Your natural cocktail of hormones in labor are the wings that let you fly! Doulas help you know how to most effectively release and increase the right hormones, protect the natural flow and allow you to soar through labor and birth in an empowering way. You have the wings, I simply help you to open them! 

Postpartum Healing Gemstones!

I Love gifting my newly POSTPARTUM clients these beautiful healing gemstones full of uplifting, balancing and loving energy to soak up! Check out pachamama doula to see more about what a birth doula can do for you! In the mean time, have fun reading the article below that describes each unique quality of these gemstones!

• Amethyst.  Believed to offer protection and stability, divine connection, purification, release tension, relieve physical and emotional pain.
• Black Onyx.  Provides protection, increases wound healing and gives a mother-to-be stamina and strength childbirth. In many cultures, women in labor are given bags of onyx stones to hold while they are in labor to help relieve pain and speed the birthing process.
• Bloodstone.  Promotes healing and strength. A powerful aid to revitalization when the body and mind are exhausted. Believed to prevent miscarriage and used during childbirth to ease labor pain.
• Carnelian.  It is believed to protect the wearer from negative emotions and restores motivation, energy, courage and self-esteem. Helps women to work on any fears concerning pregnancy and childbirth.
• Chrysocolla.  Empowerment of goddess energy. Eliminates fear-based thought. Brings peace to the mind and heart. Helps one accept with serenity situations that are constantly changing. Reduces mental tension and alleviates some of the pain associated with labor and eases childbirth.
• Lapis Lazuli.  Unleashes the inner spiritual queen within, enhances intuition and self-truth. Quickly releases stress, bringing peace, harmony and deep inner self-knowledge. Helps the body reduce the physical stresses caused by pregnancy. In the 17th century, ultramarine pigment made from crushed lapis lazuli was added to a potent medicine called Alkermes Syrup and was given to women who experienced difficulties during childbirth.
• Larimar.  Promotes tranquillity and serenity. Soothes frazzled nerves and diminishes stress and fear. Reduces the tendency to become over-critical of yourself and others. Encourages letting go and allowing things to happen rather than trying to control every outcome. Retunes innate femininity and restores connection to nature. Said to alleviate post-partum depression and relax the stress associated with parenthood.
• Malachite.  A powerful emotional cleanser helping to remove past traumas and negative emotions. Known as the “midwives stone” as it helps o stimulate contractions, ease labor pains and facilitates a safe childbirth.
• Moonstone.  Gem of the High Priestess, self-discovery, deep insight, harmony in relationships, soothes emotions. Helps to relieve stress, fear and tension during childbirth. Believed to aid contractions and promote healthy lactation.
• Moss Agate.  Believed to be a stone of new beginnings helping to release you from deep-seated fears and blockages that might be holding you back. Increases hope and optimism, improves self-esteem and self-confidence. A birthing crystal, Moss Agate assists midwives in their work, lessening pain and ensuring a good birth.
• Orange Calcite.  Promotes positive thinking and clears feelings of stress, fear and tension. May be helpful energetically healing the reproductive system.
• Peridot.  Opens the mind to new levels of awareness. Banishes lethargy, apathy and exhaustion. Helps release burdens, guilt and obsessions. Enhances confidence and assertiveness. Enables you to take responsibility for your own life. Encourages renewal and a fresh start. Said to be helpful during childbirth by stimulating contractions and opening the birth canal. Can also help to dispel postpartum depression.
• Picture Jasper.  Alleviates fear and protect against pain during the process of childbirth.
• Quartz Crystal.  Known as the Master Healing Crystal because it contains the full spectrum of light and works on every level to bring the body into balance. Strengthens and stabilizes the body’s energy fields and promotes harmony. Amplifies positive thoughts and stimulate positive action when it is needed. Helps release negative energy absorbed from other people and helps fight feelings of inadequacy.
• Rose Quartz.  Provides emotional balance, security and peace. Used as a protective gemstone during childbirth and pregnancy, it allows you to truly embrace unreserved love and the magic of childbirth, allowing you to connect deeply with yourself, your baby and the whole universe.
• Serpentine.  Activates kundalini energy and moving forward from the past with strength and confidence. Said to help you to feel more in control of your life and to help correct emotional and mental imbalances and promotes inner peace.

Crystals and stones emit and absorb energy so its important to cleanse them with sage or put outside under the sun (except the ones that are prone to fading) and moon to reenergize them so that they can return to a neutral state of energy.

