Category: Pregnancy

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 🙂

 

Childbirth, Parenting, Pregnancy, Reviews and Giveaways, Uncategorized

Interview With the Creator of My New Favorite Baby Shower Gift- Stockpile

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#MomConfession I dreaded the mountain of ribboned tissue paper and bags at my baby shower. I was grateful, but. So. Much. Stuff. I was already having trouble fitting the essentials into my tiny living space and didn’t know how the stuffed animals galore would be integrated.

I get it- stuff is what you get and give during a baby shower. But, what if there was another option? A great gift that would create lasting value for the baby, and wouldn’t give the mother an additional thing to find a home for? Enter Stockpile, a gift card you can purchase and load with stock from a company of your choice.

I was able to interview the mind behind Stockpile, Avi Lele, and he didn’t disappoint.

Bailey: What was your background before becoming the CEO of Stockpile?

Avi: I started out as an engineering major at MIT, got a law degree at Harvard, and practiced law for 16 years before founding Stockpile. My specialty was patent litigation, and our cases involved complicated, cutting-edge technology. But technology can be intimidating to many people, so every time we went to court, we had to find a way to make the technology accessible – easy to understand and even entertaining – so lay judges and juries had the information they needed to decide the case.

Read more on Huff Post!

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

The Pros and Cons of Freezing Your Eggs

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Confession: I’m afraid my eggs will poop out on me before I’m done having kids. But the thing is, I’m not ready to have more children just yet — I want to buy a house, write a few books, travel with only one small human, sleep … so what’s a girl to do?

Freeze my eggs?

Egg freezing is the hot (or cold?) fertility trend of procuring eggs from a woman’s uterus, freezing them, and re-implanting them when she’s ready to introduce the egg to a sperm. This practice became a viable option in 2012 when breakthroughs in freezing and thawing techniques helped prevent eggs from being ruined by ice crystals forming in the eggs.

I’ve been privileged to gain an insider’s view to this wild baby-making world by my mother, who was an IVF nurse for over 15 years and now owns an egg donor agency that is partnering with an egg freezing bank. My mama’s been my fertility Yoda as I navigate this world, helping me dig beneath the surface pros and cons I find on the Internet, giving me the scoop on what the experts find to be the real benefits and risks of sticking lady eggs in a freezer.

Read more on Babble!

Childbirth, Guilt & Forgiveness, Mind-Body-Spirit, Parenting, Pregnancy, Uncategorized

Why You Should Create a Cesarean Birth Plan- Even If You’re Planning For a Vaginal Birth

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Loss of control is a primary fear many women feel when considering the possibility of a cesarean birth. “I’ll have to give up my power to the surgeon. I’ll have no say over how the birth unfolds. I’ll feel like a piece of meat on an operating table.” But it doesn’t have to be that way.

You can reclaim your right to empowerment throughout your baby’s birth by creating a cesarean birth plan — even if you’re planning for a vaginal birth.

Creating this plan doesn’t set the intention that you’ll have a cesarean birth, it sets the intention that you’ll be prepared, regardless of any unforeseen circumstances that may pop up in your birth journey.

Below are preferences you can use to create a simple one-page cesarean birth plan (that you’ll create in addition to your vaginal birth plan), which you will present to your care provider around the beginning of your third trimester. I recommend discussing each preference with your care provider to determine if they, or the facility you would be having the surgery in, would put up resistance to any of the preferences. If so, discuss why there would be resistance, and what can be done about it.

Read more on Babble!

Childbirth, Pregnancy, Uncategorized

5 Of The Craziest Birth Stories You’ll Ever Read

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Childbirth is about as predictable as a cranky toddler with a full glass of juice — it can get messy. When the new-human-delivery process is allowed to naturally unfold, it rarely fits into a sterilized box. Nope, it often spills out, splashes onto your favorite shoes, and demands you step into your ability to roll with it — even if “it” laughs in the face of your birth plan.

I recently attended a gathering for maternal health care workers and many of their clients, where I heard hundreds of birth stories — some of them, completely insane. I received permission to share a handful of the most intense stories (some women wishing to remain anonymous), in the hopes that you can take comfort in knowing that even if your birth goes sideways, rolls down a hill, and falls into a murky pond — you can handle it, and will come out of it a stronger (totally badass!) mom.

Here’s a glimpse of the stories from five women I find far superior to any superhero …

Read more on Babble!

Career, Childbirth, Mind-Body-Spirit, Pregnancy, Uncategorized

Trusting Your Whole-Being During Childbirth (And BIG News!)

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Hi friends!

I haven’t been blogging much because… I’ve been busy writing the Feng Shui Mommy book- eek! (Insert embarrassingly spastic happy dance here.) Being published by New World Library Spring 2017.

Besides that little announcement, I’m keeping today’s written message short and leaning on the spoken word (many of them.)

This relaxation recording was created for pregnant women, but can be utilized by any individual wishing to have more trust in their whole (mind-body-spirit) being.

