Growing families are so beautiful.... In so many ways.
9/19/08
9/2/08
THE BIRTH SURVEY
There is a new nationwide survey available called "The Birth Survey".
It's purpose is to provide birth stories and statistics from local hospital, birth centers, OB's, Midwives etc...Check it out and contribute your stories!
Let's gather some information for parents about the local birth experiences and choices.TheBirthSurvey . com
8/22/08
Back from Vacation !
We were on a family vacation to the midwest for a month... and we drove!! It was actually REALLY fun. There are so many amazing places to visit in our country... really beautiful and breathtaking.
I will post some photos soon.
I will post some photos soon.
5/6/08
4/28/08
News & Info
I am dedicating this section to all the helpful information that I have learned since becoming a mom. Hopefully you can find it helpful too.
Cool things happening in the community:
- New ICAN Chapter starting up! The International Cesarean Awareness Network has a new local chapter to support local moms with education, information, and support. The meeting is open to the public and free. For more information please call: (805) 890-4001
---------------
What's in your baby's bubble bath?
In an article in MOTHERING Magazine (Mar/Apr 06) I found some startling info:
"More than 1/3 of all personal care products contain at least one ingredient linked to cancer... Baby products are no exception."
There is a website that you can go to to check ingredients in products and they are rated for their safety. I, of course, checked some of the products I have thought to be safe and natural as well, only to find many harmful ingredients. I then checked some of the more well known products that are common in households with babies only to find even worse ratings. There is something wrong when the words "Reproductive/developmental toxicity, Immune system toxicants, Irritants, or Hazards" are involved with a baby wash or nighttime lotion! CHECK YOUR PRODUCTS FOR SAFETY HERE
Did You Know?
Burning 100% Beeswax candles can reduce symptoms of asthma, allergies, and sinus problems?
Regular paraffin candles (made from petroleum) create a toxic soot problem in the home, which can enter into the lungs.
Diapers ... What You Need To Know!
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT:
Over 5,000 diapers from one child alone end up in the landfill and sit for around 500 years. In the first year alone your child will use 2,500 diapers.
One year's worth of diapers = 286lbs of plastic for one child
18 billion diapers are used in the U.S. EVERY YEAR
Disposables consume 70% more energy on average and use 3.4 billion gallons of oil and over 250,000 trees annually, only ending up in our overburdened landfills.
HEALTH CONCERNS
*Those gel beads in disposable diapers are actually a harmful ingredient called:
Sodium Polyacrylate- which was linked to TOXIC SHOCK SYNDROME in Tampon users, banned from tampon manufac-turing in 1985!
*Parents tend to leave disposables on longer because they hold more which only exposes the baby to the chemicals, bacterial growth & ammonia from the urine.
*Other studies show links from disposables to sterility in male babies
Parents tend to throw the fecal waste in the trash with the disposables as well... even though it states on the packaging that it should not go in the landfill and should be disposed of in the toilet...
You can reuse the cloth diapers for each of your next children. Imagine the savings!
WHERE TO FIND cloth diapers, safe skin products, slings etc... ?
Mollywogs in Templeton, CA - Diapers and Upscale resale products - Happy shopping!
Try Craigslist, Ebay, Work at Home moms who make diapers... or even make your own!
Please contact me if you have questions.
Dont think you can use cloth? Try gDiapers www.gdiapers.com They are available at New Frontiers.
Contact Me
Please feel free to contact me with any questions; I would be happy to refer you to other doulas in the area. We can talk about how to make your birth the most positive experience possible.
E-Mail
Telephone
(805) 610-6535
Office Hours:
Mondays & Wednesdays
9:00 am - 1:00 pm
SLO Wellness Center
1428 Phillips Lane #300,
SLO, CA 93401
Please call me to make an appointment
"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and Earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great sweeper who did his job well.'"
~Martin Luther King Jr.
About Me
ABOUT ME
My interest in birth began with my love of babies, ever since I was very young. There are pictures of me carrying babies around, when I was pretty much still a baby myself. Someday I will find those pictures and put one on the site for fun. Many years later I was fortunate enough to be a part of my nephew’s birth. It was such an amazing experience, one that I will never forget.
I had worked for 6 years as a Certified Nursing Assistant & Home Health Aid in Minnesota. This knowledge and experience helps me a lot during births in people's homes or at the hospital. It also helps me to work with people and respectful of their bodies during the best and worst times. It has been amazing to be a part of people's lives during the beginning of life and end, it is truly beautiful.
I feel like I have truly found my calling as a doula. Caring for the woman during this transformation into motherhood is precious. It is so remarkable to be invited into families and experience this with them. I work hard to do anything I can to make this day a positive and beautiful birth experience for the family. I love capturing precious moments with my camera too, because that is the only time you will birth that child, and those moments go by so fast.
I am a member of the Birth and Baby Resource Network (BBRN) and was a coordinator for the Birth and Baby Fair in 2006. I am a member of Central Coast Doulas in Santa Barbara. I am a photographer, specializing in pregnancy, birth and newborn photography.
My husband and our family live here on the Central Coast in San Luis Obispo County. We travel to Minnesota to visit family fairly often as that is where I grew up, “Uff Da”.
MY PHILOSOPHY
Ultimately I am a doula because I believe every mother should have a positive birth experience. That is to support the birth that you want not the birth that I want! That is what is important. I believe that birth is a normal process. It is also an experience that a woman will carry with her for the rest of her life! I believe that our culture has placed so much fear in the birth process and it has become very medical. Pregnancy, labor, and birth decisions are being made out of fear rather than faith or confidence in a woman’s body. I believe that there is a time and place for medical intervention but I speculate that it is being used unnecessarily and that I base on the high and increasing rates of cesarean births and the rise in maternal death.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
