DIY magic and self-care

DIY magic and self-care

In my kitchen here in Brewster, there's a jar.  It seems pretty utilitarian, but it has a secret: it's magic.  This magic jar is always there for me when I need it.  It's perpetually full of good-quality ground coffee so that whenever I want to brew a fresh cup, it's easy.  The jar sits right next to our coffee maker, nestled in next to the sugar dish, always prepared to help me out with a soothing cup of hot coffee.  

Now, you might think this post is about coffee, and while I could wax poetic about it all day, what I actually want to talk about is the magic of having that jar always full.

A birth doula's favorite things

A birth doula's favorite things

Birth is powerFULL.  We all know that.  It has the strength to make us quiver and shake just by thinking of it, it has the energy to bring us to our knees, it has the intensity that provokes self-doubt, and it has the sneaky magic of reminding us just how strong we really are.  Birth.  We won't let you scare us.  Bring it.

As your resident Rising Tide Women's Whole Life Wellness certified labor doula, witnessing birth is what I get to do.  It's actually my job.  Some may think I'm nuts, but that may stem from the negativity and bad rap that birth gets.  Let's face it, many pregnant people (not all!) dread labor and birth, no matter how prepared they may feel.  And you know what?  That's totally cool with us.  We understand!

Postpartum support: more than just Bubble Baths and Naps

Postpartum support: more than just Bubble Baths and Naps

What new parent wouldn't want a relaxing soak or a dreamy hour to snooze?  Many new parents can only imagine this being real, and many believe they aren't deserving of such a postpartum reality. It's hard to believe, I know. If you ask any new mother about treating themselves to some downtime, most likely there will be a hint of guilt in their answer. Okay. If they aren't  comfortable taking a tub (or, maybe there isn't one where they live!) or napping, how ELSE can we give new parents hands on support?  How can we change the drained, overwhelmed, and exhausted face of postpartum or life with a newborn?

5 steps to prepare for your best birth experience

5 steps to prepare for your best birth experience

If you are (or if you know) a pregnant person, this is for you.  This is how to set yourself up for the best birth experience possible.  And when I say that, I don't mean that you will get exactly the outcome you are hoping for; anyone who says they can guarantee that is selling you something.  But it means that you will be well-prepared to have a birth where you are heard, where you are empowered, where you are a key part of the decision-making process.  Where you can feel like you made the best choices you could, given any circumstances.  Where you are supported and held.  Because that's what we want for every birth-giver in the world: to be seen and heard, to be respected and treated as a human being with dignity and wishes, to understand the things that are happening to them.  We all deserve that.

So are you ready?  Here goes:

To the Mom who's struggling with World Breastfeeding Week

Dear Mom who struggled with breastfeeding,

I see you.  Whether you're near me on Cape Cod or the South Shore or far away, it's everywhere. As you travel the internet this week, you are inundated with images of women who are seemingly effortlessly nursing their babies.  In most of the pictures, the moms have clean hair and their babies are content and clean.  No one is crying in these pictures.  It looks so beautiful, so painless, so easy in these pictures.  And it hits you like a punch in the gut, every time.  The articles touting the benefits of breastfeeding, the experts saying it's a 'no-brainer' to nurse your child.  Maybe you feel some guilt or shame because you didn't meet your breastfeeding goals.  Maybe you feel anger at a system that promotes breastfeeding but doesn't actually support nursing parents appropriately.  Maybe you feel like a failure, like your body let you down. 

5 ways to set yourself up for a great breastfeeding experience

Since we are heading into World Breastfeeding Week, I obviously want to talk about breastfeeding and chestfeeding.  (If you know me in person, you probably know that's not limited to just the first week in August; I kiiiind of talk about it all the time.)  One of the things I like to talk about with this subject is what I call our 'Cultural Knowledge Deficit' around breastfeeding.  As a mainstream culture, Americans know very little about how breastfeeding works or what it looks like or what's normal.

What does Rising Tide Support mean?

One of many, many things I love about this work is when I meet someone new and they ask me what I do (unless they already know what my husband does for work; then they almost never ask me what I do.  Which tells me we have a lot of work to do around expectations of women and work and spouses.  But that's another ranty post for another day, I guess).  I love getting asked what I do because when I take a second to think about it, I feel so full of possibility and I can feel my eyes start to sparkle.

Rockstar Treatment

Rockstar Treatment

I don't even know where I want to begin with this one, so I'm going to just aim and get on with my feelings.  

Being in the birth world means I hear lots of reproduction stories, from families who have hired me to provide them with skilled doula support, to friends and family wanting to share, to the woman in the grocery market in Plymouth who noticed my "doula" tee shirt and stops to talk in the orange juice section, sharing deep emotions rooted in a traumatic or jubilant experience. I'm there for it all. I'm all ears. I'm present no matter her story, choices, or outcome. 

Dear Mamas: You Are Not Crazy

Dear mamas,

You are not crazy.  I hear it from you all the time, at my Eastham group, or at your homes: "I just worry so much; I'm so crazy!", "I'm just being crazy", "I must be crazy".  And a thousand other, more oblique ways of saying it.  And I get it; sometimes it seems like that might be the only explanation that makes sense for the way you are feeling.  Sometimes it's easier and more natural to just dismiss what's going on by thinking it's a problem with you and not the situation you're in.  

 

But I want to talk about this phrase.  I want to talk about how often we say a woman is 'just being crazy'. 

Playing NICE: How Women Rise

Playing NICE: How Women Rise

Our commitment to women and their work is nothing we joke around about, and if you know us, we can't help ourselves when it comes to a good laugh. We love hearing stories from fellow women who saw needs in their communities and found a way to fix that deficit. They saw a problem and they took care of it, the way we strong women do.  Whether by offering services, goods, or both, the women entrepreneurs we have surrounded ourselves with have built businesses run entirely on intelligence, fervor, eagerness, and pure ambition. They are the go getters, do gooders, and up lifters.