All The Birthy Things

I have some big news for aspiring doulas and birthkeepers, Reader! In the birth world, Lauren and I saw a "gap." The gap was in the place where autonomous birth and deep faith in YHWH overlap. In that place, there was not one doula or birthkeeper training. But over the years we've learned that sometimes if you SEE the gap, it may be that you're meant to also FILL the gap. And so that's what Lauren and I set out to do with Hearthmother Journey. (Same with the birth podcasts landscape, which is...

Dear Reader, I thought it would be fun to hit on one common "objection" to home birth that I often hear, and maybe you sometimes hear it from people, too, when you share your plans for a home birth. Let this little article help you know how to respond, or put your own mind at ease. HOME BIRTH HANG-UP:⁠ "It's MESSY and we don't want to clean it up."⁠ ⁠ Friends, birth is a little messy no matter where it happens, but it's really not THAT messy. And the cleanup is quite simple if there's careful...

Dear Reader, Today I'm sharing a poem of sorts, one I wrote a few years ago. A Birthkeeper's Hands My hands are in service to you and your baby.⁠ Before I came through the door of your home and into your sacred birthing space⁠ I dedicated them to God and offered them up to be used on your behalf⁠ ⁠ I have intentionally trained them and thoughtfully informed them to know which touches are ⁠ therapeutic⁠ comforting⁠ needful for assisting when things feel scary or are going awry⁠ ⁠ My hands are...

Dear Reader, Raise your hand if you are basically ALWAYS up for a good birth story! 🙋♀️ What makes a birth story "good?" Human nature is drawn to the incredible, the unlikely, the dramatic, and the suspenseful. But when it comes to birth, the stories that are simple and straightforward are equally as awesome. One mama whose birth story I shared on my blog a while back was a little shy about sharing at first because she was afraid it was boring. I think we are in need of "boring" birth...

Dear Reader, Today we're in part 7&8 of a series on the Way of the Hearthmother, a Christ-centric and holistic framework to navigating resolution/healing as developed by Lauren Hall and as we teach within Hearthmother Journey. You can catch up on the other steps here. Today I'm combining the last two steps: Step 7 is Forceful Intervention Step 8 is Invasive Intervention Though these are two separate steps, they do tend to bleed into one another a little bit. As a reminder, we approach these...

Dear Reader, Today we're in part 4 of a series on the Way of the Hearthmother, a Christ-centric and holistic framework to navigating resolution/healing as developed by Lauren Hall and as we teach within Hearthmother Journey. You can catch up on the other steps here. Today -- after a nearly month-long break from this series (hello, holidays!) -- I'm pick up with Step 6, which is the first in three layers of intervention that sometimes become necessary in cases when all proceeding steps don't...

Dear Reader, Happy Advent, sister. I'm taking a break from he Way of the Hearthmother series I've been writing because I'm honestly overwhelmed, behind on all the things, and feeling pretty down during these exceptionally short hours of daylight and the deep snow that's been piling up here since Thanksgiving. This is the season of waiting, longing, hoping. The season of feeling our lack, need, and desperation for a savior in a long span of silence. In our holy imaginations we enter into what...

Dear Reader, Today we're in part 4 of a series on the Way of the Hearthmother, a Christ-centric and holistic framework to navigating resolution/healing as developed by Lauren Hall and as we teach within Hearthmother Journey. You can catch up on the other steps here. This week we're jumping into step 5, which is Live as Designed. Meaning, at the most fundamental level, are we living in alignment with the conditions we have been created by God to thrive within? This is stuff that can feel so...

Dear Reader, Today we're in part 4 of a series on the Way of the Hearthmother, a Christ-centric and holistic framework to navigating resolution/healing as developed by Lauren Hall and as we teach within Hearthmother Journey. You can catch up on the other steps here. This week we're jumping into step 4, which is to Engage the Body of Christ. People. Real, 3-dimensional humans who are part of the family of God, whom you trust to speak into your life. Hopefully you have some people like this in...

Dear Reader, Today we're in part 3 of a series on the Way of the Hearthmother, a Christ-centric and holistic framework to navigating resolution/healing as developed by Lauren Hall and as we teach within Hearthmother Journey. Last week we talked about the second step being to wait upon the Lord. Today I'd like to explore step 3, which is to "get curious!" As an unschooling facilitator for 6 wonderful kids, "curiosity" has become one of my focus words. I am convinced that children are born with...