The crystals and stones you select can be used as a focal point in childbirth or a layout can be created under your bed to protect them and keep a constant energy flow. The stones can either be placed according to your intuition or in a circle with a Moonstone or Rose Quartz in the middle. A circle is a beautiful way to represent unbroken loving energy and the circle of life. Thank you NaturealMom for all the great info! 

Launching my new web sight Special!!! Go check out: pachamamadoula.com

Samantha's Birth Story

April 14, 2013 8:42 AM

I'm so excited to share my client Katrina's sacred home birth story, beautifully written herself. My sole purpose as a doula in this birth was supporting the momma during Labor. What made it so inspiring to be a part of was that physical support was all she needed. In all other areas she was fully prepared!

This woman is a fabulous example of getting in touch with and listening to the divine feminine within. As you read about her birth you will soon see the complete responsibility she took for each and every aspect of her birth: the emotional, physical, energetic, informational, and more.

I would also like to highlight the fact that her baby was originally in the posterior position. I'm so proud to know a woman who educated herself so well that she knew she could turn the baby herself with no medical intervention!

Posterior babies that go undetected can lead to very long labors and hard births. However if you are experiencing this a Doula or home birth midwife would help you to get in a variety of positions known to help a baby move into optimal fetal positioning in order to restart a halted or slow labor and possibly save you from an unnecessary C-section.

Wait to go Katrina for knowing just what to do in order to aid her dilation and have a beautiful birth. A side note: Katrina is also a Doula herself.

The Birth of Baby Grant

A VBAC Success!

The story of Grant's birth is one that will always stay near and dear to my heart. It started when his beautiful mother, Ali, had an overwhelming hope for a better and more peaceful birth than the one she experienced before.

 Ali’s first birth had been a scheduled C-section because her baby was in the breach position. At the time her doctor did discuss turning the baby but Ali felt as if the doctor showed no confidence in the success of attempting this. He also told Ali it would be incredibly painful. So of course Ali assumed this was true, took his advice, and declined an attempt at turning the baby. She also knew nothing of the many wonderfully effective, natural techniques to help the baby turn, such as spinning babies.

Other common misdiagnoses causing a huge number of unnecessary C-sections are Failure to Progress and CPD, where a woman’s pelvis is thought to be to small to give birth vaginally. In Ali’s case of the baby being breech she went on to have her sweet baby girl via scheduled C-section. She's such a beautiful little girl and has grown healthy and strong. However, Ali was left with a very hard recovery physically and emotionally and a strong inkling that things could have been different.

She felt that not only was the birth hard on her but that it could have been gentler for her baby. Ali began to feel that this C-section might not have been truly medically necessary. As the months passed during her next pregnancy she followed her intuition and began to look into what complications really warrant intervention and what it would take to have a vaginal birth after a C-section.

Ali wanted more than anything to prove to herself against many people’s doubts that she could in fact have a safe vaginal birth after a C-section. She wanted it, not only for herself but also she longed to give this baby the peaceful entrance into this world that he deserved.

The Birth of Parker Bryce

Labor Starts with a Bang! From the Eyes of a Doula: 

March 26, 2014 

~ 4:02 pm: 

"My doctor's appointment went pretty well. My blood pressure was high so they stripped my membranes. I'm dialted to a four. So we'll see what happens..." 

-Text message from Shontelle 

 ~8:42 pm: 

"I've been drinking lots of water and my head is feeling better. I'm also having contractions. I haven't started to time them but I thought I would let you know. Hopefully it's not antoher false alarm :) " 

-Text message from Shontelle 

I (the doula) replied: 

"Awesome!!! No such thing as a false alarm to me! I mean your body was doing something last night, you're already at a four! You know the drill: positive affirmations, scarf a meal, relax into your contractions, keep me posted :) XOXO you're a birthing goddess!"

  

"Thanks so much! I will update you in an hour or so :) " 

-Text message from Shontelle 

The next think I know it's barely an hour later and my phone jingles as a text comes in - 

 "Hey this is Bryce we are getting ready to head to the hospital..."

Doula: 

"Ok sounds good, why don't we chat on the phone before you leave :)" 

My phone rings and Bryce quickly announces, "We're in the car driving right now!" 

I was surprised things had progressed so fast. In the blink of an eye contractions instensified to a point where Shontelle can no longer talk through them and is in quite a bit of discomfort. After giving Bryce a few tips I let them know I would meet them at the hospital in thirty minutes.  As I hang up the phone and prepare to head out a totally spontaneous smile stretches across my face. Everything feels right.