Today we are celebrating your second birthday. Although you won’t actually be two till Monday, two years ago today, is the day that my labor started at three in the afternoon. Ten hours later, you were born. I cannot say it enough, but the moment I birthed you, the moment I held you in my arms was one of the most awe-inspiring, sacred moments of my life. Becoming a mother, or rather, becoming your mother has forged in my heart a deeper love for others, for your Dad, for myself and of course for you. Did you know that your birth is what placed me on the path to becoming a doula? I honestly can say, that if it weren’t for you I would not have found this calling. So thanks for that little one. Continue reading
My Heart Knows You
17 Feb
Holding my daughter, Zoe, just moments after her birth. 3-7-09
This past week, I’ve been reflecting on how close this moment is for me. I’ve been more purposeful in taking time to connect to my son and the idea of becoming a mother again. The truth is, I’ve struggled with feelings of disconnection towards this pregnancy. Maybe it’s because of the timing – getting pregnant so quickly after feeling like I just found my new purpose. Or is it because of the feelings of guilt I have – changing Zoe’s world so soon into her young life. Did I give her enough space with just the three of us? Maybe it’s because we still haven’t settled on his name. Or, perhaps it is because I spend so much time (gladly) helping doula clients, parents in childbirth classes and laboring moms at the birth center, that I tend to get caught up in their journey – so much so that I often forget that I’m on the verge of this transforming introduction too. Continue reading
My Favorite Pregnancy Products – Part II
13 Feb
So, I’m still handing out imaginary awards here. My number two award goes to yet another Howling Wolf Herbs Product. It is the Heartburn and Indigestion tea. For any woman who has been pregnant or is pregnant now, you understand the misery of heartburn, the type of heartburn that wakes you from a sound sleep at three in the morning and cannot be relieved from Tums, Papaya Enzymes, or both. This tea makes it all better. I make a large batch of this once a week and drink it cold. I enjoy a glass with dinner and usually have a glass before I go to bed, as well. Generally that’s enough to prevent heartburn from showing up at all, but if it does, I keep a glass of it by my bedside and drink it if I wake with heartburn, and after a few moments the heartburn is gone.
My Favorite Pregnancy Products – Part I
13 Feb
I’m giving awards to my favorite pregnancy products. My first award goes to Howling Wolf Herbs Energy Herbal Tea for Pregnancy (red raspberry leaf tea).
Since June of 2010, I have attended approximately 45 or so births (I’ve kinda lost count, so I’m not exactly sure anymore). Around 30 of those being at the birth center where I work as an assistant to the Nurse Midwives. As a Birth Assistant, directly after the birth of the baby, I massage mom’s uterus (a woman’s uterus should feel like a ruby-red grapefruit after giving birth) and I observe of the amount of postpartum bleeding she has (I know glamorous, right?). Continue reading
I am Joy, a happily married mother of two waterbirthed babies. I am a doula and a Lamaze Certified Childbirth Educator, who worked as a midwife's assistant at a freestanding birth center in TX. As of 2015, I'm a full-time nursing student who teaches childbirth classes at Park Ridge Health, The Baby Place, in Hendersonville, NC. I love serving laboring moms and I enjoy teaching birth education. I use this blog to write about it all - my life, my children, and my passion of all things childbirth.
The Joy of This 