All The Birthy Things

Hey Reader, The Lord has been really gracious with me this year, through bringing incredible and plentiful students and clients to serve. My cup is overflowing, and out of that overflow, I'm moved to be generous toward my wonderful community here! Yay! I'm delighted to unveil today that I'm running the biggest sale of the year (and perhaps the biggest one I've ever done) on my most robust and comprehensive program, Embrace Birth Journey. EBJ is one-of-a-kind online childbirth education rooted...

Dear Reader, Last time I wrote, I started sharing about the monumental shift in identity that occurs when we become mothers, and how it's sacramental in a way. If you missed it, you can catch up here. I got several email responses to that one, which is something I love, by the way. Even if I can't reply to all of them, I enjoy hearing how things land with you. Sarah M wrote to point out that the jarring deaths to self aren't unique to first babies, but may be experienced with subsequent ones...

Dear Reader, When I host sister circles at which women who have just become mothers for the first time are in attendance, one theme that comes up -- after the initial fuzzy and bleary-eyed first couple of months have passed -- is that of the identity shift and re-orientation. The identity shift in the wake of welcoming a baby into your life is profound. Maybe you've heard of it talked about as the maiden-to-mother transition. Or matrescence (there's a book by this title I keep meaning to...

Dear Reader, This newsletter will be on the short side. We've just wrapped up open enrollment for the fall cohort of Hearthmother Journey (if you're new here, that's our year-long birthkeeper training program). During that time, my energy and focus had been poured out toward those who are birth workers (or aspire to be). All the Holy Wild Birth episodes have been aimed at the birth workers for over a month also. I just wan to acknowledge that imbalance has been present, and that I haven't...

Hi Reader! Aspiring birth workers (like you!) are so often chomping at the bit to keep learning and growing and are very drawn to a thing like Hearthmother Journey... but life season, finances, and marital unity (amongst other things) play a real and very valid role in determining whether or not you can take the plunge and invest in a year-long program. It's now clear that now isn't your time for Hearthmother Journey. But we have some really great news. Or at least we hope it'll strike you as...

Hi Reader! You're getting this email because you've expressed interest in the birthkeeper training we call Hearthmother Journey. If you no longer wish to receive information about this offering, click here to unsubscribe from these emails. There's so much momentum in the birth world right now in the direction of reclaiming and utilizing the traditional, hands-off forms of midwifery. The counter-revolution is in response to the increasingly medically-coopted and soulless form of "midwifery"...

Dear Reader, I've missed you all! It's been a few weeks since I wrote this newsletter, as I warned might be the case. I'm glad to be back on this cool, sunny Thursday morning to share what's on my heart with you! Labor day I was sitting on my front porch talking with one of my dear friends who also happens to be a CPM. I was sharing one of my favorite resources for home birth families -- The Basic Needs of a Woman In Labour (more about this below) -- and as she flipped through and skimmed it,...

Dear Reader, Lately I've been seeing a real uptick in posts on social media (a place I don't even spend much time) about water birth and all the reasons it is BAD. Here's one and here's another. The reasons listed for avoiding water birth are varied. Some of them make sense to me on some level and others seem absurd. But mostly I'm curious about why it's trending to hate on water birth? 🤔 I think it is, in part, a pendulum swing. For a long while, most of the imagery and talk about home birth...

Dear Reader, You didn't get an email from me last week! Did you notice? The reason for this is that I was at a birth on the morning I had planned to write the newsletter, and then again the following morning I had their postpartum follow-up visit. Though I am sorry to have missed writing to you, it was a very happy interruption to my usual workweek. The birth was absolutely beautiful in every way. Buttery smooth, family-centered, and light-filled. I had the honor of making photographs of it...

Dear Reader, I'm writing to you from the passenger seat of my Honda Odyssey. We're on our way to the destination for our third travel adventure in about 6 weeks. This time we're headed to Wisconsin for a family reunion of sorts with my husband's side of the family. This is way more travel than we normally do, for the record! I'm such a homebody, honestly, and though there are things I value about adventuring and experiencing life from other locations and with other loved ones, it drains me...