Birth Without Fear

Last week I attended a Birth Without Fear conference and had a wonderful time. It was so nice to be surrounded by people who were so caring and sweet and had the same opinions I do about pregnancy, birth and pretty much all things parenting. January Harshe is the mama who started it all and you can read a bit about her here on her blog, Birth Without Fear. She also has a Facebook page that you can follow https://www.facebook.com/birthwithoutfear?fref=ts. I've always felt like she has been a great resource and advocate for having babies your way. She's had 6 children and each pregnancy and birth was very different. She went into detail about them all during the conference and it was so amazing to hear her stories. I hope that people continue to learn about her and the good work she is doing to help families take back control over their own bodies. And no...she's not all about home birth's in the back woods, without any help. But you know what, if that's what you want to do then you should be supported. She's all about birth YOUR WAY.

I never needed a c-section with my two babies so I can only imagine how tragic it could be. And one of my biggest fears while pregnant was that I would have to have one. The thought of having my arms tied down to a table and not being able to move or hold or touch my baby when she came out, it still scares me and I'm not having any more children! So what a surprise and a relief it was to hear a woman talk about gentle cesareans. This is another thing that I hope spreads like wild fire. Unless there is a serious medical condition with the baby or the mama, why can't the mama hold and touch her baby?! Why can't baby be placed on mama's chest? And if she wants to watch her child be born why can't she? It's still a BIRTH! All control has been taking away from families when it comes to this procedure. And yes it's a major surgery and not something to be taken lightly but people... it's a baby, and a mommy and this baby still needs it's mother. Keep the baby in her eye sight, give the baby to her as soon as it's possible. Keep them together the entire time. Sadly it takes a long time to update hospital procedures and not all doctors are willing to change their ways, but you know what? Until they do we can all stop supporting them and find the doctors and will support us. :)

Like I said, I'm not having any more children but I'm still happy to be an advocate for healthy and positive pregnancies and births that put the mother and the family back in charge. Because that's how it should be.

The conference was so much fun and I loved all of the speakers and all of the wonderful mom's that I got to meet and spend time with. I took Juliana with me and Alivia stayed home. It wasn't too difficult having her there the whole time. She napped in the Tula and I was able to openly breastfeed her without any judgement from anyone. Isn't that a relief in itself?! I have ZERO issue feeding my babies where and when they want to eat, I don't use a cover because neither of my girls have liked it and frankly I wouldn't want to eat with a sheet over my head either. But it was refreshing to KNOW that I was in a "safe" place and that no one was going to make snide comments or looks or even give it a second thought. And that made my heart happy.

Along with the amazing company we got to experience, we also were all sent home with some goody bags, and who doesn't love that!? They did have a ton of giveaways as well. I didn't win anything but was happy to see so many people take home some great gifts! This has become quite long so I'll post another time about the goodies we all got. (Remember I'm trying to post during naps and one little one is already stirring!)

If you ever have a chance to join one of these conferences I highly suggest you take the opportunity. you won't be sorry you did. And if you're not able to attend one definitely look it up. There is so much support on the website and Facebook page, plenty of people to talk to and learn from!