Pregnancy

I'm a researcher and planner by nature. I genuinely enjoy it! I like being prepared and informed and knowing as much as I can before something comes my way. So of course when I found I was pregnant, it was ON. I consumed every article and blog post I could get my hands on like a crazy person. "How to Survive Your First Trimester" turned into "Breastfeeding Basics" and then to "What to Pack in Your Hospital Bag" and "What You Need to Know About Labor & Delivery". I was ready and waiting for labor. I knew that there were things I couldn't prepare for, but I honestly felt like there wasn't much that was going to be able...

In March of 2006, we planned an impromptu trip to Disney to meet up with the in-laws who were already vacationing there. Before leaving for the trip, I decided to take a pregnancy test just in case because I was a few days late and didn’t want to chance getting on any rides should I be pregnant. Sure enough, I was! This was our very first pregnancy, and it hit me like a ton of bricks that I’d now have to tell my husband. I was excited to tell him, but so nervous at the same time over how he’d react. Should I tell him before we left? Or wait till we got going on the trip? I was...

Each year around Labor Day, approximately 115 cities around the country hold the Rally to Improve Birth sponsored by ImprovingBirth.org. This year, Baton Rouge held it's 3rd annual rally, and I was lucky to be invited to participate as a co-coordinator along with Hannah Birchman (mother of 6 and Coordinator of the Baton Rouge Chapter of the International Cesarean Awareness Network) and Amy Shamburger (mother of 3 and Administrator of the Louisiana Natural Birth group). More than 135 men, women, and children fought the heat and came together to "stand in support of evidence based maternity care and the right of women to make their own informed decisions about how to give birth". 2014 Rally Coordinators and speakers Photo courtesy of...

It's that time again! That time when your ovaries start aching and you stay up all night looking through pictures of squishy newborns while secretly pulling out old baby clothes from the attic (just me? wow, that's embarrassing, moving on...) In case you haven't noticed, there are a lot of pregnant mommas up in the Red Stick! So, while I stare at pictures of my old baby bellies and stuff my face with coffee flavored ice cream, I'm going to try, for a brief minute, to get a hold of myself and focus on all the awesome things about being not pregnant (because let's face it, there are lots of really awesome things!) #1. Drink up! Yeah, the inevitable act of...

The other day I had a conversation with a friend who had just had a baby two days earlier, and she wanted to know how I had lost all of my baby weight.  She had literally just come home from the hospital and was already allowing herself to feel shameful about her body.  It broke my heart to hear her express her feelings of unworthiness and insecurity, but it brought back the feelings that I experienced shortly after giving birth. Immediately after my second son, Ben, was born, I felt insecure and ashamed of my body and the 70 pounds I had amassed during my pregnancy.  And even though this was not my first child and I knew that it would take a...