Hire a Birth Doula in Michigan for Your Journey

The transition to motherhood does not end at the time of the birth. That's when it begins. As you look for your doula, don't limit your questions and preferences to what she provides for pregnancy and birth. Ask about postpartum and beyond as well. With PPD and PPA rates rising to near 20%, new mamas need support more than ever.

The national burn out rate for solo practice doulas is about 2 years. Anyone who takes call 24/7 for a prolonged period will wind up burnt out eventually.

When you start your search for a doula, navigating finding the right one can feel overwhelming if not paralyzing. With the number of doulas increasing, how do you know if the doula you are hiring is the right one for you?

The house seems empty. Eerily quiet after all the hustle of the hospital corridors. Now what? You think to yourself. What's first? This new little one is completely dependent on you for everything. In many ways, this landing zone is its own form of drop shock!

All. Night. Long. Feeding, then crying, then feeding then crying! It's easy to become concerned that maybe you're just not producing enough milk, and your new baby may very well starve. Cue deep feelings of failure (which are then exacerbated because you're exhausted from the birth process and now not sleeping all night!)

Then it happens! Baby is free, and they are turned toward you. You gaze down at this little . . . stranger. Your feelings may be foreign, platonic, numb. You expected to adore this beautiful combination of you and your partner, but instead, the little one with smooshed features and strange colors contorts their face as their cries expand their lungs.

Do you know what to expect when you arrive at the hospital to have your baby? Most hospital maternity wards (especially at larger facilities) are separated into several different areas. They have a triage space, a medical space, and birthing suites. And when you go into the OB unit to have your baby, often you will stop in at triage first.

But you can guarantee success in your birth space if you make a subtle shift in your focus . . .

Due dates are not an exact science. The Perinatal Institute reports that only about 4% of babies are born on their predicted "date". Most pregnancies last between 259 and 294 days (which is a difference of 35 days!)

What is too large and how do we know? Evidence based birth looks into the current evidence of "big babies" and reports that two out of three expecting mamas were given an ultrasound near the end of pregnancy and told that their babies were too big . . .

But how do you navigate your need to be close to your family and friends while still keeping baby healthy this Holiday Season?

When we feel the internal buildup of pressure, we often seek a way to relieve it (STERB: Short Term Energy Relieving Behaviors). The problem with STERBs is that they appear to work for a while, until they don't anymore. Then we seek out more of that behavior or even a new one in order to distract ourselves from the internal energy buildup.

C O M P A S S I O N Showing Compassion to Herself Compassion is such a misunderstood concept. If you look up the English meaning of this word, it lists it as a noun. A thing. As if we can hand it out or keep it for ourselves. But if you look at the etymology and roots of this word, you begin to understand it so much better and recognize how it can be so transformative for both us and others. Compassion stems from Latin and Greek Roots. Com - Coming near, close beside or toget

As children, we may have been given resources to know that these bodily sensations are actually our emotional responses to life. We may have been guided gently by caregivers teaching us the names of these different sensations, seeing us where we were, and showing us dignity and compassion. Or we may have had caregivers who were doing the best they could with what they had, but who were unable to guide us down a healthy emotional path.

What if we listened to the message that those little "feelings" those physical nuances were trying to speak to us? What if we paid attention to the body's whispers before it ever felt the need to yell?

Sometimes mamas all know when the time is right and you get more than one birth in a short amount of time. This is what we call a "birth storm."

Isolation can make postpartum depression so much worse! We were made for connection. We were made to support each other. And if we are not connecting with others, we are much more prone to be deceived into believing lies . . .

Any experience that was not validated and handled healthily in the moment of occurrence can be stored as trauma in our amygdala. This causes a fight or flight response in our body (cortisol and stress release response) any time our bodies feel threatened in a similar way - thus fear, insomnia, anxiety, and panic!

But reality is: even small pregnancy changes can feel like big changes to us personally. And our body will remember whether we honored what it endured or whether we ignored what it was trying to tell us.

Each day our bodies speak to us - they tell us when we are sleepy, hungry, or have a need for the bathroom. They tell us with pain and discomfort that something needs adjusted or that there might be a problem worth looking into. They let us know when we are mentally fatigued and they carry the tension of our mental and emotional stressors in forms of muscle tightness (and maybe even stomach pains or headaches). OUR BODIES ARE ALWAYS TALKING!