By Guest Blogger, Olivia Spitzer We have all heard the adage, “It takes a village to raise a child.” As new parents, a big piece of your work is identifying who will be included in your child’s village. During (and even before) pregnancy, you are already thinking about which grandparents will be available to you for support. You know which friends will serve as aunties or uncles. You find a

Postpartum Doulas Fill the Healthcare Gap During COVID and Beyond
By Guest Blogger, Marnellie Bishop The arrival of a global pandemic on America’s shores has quickly and glaringly brought to light the dangers of the US healthcare system. The COVID-19 crisis made it painfully clear that our medical institutions are failing a significant portion of our citizens. Sadly, postpartum doulas have known this for a long time. Fortunately, these newborn specialists are ready and able to support the whole family

Parenthood Disconnect
By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 I recently reflected on a meeting I had a few years ago with second-time expectant parents. As their three year old played with toys in my living room they told me about the parenting challenges they had weathered since the last time I was their midwife. They had a great home birth the first time around, but wondered why they had focused so

Questions to Ask Homebirth Midwives
By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 With more people considering home birth or planned out of hospital birth these days it’s good to know what kinds of questions to ask while searching for your perfect birth attendant. I wrote and published these questions on my website years ago when I was a homebirth midwife. I’ll never forget the one time a pregnant couple who interviewed me pulled out my

Questions to Ask Obstetricians and Hospital-Based Midwives
By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 We get lots of questions about pregnancy birth and postpartum care providers and hospitals. Our prenatal yoga students have so many choices to make – especially during the pandemic. In some hospitals laboring people can have only one support person. In others, they may have more than one. Some people are considering virtual doulas. In other situations they can be accompanied by an