40 weeks

Thank you God for the last 40 weeks of my life,
Thank you for allowing life to grow within.

Thank you for entrusting me with this great big responsibility,
To take care of your precious gift.

I pray for strength and courage,
To be the Godly mother you desire of me.

Thank you for the joy that awaits,
I can only imagine how wondrous it will be.

In just any day, I will know,
First hand experience, the kind of love You feel for us.

The journey hasn’t been easy,
But despite all the ashes, you created beauty.

My heart will be brave,
To accept the very blessings you are giving.

Thank you for allowing me to know love at first sight,
When I looked into the eyes of this baby’s father, Mark.

I know I will fall head over heels again,
When I hold that precious bundle of joy in my arms.

Thank you God for last 40 weeks of a heart beat,
So that I may love even more deeply, for the rest of my life.

Mommy to be,
Suwanee

Finding my own power through my birth experiences was transformative and it has always been a joy to witness women having similar experiences and support them as they navigate their own path.

Over the past two years, I have found additional empowerment through extensive training and use of certified pure therapeutic grade essential oils.  While my initial interest in essential oils was to support my doula clients (and they have been amazing for that), I have been shocked at how they have changed my life personally.  We currently use essential oils (50-70xs more powerful than dried herbs) daily for everything from stress and mood management, to cold and flu viruses (yes-they can cross the cell wall, unlike most antibiotics), skin tags, pink eye, sleep issues, and digestive problems (the list goes on . . .).  

 You can listen to the recording here if you missed it, or want to listen to it again.  We talked about how to manage pregnancy discomforts like mourning sickness and heartburn naturally, create a physically and emotionally supportive birth environment, prevent many health issues/complications during/after the birth, and use 100% pure and natural essential oils to care for your baby (issues like jaundice and diaper rash) and your self (milk supply and mastitis) during the post partum stage.   

I would love to hear what you thought of the class and any questions you have – feel free to email me; you just may be the inspiration for our next session! 

Interested in the $50 in free essential oils I mentioned on the call?  This special offer is for anyone interested in creating a NEW wholesale membership with dōTERRA essential oils. ~ (Sorry, not for those of us who already use them . . . ).  If you purchase any IPC enrollment package (or pay the $35 membership and select any combination of products ~ must be over 100 wholesale dollars of product, not including membership fee), you will automatically qualify for this promotion from dōTERRA.  Hurry because this is a limited-time offer!   

If you are ready to shop, go here, where you can purchase retail or join as a new member to take advantage of this special $50 credit offer (below on the left – select ‘sign up’ and ‘independent product consultant’).

Do you want a copy of the book by midwife/essential oil expert, Stephanie Fritz?  Those who choose to enroll as new members this month will have the opportunity for an additional special offer!  If you try out the OPTIONAL loyalty rewards program by making a 100 pv purchase in November, I will personally send you a free copy of “Essential Oils for Pregnancy, Birth, and Babies” by Midwife Stephanie Fritz (must create new membership through my link above) as well as some bonus information/materials. 

Ready to learn more?  As I mentioned on the call, this session was just one of several educational calls in our series – you can listen to archived sessions through the following links:
Makeover your Medicine Cabinet, Cleaning Naturally with Essential Oils, Back to School with Essential Oils, and Emotional and Physcial Health.
Make sure you subscribe to my email list at www.takecontrolnaturally.com to be notified of future events (and receive a free ebook).

Not sure what your next step should be?  I know that stepping into the world of essential oils can be confusing at times, but my team and I are here to support you every step of the way and make sure you get all your questions answered.  I am happy to offer a free private consultation via phone or skype to answer your questions, help you understand all your options, and walk you through the process of purchasing the essential oils that best suit your needs.  So excited to have you join us on this empowering journey!  Please email me with your contact info and availability to reqest a session.

