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4   awesome   things   I   love   about   charting   my   menstrual   cycles

4/20/2018

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-By Michele Drake

I have spent the last few years passionately listening to women talk about their health, and a few trends have become apparent. One of the most startling, but also most common, stories I hear is about people being invalidated by their doctors or healthcare providers (see my blog post about informed consent). This is infuriating for many reasons, but mostly because no one knows your body better than you. You should be your #1 resource in your own healthcare. For me, this means being observant and curious about my own body.
“You should be your #1 resource in your own healthcare. For me, this means being observant and curious about my own body.”
The symptothermal method is a Fertility Awareness Method which requires tracking cycle days, basal body temperature (BBT), and cervical fluid observations. When you learn to observe and record these fertility signs, you will be able to clearly see how long your cycles are, if and when you ovulate, and determine whether or not you are fertile. To clarify, fertility is a measure of health- whether or not you are trying to conceive. Healthy bodies are fertile bodies, so even if you choose not to reproduce, you should still be working toward a healthy, ovulating body.

Below are my top 4 reasons for charting menstrual cycles (and none of them are for conception or contraception).

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The True Cost Of Trying To Be A Perfect Mom

2/14/2018

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“Realize that some moms won’t ask for help because they don’t want to seem less than the supermom they hope to be.”
                                                                                   -Dr. Sears
“Why did nobody tell me about this?” was the question I often asked myself when I woke up in the middle of the night to nurse my firstborn, wondering if I had peed the bed and realizing my breasts were leaking all over. I wish I had a clean shirt right next to bed. I wish I had a water bottler within reach. I wish I had a waterproof cover on my mattress. I wish I knew why my baby was crying. And all of the sudden I was furiously hungry at 3 am and the weight of it all was quite overwhelming.
 
Why didn’t I know these things?
We just don’t know what we don’t know.
 
HOW HARD CAN IT REALLY BE?
When I talk to pregnant people about postpartum and they look at me with disbelief at the thought of asking friends and family for help, I totally get it.
I was there too. It wasn’t until AFTER the birth of my first baby that I picked up a book about postpartum and I found myself thinking, “Darn, I should have read this BEFORE the baby was born.” Well, too late. I wasn’t prepared at all.
 
You might be wondering, what kind of preparation do people actually need? Does this really apply to me? A pregnant woman asked me recently: “Will I really not be able to get up from bed and make myself a sandwich? Is it really that bad?”
 
Honestly, if you don’t have any major complications during birth the answer is: most likely, yes. You will probably be able to physically get up from bed and make yourself a sandwich. You might even be able to make yourself a fancy sandwich or a more complex meal. I have seen people do very difficult things in the first few weeks after birth. But the real question here is… At what cost? And why?

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Should   your   parents   be  invited   to  the   delivery   room?

12/31/2017

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After three years of attending births, one of the things I see pregnant people commonly stress out about is deciding whether or not they should have their parents or parents-in-law at the birth.

For some, the answer is clear: Either they would love to have their relatives at the birth or they feel absolutely confident on not having them around.

But for the ones who feel hesitant, how do you decide?
Here are 6 questions to consider when making a choice.

1. WHY?
Ask yourself why you are considering asking your relatives to join: Is it because their presence brings you comfort? Do you feel obligated? Do you want to be polite? Do you think they have “the right to be there”? Do they think they have the right to be there? Do you want to avoid confrontation? Are you afraid of hurting someone’s feelings? If their presence is not going to bring you comfort and you answered yes to any of the other questions, you might want to look into this issue a little deeper.

2. ARE THEY BRINGING FEARS OR NERVOUSNESS?
Childbirth is a deeply intimate experience and you need to be surrounded by people who trust the process wholeheartedly and who support your decisions 100%. If your relatives are bringing nervousness or fear into your space, their presence is not going to benefit you and therefore, not going to benefit your baby.

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Does your baby's sleep make you a better parent?

8/3/2017

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YOUR BABY IS NOT A BLANK SLATE
One of the biggest mistakes that we make as parents is thinking that everything our children do, positive or negative, is a reflection of who we are.
 
It’s hard to become a parent. We have to give so much! Our own identities often become diluted as we pour every bit of ourselves into caring for our children. So when people say, “he is such a good baby,” “she is so sweet,” “they are so smart!” our chests swell with pride. Those comments can feel like an affirmation on the worthiness of our hard work as parents, which so often goes without recognition in nowadays individualistic culture.
 
Equally, if someone turns their nose to our kid, criticizes their manners, temper or behavior, it feels like a punch in the gut. For many of us, it’s easy to internalize that judgment (imagined or not) and start labeling our children and ourselves negatively (even if it’s a joke). Hot mess mom. Bad mom. Difficult child. Etc.

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CALL THE FOOD  DOULA: POSTPARTUM  NOURISHMENT  CAN  BE THAT  EASY!

6/28/2017

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​Before I became a mom I used to love cooking. I was even good at it! My old friends still remind me how much they loved my creative dishes. Nowadays it’s hard to imagine how I used to come up with time and imagination to prepare that food. Most days even making a sandwich seems like a challenge. I do cook for my family and sometimes I enjoy it, but it’s a lot of work. I need to research recipes (hello Pinterest!), make lists, write meal plans, do the actual cooking and psychologically prepare to accept the fact that my three year old might still reject a lot of my food (we’re working on it).

