Author Archives: loving

How to be with a full range of emotions

At the end of her second pregnancy, Marianne gave birth to a healthy baby and to another beautiful baby she would soon bury. She had been pregnant with twins. The pregnancy went great. They felt so blessed to be adding 2 little babies to their family. They didn’t find out gender and Marianne was hoping…

Going with the flow

Supriya wanted to have a natural vaginal delivery and it didn’t quite go that way. She was in labor for 27 hours, pushing for four or five hours. It seemed so long to her. She explains, “We kept going in all these different positions. Get in touch with your inner animal, growl, yell, all the…

Looking and feeling better pregnant than not pregnant

Did you know that you can look and feel great during pregnancy? Did you know that it’s possible to look and feel even better pregnant than not pregnant? It tends to be a common belief that women are going to feel bad, feel worse, look worse, or struggle to continue to look thin in the…

An Update from Expect the Best while You’re Expecting

We’re 45% of the way there…kind of. I wanted to let all you – who have been interviewed for the book or are simply graciously following our online conversation – know that I’ve recently been writing book content with rigor and regularity! If you measured simply by number of pages, I’m at an estimated 45%…

When you really don’t want what you want…

I’m done breastfeeding my son and I’m sad about it. I want to still be breastfeeding. I want to have my nuzzle time with him. I want to know that I’m feeding him nutrition-packed breast milk. I want to take bottles to daycare with red labels (breast milk) instead of white labels (formula). I want…

When do you know?

Denise felt certain about 2 things after the birth of her second child. One – that she would give birth again. Two – that this was her last child. Huh. What did that mean? Did you like this? Share it:Tweet

See them as partners, not critics

Savvy source recently published an article about what parents learn in preschool. It points out that when we, as parents, are seeking out a preschool, “we’re not only choosing teachers for our kids, we are also potentially gaining partners and guides in our own parenting efforts.” Did you like this? Share it:Tweet

How do we compare?

Too often when I think about how I’m doing in life, I don’t rate myself in terms of progress – how far I’m come, what I’ve achieved, how I’ve grown and expanded my capacities. Instead I take out my imaginary yardstick and I begin to compare myself to others. Have you done this? I’m really…

How can you visualize the kind of birth you want?

Georgia prepared for her birth process by actively visualizing the experience she wanted to have. I asked her, How can you visualize something you’ve never done? How can you picture what you want to have happen? She admitted this was a good question and proceeded to try to explain. Did you like this? Share it:Tweet

How do you prepare?

Especially for something you’ve never experienced before? Jill spent her pregnancy preparing in a particular way for her birth process. She was aware of practice called kiva (in fact she teaches that in her doula practice) in which a person becomes internally focused. It’s a type of focus where you are super present to the…