Birthing Mama

Birthing Mama offers a holistic approach to the transformative experience of pregnancy. Author Corinne Andrews, a yoga teacher since 2003 and creator of Birthing Mama® Prenatal Yoga and Wellness, guides women through each week of the nine-month journey, integrating body, mind, and spirit through reflection, yoga postures and breath practices, self-care activities, and creative projects. Whether expectant mothers are setting up a Pregnancy Altar to focus their hopes and dreams for the baby-to-be, writing a Pregnancy Affirmation Statement, blending an herbal tea formula, or breathing into mountain pose for strength and healing, they will find a blend of self-nourishment and self-discovery, contemplation, and celebration through Andrews’s gentle, empowering style.

This is an ethnography which probes the intimate experience of gestational surrogate motherhood. Teman shows how surrogates and intended mothers carefully negotiate their cooperative endeavour.

Birthing Mama offers a holistic approach to the transformative experience of pregnancy. Author Corinne Andrews, a yoga teacher since 2003 and creator of Birthing Mama® Prenatal Yoga and Wellness, guides women through each week of the nine-month journey, integrating body, mind, and spirit through reflection, yoga postures and breath practices, self-care activities, and creative projects. Whether expectant mothers are setting up a Pregnancy Altar to focus their hopes and dreams for the baby-to-be, writing a Pregnancy Affirmation Statement, blending an herbal tea formula, or breathing into mountain pose for strength and healing, they will find a blend of self-nourishment and self-discovery, contemplation, and celebration through Andrews’s gentle, empowering style. This publication conforms to the EPUB Accessibility specification at WCAG 2.0 Level AA.

Being Zen(ish) is what we call it - and it's the ish that we endorse! Teresa Palmer and Sarah Wright Olsen, two moms from opposite sides of the world, are doing their best to raise happy, empathetic children while working, traveling, and maintaining their sanity. With seven kids between them, the founders of the much-loved Your Zen Mama blog know as well as anyone that motherhood doesn't exist in the highlight reel of life, and that finding even a fleeting semblance of calm among the epic ebbs and flows of parenting is usually all you can hope for. Forget perfection and prepare to get real, vulnerable, and dirty (mostly from guacamole) with Sarah and Teresa as they share knowledge they've collected over the years, from the Your Zen Mama community and expert mentors, as well as being in the trenches of parenthood themselves. In The Zen Mama Guide to Finding Your Rhythm in Pregnancy, Birth, and Beyond, you'll find: Important questions to ask and decisions to make before and during pregnancy Essential guidance from a woman's point of view for conception, pregnancy, and childbirth Nutritional and dietary advice to support the complete health of both mother and baby Practical education about the mother's body before, after, and during pregnancy Science-based methods to promote a mother's healthy body and mind Expert advice from medical professionals, chiropractors, and pediatricians Engaging, accessible advice for every step of the newborn's journey Suggestions and tips for creating a birthing plan Comforting language to address fertility challenges, pregnancy loss, and complicated labor Access to the Your Zen Mama resource guide Whether it's dealing with fertility challenges or pregnancy loss, riding out a long and complicated labor, or juggling multiple kids (and work), these mamas have been through it - and have written this book to help you find your own glimpses of Zen along the way.

As you prepare to become a mother, you face an experience unlike any other in your life. Having a baby will redirect your preferences and pleasures and, most likely, will realign some of your values.As you undergo this unique psychological transformation, you will be guided by new hopes, fears, and priorities. In a most startling way, having a child will influence all of your closest relationships and redefine your role in your family's history. The charting of this remarkable, new realm is the subject of this compelling book.Renowned psychiatrist Daniel N. Stern has joined forces with pediatrician and child psychiatrist Nadia Bruschweiler-Stern and journalist Alison Freeland to paint a wonderfully evocative picture of the psychology of motherhood. At the heart of The Birth of a Mother is an arresting premise: Just as a baby develops physically in utero and after birth, so a mother is born psychologically in the many months that precede and follow the birth of her baby.The recognition of this inner transformation emerges from hundreds of interviews with new mothers and decades of clinical experience. Filled with revealing case studies and personal comments from women who have shared this experience, this book will serve as an invaluable sourcebook for new mothers, validating the often confusing emotions that accompany the development of this new identity. In addition to providing insight into the unique state of motherhood, the authors touch on related topics such as going back to work, fatherhood, adoption, and premature birth.During pregnancy, mothers-to-be talk about morning sickness and their changing bodies, and new mothers talk about their exhaustion, the benefits of nursing or bottle-feeding, and the dilemma of whether or when they should return to work. And yet, they can be strangely mute about the dramatic and often overwhelming changes going on in their inner lives. Finally, with The Birth of a Mother, these powerful feelings are eloquently put into words.

