Shutting Down to Move Forward: The Therapist Becomes the Patient I’m saying goodbye (albeit temporarily) to my three blogs and related digital patient advocacy work. That means all my social media forums, from Twitter to Facebook to Pinterest and LinkedIn, will be flatlined starting August 19. Why am I committing this cardinal “no-no” in the…
How Do You Know When You Are Overextended? I’m Wounded, What do I Do? Vanessa sat in her kitchen, feeling torn. She loved her children, her job, and her home. She felt fortunate, but at the same time, disenchanted. Tired all the time, her mind felt cluttered with lists of things to do amidst toys…
7 Essential Elements for Natural Childbirth In a recent report from Healthy People 2010 and CDC, Fit Pregnancy in a natural childbirth post reported that “a natural, unmedicated vaginal birth is an entirely achievable and reasonable goal for about 85 percent of pregnant women, according to Healthy People 2020. The other 15 percent have health…
Prenatal Yoga Offers Comprehensive Fitness During Pregnancy The ACOG recommends 30 minutes or more of moderate intensity exercise on most days of the week for pregnant women. The majority of women (92%) in the CDC’s report, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), assessed physical activities during pregnancy from 1999 to 2006, know they should be evaluated…
Why Every Expectant Mom Needs Yoga Pregnancy brings the most enormous changes in a woman’s life, and is arguably the most profound change that the body can experience. It is no secret that America claims the most shameful maternal health and birth outcomes in the developed world. For more information, read my previous post on…
Women’s Health Neglected In the US If you are a women and you live in America, then your health is, quite likely, being neglected. And many women don’t even realize it. A significant report on the future of women’s health published today reveals that women are still being left out of research, despite a 1993…
Why the American Attitude Toward Mothers Must Change Are you a mother? father? Do you know a mother or father? Care about a mother or father? Care about children? Then this post should hit a nerve. I want to share a poignant and heart squeezing personal story of why our collective attitude toward moms in…
Better Birth Starts by Watching This Pictured with my third son, safely caught by my husband with the assistance of our marvelous midwife, Mary Georgetown University researcher Ryan McAllister asks this question about American birth, “Would you pay full price for something that is broken?” Thank you to Ryan McAllister and his team for this excellent…
This post is also featured on Modern Mom American Childbirth: A Human Rights Failure? United Nations data shows that between 1990 and 2008, the United States maternal mortality rate nearly doubled, while the overwhelming majority of countries collectively decreased their rates by 34% (Coeytauz et al 2011). We have a right to criticize the shameful state…
This week’s post is by Carl Kerridge, who goes straight to the heart of one of the big issues surrounding the American collective maternity care and that of his lovely wife, the super intelligent Jessica Durivage of Where is My Guru?. Get to know them both, they are an amazing team! Telling Our Story: The Dark Underbelly of American…
What is a Birth Playlist? Designer Music for Mom Music is very important in my family. I come from a family of musicians, and my husband and I are both musicians. We even play gigs together, in lieu of “date nights,” on a regular basis. So for me, laboring without music was unthinkable. I had…
This week’s blog post is an excerpt from my interview with the Mothers’ Centers Voices Spotlight Series. Read the full interview here. A big thanks goes to the National Association of Mothers Centers for all their hard work in raising awareness about mothers rights in America. We inadvertently become researchers of life and motherhood when we study our own as…