The Heart Beat

Family Fun Day Cruise aboard the Barbara-Lee   Featuring                                       * 2-hour Cruise on Lake Monroe and St. Johns River                                       * Alligators and various animals provided by Gatorland                                       * Ala Carte Family-friendly Menu and Drinks to purchase                 Cruise boards at 3:45pm and cruises 4pm to 6pm. Adults - $18.00 / Children $13.00 (price includes tax) For Reservations / Information call 321-441-3030 www.stjohnrivershipco.com

Hello Every One! Urgent Message:  We are having to reschedule the Annual Baby Reunion at the Zoo because of a double scheduling conflict. Please note that we ARE NOT DOING THE REUNION on the scheduled date!!! A new date will be announced ASAP!!

That's right! You are invited to our annual baby reunion at the Central Florida Zoo on Saturday 11/3/12!  This years theme is a costume party with lots of games and prizes, so dress up, dress your little ones up and come out for some fun with your midwives! We meet up in the Wayne Densch Building.  We always do this event as a pot luck, so bring a favorite dish to share. Heart 2 Heart will have it's annual birthday cake, too.  Please RSVP with us on FaceBook Events to let us know you are coming out to see us! Michelle, Lynn, Zoe, and Tammy

Exciting day! The entire H2H staff was at the Z88 baby expo held at the First Orlando Baptist Church down off John Young Parkway. We are the Annual Sponsor of the show, and it's always fun to meet new friends and see old ones! Christy painted her fingernails black and put the H2H logo on them, showing her birth center support!! Our next show is September 15, 2012 in Daytona with Volusia Parents Magazine. More details to come but we hope to see you all there!

Heart 2 Heart Birth Center will be hosting a 3 day Doula Training Series presented by Rae Davies. Rae has been a childbirth educator for over 35 years and a DONA trainer since 1996. This comprehensive 3-day course is for anyone interested in assisting women and families in having a satisfying birth experience. The dates are March 4-6 2011 and early bird cost is $280. There will also be a breastfeeding course offered on March 4. The early bird cost is $50 for that course. Visit http://www.thebirthcompany.com/ for more information or you can call Rae at 904-285-0028. For a copy of the flyer by e-mail send me a message at Crystal@H2HBirthCenter.com

Ok ladies, I am placing a challenge to you all! As soon as I get back from my cruise, I am going to begin going to yoga class in the Wellness Center with instructor Sarah Herzog. I am challenging you to come out and start something new that can improve your health tremendously! I hear all you ladies say that you need to do something for exercise but it is too hot outside, or you haven't exercised before (oh, that is me saying these things!!) So no more excuses..lets get to it! Lets improve our body's circulation, flexibility, breathing, and even our emotional state with yoga! Tuesday evenings at 6:30 to 7:30 $12.00 per session Everyone welcome (beginners, experts, husbands, your mom, a friend!!) Call 407-322-9944 to register

Check out the front page of our website ladies...new video on September being infant mortality month. We are participating in a program with Jennie Joseph of the Birth Place in Winter Garden promoting Better Birth Outcomes for ALL BABIES!! More on this soon... Calender Events: Sunday 8/23/09: We will be at the Florida Mall Hotel Conference Center for the Smart Baby Expo. Try to get out there and see us! Saturday 09/26/09 from 12-5 we will be participating in the Birth, Babies and Beyond Baby Festival at the First Presbyterian Church in Maitland on 17-92! Saturday 10/3/09 will be our very own 3rd annual Baby Reunion at the Central Florida Zoo...many events planned for that day including: a bounce house for the bigger babies, volley ball, water balloons, pinatas, a car show for the daddies and horseshoes, BBQ'ing and a pot luck...the Florida Friends of Midwives will have a table signing up people to help protect midwifery in Florida! What else? Oh, the Zoo now has a splash pad and zi...

For those of you who don't know it yet, we are expecting as well! Okay, so it is not a baby, but it is taking 9 months!! We are having our dream birth center built. Now before any of you panic, it is going to have all of the charm and beauty of this building, it will just be a bit more practical: all on one floor (no steps to climb in labor!), three birth rooms, two exam rooms, and a better waiting room for extended family when they come for the birth or after! We will still be right here in Sanford, but will actually be right across the street from labor and delivery (The Baby Suites) at Central Florida Regional Hospital on Lexington Drive. Although the building will be new, it will have all of our antiques in it, so we know it is going to be simply wonderful.  We love this beautiful old building and appreciate having gotten our start here, but we have definitely outgrown this beautiful old place so we can offer some more stuff to ya'll. We will also be opeing a Wellness Cente...

Yesterday was our Mother's Day Celebration. We were joined by many of our birthin' mamas here at the center to honor them for their support for midwifery and to just plain old say Thank You. The work we do is so rewarding for us that we want wach of you to know how much we appreciate you. For those of you who missed our little shin-dig, there was food galore! Our local Mirena (IUD) representative donated TooJays deli food...there were sandwiches, salads, cookies, rugulache (SP?) cakes (thank you Valeria!) and more food from my caterer friend Drew who brought the most scrumptious veggie wraps! The food was terrific. Misti, our twin expecting student midwife, read the Proclamation for International Midwives Day (05/05/09), which reminds me to remind each of you to please sign up and become a member of the Florida Friends of Midwives and support your right to have a midwife attend your birth. If the state representatives don't know what you want they can't protect your rig...

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...

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!

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...