Amazing Things!!!

I'm so excited to be in the line of work that I'm in!  Being a birth and postpartum doula is an amazing job.  I may be biased, but I think we get the best clients EVER!  As Cathy begins midwifery school this fall, I'll be taking classes at my junior college to get the credits that I need to add IBCLC to the end of my name.  All the while, our main focus is to provide the best support possible to our pregnant, birthing, and postpartum clients.  As a CLS, who is not working under an IBCLC or in a hospital setting, my assistance to our breastfeeding clients can only go so far.  So, it only makes sense for me to continue my education to better serve our amazing clients!

In other news, 2 weekends ago I spent 3 days in beautiful Kearney, MO., with some of the most amazing women (and a few men) that I had ever met.  I'll spare you all the details here, but you can read about my experience on my personal blog, here: Andrea's Short Stories 

Being a birth & bereavement doula, I get tagged in Facebook posts semi-regularly, about a mom in the area, looking for support after suffering a loss.  I have several friends who have had losses, and I myself lost my very first baby, almost 14 years ago. It's something that happens all too often, more often than people think, because we don't talk about it.  But we don't forget, and it never goes away.  I feel this strong calling to start a loss support group that's not in a hospital setting.  A safe place for mothers and fathers to come to, to grieve, to share, to hope.  I truly hope to get a group up and running within the next few months.

Cathy also was able to spend a weekend recently, with some amazing midwives, learning all about midwifery type things. ;)  You'll have to ask her about.  I have no clue.  All I know is that she loved it.

Now, for the event of the year.....
Cathy and I are working hard to create a fundraiser event that is BIGGER AND BETTER than last year!  Last year we hosted a vendor fair and the proceeds were donated to Groudwork Domestic Violence Program.  We raised almost $800.  It was a ton of fun.  We had face painting and a bouncy house for the kids!  We had shopping!  We had food!  We had guest speakers!  However, we didn't get a ton of traffic.

How awesome would it be if we could double... or maybe even triple the amount that we raised last year!  Think about it.  This program is providing shelter to women escaping abusive relationships.  It's providing counseling, advocacy, legal resources, even basic necessities like food and toiletries. How amazing would it be to be a part of changing helping victims of domestic violence to become survivors!  But we can't do it on our own.  We need help.  We need vendors!  We need attendants!  We need volunteers!  We would like our vendor event to be focused on parenting resources this year, but we're having trouble finding vendors to fulfill those rolls.  We're thinking car seat safety techs, swim safety, speech therapy, family counseling, children's clubs, children's toys or clothing, and the likes.  We would love to hear any ideas!  For further info please email me at myers.andrea79@yahoo.com  Thanks for your help!

Warmly,
Andrea

Perfect Postpartum Soup

Healing Chicken Ginger Soup

I know that during the summer, hot soup is probably the furthest food from most people's minds. Yet, following pregnancy, a mother's body changes from hot to cold.  In order for her body to heal well, she needs warming, easy to digest foods, like soups and stews.  I've recently started a new postpartum training program with Sacred Postpartum.  Along with the wealth of information on ways to honor and nurture new mothers, there are quite a few delicious recipes to feed and nourish the body.  I found this recipe online at nourishingmeals.com and thought it sounded like a perfect postpartum meal to bring to a new mother.  This recipe yeilds 6 servings, so I would likely double the recipe to make it count. 

To make the broth, place all ingredients for broth into a 6-quart pot. Cover and bring to a boil, reduce heat medium-low and simmer for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Strain broth into a large bowl or another pot using a colander. Place chicken breasts onto a plate to cool. Pour the broth back into the pot. Once chicken is cooled, remove the skin, pull the meat from the bone and chop the chicken into bite-sized pieces.

For the Broth:

2 bone-in organic chicken breasts (about 2 pounds total)

8 cups water

1 large onion, chopped

3 stalks celery, chopped

1 large carrot, chopped

1 whole head garlic, cut in half cross-wise

1/4 to 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh ginger (or more!)

2 to 3 thai chiles, chopped or 1 teaspoon crushed red chili flakes

2 cups chopped shiitake mushrooms

1 stalk fresh lemongrass, chopped

cilantro stems

1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns

3 teaspoons Herbamare or sea salt

For the Soup:

1 medium onion, cut into crescent moons

3 to 4 stalks celery, sliced into diagonals

3 carrots, cut into matchsticks

2 to 3 cups sliced shiitake mushrooms

cooked chicken pulled from the bone and chopped

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Optional Additions/Toppings:

rice noodles

chopped fresh basil

chopped fresh napa cabbage

chopped fresh cilantro

chopped fresh thai green chiles

lime wedges

Place all of the veggies for the soup (onion, carrot, celery, and shiitake mushrooms) into the pot with the broth. Cover and simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes. Add the chicken. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Simmer a minute or two more or until vegetables are cooked to your liking. Ladle soup into bowls and serve with a handful of basil, cilantro, and cabbage on top. Sprinkle with thai chiles if desired. You can also add a handful of cooked thai rice noodles to each bowl if desired. Squeeze a little lime juice over each bowl. Make sure to have some tissues handy if you are using the thai chiles!