I knew that I was particularly going to need help after the birth of my second child and luckily, the help I got surpassed all my expectations. Not only did my loving community brought me amazing food for weeks after the birth, but I also got to experience one of the most nourishing and comforting services a postpartum mom could ever enjoy: a food doula!

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DEAR  IMPERFECT  PARENT:  YOU  ARE  NOT  A  FAILURE

4/10/2017

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© Gajus | Dreamstime.com
This is a wonderful guest blog post by Raya Weaver.
​Are you interested on blogging for Womb Revolution? Contact us!
BEING A PARENT IS HARD
Being a parent is hard. Anybody with kids can agree on that. We all want what is best for our children, and most of us seem to have pretty strong opinions on what that might be. Sometimes, those opinions don't line up with reality. Twists and turns in our lives can throw us curveballs, and the way we end up handling our bumpy paths in life may turn out to be drastically different from the way we pictured ourselves handing things. And that is okay. Actually, it's not okay, it's awesome.

DEALING WITH JUDGMENT AND GUILT IS PART OF IT ALL
In a way, being a parent can sometimes feel like being under a microscope (especially in public). Starting in pregnancy, we get judged on all sorts of ridiculous things. Did we give up coffee? Did we remember to take our vitamins every day? Did we attend birth classes? Write a birth plan? Eat healthy? Do prenatal yoga?

The list goes on and on, and if we fail on any of those fronts, we can be made to feel like we are the worst parents in the world. It bleeds into birth with our guilt regarding epidurals, cesareans, long labors and other complications. Then into postpartum and beyond. Our harshest critics, of course, are ourselves.

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Why  you  need  to  set  up  a  meal  train  for  postpartum

3/15/2017

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LIFE WITH A NEWBORN IS BUSY
 
It’s crazy how the most basic things become so difficult once you’re caring for a newborn. Taking a shower, peeing by yourself, eating with both hands and other things we take for granted on the pre-baby days all of a sudden become luxuries during postpartum.
 
Newborns are a lot of work. Many want to be held all the time and those little stomachs can’t hold much food, so they need to eat and poop often. If you’re breastfeeding, you might find most of your day is spent nursing. So, when are you supposed to cook and prepare all the nutritious meals you will be needing to recover from childbirth, cope with sleep deprivation and keep a healthy milk supply?!
 
Even if you have an awesome partner who is committed to taking the best care of you, the demands of parenthood are many and it’s easy to put our nutritional needs on the back burner. Taking care of babies wasn’t meant to be a one or two person job. You will keep hearing it over and over and even if it sounds cliché it’s true: it takes a village! So hey, there is a very easy thing you can do to make this transition easier: let people help!

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This   is   what   happens   when   you   go   floating   during   pregnancy

3/11/2017

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Pregnancy is different for everyone and even for the same person each pregnancy is unique. But most people who have grown a human inside their bodies will tell you it can often be quite uncomfortable, especially towards the end.
 
Time has been flying by and I’m now 34 weeks pregnant. I don’t remember my first pregnancy being as achy as this one. I have been doing a lot of things to try to help my body cope with all the changes: prenatal yoga, Dancing For Birth™, hula hooping, swimming and visiting the chiropractor. It does help, but I still struggle, particularly when it comes to finding myself not able to enjoy sleep at night since every turn and shift seems like a gigantic effort.
 
So when a friend told me about Oly Float here in Olympia, I was immediately attracted to the idea and decided to look more into it.

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The Value of Meditation for Overcoming Pregnancy Anxiety

12/28/2016

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Pregnancy can be quite stressful. After all, your life is changing dramatically and the worries of the world all of the sudden seem much more overwhelming. New financial demands pile up, contradicting advice and information can be confusing, everyone has an opinion about your life, and your identity often seems to be replaced with the simple label: pregnant.
 
To make things even harder, you’re supposed to stay relaxed and happy, since everyone knows that stress is not good for the baby. Some studies have shown moms with high levels of anxiety during pregnancy are more prone to go into birth prematurely and their babies more likely to have complications.
“Some studies have shown moms with high levels of anxiety during pregnancy are more prone to go into birth prematurely and their babies more likely to have complications.”
“Just relax” might sound like great advice, but people who struggle with depression and anxiety know that it’s not as easy as it sounds. If all this sounds familiar, you might want to consider the extreme, insane-sounding thing that I’m about to propose: a 10-day silent meditation course.

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The  Challenge  Of  Loving  Your  Changing  Pregnant  Body

12/7/2016

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You know what sucks? Worrying about your appearance all the time.
If you’re a woman, chances are you know exactly what I’m talking about, since statics show that at least 80% (although some say it's as high as 98%) of women feel dissatisfied with the way they look.
Isn’t that insane?
The documentary Embrace (trailer below), goes deep into this struggle for self-love.

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    Marissa Rivera Bolaños is a doula and visual artist with a passion to create change around the way our culture approaches women's health.

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