I wrote this article for Birthing Magazine about my experience with La Leche League as a new and seasoned parent, and how my involvement changed with each baby. It's World Breastfeeding Week, and the timing seems appropriate to share it here as well. Enjoy. I had my first baby August 16, 2000. I was 21 and [...]
I don't typically share my clients' birth stories. As a doula, I bear witness, hold space and keep stories, but I don't share those stories with anyone outside the birthing team. However, I feel like this birth story needs to be told. So with permission from my client, I present to you the birth that [...]
The role of a doula is fairly well known in the realm of pregnancy and birth, but did you know that many doulas also choose to support a family right through the 4th trimester? The 4th trimester is your postpartum time, the time when parenting really hits you and you feel like you've been thrown [...]
Expecting and new parents, this Mother's Day is ALL ABOUT YOU! I have joined forces with several of my favourite collaborators to bring to you "The Mother of ALL Mother's Day Giveaways" giveaway. We have over $2350 worth of prizes split between two giveaways: One open to the world, and an extra one open to [...]
Several years ago I designed a 3 hour workshop for birth workers, where attendees would learn how to teach their clients the art of babywearing. Well, I have some exciting news!! I have doubled the length of the workshop, added so much more information, and got DONA accredited to offer 6 continuing education credits (CECs). [...]
The word doula is derived from the Greek word δούλα, meaning female slave or woman servant. I personally don't like to gender support, so without the gendering, it's someone who is of service. The common definitions you'll come across if you google it include: A doula is a trained professional who provides continuous physical, emotional and informational support [...]
Being a mother is not easy. Parenting in general is not easy, but mothers seem to have all this added pressure on them to fit some sort of supermom mould. I am tired of it. Ali Wong said it best in her stand up comedy act Baby Cobra, "there's this crazy double standard in our [...]
Last Thursday I had the pleasure of joining Nathan from Proud Fertility and Lacey from Chinook City Doulas for a Baby Wrap Battle. There wasn't as much rapping as I had hoped, but there was a whole lot of wrapping.... and fun. Man do I love wrapping and fun. One of my life motto's is [...]
A Brief Babywearing History Over the last 19+ years that I have been involved with the babywearing community, I have watched it morph and evolve in to what it is today. I have watched it from it's humble beginnings, where caregivers would learn from a manual and go through months of trial [...]
I just watched a video of Miriam Zoila Pérez (The Radical Doula) giving a Ted talk on racism and the effect on pregnant women of colour and how maternity care can alter the effects. First of all, wow... it makes so much sense. Miriam begins by describing effects of your nervous system sending a flood of [...]