Send me your thoughts and questions 🙂

xo
Bailey

Childbirth, Mind-Body-Spirit, Pregnancy, Uncategorized

9 Ways Dads Can Emotionally Prep For Childbirth

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Hey dudes — your modus operandi during baby’s birth can consist of more than shelling out ice chips, taking the occasional photo, and having the life squeezed out of your hand. The vibes you put off directly affect your baby’s and lady’s journey through birth. Exuding a calm, confident, and prepared demeanor (even if you’re faking it!) will help your birthing honey assume more of a goddess essence than a “What have we done?!” shrill.

Here’s how to clear then bolster your emotional state before The Big Day, and infuse traditional childbirth preparation methods with deeper meaning.

1. Fear release exercise

Sometimes, releasing negative emotions via talking and journaling isn’t enough — that junk may need to be worked out via physical exertion. Make a list of any and all fears you have surrounding the birth of your child, and all areas of your life the birth will affect (which is everything). Every day, or every other day, choose one fear from the list and exercise it out. As you run (or bike, or engage in any other exercise of choice) envision the fear being released via your sweat.

Childbirth, Mind-Body-Spirit, Pregnancy, Self Love, Uncategorized

Coming To Terms With the Negative Birth Experience You Weren’t Expecting

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As a doula, I recently attended a 30-hour birth that turned the mom’s birth preferences on their head (or maybe into the breech position). The mama was elated to end up with a healthy baby but is moving through deep regrets over certain aspects of her experience (about 90 percent of her preferences had to be scrapped for medical reasons.)

It can be really deflating when you put in months of preparation to have a particular type of birth, and then fall into having the opposite type of birth. It totally sucks. But “it’s not allowed to suck” — or so everyone says — if you and baby end up healthy.

“Well at least you have a healthy baby.”

Ugh.

Yes, you had your healthy baby, and obviously you’re thrilled with that ideal outcome, but what about all the yuck in between? The dashed expectations? The missed opportunities to move through certain experiences you had prepared for? The residual trauma of moving through experiences you hadn’t prepared for? 

Read more on Babble!

Pregnancy, Self Love, Uncategorized, Video

Talk to Me: How Talking to Our Grandparents Can Make Us Better People

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G-Betty lookin’ fierce on her 86th birthday.

My relationship with my Grandmother Betty (Grambetty) has always been a selfish one. I share endlessly about my worries, accomplishments and major missteps, siphon rich streams of advice from her, send her photos of my little family but rarely ask for images from her life and generally fill her with my own “stuff”, scarcely asking about her experiences.

 

She recently visited my home, and arrived on the same day I heard about the Huff Post Talk to Me project- total “Ah-ha! I’m a jerk” moment.

 

“Why haven’t I done this with my Grandmother before?”

Read (and watch!) more on Huff Post

Childbirth, Mind-Body-Spirit, Pregnancy, Uncategorized

I’m a Doula and Let Me Tell You: Orgasms During Childbirth Are a Real Thing

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IMG_7891The terms “orgasm” and “childbirth” sound like antonyms to most people. But, women have an orgasm when they conceive a baby (hopefully!), so maybe it’s not outside the realm of reason that they could have an orgasm while birthing the baby.

According to The Independent, a survey by the Positive Birth Movement and Channel Mum has reported that 6 percent of women say they have had an orgasm during childbirth. My initial reaction when I first heard about women who reported orgasms during birth was that they were lying braggarts — mainly because I was jealous I had never experienced this phenomenon.

But since I’ve become a birth doula, my “lying braggart” theory has been crushed; I’ve witnessed many women experience multiple orgasms during birth. I’ve heard them describe these births as “ecstatic overflows,” “spiritual awakenings,” “waves of bliss,” and “the longest, strongest, orgasm ever!” 

I wonder if these will be the ladies that end up having six children?

Read more on Babble!

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

Playing Music For My Son In the Womb Made Us Closer

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IMG_2634Music allowed me to hear the voice of my unborn baby.

During my pregnancy, I set the intention that my baby would offer me insights and answers via movement when we listened to music. I believed it was his opportunity to show me a glimpse into his soul.

Music also supported me in understanding and expressing (via my own movement) all the emotions I couldn’t actually verbalize to my baby (or to myself, sometimes). Each note sparked a new idea, question, or simple moment of appreciation for the being developing in my womb.

I would play reggae music as he moved back and forth across my mid-section. Some days I would try out 90’s hip-hop (I swear he would tap his foot to the rhythm). Classical music (the ultimate baby music cliché) just put him to sleep, no complaints.

His favorite music ended up being anything that made me dance. If I was shaking my bloated pregnancy booty it was (and still is) a good day for him; he’s down to shake along with me.

Oh, and we also listened to audio books. I had to drive a painful amount of time for work (four hours, three times a week). He slept through those audio books: Miranda’s dilemma about whether her Latin lover was actually murdering middle-aged art dealers in downtown Los Angeles really didn’t interest him.

Read more on Redbook!