Shoppe Now Open

Confident Beginnings Shoppe (Formerly Sweet Home Birth) is now open! Come visit us:
Shoppe

We have a special discount in celebration for our grand opening, type the coupon code "babylove" at checkout and receive a 10% discount off of your order!

Please let me know if you would like to see anything special at the Shoppe!

Induced Lactation

More and more babies are being brought into the world with the help of Surrogates. This is nothing short of a miracle and these Surrogates are often thought of as “Angels on Earth” for what they do.

What many families are unaware of is that even though mothers are not always able to birth their own babies, they are still able to nourish them once they are here. Through a process of induced lactation a woman who has never even been pregnant before is able to feed her own child and reap the many benefits that breastfeeding has to offer.

As a Board Certified Lactation Consultant I have helped several mothers bring in a milk supply for their child, regardless if they have birthed that child or not.

How in the world is this possible? We simply trick the body into thinking it’s pregnant by using birth control, and together with other medications establish a milk supply, so by the time the baby is born they are able to feed their baby themselves. Sometimes supplementation is needed, but often a woman is able to achieve a full supply. The longer a woman has to prepare, the better results we see.

Even women who have had a hysterectomy or are in the midst of menopause can do this! How exciting that mothers are able to enjoy breastfeeding their children, no matter how they entered this world!

Hypnobabies Class

I just wanted to post that I have a Hypnobabies class starting in Irvine on Wednesday September 16th from 6-9pm.

I also have a class that will be starting in September that will be in Laguna Beach! Dates to come!


Why choose a natural, easier birth using Hynobabies? The benefits are many:

● You will use fewer drugs or no drugs, which means less risk of side effects for you and your baby, due to elimination of the Fear/Tension/Pain Syndrome, and using post-hypnotic suggestions.

● Most Hypno-mothers have shorter labors since there is less resistance of the birthing muscles when pain and fear are minimized or eliminated.

● You will generally have much more energy throughout first and second stage, due to your total relaxation throughout the birthing process.

● The birthing environment is much more calm and peaceful when you, the natural childbirth mother are comfortable, relaxed and confident.

● Breech and posterior babies can be turned using hypnosis.

● Blood pressure, heart rate, and temperature can be lowered and nausea, back and hip pain eliminated with hypnosis during pregnancy and labor.

● There are fewer interventions for failure to progress and therefore fewer complications during labor for our mothers and babies.

● The deep relaxation in Hypnobabies sessions has also helped many a nervous birth partner to enjoy their partner's pregnancy and childbirth, and the skills that the Hypno-couple learns for relaxation and hypnosis will benefit them for the rest of their lives.

● As a Hypno-Mom, you are easily "deprogrammed" from the usual negativity of childbirth stories and scenarios you may have heard or read, by way of training in Hypnobabies classes and audio CDs which have positive messages and hypnotic suggestions. This automatically allows you to have a much more positive attitude and confidence in birthing. It is truly a gift that you are giving yourself, an amazingly easy way to enjoy your pregnancy more and actually look forward to your baby's birth.

The birth of Zen

Here is a beautiful birth story from one of my Hypnobabies students:

This is the birth story of my son, he was brought into the world in the comfort of his own home in the room that he will grow up in and in the water. It all started on the peaceful starry Saturday morning, 12:30am to be exact. During this time, little did I know what was going on. I didn't get to sleep much, but that was okay, I woke up feeling rested and excited. Birthing waves came anywhere from 30, 15, to 5 minutes apart. They came very inconsistently. To help things we went for a walk. We walked through our complex where there are streams and the sound of running water. Anytime I felt a pressure wave come I grabbed onto my partner and rocked back and forth until it subsided. All the while I kept repeating the word peace in my head and listening to the running water. The birthing waves came like this for quite some time, (by this time we figured things were really happening), we called the midwife around 4ish Saturday afternoon only to find out that she thought that I needed my rest, so off to bed I went. Finally around 7pm the birthing waves became more frequent and more intense. So intense that I wouldn't let my partner leave me at all, she was attached to my back. To make a long story short our midwife showed up Sunday morning around 1am. After being checked I was almost 7 cm dilated and completely effaced. The birthing tub was my friend by this time and I never wanted to leave, unfortunately in order for things to continue progressing I needed to move around. I was taken to the shower and finally took a walk around the house. A few hours later my body decided that it wanted to push so I let it, WHAT A RELIEF!!! This went on for a while until my midwife decided to tell me that it was about time that I actually help my body push, for YAY, finally we're almost there.

