• Last updated 4/7/13 by AdinaL

I snuggled in bed with my 6-year-old son Etani last Saturday and we decided to watch some home birth videos on the Internet. In order to feel prepared for this labor, I’ve been reading everything I can about home birth, practicing breathing and vocalizing, visualizing the kind of birth I hope to have, and talking to my kids a lot about what to expect. Etani wants to be there. He says he doesn’t want to be involved but that he’ll peek around from the door and watch. My daughter Athena, who’s eight, also wants to be at the birth. My oldest daughter, who turned... read more

• Last updated 4/7/13 by AdinaL

I tell pretty much every pregnant woman I know to come check out the Mothering lending library. It has an extensive collection of books and other materials ranging in topics, from natural parenting to childbirth preparation to medical texts. Knowing that at any given moment there could be someone rummaging through the books, I should have been more prepared when I was confronted by that book. I was astounded to find What to Expect When You are Expecting lying on the floor. Thinking my co-worker, who is a midwifery student, had selected the book, I shouted my... read more

• Last updated 4/6/13 by lea1022

  Quote: We have a secret in our culture, and it’s not that birth is painful. It’s that women are strong - Laura Stavoe Harm     I think it's important to start here: Labor is hard, intense work. No, wait. I think it's more important to start here: Women are amazing. And, labor is hard, intense work. And, whatever way a woman decides to bring a child into the world should be respected and, frankly, commended - because it is a hard, intense process. Molly is only three weeks old but so far, our two mantras have been... read more

• Last updated 4/3/13 by Cynthia Mosher

This lists all of our members due June 2011 - a group of moms who connect and share their pregnancy, birth, and ages-and-stages experiences.    Welcome and congrats to all! late May/early June petersnm - #1  imogenlily -  imalego - #3  lyndie - #1   elonwy - #1  Evergreen - #3   mija y mijo - #3  Tumble_Bumbles - #2 jwoodbri - #4 BallardBaby - #2  becomingme - #2    early June mayfly83 -  alerixon - #1  homestyle - #1  junebug2011 - #1  Jaspersmommy - #2  naturals - #2 prothyraia - #3 RachTheWife - #3 nononose -... read more

• Last updated 4/3/13 by Cynthia Mosher

Lactational Amenorrhea Method - can be used for 6 months or until your first postpartum bleed after 56 days postpartum.  98-99% effective.  Lactational Amenorrhea may continue past 6 months, but the effectiveness of depending on it to prevent pregnancy is reduced.  Must use a different method after the return of menstruation.   Ecological Breastfeeding - close to 100% effective in the first 3 months, 99% effective in the second 3 months, 94% effective before your first postpartum bleed after 56 days postpartum.  Must use a different method after the return of... read more

• Last updated 4/2/13 by Monica S

One thing to realize is that a Doula is very schooled in the knowledge of Childbirth - labor, all its phases and stages, its nuances.  Also all the terms and measurements the Doctors will be using to decide how ready you are for labor, such as your Bishop's Score, which includes the station of the baby in the pelvis, the situation of the cervix, it's effacement, & dilation and what all that means in concert.  She knows what labor positions to use when, to help keep labor moving forward, to help keep the baby in an optimal position, to alleviate some of the pain you're... read more

• Last updated 3/31/13 by mamazee

When the phone rings, it’s usually a regular business call.  Unless it’s the last week of the month, when we start getting incessant calls from the bar association, making sure, for the umpteenth time, that I am properly listed in the directory (and no, I don’t want to buy a copy).  But these days, we’ve been hearing from more and more pregnant women, calling because maybe, just maybe, we’re actually open, and if not, could someone please help with her insurance company? We’re used to the “can you recommend an XYZ provider in Brooklyn” calls – in fact, we... read more

• Last updated 3/31/13 by mamazee

I collaborated with Texas-based DadLabs to develop a new video on the hormonal changes men experiences when their partners become pregnant. You can watch it here: Do Men Get Pregnant, Too? read more

• Last updated 3/31/13 by mamazee

Our newborn daughter with the cord and placenta still attached When I first read about lotus birth—which is the term people use for not cutting the cord but instead letting the placenta detach naturally from the baby—I thought it sounded … kind of gross. I was dismayed with myself for having such a close-minded reaction. I decided I should challenge my own assumptions and find out more about why some people choose to do it. One local midwife’s said it’s done for “spiritual reasons.” She mentioned that people usually salt the placenta and put... read more

• Last updated 3/30/13 by mamazee

Champagne cake* in the conference room, folks! We got word today that one of our own, Mothering staffer Micki Garcia, was accepted at Birthingway College of Midwifery in Portland, Oregon. She’ll be heading there in February—which both thrills and saddens us. We’ll miss her smart, funny, upbeat presence in the office but are, of course, excited for her (and happy to have somebody to stay with in Portland!). Micki, who recently graduated from Indiana University, has been working at Mothering since last May as our fulfillment manager. We’ll be sure to... read more