Embrace Birth MS

06/15/2021

In the beginning we hear all the encouragement and benefits regarding breastfeeding.

"Any amount of breastmilk she gets is beneficial."

"If you can, breastfeed her until the colostrum is gone."

"If you can just make it those first few months, he would benefit so much."

The encouragement continues UNTIL...

You hit that 1st birthday.

Then all of the encouragement stops and people start asking,

"When are you going to stop breastfeeding her."

"Do plan to pump it and put it in a cup."

"He is just using you as a pacifier."

So, here are some facts about breastmilk AFTER the first year👇🏼

16oz of breasmilk provides:
• 30% of daily calories needed
• Almost half of daily protein
• 20% of daily calcium
• So many vitamins and minerals

There is nothing wrong with continuing to breastfeed your little one past the first year! And if no one else is there to support you, I am here to say,

You are doing an AMAZING job, and I am proud of you🖤

10/17/2020

I noticed our page hasn’t been very active. Between having our own babies, homeschooling, life changes, and then Covid, doula work has been pretty limited. But the love for this work and the women God puts in our lives hasn’t diminished. Today I had the privilege of speaking to a great group of women thanks to an invite from my sweet friend Betty. As a doula, she asked me to speak on comfort measures in labor. Most of my birth “bag of tricks” is already packed, so I went to Chrystal’s to borrow her stuff, and of course, she laid hands on me and prayed over me before I left 💕. I’d been thinking and praying about what I was going to say to these women and hadn’t been able to get so much as an outline written down, but I knew Holy Spirit knew what He wanted me to say. I caught the last half of the session before mine and I loved hearing the affirmations spoken over those women... and over me. We are not defined by our pasts, by what’s happened to us, by what choices we’ve made. And that resonated with me on a deep level. The conference today was held at a local church I actually attended when I was a teenager, before I really started going down wrong paths in my life. Knowing I was going to be speaking there reminded me of that time, but as the woman before me was speaking, Holy Spirit reminded me of the numerous prophetic words spoken over me that I would minister to women and young women. I no longer felt the “ick” of the feelings I’ve had before, of wishing I had maybe listened more while I was at that church instead of it just being a place for me to see my then boyfriend. Maybe if I had grabbed ahold of Jesus then, I wouldn’t have gone down the paths I did that led me to giving myself to other males instead of the one Man that mattered. But what the enemy meant for evil, God made good. He took a person who made horrible choices, who gave her body away, who allowed herself to be used, abused, and defiled, who allowed her voice to be silenced, and He gave her a new body, a new spirit, He fixed the brokenness, He cleaned up the filthy pieces and places, He gave her a voice, He redeemed her. He meant for me to use the voice that was taken from me to educate, support, and empower other women. Me, the person who abused s*x, teaching women how to support their bodies in giving birth. The redemption I felt today while speaking with these women was mind blowing. There were times when I was speaking and interacting with them that I had to pull myself together to keep from weeping at His goodness, at getting a glimpse of the picture of where He brought me from and the plan He has for me and my life in spite of my mistakes from my past. I’m so grateful for this work, for the journey it’s been in meeting women and their families and watching them grow, and in seeing the growth in myself.

Before I got up to speak, as I was pondering my past and what I was going to say, Holy Spirit dropped a prophetic chorus from a worship night into my spirit... “I won’t let Satan have my inheritance...”... so for those that need the truth of His Word, His plans are to prosper you. He can take anything and turn it for His good and for His glory. No one, not even me, is too broken or too used up or too messed up to be an extension of Jesus to the world around them. If you believe you are, you’re believing a lie.

12/24/2019

Merry Christmas

Every year, we stop to celebrate a birth. The birth of Jesus. And we do it in the most unusual ways - with ugly sweater parties, excessive consumption, frenzied shopping trips, and a long list of impossible expectations.

But when I think about the birth of Jesus, I’m reminded of all the hundreds of births I’ve documented.

I imagine Mary first noticing contractions. A dull cramping that came every 15 minutes or so. And then as the day or night progressed, they grew closer, stronger, until she could no longer pretend this wasn’t happening.

Was she alone? Did Joseph support her? Had she seen birth before? Did she know what to expect? Were they prepared with supplies? Was she worried about bleeding too much? Had she lost a mother, or a friend to childbirth? Did she feel alone?

So many questions, and yet we do know this. Mary did it. Mary birthed her baby into the world. And while I can’t confirm it, I’m confident that just like all births…there was fear, there was longing, there was doubt, there was despair…and then there was joy.

And so when I think of the nativity scene, there is so much about it that I want to change.

Instead of a clothed Mary and Joseph marveling at an angelic babe in makeshift manger…I see an unclothed Mary, with a squirmy baby pressed up against her breasts. I see vernix on her cheek and blood dripping down her leg. I see the ecstasy of birth - the joy that bursts forth after pain and fear and deep, deep longing. And I see Joseph taking it all in - amazed and perhaps startled by what he had just witnessed.

But still at the center of it all, is a naked woman, covered in blood and bodily fluids.

You see, we’ve sanitized the Christmas story to the point that it’s lost it’s power. Overtaken by capitalism and patriarchy, we’ve lost sight of the heart of this story.

The female body (with all it’s cycles and breasts and hormones and blood) grew, sustained, and birthed the divine. Oh holy night.

12/07/2019

Give yourself grace, Mama. Say no to self mandated expectations.

"Take it easy on her.

She just went through the biggest physical and emotional change of her life.

Her body has wounds that need to heal that you can’t see.

Underneath her stretchy pants, she’s probably wearing a diaper.

She doesn’t even recognize her own body. It looks completely different and probably will for the rest of her life.

Her contractions haven’t stopped. She’s still breathing through them without you probably even realizing it.

Do not ever complain about how long she takes to nurse the baby. Her ni***es are raw and her breasts are sore in ways she never knew was possible. She and her baby are still figuring out a rhythm with each and every feeding.

She’s tired. So tired.

She’s frustrated. She can’t just get up and go about her day like she used to. When she does, her body punishes her for it.

Don’t ask to hold her baby. If she wants you to hold her baby, she’ll offer. She and her baby are DEEPLY attached and if she hands that baby over begrudgingly, her heart and arms ache so deeply every second her baby is missing from them.

She’s probably cried secret tears at least twice that day, whether it’s from physical pain, feeling overwhelmed, or just plain exhaustion.

Take it easy on that new mama. Let her stay in her little oxytocin-filled bubble for as long as she needs to. And just love on her in any way you can.

Every day from now on, she will die to herself for that baby. This is her time to be a little selfish."



Credit: Ruth Ge**er and Bundle And Bliss Photography

10/25/2019

A few of the birth affirmation cards I did for Adalynn’s homebirth that I forgot to post 💖

09/24/2019

💖💖💖

THE BIRTH PLAN!

This ones for all our midwife and medical colleagues, many of whom know this already; we find this to be very true as midwives and perinatal trauma therapists.