Passionate about natural health and empowering others?  My dōTERRA business has been a great compliment to my childbirth business as an additional stream of income (providing a stable, residual income when my ‘traditional’ business income fluctuates).  I am thrilled to help others experience the essential oils produced by a company with integrity and see real results in their lives.  As someone with 7 years of college education and additional certifications, I never anticipated (over my dead body) working in direct sales, but dōTERRA is truly different and a partner I am proud to affiliate with (with a retention rate 3xs the national average, sales tripling each year since inception, and achieving the feat of becomgin the largest essential oil company in the world in less than 5 years).  Whether you are looking to change your health, your finances, or both, I’d love to help show you what dōTERRA is all about.

Do you worry about side-effects from various over-the-counter and prescription drugs?

Do you want to reduce the time and money you spend seeking medical care? 

If so, you may be ready to “Makeover your Medicine Cabinet” with Certified Pure Therapuetic Grade Essential Oils. 

Join me on a FREE teleconference from 10:00-11:00am CENTRAL time on Thursday, May 17th.  All you need to do to participate is call (712)432-0900 and enter access code 734483 at the designated time.  I am planning for a 45 minute presentation, (you will be muted, so don’t worry about any background noise), an opportunity for questions, and a drawing for a free 15ml bottle of doTERRA LIME essential oil (perfect for summer).  So excited to share this with you!  The call will be recorded and accessible online (for those unable to call in), but the drawing will ONLY be available to those live on the call.        

I have experienced an amazing shift over the past 18 months as I’ve “Made over my medicine cabinet”.  Our family has drastically reduced our need for doctor’s visits and both over-the-counter and prescription drugs.  I can’t wait to teach you how to do the same.  Until then, you can hear my essential oil story and request my free ebook here.

Ms. Johnson is an amazing role model for women, who “In her mid-twenties . . .  found herself in New York, where she landed a secretarial job on Wall Street. With no relevant experience, and a bit shy on confidence, she contemplated her future and her dreams. Through determination and hard work, Whitney became an investment banker, moving to the analyst side of the business, executing the plans she’d laid out for herself. Naively, she thought most women were following similar paths until she started talking and found that many women were not daring to dream at all.” 

She has spent the last several years inspiring women to indentify and pursue their dreams.  She featured my story on her blog in 2010 and has given voice to many other women who were pursuing all different types of amazing dreams.  Connecting to the passion of a purpose-driven life can create results that change our world (personally and collectively).  Sometimes, as women, we can’t remember what our dreams might be.  Sometimes we feel inspired but lack the tools to know how best to work toward our dreams.  “In this inspiring book, Johnson directs her attention to teaching women, in particular, a three-step model for personal advancement and happiness.”    

I share this here because I think many in the birth community have dreams of working together to create a culture that offers greater support and respect to birthing women.  I also feel that, as women becoming mothers, even though our dreams may alter somewhat, it’s important not to let go of them entirely. They represent a part of who we are, and our children deserve the opportunity to really know us. 

You can find “Dare, Dream, Do” on amazon.com.

“There are strength in numbers. Being a doula, to me, means to empower the mom with added strength by being beside her in the defining moment of her life – Childbirth.” – Lynette Kendall

“Empowering families to be a part of their birth and the decisions that sometimes need to be made. Reassuring them they have a voice and they will be heard. Helping families have the births they chose, no matter how I feel about it.” Jennifer Wayne Penick

“I see my role as two sided: 1) offer steady emotional support so they can have a safe space to do what they need to do when they need to do it and 2) Knowledge is power — I seek to educate, not opinionate.” -Naomi Thomas

“Prenatally – educating and empowering families so they are prepared in body, mind, heart, and soul to give birth in whatever way they envision for themselves.  Perinatally – being fully present and providing whatever kind of support is needed for labor to progress to the next moment and the next moment and the next – for me, as a doula, birth is a breakthrough meditation with a miracle at the end.  Postnatally – providing education, resources, and encouragement to a new family as they grow and land into themselves.”  -Ann Lipofsky