The bestselling author of The Kind Diet offers practical solutions for a healthier, more vibrant approach to new motherhood When did making babies get to be so hard? Infertility is on the rise globally, affecting as many as one in six couples. But instead of looking at diet and lifestyle as key factors, doctors are racing to pump their patients full of expensive and invasive fertility treatments. Once pregnant, women just accept that carrying a baby will be the gassy, swollen, irritable, sleepless nightmare that has become the new normal. Once their babies are born, they assume it will be just as challenging—from breastfeeding woes to screaming fits and constant trips to the doctor. It doesn’t have to be that way. In The Kind Mama, Alicia Silverstone shows that if we kick nasty foods that fight our bodies and replace them with nutrient-rocking “clean” foods that heal and nourish, we can create a more positive baby-making experience, from conception through the third trimester (and beyond). By encouraging basic diet and lifestyle modifications and drawing on wisdom from medical experts, friends, and her own experience, Silverstone has created a one-stop guide that empowers women to take charge of their fertility and pregnancy, and helps them to embark on a healthier, more vibrant path to parenthood.

An inclusive, holistic, evidence-based guide for pregnancy, birth, and the postpartum journey—created for modern moms by the experts at the Motherly online community. Pregnancy isn’t just about creating a baby. It’s also about the powerful transformation we go through on the journey to becoming “mama.” We created The Motherly Guide to Becoming Mama to coach and inspire you each step of the way. This is the pregnancy book we wish we’d had when we first became mothers—a mama-centered guide that doesn’t just focus on your baby’s needs, but honors and coaches you through this profound life change. Here’s the most important thing to remember: you are a phenom, and you are going to rock this. And you don’t have to do this alone. At your highest highs and your lowest lows, there is a village of professionals and peers to traverse this path with you. This book won’t bog you down with demands, give you more to be worried about, or tell you what to do. It’s impossible to know exactly what to expect during your pregnancy—after all, you are your own amazing woman with unique dreams, experiences, and needs. Instead, we’ve filled this illustrated guide with the best knowledge, wisdom, and support we have to offer, including: • Getting pregnant—planning, conception, fertility challenges, and finding the right care provider and birth strategy for you • Pregnancy month by month—how to understand, nourish, and support your own body and your baby’s health throughout your pregnancy • Giving birth—everything you need to feel empowered and prepared through the four stages of labor • The “fourth trimester”—helping you heal, process your experience, and thrive in the super-important and often ignored postpartum period • Tests and complications—no scare tactics, no intimidation; just good, well-researched information about the ways you can best prevent and prepare for challenges • Partners, friends, and family—our best tips for your whole support team • The many faces of mama—adoption, surrogacy, fostering, and the beautiful variety of motherhood experiences • Answers to the most common questions mamas have about finances, maternity leave, baby gear, relationships with family, nutrition, fitness, and much more Whether this is your first baby or your fourth, whether you’re still deciding about pregnancy or have an unplanned baby on the way, becoming mama involves your body, mind, emotions, lifestyle, relationships, schedule, spirituality, worldview—and most of all, your heart. This is an unprecedented time to embark on the journey of motherhood. You are part of a new generation of women elevating empowerment in all its forms. The Motherly Guide to Becoming Mama was made for you—a loving and supportive embrace of your unique motherhood journey in all its power, complexity, and beauty.

"Mama Natural's Week to Week Guide to Pregnancy is the modern (and yet ancient) approach to pregnancy and childbirth. "Natural" recognizes that pregnancy and birth are normal, and that having a baby is a wondrous biological process and rite of passage--not a medical condition. This book draws upon the latest research showing how beneficial and life-changing natural birth is for both babies and moms. Full of weekly advice and tips for a healthy pregnancy, Grace details vital nutrition to take, natural remedies for common and troublesome symptoms, as well as the appropriate (and inappropriate) use of interventions. Pregnancy, childbirth, health, health and wellness, parenting, family"--