By the way, this whole entire time I was under hypnosis, so what many may construe as pain, I saw it as intense pressure and I actually enjoyed it. Every so often after a pressure wave, I would reach down and could actually feel my son's head! That was the coolest thing in the world. It was so soft and fuzzy. I wasn't afraid as I've seen some women in videos be. I kept feeling his head knowing that soon he would be joining us in this big bad world!

By 7 he was starting to crown and finally 20 minutes later his head was out! My partner was behind me as I was on my hands and knees in the water, and she was doing a great job calling out the play by play as my family watched quietly, which I was completely unaware of. (This hypnobabies stuff really works!) 1 minute later out came sliding our son, my partner was able to catch him with the help of the midwife and he was passed under to me as in a football hold, but I was so tired and out of it that he got to go swimming for a second before I caught him. I tried pulling him up to me as I tried to sit up at the same time, but his cord somehow in the transition got wrapped around his neck. Finally off of his neck we laid there and looked at him as he gasped for his first breath of air. Finally he was here and we all cried and laughed and were in awe of this beautiful baby boy!
Born into this world at 7:21am, weighing in at 9lbs 6oz, measuring 22 inches long without a tear or episiotomy. Baby Z was birthed naturally without any drugs out of my medium sized 5'3" frame. I did a good job, but I couldn't have done it without the help of my darling strong partner and wife, oh and the hypnosis. This is my story as I remember it.

I just want to hang...

So, I have reflected a lot on my birth and what bothered me the most was that I couldn't find a position I felt comfortable in. I didn't want to hold myself up anymore, but I didn't want to lay down on the ground either.

Since then, I remember hearing that Penny Simkin suggested having a birth sling and I've even seen pictures of it. It sounds wonderful! To hang during your birthing, I think this is exactly what I would have loved!

However, when I went online to find out more about it and find some pictures, I really came up with nothing!

So, does anyone out there know where you could get a birth sling? I don't know if I will birth anymore babies, but I would love to have it as a resource for the parents that I work with.

I can't be the only mom that wanted to hang during her birthing can I? Hmmmm, maybe I'm just different. But there's gotta be other "different" people out there!

Apollos Birth

I love my Moby!

Moby^® Wrap was voted "Favorite Baby Carrier" by Baby and Children's Product News' readers survey. Moby^® Wrap was also recently named in Pregnancy Magazine as a "must have for colic," (April, p 48), as well as the "best value" baby carrier in Fit Pregnancy Magazine gear issue (April/May, p 14).

Add onto that: it saved my life and made my son stop crying each time I put it on. No exaggerating there.

Ok, well maybe it didn't really save my life, but I am pretty sure that it saved my sanity.

My son, who is 3 months now has definitely been outspoken about his wants and needs. This is totally fine with me, but sometimes I don't understand exactly what hes telling me.

My wonderful Midwife gave me my Moby as a birthing gift. I had seen it many times and encouraged moms to use them, but for me, it just looked too complicated. The first time my husband and I tried to use it was when my little guy was a week old. We put it on my husband without totally reading the instructions and it was an utter failure. I put it away for the next week or so and tried my other slings, but my son didn't like those. So, I decided I would try the Moby again and see if he enjoyed that. SUCCESS!

Now, my son is in his Moby once a day at least. He loves being worn (as most babies do!) and I love wearing him. It feels so empowering to be able to wrap him up on my chest and make him feel so safe and secure. We now start our mornings out with walks on the beach (him in his Moby of course) and I couldn't think of a better way to start our day.

I am a big advocate for baby wearing, babies need to be listened to and held close. Babywearing is known to help with digestion, communication, development, trust and of course less crying overall. Plus, it just feels good... so why wouldn't you do it?