If you try this recipe, let us know how you liked it!  If you have a great postpartum meal that you bring to new mothers, please share the recipe below!

Warmly,

Andrea

A Summer Challenge

We live in a time of extreme activity.  In most cultures, there used to be a mandatory 40 day sitting in.  40 glorious days of healing and bonding with a new baby.  This sitting in period would come complete with family and friends bringing meals, doing laundry, helping with other children, and cleaning the home.  Nowadays, women are lucky to get 1 meal brought to them.  Sure their husbands/partners probably help with some dishes and/or laundry but let's me honest, it takes a lot more to run a house than the occasional meal and emptying the dishwasher.  And our husbands/partners still work full time and might need to help with older children.  This fast paced life is straining our lives way too much.

We are now a majority 2 income household population.  Women just don't have as much time to help each other.  We are so busy over scheduling our littles, checking our Facebook, and taking cross-fit classes that we have forgotten about our community.  What if we, gasp, only scheduled one activity for our children at a time, logged onto Facebook/internet for 30 min max a day, and played outside with our family as a way to get fit?  Not including our full time work schedules and rest time, we would have SO much more time.  Time for intimacy, time for friends, time for worship, time for community.  We would have lots of time.

I challenge you to try this.  I challenge you to find someone you know who is pregnant.  Make her  the recipe below.  Spend time in conversation with her.  I promise you, it will open up windows, bring happiness to you both and maybe save a woman who was having a hard time and needed a kind gesture.  I believe in the domino effect.  Kindness preceeds kindness.  I challenge you to commit to 1 small act of kindness a week.  Be the change, share the happiness.

Easy Peasy Postpartum Herbal Spray

Equipment Needed:
muslin tea bags
1 pot

Ingredients:
2 oz lavender buds
2oz chamomile
2 oz calendula

Preparation:

Fill pot with water.
Boil Water.
Fill muslin tea bags with mixed herbs.
Shut off heat when water starts to boil.
Throw tea bags in water and steep for 30 min.

When cooled, put in a pitcher and bring to a new mom.
Placed in peri bottle or in a sitz bath, postpartum mom will have reduced inflammation and increased comfort in her bottom.


Alternative Acts to Help a Postpartum Woman:

Bring her a cup of coffee
Make her older kids a sack lunch and surprise her with it
Bring a meal/Order the family of pizza
Fold laundry
Wash/Dry the dishes
Mail her a homemade card/letter
Hire a Postpartum Doula to cater to the new Mom
www.ajoyfuljourney.org

Breastfeeding & Postpartum Support In Our Community

About 3 1/2 years ago I met a woman and her two sons at a Will County breastfeeding event.  We began chatting and realized that our youngest babies were the same age.  She invited me to a breastfeeding group at our local hospital.  Little did I know that she would become a good friend and this group would become a big part of my life.

When I first began attending this group, it was just the Lactation Consultant Kathy, my friend Karin & myself.  The group soon began to grow.  Karin & I have both become breastfeeding peer counselors at this hospital and are there every Wednesday to support new mothers as well as mothers who have been with us for months.  We have noticed a pattern though.  We will have a wave of 4 or 5 new moms coming every week for the first few months postpartum, then they all head back to work, with a schedule that doesn't allow them to attend the group anymore.

Just this month, I began offering a Breastfeeding & Postpartum Support Group at Nurture The Journey Wellness Studio on the 1st & 3rd Sundays of each month.  I'm hoping that this will be a great source of support for mothers in our community and especially for the moms facing new challenges as they go back to work.  I feel that having a community of mothers supporting each other is not only crucial for the success of breastfeeding, but it's also so important to have this support for ALL mothers during the postpartum period.  Mothers in the U.S. tend to feel isolated and often don't reach out for help, which can and does often lead to baby blues or postpartum depression.

Now, I'm gonna brag a little bit about this amazing group of mothers that are a part of this breastfeeding group.  We don't just see each other for a few hours every Wednesday.  We keep in touch on Facebook.  We have a walking group together, that meets twice a week to go walking.  We have baking parties & play dates together.  These mothers are a great source of support to each other and I'm so proud to be a part of this community of strong women!  I hope you can join us at one of our groups & become part of this amazing community! 

For more information on how we serve our community, please visit us at A Joyful Journey Doula Services.

Lots of Love,
Andrea