“Empowering, educating and enlightening birthing women by being invited to share one of the most sacred times in their lives is indescribable. It is an honour, a privilege and a blessing to me as a Doula to witness miracles as they are born, and to bask in the glow of new life as he or she is seeing, and being seen, for the first time!” -Pamela Hyde Soltesz

“For me, being a doula means being able to awaken the mother inside of a single teenager and to see how that translates into a peaceful, content baby who KNOWS his mother!” -Jacqueline Brock Julie

“For me, being a doula means being there for someone (a family) so that they don’t feel alone. It means being a part of the science and magic behind birth and love. It means I get to help encourage people in their abilities and to be in more control/ aware of their health care.” -Priscilla Fairall

“Being a doula to me means empowering, educating, and supporting a woman in the most beautiful moments of her life. It is about reminding her that she CAN and WILL, and then later, reminding her that she DID!” -MaryBeth Slabbert

photo by Sujin Jetkasettakorn

Because of family circumstances, I am limiting my services for on-call doula clients and increasing the time I spend supporting women in childbirth preparation.  To celebrate this shift, I am offering a special package to my next 4 clients.  I would love for YOU to be one of them.  Here’s the deal . . .

• You will Receive the “Best Start for Your Birth Package” (3 part audio series + copy of the comprehensive “Pregnancy, Childbirth, and the Newborn” by Penny Simkin)
• 2 Private pregnancy coaching calls with me (60 minutes each) to discuss your unique situation, create your birth plan, work through emotional issues related to your upcoming birth, answer questions or whatever we can discuss to best meet your needs . . . .
• 2 Bonus follow up emails with notes/recommendations based on each call

This is a $139+ value (But I have been told it was invaluable) and I will offer it to my next four clients for only $89!  Email me at cindy@birth-smart.com to reserve your spot (sign up in March, but we can schedule our sessions according to your needs over the next few months). 

Whether you are a first time mom wanting a little more personal attention or a 2^nd+ time mom wanting a refresher or a different experience than last time, I would love to support you in navigating the sea of information and honing in on what YOU need to create the birth experience YOU are looking for. 

Can’t wait to hear from you soon!

photo by duron123

When we are working with a woman, our role is not to give advice, it is to empower her to make her own choice. We have many resources we can share with her, but we are not there to tell her she should do one thing or another. If a woman listens to our information and chooses something that we disagree with or that will likely increase her chances of an undesired outcome, it is not our place to say, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” We are there to back her up; to help her feel strong in her choices, not to cause her to second guess them.

My sister, a paramedic, recently gave birth and choose not to learn about labour or birth because she felt that the nurses at the hospital would know how to help her get her baby out naturally. In the end her baby was born by C-section and she had some of the related problems regarding difficulty bonding and breastfeeding. (This may or may not have been different had she done more personal preparation.) That said, it was her path to put her faith in the medical system and experience its benefits and drawbacks. I offered beforehand to share with her some things that I thought were important to know about birth and she declined. I let her know that there was good information out there and she chose not to pursue it, which was the right choice for her at the time. I supported her by listening when she had something to share with me and by not forcing information on her.

Another, more subtle, example is from a birth I attended last month where the mom, my best friend, wanted to aim to avoid pain medication but also wanted to leave the option open in case she changed her mind. When she was considering an epidural at one point in her labour, I felt a twinge of failure thinking that she might get one. I felt like if I were providing her adequate support she wouldn’t need one. The self-reflective process tells me that I was pretty invested in her having the sort of birth that I thought she should have. It was hard, but also felt very right, to let that attachment go and just be there to support her the way she needed so that she knew that she could do it!

In both of these cases, it doesn’t matter at all what my own beliefs were, what choices I would have made in their shoes or whether or not I agreed with what these two women wanted or chose. My role was to provide information (even just that information is out there, in the case of my sister), and not advice. It is so important for us to remember this and to be very aware of how we act in situations where we are uncomfortable to any degree with a client’s choice. This is when we may make a comment that subtly (or overtly) conveys our disapproval, something the mother does not need. We are there to inform and support her, not to guide her choices. Whatever choice she makes is the right one for her. Even if later she thinks she would have preferred something different, at the time it was the right choice for her to make and the right thing for us to support.

