The Birth Lounge Blog

Hey Tranquility Tribe! There’s a lot of talk in the mama-sphere about starting breastfeeding, but not much talk about how to stop once your nursing journey is done. Today we’re going to give you the lowdown on drying up your milk supply, so let’s get into all you need to know! The best way to go about drying up your milk is to decrease feedings slowly until you are no longer feeding at all - the slower you wean, the less pain you’ll be in! Once you have weaned off of feeding, you should try to stimulate your nipples and breasts as little as possible to signal to your body that it no longer needs to be making milk - it’s a process of supply and demand, and once your body stops receiving the demand signals, the supply can be reduced!  Just like everyone’s experience is different with breastfeeding itself, the process of stopping is unique for everyone. The length of time it will take to completely dry up really varies from person t...

Is Nanny Care Right for Your Family? Hey Tranquility Tribe! This week, HeHe sat down to chat with Sara Cook, founder of  Cloud9 Nannies , a nanny agency serving the Boston area. HeHe and Sara get into all the real life issues that come with hiring a nanny, from establishing trust with a caregiver to the nitty gritty details of pay! All About Sara As a working mama, Sara knew reliable and trustworthy childcare would be crucial for her family’s lifestyle. Her first child was diagnosed with Down Syndrome at birth, so this made finding a nanny that would be the perfect fit extra important. Sara worked in the professional IT world for many years as a recruiter, which made her an expert in finding the right candidates for a job with a very specific skill set. She combined her motherly instinct and experience with finding nannies for her own two sons with her experience in the recruiting world to create Cloud9 Nannies, where she conne...

[This is also an episode on The Birth Lounge Podcast on listen  here .] Hey Villagers! Y’all requested this topic like no other and HeHe is so excited to sit down this week and talk all things CBD and motherhood! From the history and science of hemp to the stigma surrounding using CBD to get your body and mind optimized to be the best mom you can be, we’re covering it all. HeHe enlisted the help of Ashley Reynolds, mom of two and the president and cofounder of Elmore Mountain Therapeutics in Vermont. EMT is a CBD company founded by Ashley and her husband in 2017 and they specialize in whole hemp plant CBD rich extract. Using evidence-based knowledge, they’ve produced their own topical balms and sublingual tincture - HeHe uses the balm and swears by it for everything from period pain to belly aches to scrapes and cuts! Ashley’s Journey Shortly after the birth of her 2nd child in 2016, Ashley began to struggle with postpartum anxie...

Advocating for Yourself During Birth with HeHe Hey Tranquility Tribe! This week, HeHe told the story of Caroline Maletesta of Alabama, whose nurses aggressively prevented her from birthing how she needed to, leaving her traumatized and permanently injured. While situations like this are rare and unfortunate, it’s important to arm yourself with information and techniques to advocate for yourself in birthing situations extreme or small. Things to Know HeHe wants you to know that it’s rare to not be able to have a choice in almost all aspects of your maternity care! Outside of special situations like having a medical condition that requires certain stipulations, you truly are the person in charge in the labor and delivery room. That’s why it is so crucial to arm yourself with knowledge concerning evidence-based care regarding all sorts of situations that may arise during your birth, so you can walk away from your birth feeling confiden...

Can You Really  Control Pain During Labor and Delivery? The way one woman births is completely different than any other woman. Even deeper, the way one woman wants to birth is unlike any other, as well. Women will each have their own specific way that they picture their birth going. I challenge you to imagine your ideal birth. I take my clients down specific path ways to explore this side of themselves. So many things will impact the way you feel most comfortable birthing and I believe that one of those things --and a very big one-- is your relationship with pain. Some of this is out of your control like the way you feel pain and how deep that "feel"is exactly. Your pain threshold will also play a role in this. Finally, until you actually sit and think about pain, your relationship with pain has been determined for you by your past experiences. With each heartache, broken arm, and nasty rumor, your body learned what emotional pa...

Morning Sickness or Hyperemesis? Morning Sickness: It is hormonally related and we believe that your blood sugars are spiking and dropping (trying to adjust to having a baby on board) during that first trimester. It generally resolves itself between 12-14 weeks of pregnancy! When you wake in the morning, you blood sugar is low because it has just worked through all the calories as you were sleeping. If you rise and do not eat, this will cause your blood sugar to sink even further and will cause even worse nausea. Once your blood sugar tanks, it can be challenging to hit reset and you may find that you don’t feel well for the rest of the day. Hyperemesis: This is extreme morning sickness that is debilitating and last longer than 12-14 weeks. This can be nausea that hangs around all day long and prevents you from doing normal everyday activities. Hyperemesis is very serious and requires medical attention. Miriam Erick, MD at Boston Medical Center, says Hyperemesis affec...

Dressing Intentionally for Pregnancy and Beyond [This is also an episode of Friday Free Talk on The Tranquility Tribe Podcast on iTunes. Listen  here .] Hey there, Tranquility Tribe!  How much do you know about your style?  Do you have a go-to clothing color? Did you know that the colors you wear can say a lot about your personality?  In this episode, Hehe talks to Helena Grant, an entrepreneur and stylist expert, about the major impact that clothes have on your life! Who is Helena? Helena recently celebrated the three-year anniversary of her business, H Grant Style, with a style popup in Boston.  Hehe attended the event and said it was a huge success! However, as Helena expressed, she could not have done it on her own.  For the majority of her time building her business, Helena did everything herself. However, when she began to prepare for her anniversary event, she decided to ask for help with the planning.  And she said that she ...