Author: mentorchar

What It Is An app and bee-shaped charm that helps clients contact their doula quickly, and notifies the doula even if their phone isn’t on them. The idea is a simple, attractive accessory that gives a doula quick information, 24/7 How it works When a client hires a doula, the doula has them download the…

I recently had the privilege of seeing a hospital maternity that was almost done with it’s remodeling project, and when the tour guide asked if I had any questions I asked “What spaces can doulas use?”. Often, doulas serving clients at a hospital birth don’t have a clear picture of if they’re ‘allowed’ to use…

Since the 1990s, the industry standard model for doula training has been this: You take a weekend (roughly 15-20 hours) training in which you are taught about the basics of labor, what the role of a doula is, and skills to support families. You are then let loose on the world with the mandate to…

That’s fantastic! Hospital-based childbirth classes can be a great source of practical information about labor and birth, as well as giving insights into that particular hospital’s dynamic, procedures & environment. A Birthing From Within class may still be right for you, in addition to the hospital class- because there are things we do, that you…

Chicago Birthing From Within Mentor Holly Barhamand, of Kick-Ass Birth, mic drops with this article on detaching your self worth from your bodily functions: Well, what if your body IS a lemon? <— That’s a link. Go read. We’ll wait. Our bodies are chaos, at best. These things suck, yet they happen. And birth is…

by Virginia Bobro, Certified Childbirth Educator and Doula (BFW); original post here. “Trust Birth” and “Trust Your Body” are common clichés, often tossed around casually in many childbirth circles, and also sometimes hotly debated, especially among those who have had or have witnessed difficult births. But what does it really mean to trust? And how…

This wonderful article comes to us by way of Birthing From Within San Antonio & Mentor Nikki Shaheed Original Article As your belly grows and your sweet baby puts on the ounces, there are many exciting milestones! The first time you feel those tiny feet kicking, making it to the second trimester, wearing maternity clothes,…

As someone who falls on the ‘queer’ spectrum, and who has a non-traditional relationship style, I have been making a conscious effort to increase my use of inclusive, gender neutral language; in my classes, on my website, and in my writings. I recognize that my earlier blog posts may not use inclusive language, nor acknowledge…

No, not the romantic kind (Although those are also important in late pregnancy for ‘you’ time!), we’re talking the sweet dried fruit of the date palm. A recent research study found that women who ate 4-6 dates daily in the last 4 weeks of pregnancy, are more likely to: Have a more ‘favorable’ cervix when…

The article “Monstrous Births: Pushing back against empowerment in childbirth” is making the rounds, and some are taking exception to it. But here’s the deal- she’s not wrong. Birth isn’t always awesome. Birth is always, on some level, a transformative event; because who you are when you begin, is not who you are after the…