Small Stone Birth Activism

In 2008, I wrote an article called Small Stone Birth Activism for Citizens for Midwifery News. I revised the article this year and it was published in the Fall 2009 edition of the International Journal of Childbirth Education (ICEA’s publication). It begins on page 8. I also have an older version uploaded here. This version [...]

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Favorite Birth Class Videos

The question of “what are your favorite teaching videos?” has arisen on several email lists I belong to recently. I decided to re-post my answer here, since I had it freshly typed up!
I have quite a few birth DVDs now and I don’t show them in class anymore, but I offer the selection to my [...]

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Fear Release for Birth

I want to share a fear release exercise that I’ve used several times at Blessingways for pregnant friends. I got the idea from The Pregnant Woman’s Comfort Book and then modified the wording slightly. I think it is a powerful exercise to do in a group. We circle around the pregnant woman holding hands and [...]

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Comfort Measures Illustrations

We spend a lot of time in my classes talking about different comfort measures for birth. In fact, one of my most popular classes is my “Labor Support and Comfort Measures” single session class in which we practice all kinds of different skills that may be of use for birthing.
I enjoy Childbirth Connection’s free pdf [...]

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New Edition of The Guide to a Healthy Birth!

One of my favorite resources to hand out in birth classes and to give to pregnant friends is Choices in Childbirth’s booklet “The Guide to a Healthy Birth.” I’m so excited to learn that the second edition of the booklet is now available! (Thanks to Teri at Passion for Birth for the tipoff!) You can [...]

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Recent Publications

This has been quite a month for me for publications!
My short article Centering for Birth was published in the International Journal of Childbirth Education (page 20)
My book review of Fathers at Birth was published in The CAPPA Quarterly (page 14).
My film review of Birth as We Know It was in The CAPPA Quarterly (page 15).
And, [...]

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Active Birth Video

Lamaze and Injoy videos have teamed up on a nice new website called Mother’s Advocate. The site has a variety of handouts and a booklet to download based on “6 Healthy Birth Practices” (which, in and of themselves form a nice little birth plan for a normal, healthy birth!). I especially enjoyed their video on [...]

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Free e-Booklets

Before birth and birth education became my primary passions in life, I was deeply connected to several other causes and wrote three booklets based on different areas (non-birth related, though one does have a section in it for doulas). I have decided to make the booklets available for download as FREE print-ready PDF files, (The [...]

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Pushing

I have previously shared some thoughts about pushing. Today, I came across a helpful resource for first time mothers that really thoroughly explores the pushing stage of birthing your baby and has all kinds of information about “how to push” (really quick answer: with your body!). The technique shared is to “breathe the baby out”—but [...]

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Birth Affirmations for Fathers

In my classes, I suggest the use of affirmations. Affirmations are short, positive statements that inspire confidence and positive feelings. I have a handout that is printed on the front side with affirmations for mothers to read to themselves and the reverse has the same affirmations worded in such a way that they can be [...]

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