MamaSpace Yoga Blog

Culturally-Relevant Care by Carol Gray at MamaSpace Yoga

Culturally-Relevant Care

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 Black Women Again Turn to Midwives, Some Fearing Coronavirus in Hospitals. I was so happy to read this headline. I’m sad that fear of contracting COVID-19 in the hospital and  concern over no support people allowed to attend laboring people in the hospital is driving some of the change. Nonetheless, it’s change. We’re headed in the right direction. Sobering Statistics for Black Parents

Inanna's Journey by Carol Gray at MamaSpace Yoga

Inanna’s Journery

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 Inanna, Queen of Heaven and Earth, was a goddess revered by the ancient Sumerians. I love her story of descent into and return from the Underworld. It’s a wonderful analog for the process of preparing for, moving through and returning from birth. Inanna undertook a perilous journey to the underworld – a place from which nobody had ever returned alive. She prepared, she

Our Responsibility to You at MamaSpace Yoga

Responsibility

By Carol Gray, LMT, CST, RPYT, ERYT-200 Many yoga studios around the world have reopened or are planning to reopen for in-person yoga classes. We aren’t (yet). At MamaSpace Yoga we serve a particular population – pregnant and postpartum people. It’s obvious to me that we can’t yet know what any long-term (or short term) effects of COVID-19 infection in the first trimester of pregnancy would be. People who have

Lina’s Birth Story

Our pregnancy was very easeful and very healthy. We moved to Portland in February and his due date was April 20th. I felt so happy and blessed to have found MamaSpace Yoga, not only because I enjoyed the classes so much, but everyone was so caring, open to share and the sense of community was so wonderful. On our week 37th check up at our birthing center I was diagnosed

Caleb's Birth - MamaSpace Yoga Birt Stories

Caleb’s Birth

It all started with a bowl of spicy Baby A’s copycat Tortilla soup… There is an old wives’ tale that spicy food induces labor. Well, in this case it proved to be true. Your Daddy and Mommy had indulged in some spicy tortilla soup for dinner on the evening of September 17th. After dinner and a few of their favorite TV shows, it was bedtime. Your Daddy easily fell asleep

Nugget's Birth - a Birt Story at MamaSpace Yoga

Nugget’s Birth

Dearest Carol, Thank you for your blessings and teachings! Our nugget arrived 2 weeks early. 2 days before labor baby was positioned transverse! :/ Dr wanted to manually reposition baby but baby had other plans. Everyone told me not to worry because we still have time. However, we learned later we really don’t.  Thanks to you I applied the cat/cow pose during my contractions. Baby’s head dropped to the correct

Sarah's Birth - a Birth Story at MamaSpace Yoga

Sarah’s Birth

Throughout pregnancy, I often thought that my baby would be born early. During one appointment with my midwives, I told them that I had a feeling that my baby would come early, and they responded that many of their clients “had a feeling” that their baby would come early. Some babies do, most don’t. Statistically, first babies are born after their due date. On the evening of August 27, 2018,

Thalia's Birth Story at MamaSpace Yoga

Thalia’s Birth Story

Oliver Milo Read born Oct 14th, 2.47. 6lbs 10 oz I was hoping for a natural childbirth and I wanted to carry my baby at least to term, hoping he’d come out on his own, despite my OB advising me to induce at 39 weeks. (due to my age, I’m 43!) However at a routine check up on Oct 10th (39 weeks and 3 days,) it was discovered that the

A Fast Birth - A MamaSpace Yoga Birth Story

A Fast Birth

Wednesday (10/25) the midwife said her head was engaged. They didn’t do any cervical checks during routine prenatal visits at the birth center so I didn’t know if I was dilated at all yet. Friday I had a fun day with a friend. Came home and listened to one of my relaxation recordings from hypnobirthing and took a 90 min nap. Ate dinner then worked on my knitting. Was having

Edith’s Birth

Edith was born at 9 pm after almost 24 hours of labor and an hour of pushing. Our birth did not go as planned and I was ready for the unexpected. One of the things I focused on in the last trimester was letting go and remembering that at the end of the journey you meet your child, no matter what the steps on the path look like. At our