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This post is time sensitive. Some of the offers are only available for a limited time during the COVID19 pandemic of Spring 2020. Hey there friends. I have been hearing from a lot of my friends and family that they are feeling more anxious and stressed out due to the state of the world and so I thought it might be a good idea to compile a list of resources that I think would be helpful for managing that anxiety. Some of these resources are good for the general public and some are geared specifically towards pregnant or postpartum moms (a population I deal with frequently in my business). Stay safe out there! Calm - Take a Deep Breath I started using the Calm app when I had postpartum depression and anxiety. I am still on their mailing list and they sent out this superb blog article loaded with resources for managing stress and anxiety. CreativeLive - free streaming of Health & Mental Wellness content CreativeLive is an online education platform for a variety of subjects from Photography and Design to Money and Life. They very generously have decided to stream live some of their best mental wellness content for free. This content also includes a few health classes which are important to not neglect; when you strengthen your body you are also strengthening your mind! I believe this offer is time sensitive; I will update when I know its expiration. PSI - Weekly Online Support Group Postpartum Support International offers weekly online support meetings for those experiencing postpartum depression or anxiety. Sign up for a free account and learn from other moms more about Perinatal (Pregnancy & Postpartum) Mood Support. TalkSpace - Free therapy for Health Workers Time sensitive. This online therapy provider is donating "1,000 months of free online therapy to medical workers across the United States — those on the frontlines responding to the COVID-19 outbreak." They are donating a free month of their service to health workers here in the USA. They also have links to resources for the general public. Dr Jud - free and discounted resources Try out his free breathing app. Or watch his video on understanding our brains and anxiety. Have something else you think people should know about right now? Comment below! P.S. Here's an adorable photo of a cute baby hugging a giraffe that I hope will bring a smile to your face. :) 
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 Did you know April is c-section awareness month? I didn't until recently but now we both know! And now if you don't mind I'd like to take a little bit of time to talk about my own experience with c-section. Out of my three children's births (all of which were very different from each other) my last child's birth was a c-section. We lived in a small community at the time and my daughter decided she wanted to be a footling breech baby with loose nuchal cord. We tried everything to flip her (including a painful failed ECV) but she wouldn't budge (she's still very stubborn by the way!). And unfortunately we couldn't find a doctor that would attempt a trial of labor with a breech baby in our small town so we had a scheduled C-section. I was devastated but I've very fortunately been able to work through my grief of losing the type of birth I wanted and had expected. I now use my experience to offer support to other moms who might be expecting or recently have had a c-section since I know first hand what it is like. I really believe in the power of community. It was my community that helped me get through my c-section. I had lots of friends help me both emotionally and physically. I even had a friend call me from out of state out of the blue because she wanted to share her experience to help comfort me and I want to pay that forward.  I was actually able to speak about my experience to a group of women at my church about a year after the birth of my daughter via c-section and I have this excerpt to share: "I have reflected a lot on this experience (of giving birth in a way I didn't want) over the past year. I had a lot of hard emotions to deal with. It's easy to say 'it wasn't that bad, just get over it, at least it's over now, there are a lot harder things you could experience in life, at least your baby is here and healthy, it could be worse, it's not a big deal, women have c-sections all of the time now, etc. etc.' But that's not really fair to me as an individual. I feel what I feel and saying things like that hurts more than it helps. Especially if it's me saying it to myself in a conflicting inner dialogue of emotions and runaway thoughts. I had to work through my own physical and emotional pain. It was still major surgery! And while I still don't 100% understand why my third child had to be delivered via c-section (as in why did God let that happen to me?), and it still causes me pain on occasion, I have found healing. A lot of the healing has come from my faith and trust in God. Knowing that He is always watching out for me brings me great comfort even if the circumstances are not what I think are ideal. I hope by sharing all of this I can help someone to be inspired to find healing from their own pain, either from what I learned or even just from knowing that it is possible to heal." If you would like to talk to me about your experience with c-section (or any birth really, I love hearing birth stories!) I am here for you. Please share!  |
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