The Heart Beat

Rebecca my assistant and I attended the VEGFEST in Orlando this weekend. Our thought was that these would be natural minded, even like minded people with good health concious thoughts toward food and bodies, natural medicine, ect. Well, for the most part we were correct. I had not counted on the amount of people that are so into animals rights compared to the people I thought would be so pro active about vegetation. I guess I thought the focus would be ON vegetables, not on ANTI MEAT. Focus on the good, people, focus on the good!! Any way, our first guest at our table stated that she was shocked that we had little pillows that represent the growth and development of a baby inside the womb. Her question was not a typical one that I am presented with. Hers was "So, you are pro-life?", to which I reply "YUP. I am holding a 3 year old in my lap. I own a birth center. I have baby pillows representing fetal development. Yeah, I am pretty much considered pro-life". She say...

I think we all expected, including this mommie, to have an earth mama type of birth...and see, this is just what happens!! Side note: I thought when I was having my babies that I was so well informed, so prepared. I knew it all (again with the mechanics of birth) and when it did not go as smooth as glass i thought i was doing it wrong. I thought: It shouldn't hurt this much...but it did. It shouldn't take this long...but it did. After 25+ years this is what I have learned. Don't go into birth with any expectations of what it is going to be like!! Or maybe just any preconcieved (heehee) ideas of how it will be. Ava's birth took a while. Not a long while, less than 12 hours, but longer at the time than this mom thought it might take. I suppose we all hope to be the lucky one, the one with the fast birth story or (angels signing) the great and mysterious ORGASMIC BIRTH!!! Okay, todays birth was far from orgasmic. But it was tolerable. and beautiful, and graceful and a ble...

Announcing the birth of baby girl Jade, who was so pink at her birth it was hard to tell her from the towel I wrapped her in! Thank you Amber & Russ for sharing your experience with me today!

Yesterday I had a first time mom walk in the door and have her baby within minutes, like it was nothing...(I mean physically, not emotionally). She spent little time preparing for her labor, understood the mechanics of how her body worked and frankly just didn't have the money to spend of relaxation classes. She wasn't concerned, she had faith in how it worked and that her body was capable of this awesome journey. Yet another first time mommie will come in, having scoured every pregnancy book, read every article, taken every class...she can hypnobirth herself into a trance in the middle of the grocery store, but when she goes into labor it will be a knock down drag out fight between her subconcious and her physical being. Or is it really? maybe she has a long hard labor just simply because of the mechanics of birth. The angle and attitude of the baby's head, the curve and shape of her pelvis, the strength and tone of her uterus. And she will have compared herself to the wom...

This show was on 09/27/08. It is an annual festival that so far as not taken on too much support...doesn't get enough advertising out there, but we attend it each year in the hopes that someone who really needs to find us will. This year, Rebecca, Vicki (my daughter) and I put everything together to attend. Crouched down behind us is Donna, my very close friend who thinks cameras are dasterdly , so she refused to stand up and have her picture taken. Donna is a trip. She is due in a few weeks herself and we are all anxiously awaiting her delivery, if only because that is what she wants  at this point...to have the baby already! Her fourth and final baby...a girl after three boys, we are all excited about seeing little Sophia Rose's sweet face.  Thanks ladies for all of your help!

10/09/08: Another birth at the beautiful Heart 2 Heart Birth Center. A first baby for this family, the beginning of a whole new part of their lives together, Lilia's birth. No matter how many births I attend I still get goosebumps at each birth with the awesome power, or the incredible look of love that a new mother has in her eyes for her newborn. Thank you to Jennifer and Eric for sharing a beautiful birth experience with Lynn and I.

Okay, You all know that I think the world of Dr. Rodriquez at Sunshine Pediatrics, he's my buddy. I can call him if I have a question or a problem and he is pretty natural minded. I feel the same way about Dr. Cannizaro (Dr. "C"). Dr. C gives out his cell number to his patients so they can get a hold of him after hours if he is needed. But I just want you to see what my ideal "community" physicians look like: Coquelet & Punger Family Medicine . Take a look at  Dr. Punger's blog and buy her book...support these people!! This is an incredible team of married doctors (yes, to each other!). Too bad we don't have them in our community, they are located in Ft. Pierce. Read their website, read their stories, and see what real doctors are supposed to be about. You will feel the passion for their patients. I think we should challenge our care givers to give us this same level of care, this level of commitment. What their practice is doing is empowering the...

It has been quite a while since we touched our blog, and there are so many things happening att he birth center and in our birthing community that I want you all to know about, so I thought let's get back to blogging! First we just celebrated Florida's Licensed Midwifery Week, which was October 1-8. The Florida Friends of Midwives local chapter is not really up and running yet, so no real media went out for this great opportunity to let the public know that they have options in their childbirth care and providers. Perhaps I can generate some support through the blog!! Next, we are really wanting to revamp some things through the Center itself. One thing I had strongly considered was adding a third birth room, but upon further thought, we really need the education room and we REAALLLY want to open a store. So Rebecca is spearheading the store along with the classes at The Educated Mama. Keep an eye on what goes on over there. We plan on carrying cloth diapers, breast pads, herbs...