Successful VBAC – a Thanksgiving of a Special Kind
Oliver meets baby brother Owen ...
Would You Choose Blake Shelton or Pharrell Williams… To Be Your Doula?
In our house, we love NBC’s The Voice. It is one of the few shows that can still bring our teenage boys into the living room to watch television with us. We've watched all but the first season and enjoy that this wonderful show puts the focus on what should truly matter about a singer – their voice. We love that the coaches on The Voice have no idea what the vocalist looks like as they listen to them singing. Age, race, body-type, play no part in whether the coach will turn their chair in hopes of working with the singer. Sometimes, even the singer’s gender is a complete surprise to the four iconic musicians who sit in the now iconic red chairs. This season as we...
Welcome Baby Huck!
Another beautiful home birth and big sister was there, too, this time! ...
Happy Valentine’s Day Weekend
Feel free to fill my calendar for November....
Who is in Your Heart Trust?
I started using the term "brain-trust" in 2003 while working on a case for support for a proposed non-profit. I was working with a powerhouse of a businesswoman who made stuff happen. It seems like she knew everyone in Seattle and how to get them to accomplish great things. It was she who taught me "the more people in the brain-trust the better" which I have used ever since to express my need for gathering information and, with the right people, collaborating. But recently I have begun to question where some brains seem to be leading us. For example, in the age of BIG DATA…maybe all this desire for counting is making us a little crazy. I mean seriously…say this outloud: "we are googling analytics". That...
Natural Childbirth in the Hospital: The space of the couple is about LOVE.
Hospital Birth LOVE - Medium from Kyndal May on Vimeo. One of the themes of Confident Birthing Childbirth Classes is the space of the couple and the role of love hormones. This beautiful natural birth was captured in Boise at St. Luke's Hospital and is shared with the generous blessing of this couple who took the class. The photos are in chronological order allowing us to see the many times she dressed and changed clothes as needed as she followed her body to change positions and move throughout the space…both the private space of the room and the open space of the hallways as needed. It also shows how a laboring woman's temperature fluctuates and she goes from hot to cold and back again. It shows...
Got Oxytocin? T-shirts – A Confident Birthing Childbirth Class Activity
"Got Oxytocin?" was a Confident Birthing Childbirth Class activity that took on a life of its own. Designed to be a way for parents to remember the role of the hormones of birth - especially oxytocin it became a wonderful way for couples to enjoy thinking about their baby and considering his/her personality and how the baby is a part of the birth process Creativity abounded and the t-shirts became not only a memento from the class but some parents even took their t-shirts into their births with them as a reminder from the baby for all to support this oxytocin-rich environment and let the family do exactly what they know how to do Much thanks to Kam Taylor for taking such great photos of these Confident Birthing parents' works of art!...
Who Needs Mistletoe When You’ve Got Oxytocin?
We talk a lot about oxytocin in Confident Birthing. ...
Studying Doulas: Author, Christine Morton, PhD
I started the “Who BEcomes A Doula?” Series because I wanted know more about what compels a woman (or a man) to become a birth doula? Are we all just “birth junkies”? (I deeply dislike that term). I wanted to know: ~Who is drawn to this work and what kind of work (or life) did they have before they became a birth doula? ~What makes them continue? ~Is there something about our personalities that leads us to find a way to connect with, care for and support women at that uniquely vulnerable and joyous time of birth? ~Does it matter what part of the country, or the world we live in or is it in our human DNA to do this work regardless of country and culture? ~And for fun, some...
What Attorneys and Doulas Have in Common – a Conversation with Doula, Ravae Sinclair
I started the “Who BEcomes A Doula?” Series because I wanted know more about what compels a woman (or a man) to become a birth doula? Are we all just “birth junkies”? (I deeply dislike that term). I wanted to know: ~Who is drawn to this work and what kind of work (or life) did they have before they became a birth doula? ~What makes them continue? ~Is there something about our personalities that leads us to find a way to connect with, care for and support women at that uniquely vulnerable and joyous time of birth? ~Does it matter what part of the country, or the world we live in or is it in our human DNA to do this work regardless of country and culture? ~And for fun, some...
Laboring on the Loo…It works!
I tell my clients and students in my Confident Birthing Classes that my favorite position for progressing labor is almost always...
Confident Birthing Class at The Lotus Tree Boise
There is something about the Confident Birthing Childbirth Classes at The Lotus Tree in Boise. The best way to describe it is to say…like everything at The Lotus Tree… the focus is on PLAY …and learning happens naturally. even coping becomes PLAY and play leads to connections we ease into the 'work' and the work has its own meaning a safe space is created and the space of the couple emerges together individuals become parents in community...