On my business card it says, “Support for empowered birthing.” In the end, my client will feel more empowered if I give her information and support for her to find her own voice and make the choices she wants to make (and has the right to make) than if I tell her what sort of birth (I think) she should have. If I force my belief on her (about natural childbirth, vaginal delivery, etc), however subtly I do it, I am no different from the type of medical staff who do the same thing only in the direction of medical intervention.

Jessica is a birth doula in Guelph, Ontario. She also practices yoga and Buddhist meditation.  She can be contacted at jessica.birthdoula@gmail.com.

photo by Rosen Georgiev

Baby Wipes

These are made with the oils I love to use for diaper rash anyway, so I’m sure it could be very preventative. Probably less expensive than traditional wipes (and, of course, much healthier).

take a roll of select a size bounty (works best)
cut in half with serrated knife.
put in a large container.
mix:

2 cups warm water,

2 tbs virgin coconut oil (should melt in the warm water),

3 drops lavender essential oil,

3 drops melaleuca essential oil.

pour over paper towels and cover.  pull out middle cardboard core and then pull wipes from the middle.

Sanitizing Wipes

Same as above, except substitute the oils for

3 drops **On Guard,

3 drops Lemon

“I use them just like you would clorox wipes… the only difference is that
even my little kids can wipe door knobs, walls, light switches etc… and i
am not afraid of them getting chemicals on them.  they also work great for
hand sanitizing.”

**On Guard is a doTERRA blend that contains Cinnamon, Clove Bud, Eucalyptus, Rosemary, and Wild Orange and has been proven to kill a wide variety of harmful viruses and bacteria . . . from influenza to MRSA.

photo by CapemayL

This is a topic I feel very strongly about.  It is very important, regardless of a woman’s birth preferences or other interventions.  I have blogged about it and shared it with many women, but I can admit that my reach is limited.

So I was very pleased to notice that recently . . . one of our local hospital/birth centers (Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, KS) started providing these handouts in the room of EVERY laboring woman.    

I am a fan.

I like that they are being shared with EVERY laboring woman (and every staff member). 

I hope that each of you are giving birth in an environment that embraces the practice of immediate skin-to-skin contact for newborns.  If you are not, I invite you to consider whether changing to a more baby-friendly birth place is possible for you.  Regardless, I hope that this information (and they fact that some institutions are embracing this evidence-based concept) will help build your confidence to lovingly REQUIRE this as part of your birth experience – even if it’s contrary to the policies of your birth place.

You can be agents of change through your choices.

What about skin-to-skin following cesarean birth?

I love the opportunities the internet gives us to share this type of information.  I recently reposted an article about (the revolutionary practice of) immediate skin-to-skin contact following cesarean sections and was surprised, yet thrilled to see a comment from a doula in Denver reporting that this is now hospital policy in one of their local hospitals.  Thanks so much Ann!!!

Just knowing what’s going on elsewhere can help us to start a dialogue about these important topics.  Policies, routines, and procedures change, and if we are confident and proactive, we can demand best-practices for ourselves, even when our birth place hasn’t caught up with research yet.

She worked really hard during pregnancy to educate herself and understand her options.  She made the *easy* choice to hire me and the *difficult* choice to change providers mid-pregnancy.  She used several strategies to try and prevent the above situations from occurring again, and fortunately her preparation paid off.  Just over two weeks ago, she gave birth and I am so happy to report that none of those 4 issues were repeated in her recent experience.  She said that the birth was 100 times better, she is recovering better than she imgained possible, and she is transitioning smoothly to life with baby #2. 

Here are a few photos from her birth (shared with permission) . . .

Dad helping catch the baby

Grandma and grandpa getting their first look at baby girl

Super strong push-up performing baby at home on mom’s chest.  She stayed there a long time