As the couples file out of the classroom at the end of my Childbirth Preparation series, I usually ask them something: “Are you ready?” This might seem like a loaded question, and it is. I’m hoping that I’ll hear something along the lines of, “I guess I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” or “I’m […]

Sometimes it’s hard to trust that you’re good enough to be a parent. It’s such an important job. But it’s a job that is all to often undervalued in a society where our worth is judged by how much money we make and how much stuff we own. With parenting, there’s very little monetary gain. […]

Have you heard about “The Period of Purple Crying?” Have you already experienced it? If not, consider yourself lucky. If you are reading this in the midst of such a period, you have my greatest empathy. The Period of Purple Crying is something that most parents will experience at some point and I want you to […]

Is it possible that you might not be the ideal parent that you thought you were going to be before the baby arrived? Is it possible that you might parent differently than you’d imagined because – Hellooooo, reality? Just a couple of questions to think about as you begin your parenting journey. Because this is […]

This post is dedicated to my first-born “baby,” who made me a Momma sixteen years ago today. She’s grown into such a lovely young woman. Beautiful, inside and out. Mature well beyond her years. Determined, curious and questioning. She’s fun and funny. She lives her life at a volume that might be too loud for […]

I think that many new parents feel that when they have a baby they’ll essentially remain the exact same person they were before. Only now – they have a baby. And there is great appeal in that because as human beings, most of us don’t really like change. We like things to be pretty predictable. […]

As new parents you might be tempted to try and capture every moment with your new baby. This is true of almost every parent – even those of us who had babies before smart phones were ever invented! (I know, I know… I’m old.) I’m putting this in writing for the sake of my two […]

After my husband I got married, well-meaning people would ask us all the time, “When will you be starting a family?” Which was just the more polite way of saying, “When are you going to get busy and make some babies?” But weren’t we a family? I mean, we had chosen one another out of […]

I sat in the darkened auditorium watching a series of slides: different women laboring hard to bring their babies into this world, while Tracy Chapman’s The Promise played quietly in the background. I felt like I had finally discovered what it was that I wanted to devote my life’s work to. This made no practical […]

This past week was a tough one, I’m not going to lie… All the after school activities were in full swing, which makes my job – evenings and weekends mostly – more challenging. Oldest daughter was back at dance five days a week, oldest son in soccer five days a week plus saxophone, and my […]

As a Childbirth Educator, I’m charged with teaching my students about ways they can successfully cope with contractions. This includes all sorts of techniques: position changes, medications, hydrotherapy and the original coping technique: breathing. Breathing gets a bad rap, as far as I’m concerned. In movies and TV shows, Childbirth Preparation classes are a joke, […]

Oh, my poor Blog! What have I done to you?! My last entry was May 21st! Let’s see, that was just before school let out, and as of today my four children celebrated day #5 of the new school year. Yep, I’m pretty sure that says it all! I didn’t mean to neglect you Blog, […]