Hello yoga friends!

I'm glad you found me!

I've been wanting to share my blog with you for weeks but didn't want it to come out sounding like self promotion so I've been shy about it, but I'm glad I finally did.  I just hate how we spend so much time together, feel like a group going through all of this changing (and growing) together but then people have their babies and leave and we don't see them again (or their babies!).  So, hopefully, we can all connect on here, or maybe during weekly dinners after yoga, and then keep in touch!  So, don't forget to leave me a comment, below, so that I have your email!  :)

If you are looking for more info on hypnobirthing, I will link the posts below on which I talk about it (and you can go to the site, here, too).  Just to preface - hypnobirthing is not hypnosis and you don't need a teacher to hypnotize you while you are giving birth (I say this because this is what people ask me).  Instead, it is 5 classes that you take, with a hypnobirthing trained instructor (there is a list of them, all over the valley, here), where you learn about pregnancy, birth, labor and different relaxation techniques that you and your partner can do (during class) and then during labor to help you relax.  You don't necessarily need the classes (and they are pricey - $300 for 5), but I would recommend doing them especially if you are a first time mom (like me).  Our hospital classes, we are delivering at Osborn, were $150 for 2, so really this is only $150 more for more classes and more information.

Our instructor, Marne, is amazing (her site) and I have learned SO MUCH.  I even have a birth plan, thanks to her, a bunch of different techniques to do and am armed with the knowledge so that hopefully I can avoid a c-section if the doctor's try to suggest one.  The classes really empower you so that you are educated on the process and release all fears helping you to remember that childbirth is natural and women have been doing it, on their own, for centuries.  Another great book, aside from the hypnobirthing one you will get (or you can order it here) is Ina May's Guide to Childbirth.  It's kind of a hippie, midwife book (with INCREDIBLE birth stories!) but it shares the same philosophies and techniques you learn in hypnobirthing and reading them both has helped so much.

Now, you don't have to go all natural just because, in these books, it says it is beneficial for you and baby, but you CAN apply the techniques and information learned until you have the choice for an epidural in the hospital.  I plan on doing whatever is less stressful for me and Lemon (our daughter's name) so will try to go natural unless one of us is under stress.

Here are the posts where I wrote about hypnobirthing:

5.16.12               8 Months

5.23.12               33 Weeks    (videos of hypnobirthing births)

5.31.12               34 Weeks

6.6.12                 35 Weeks

And then our last class with Marne is tomorrow, at our house, so I will let you know how that goes.  I also am handing in our birth plan today, see a copy below, so you can read how hypnobirthing helps you formulate your requests.

Aside from those posts, feel free to look around.  We started this blog in December 2010 when I was pregnant with our first baby, blueberry, which we lost, and then just continued it from there.  It has been very healing and fun for us so I hope you enjoy it!  I also love reading other people's pregnancy blogs, while pregnant, so it may fun for you in that way also.  :)