Shave, Wax, or Au Naturale

Ok so this is an odd subject for my very first blog.  I recently just had a prenatal appointment with a beautiful Mother of soon to be 3 and the subject of grooming came up.  I have had countless women say to me that one of their fears about giving birth is that they won't have time to attend to their lady bits.

 I remember speaking about this with my midwife before having my first baby.  I made sure I was freshly showered before each prenatal appointment, and feared that I would smell or not look as fresh as a daisy.  In fact, my top 3 fears about having a baby the first time were:
 1. I would have my baby in the car
 2.  Am I going to be able to handle the pain and
 3. What if I go into the delivery room like bush woman from a horrid 70's porno?

My midwife reassured me that she has seen it all and that I won't be worrying about this on the big day.  Internally I thought, yeah right.

As a doula and soon to be nurse, I can attest to what my midwife says.  Yes, I and numerous health professionals will see your vagina.  No, we could care less what your pubic hair looks like.  No, your birth partner or spouse will not care what your pubic hair looks like.  And finally, when you are in labor and getting ready to receive your miracle, what your vagina looks like will be the furthest thing from your mind.  I promise!

I strongly suggest to take a break from grooming.  Shaving and/or waxing puts you at risk for infection!  Who wants to mar that magical time of having a new baby by dealing with this.

  You are beautiful, your body is beautiful, and bringing your baby into the world is beautiful.
-Cathy

To Be Continued...

Welcome!

We've got a ton of new & exciting things happening at A Joyful Journey!

Cathy & I met a little over a year ago.  We were both excited to find another doula in the south suburbs, so we got together.  Our relationship just felt so natural, like we were long lost friends.  Since we were so alike, we decided to become each other's back-up.

We initially had 2 separate businesses.  A Joyful Journey was hers & A.M. Natural Birth was mine. A few months back, we decided to merge our businesses into 1 business, keeping the name A Joyful Journey.   Joining forces allows us to do what we love, with less chance of burn out.We each get to attend consultations & prenatal visits together, and we are on call on different days of the week. This way our clients get to know the both of us, and they are comfortable with either of us being at their birth. This way, we're able to schedule family events, get togethers, field trips, etc. around the days that we're on call and we don't have to worry about missing a clients  birth or one of our children's plays.

We are both DONA trained doulas.  We offer prenatal, birth & postpartum support.  This includes a range of services including consultations, assistance creating a birth plan, childbirth education, breastfeeding education,  labor support, rebozo techniques, bellybinding, etc.  Our education is continuous so that we can provide the best possible service to our clients. I recently attended a toLabor (formerly ALACE) doula training & we are both hoping to attend a Tranquil Transitions Placenta Training by this spring!

Additionally, we would like to welcome Certified Hypnobirthing Instructor, Anna Rodney & Licensed Massage Therapist, Christina Osborne to our growing team!   Now we're able to offer our clients a more extensive childbirth education class, as well as prenatal & postpartum massage therapy!

Stay tuned for new updates & changes!