stressful process.”

– Anna Jedrziewski at Retailing Insight

Pre-0rder your copy now 🙂

Childbirth, Mom Humor, Pregnancy, Reviews and Giveaways

I’m So Pregnant: An illustrated look at the ups and downs (and everything in between) of pregnancy – Review

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While pregnancy is magical, transformative, and full of comfy maternity jeans, it can also be weird,  exhausting, and full of barfy moments  – we need to maintain a healthy sense of humor to make it through.

The book I’m So Pregnant, by Norwegian illustrator and animator Line Severinsen, splashes you in the face with the awkwardness of pregnancy while making you think “OK fine, I guess my play dough feet, occasional incontinence, and hormonal surges are kind of funny.”

Composed of a collection of illustrations that take you through the messy roller coaster of the three trimesters, I’m So Pregnant provides quick and effective visuals reminding you that you’re not alone (and that pooping during birth is super normal.)

So, as you’re skimming through your pregnancy and childbirth tomes (like Feng Shui Mommy! Yay!), keep this gem of humor close by to help you lighten up and feel OK (even excited!) about mucous coming out of your body – yes, it’s a thing.

Clicky here to get your copy. 

Childbirth, Pregnancy

This Mom Was Shamed for Doing CrossFit While Pregnant, Now She’s Trying to Break the Stigma

 

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For weeks after I peed my “positive” urine on The Stick, I was convinced my regular exercise regime would probably cause my fertilized egg to slip down and out of me — a pretty scientific assumption, right?

When my temporary lapse in sweat sessions rendered me mean (like, really mean) my partner asked me to start moving again. I conferred with my care provider who told me that as long as my exercise routines didn’t involve free climbing a cliff or wrestling I was good to continue exercising, at my pre-pregnancy intensity level, without worry. But, I was still super paranoid and cut out my runs in favor of awful pregnancy workout DVDs.

But not Lauren Ferris, mother to 2-year-old son, Connor, and one on the way. She participated in CrossFit workouts before becoming pregnant and continued up until the last week of her first pregnancy. So it’s no surprise that she is still going strong at 38 weeks gestation with her second. And she has the photos to prove it.

Read (and see!) more on Babble!

Childbirth, Mind-Body-Spirit, Pregnancy

The One Word That Transformed My Birth Experience

I used to be really uptight (OK, I’m still a little uptight), but during my pregnancy I was even more high strung than usual.  I read 32 pregnancy and childbirth books, scrolled through all the things on all the mama sites and made a lot of lists.

I convinced myself that the more I planned and prepped, the birth would be easier. I convinced my body that if I ate the right foods, my birth would be easier. And I convinced my partner that if we mastered all the birth positions and massage techniques, the birth would be easier.

I moved into birth with this rigid plan.

But, when I went into labor and didn’t have  more than twenty seconds between contractions, I thought something must be wrong because “This wasn’t part of the plan.”

But, nothing was wrong; I was just having a baby.

I resisted the unpredictability of my birth experience for the first three hours, continually forcing myself onto that dang birth ball, or sniffing essential oils that were making me nauseous. But, the ball and oils were on my list, so sit and sniff I did.

On top of being exhausted, my cervix was being stubborn and I was devastated that all my planning seemed worthless.

Then, my sweet partner Eric smoothed my sweaty hair back, leaned in and whispered, “Just surrender. You don’t need to do anything else.”

Read more on Expectful 

Career, Childbirth, Mind-Body-Spirit, Mom Humor, Parenting, Pregnancy

Moms Who Inspire: Bailey Gaddis

Featured on Expectful! Whoop whoop!

After one read of Bailey Gaddis’s About Me page on her site, Your Serene Life, I knew I wanted to interview her for Moms Who Inspire because she’s insanely inspiring and  hilarious.

During our conversation, I mentioned to Bailey that I find it hysterical that she admits in her bio that she can’t stop bragging about attending an event hosted by Michelle Obama at the White House. She laughed and went on to tell me that she was at an event that morning and bragged about it to the strangers next to her. “It’s just such a cool thing to have experienced, why not brag about it?” she said laughing.

This is Bailey Gaddis. funny, honest and high on life.

Bailey is the Author of Feng Shui Mommy (coming out May 2017), a Childbirth Preparation Educator, Hypnotherapist, Birth Doula, travel addict and writer on all of the above. Bailey decided that she wanted to help women during pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum after the birth of her first child. Using Hypno-anesthesia as a method for her labor, she was able to have a pain-free natural childbirth. This empowered her to want to help other women experience their own bliss during their motherhood journeys.

When speaking to Bailey, I asked her what the first few days were like after she gave birth. I ask this often to other moms as a way to bond over stories of sleepless nights and crying babies, but Bailey’s answer was one that opened my eyes to a different experience than my own.

She replied as if reliving the experience as she spoke, “Blissful.”

This isn’t the typical answer I receive and it’s not even close to how I describe the first few days of my motherhood path, but when she said it, my body filled with love. It was really beautiful to see a different perspective on what’s usually a difficult time.

