Update! I am no longer teaching for Pregnancy Arts as Deb has retired from CBE and commenced her career as a Certified Nurse Midwife! It’s very exciting for her, and our area is very lucky to have her in that roll. Therefore, I will continue teaching at Ypsi-Arbor Childbirth Education, Ariana and my joint venture. Check us out! It’s happening! I get to teach childbirth education! This has been a dream for awhile, and while I have taught a few private classes here and there, I haven’t found a class model that I really wanted to teach in a group READ MORE
Blog
Embracing Doulahood While Waiting for Motherhood
Often times when people learn I am a doula they assume that I have children of my own. There comes a point in interviews with potential clients where the question of my personal labor/pregnancy/baby experience comes up. Until recently I have felt sheepish about admitting that I am not a mother yet (as if it is something to be admitted to). Maybe it’s because I am afraid of not meeting people’s expectations. At the same time, I am not embarrassed that I’m still waiting to become a mother, nor do I think that it diminishes my skills as a doula. I don’t feel that becoming READ MORE
Doula as Luxury Commodity?!
There is a fallacy going around right now in the Doula community. It is being said that Doulas are not needed, or deserved. That Doulas are WANTED, and therefore are a luxury service. I would beg to differ! Women have been supporting women through childbirth for all time. Sure, there wasn’t always a trained, non-medical, non-judgmental support person hired by families to provide, “physical, emotional and logistical support through the pregnancy, birth, and postpartum time”. There have been the wise-women, other mothers (who had also gone through natural, and well supported birth), sisters, sister-wives, midwives, the shaman, and so on and READ MORE
When the (doula) fruit is ripe…
It’s finally happening. My transition to being a doula has been a vacillating one, but it is time for me to make it a bigger part of my life. Starting in September I will be cutting hours at my nonprofit desk job in Detroit so I am able to spend more time doing this doula work that I love. The backstory – When I first completed my training in 2012, I knew that I wanted to support women and their partners through labor and birth, but was having trouble figuring out the particulars. I already had a full time job, was living in an READ MORE
More babies?!
There have been big changes going on lately in the Gladwin family. We have officially moved into our new house! (post about that coming soon!) This house has been a dream or ours for many years. Over the last 3 years we have put innumerable hours into dreaming up, designing, hiring, firing, redesigning and building this amazing house that we will live in for the rest of our lives. During this time, we also got pregnant and had a baby! Zachary is an awesome, almost-2-year-old. He’s full of wonder, too smart for his own good (and mine for that matter) READ MORE
Lactation Nut Butter Balls
When I was newly postpartum, a lovely friend brought me these amazing lactation friendly peanut butter balls that were so nice to have around and just grab when I needed a snack. I scoured the web looking for the recipe that matched. I found this one at TheBabyGoat.com and it is amazing! I have changed it A LOT though over the past year a a half, and have added even more nutritional yumminess! I have also doubled the recipe (sorta). edited version: In stand mixer mix: 2 cups dry rolled oats + 2 cups finely ground dry rolled oats 1 cup READ MORE
Welcome Ariana!
Welcome Ariana Riegel! I’ve known Ariana for almost 4 years, through the entirety of building my business and truly identifying as a doula. While I was Program Director for the non-profit Doulas Care, Ariana wisely took advantage of the affordable birth doula class offerings through that organization. I was so excited that she was going to be entering into this amazing world of birth-work. I knew she would be a natural! Ari has a warm and nurturing spirit. She joined a non-profit organization as a volunteer for an entire year out of college, just to be able to give back to READ MORE
Getting back in the game!
It’s been a long time since I’ve done any sort of updating here, and a lot has changed in my life. I was living my dream of doula-ing full-time taking 3-4 clients per month, and loving life. When I thought things couldn’t get much better, my husband and I found out we were going to be welcoming a new little soul into the world in August 2013. Winter, Spring, and Summer were full of birth energy, both from my clients ( I attended 21 births during the first 2 trimesters!) and my own. All the families I got to work READ MORE
Friday Food Post! Coconut -Pt1
Let me tell you a little about young coconut. It is an amazing eat. You might have seen these special fruits (or seeds or nuts, whichever you prefer to call it, because they’re all correct) at the grocery store, but been intimidated by the fibrous fortress that protects the treasure inside. First, it really isn’t all that hard to open as long as you have a decent chef’s knife or cleaver. You can find a quick instructional video here. One of the most satisfying things to do with a young coconut is open it up, drink the juice and then scoop READ MORE
Friday Food Post-Garlicky Kale Salad
In the midsummer of 2011 I had a life changing experience. Seriously! Life changing. Huge… I was introduced to a big bowl of Garlicky Kale salad. I know, I know. Anything involving kale isn’t generally what most people would describe as life changing. In fact, the general response I get from mentioning any recipe involving kale is “bleh.” I want you to hear me out though. When this salad is busted out at a gathering, you can find a group of my friends flocking around it–similarly to those seagulls in the movie Finding Nemo, “Mine! Mine!” (You know what I’m READ MORE