Ventures in Mamahood

It's been a long time since we traveled for the cultural experience. For "the interview" the husband (boyfriend of 6 months at the time) and I took a 4 week trip in Central America- Mexico, Guatemala, Belize. Chicken buses (and yes they do have chickens, even at 2am), couchsurfing, hard floors, and more chickens. This was my first trip that I found my traveledge, but at the end of the trip we were more in love than when we started and we knew we had a good thing. Not saying it didn't take me a few tears to get there, but for us, we found hard moments bonded us. This is a lesson that we could remember more often. For myself I found that, I prefer traveling on the local scene. TravelEdge: that place where you feel uncomfortable, where you may or may not be in danger. That you grow as a person and learn something new about your self AND something new about someone else. There are many ways for someone to find their edge while traveling.   Airports, unexpected ch...

Imagine... Having the "perfect birth" but not feeling connected to your babe Imagine…            Having lots of support and help, yet feeling alone Imagine....            Breastfeeding, the thing every woman is "supposed to be able to do", being so painful that tears and toe curling accompany his every cry Imagine…            So badly wanting to connect with your new baby, but just not sure how to get there. Imagine…            The thing that is supposed to connect, to bond, a mother and her child being the very thing that you hate Imagine…            6 weeks of blistered, bleeding, raw nipples Imagine…            Every time your tired eyes close imagines of self-harm flood in, Red, b...

My Birth Story – Grace, Love and Surrender The Graceful and Not so Graceful moments of a Home-birth My Birth is a story of Community. Of Healing. Contractions started around noon on Thursday I was immersed in Gratitude as I wrote thank you notes. I was so excited…Here we go…I finally get to see his beautiful face!!! 5:30 pm With a cough, I felt trickle and my water had broken. The contractions got stronger and I could not sleep. I tried laying this way and that, but they were about 5-10 min apart and took all of my focus to get through. I found refuge in water, I laid in the tub for hours, and slowly my labored slowed to a halt. My husband tried to sleep off and on because I knew I would need him later  Through the tub held a great, sacred space, and despite me and tub trying our hardest, I was not able to progress. I needed more support and sleep. By 9:00am Friday morning (Good Friday) my labor had completely stopped. My midwife said with rest la...

It takes a Tribe.... To raise a mama I had the home-birth I wanted, and this is because the support that surrounded me. The hard work that was done. My birth story begins way before I ever had a contractions. Before I could even feel my baby move. My birth team had many people....   a community . It started with the breath.      A daily practice.   Mediation and yoga.                                  This was my Rock throughout pregnancy and prepared my mind and body. I taught yoga, so that I could focus on my something beyond how sick and tired I felt. This saved me (from self pity). When I finally had energy, I started to attend   prenatal yoga . These women became the first members of my birth team. The keep ups, let me know that I needed to move and breathe. That music would allow me to sink in.  My teacher had so much c...