I learned so much from Bailey in our brief conversation, and I’m so happy to share more below.

Read more on Expectful!

Camping, Childbirth, Pregnancy, Reviews and Giveaways

My New Go-To Mama-Baby Product Site: Lilly Pilly Baby Review

The site Lilly Pilly Baby has curated all the organic mama and baby goodies I spend hours searching for on the bottomless pit of the Internet. They offer goods for the interior and exterior of mother and baby’s body and have a simple website for you to navigate.

I was sent the Organic Shue Bug for Baby, Woman’s Balance Wellness Tea and Labor Ease Pain Relieving Massage Oil and have spent the last few months draining my supply because they’re so good.

Here are my thoughts on each.

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Organic Shue Bug for Baby

This spray has created an organic barrier between my self and son and the Zika infested mosquitos of Nicaragua, the insanely annoying flies in California and more skeeters in Central Texas. The barrier lasts about an hour before we need a new coat and smells better than the blend of essential oils I use as perfume- probably because it’s full of essential oils. I resisted taking my son to “buggy” locations when he was a baby because I had no desire to slather him in chemical-full bug repellent. But, baby number two will be going all the places, now that I’m armed with Shue Bug.

Woman’s Balance Wellness Tea

My uterus and immune system be trippin’ lately. Periods have been a rare form of torture since my son stopped breastfeeding, and I’ve been an eventual vessel of a majority of the germs that have passed through his preschool classroom- yay! This tea has helped on both fronts, creating a warm and soothing sensation in my nether regions when that egg is shedding, and a “good stuff” boost in my bod when the germs are marching through.

Labor Ease Pain Relieving Labor Massage Oil

While I have yet to use this oil on my own laboring body, I have used it on the backs, boobs and beyond of three birthing ladies and the feedback was good- real good. One woman reported the oil, in conjunction with pressure on two points in her lower back, replaced intense pressure with a pleasant tingling, another said she noticed her breathing deepen each time the oil was used, serving to release endorphins in her body and soften her cervix, and the last woman claimed, “That oil was the only f*ckin’ thing that made any difference during labor.” So yeah, good stuff!

Avanchy Bamboo Stay Put Suction Bowl + Baby Spoon

Bless this bowl for preventing our almost daily occurrence of my son’s cereal slopping everywhere. The suction cup prevents the bowl from being pushed off the table with the thrust of an enthusiastic spoon, and the bamboo offers a great (and safe!) alternative to the “plastic kid bowl.”

To get 20% off products and free shipping, use coupon code Welcome

Get some 🙂

Childbirth, Guilt & Forgiveness, Mind-Body-Spirit, Parenting, Pregnancy, Self Love

Stunning Photo Celebrates One Mom’s Rainbow Baby, While Honoring the 6 She Lost

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Mamas who have survived the loss of a pregnancy and are newly pregnant with their rainbow baby (a child born after a stillbirth or miscarriage), have an obligation to themselves to honor their journey. These women have gone deep into the trenches of pain and had the strength to reopen their hearts to another child; they’re so deserving of worship and love, versus the guilt and regret that is often served on this path.

I’ve worked with many women who have emotionally kicked themselves when they became pregnant with their rainbow baby by thinking they didn’t deserve this new child, believing that the passing of their last child was somehow their fault, and that if they expressed even a breath of excitement for the new pregnancy, something would go wrong.

I want to wrap all these women in my heart and tell them it’s OK to be excited; it’s OK to celebrate; it’s OK to have hopes and dreams for this new life while simultaneously mourning the loss of your past child’s life.

Read more on Babble!

Childbirth, Mind-Body-Spirit, Pregnancy, Video

The Importance of Listening to Your Intuition During Pregnancy & Childbirth

Hi friends!

Here is a clip from my new online Childbirth Preparation course discussing the importance of honoring your inner voice of wisdom as you navigate the path into motherhood.

Childbirth, Mind-Body-Spirit, Parenting, Pregnancy

Childbirth Preparation: A Complete Guide for Pregnant Women

It’s alive! My new (and much improved!) Childbirth Preparation Online Course was birthed on Udemy today!

I’m offering 50 badass preggos out there a mega-discount ($50 instead of $125!) Use the coupon code FENGSHUIMOMMY when you go here.

There are plenty of Preview videos, checklists, and relaxation recordings you can peruse for free before clicking the Buy button 🙂

 

Career, Childbirth, Family Entertainment, Mind-Body-Spirit, Parenting, Travel

How the Band Famous October Tours With Their Baby (Interview)

When you have a baby it can be a struggle just to put on some pants and walk to the mail box. Well, Sarah Bowman and Rene Coal Burrell of the band Famous Octoberhad the baby, put on the pants and didn’t just make it to the mailbox, they went on tour for the “One Day Baby” album they also birthed. Sarah and Rene are a living testament to the fact that creative passions, career and parenthood can harmoniously coexist as they travel through the United States sharing their music and nurturing their young family.

I was able to get a glimpse into their journey thus far, and gleaned plenty of inspiration for my own journey through motherhood.

Read the interview on Huff Post!