Introducing Margaret McKinley Owens!

Margaret is quite the wealth of knowledge, and she has helped quite a few of our TCM mamas during labor, and even more so, during their postpartum time. She is a birth doula, postpartum doula, lactation consultant, placenta encapsulator, and also offers cranio sacral adjustments for babies. She is a kind of one-stop-shop person for all things postpartum. I feel so lucky to have Margaret in our community as a resource, as she really fills a need for postpartum support. Plus, she is just a wonderful person and ever enjoyable to be around. Read below to find out more about all of the services she offers, and find her at her website, Mothering by Mom, for even more information.

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Operating Instructions Not Included

By Susan Gower

Parenting your new baby is the most natural thing in the world, or so everyone tells you. Yet from the moment you bring your baby home, or maybe even before, the challenges of parenting are unavoidable. You may be finding that parenting is more difficult than you could possibly have imagined. But what if you think you should know what to do, but the truth is, you have no idea. What if you are too embarrassed to ask for help, or you don’t know who to ask?

How do we learn to how to be a parent? It is one of the most important jobs we will ever have, yet we don’t learn it in school. Until fairly recently, most people raised their children in the midst of family groups, grandparents and aunts and uncles who had long experience with babies and children. But now, many people have little or no experience with babies and young children, until, that is, they have one of their own. (more…)

In Praise of Doulas

Jess at OHmama posted this on her blog

In praise of Doulas, part two: Postpartum Doulas

When I found out at 20 weeks into my pregnancy that I was expecting twins, I immediately sought out a local Mothers of Multiples club and posted a question to the experienced twin mamas on their web discussion board: What do you wish you’d have known or done differently when your twins were born? What do I need to know?

There was lots of different advice offered, all of it helpful in some way. But the one thing that literally every single person said the same was, “GET HELP. Don’t try to do this on your own!” Of course the best option is to have family and friends spend as much time helping out as possible. But after that, people recommended a postpartum doula for the first 8-10 weeks and a nanny/mother’s helper after that.

I have to admit, I knew a lot about birth doulas but almost nothing about postpartum doulas. I did some research on the Childbirth Collective website and read some profiles. I spoke with my birth doula, Sarah, who recommended Margaret Owens. We interviewed her, it was a great fit, and we contracted with her to come two nights a week from 10pm – 7am, and one weekday from 11am – 3pm.

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Postpartum Doulas Ease Transition For Families With Newborns

When I was expecting my 3rd baby, all I could focus on was the pregnancy and the upcoming birth. I quickly learned that all seemed to pass so quickly. My pregnancy was easy. I loved that time, feeling the baby wiggle and poke inside my abdomen. I used to play with my little babe, poking back.

Then in the blink of an eye, I was home with my little bundle. My birth was fast and uncomplicated. I was already a mother of two children, and I had a supportive partner. “But now,” I thought, “What do I do about feeding and making dinner and keeping the house clean? And how do I trudge up and down the stairs with a load of laundry and a baby in a sling? I can’t do this,” I thought.

Then my doula came to visit and she offered to give a little bit of extra support since my delivery was only an hour and a half. She suggested that I get as much extra rest as possible. I laughed! I was a mom to a newborn, a 5-year-old and a 7-year-old—when was I going to find time to nap? She suggested that she could help for a week or so and then she told me go and lie down. So off to bed I went with my new little bundle and I slept while my doula tidied up the house, made lunch for me, and ran a load of laundry.

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