“We believe that every woman has within her the power to call upon her natural instincts to bring about the best possible birthing for her baby and herself” ~Marie Mongan

Hi Lorie,

I hope that you are doing well.  I just had to share our story with you.  I’m not sure if you had heard but I hit a bump around week 33.  I got a urine infection, passed a kidney stone and had some contractions.  My cervix changed a little and Dr. Patel put me on bedrest. Hard for me, but definitely the best thing.  Everything stabilized and Patel continued to follow me closely.

I saw him Wednesday and everything looked good.  My cervix was again shorter, but normal NST, so the plan was more bed rest and to see him next week.  I left the office at 4.  I went home, emailed Bryan a grocery list and wrote on Facebook.  I was getting up to pee every hour, but was drinking so much it seemed normal.  At around 6:45 I felt nauseated and took a Tums.  I told Bryan my stomach was upset and I felt like I needed to have a BM.  That’s when things got really crazy.

Our daughter Lila was born around 7:18, at least that is when the 911 call went through.  The entire thing took about 20 minutes.  Bryan called 911 when I started to do everything instinctual that he saw in those birthing videos.  He looked at me and noticed the baby’s head.  He caught our daughter who was out in 1 minute.  He dried her with a towel and she cried and looked pink right away.  The cord had severed so he tied it with a shoelace.  We realized we were alone with our daughter who was only 34 weeks and 4 days.  Placenta came out while I was warming her on my chest.  Paramedics let me hold her and put her on my breast.  Amazingly, Lila is perfect, never needed oxygen and already weighed 5 lbs and 14 ounces.  She is doing great and so am I.

I just wanted to say thank you because I think yoga and hypnobirthing made me strong and capable and changed the way I think about labor.  We could not have made it through the experience had we not felt so prepared.  I am so glad there is a place like Amazing Births, please thank everyone there for me.

I will bring Lila Paige over when we are ready for Mom and Baby Yoga.

With love,
Joanna Drowos

Boca Raton, FL–At Amazing Births and Beyond, not only do we have amazing clients, but we also have an incredibly amazing staff, one of them in particular, Cecile Lanao. Cecile is one of the many extraordinary and enlightened yoga instructors at Amazing Births and Beyond.

Cecile’s interest for yoga sparked about 6 years ago when she attended Bikram yoga. “From the moment I tried yoga, I could feel what a priceless gift it was,” said Cecile.  Practicing yoga has helped the chatter in her mind subside and a sense of space, stillness, and presence surfaced.

Cecile trained at the Sivananda program in South Florida while she was pregnant. She trained daily in the art of meditation, pranayama, asana and yogic philosophy. “It was incredible to go through it as a new mom and with another on the way,” said Cecile.

Through her training and various styles of yoga, she has designed a class, Om Mommy Prenatal Yoga, which addresses the physical demands of pregnancy and childbirth—she taught until she was 40 weeks pregnant. The yoga techniques explored in the class allows participants to nurture and open their bodies throughout every stage of pregnancy.

Cecile, who gave birth to both her children naturally and at home, said, “Your perceptions of childbirth have the biggest impact on the outcome of your baby’s birth.”  Pregnancy is an amazing experience and you should consciously prepare yourself and use pregnancy as a time of learning all you can.

Cecile recommends that any mothers-to-be join a prenatal yoga class; it is a way to create a support network. Many women at prenatal yoga classes want to experience natural childbirth. Having a supportive network that empowers each other can really make all the difference. Not just in the going natural part, but in how you experience your pregnancy as a whole.

Cecile offers her classes Thursday at 6:00 P.M. and Saturday 10:00 A.M.

About Amazing Births and Beyond:

At Amazing Births and Beyond we focus on women and their ability to birth normally and with ease. At Amazing Births and Beyond they understand the importance of support and guidance in making birth a positive lifetime memory. Please visit www.amazingbirthsandbeyond.com there you will find an array of helpful articles as well as information on Fertility, Chiropractic, HypnoBirthing, and Doula services they provide.

Recently, Kim Kardashian tweeted about a woman breastfeeding in public and stated “EWW I’m at lunch, the woman at the table next to me is breast feeding her baby with no cover-up.”  Many mothers were upset at this comment. Lorie McCoy, co-founder of Amazing Births and Beyond says “ Breastfeeding in public is legal in every state. A mother does not need to ‘cover up’ or go somewhere more private.”

Forty-four states have laws with language specifically allowing women to breastfeed in any public or private location. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, health professionals and public health officials promote breastfeeding to improve infant health. According to The Department of Health and Human Services, benefits of breastfeeding have been reported for both child and mother.

In addition to providing essential nutrients to infants, the study conducted reports decreases in gastroenteritis, lower risk of obesity, and lower risk of asthma in the children. Also, benefits for the mother that were noted included, greater weight loss postpartum compared with mothers who bottle-fed, decreased incidence of premenopausal breast cancer and decreased incidence of ovarian cancer.

However, even with support from Big Brother, that has not stopped many businesses from asking nursing mothers to be more private. One Starbucks location asked a mother to use the restroom to feed her child. This ensued the wrath of mothers who imposed a “nurse-in.” Nurse-ins, similar to sit-ins, has mothers rally together, while nursing their children, to protest against being asked to retreat somewhere more private to feed.

“What many people do not realize is that many infants have a difficult time eating while covered up, especially in Florida where it is so warm. I think it is terrible to make a nursing mother feel embarrassed or uncomfortable for simply feeding her child,” said McCoy.

At Amazing Births and Beyond their goal is to provide both the nurturing and educational support that women need to achieve the birthing/mothering experience that they envision for themselves. “We stand behind the AAP which encourages health care professionals to ‘promote breastfeeding as a cultural norm and encourage family and societal support for breastfeeding,’” said McCoy. Scientifically, babies are born to be breastfed.

Actress, Julie Brown, was quoted saying, “I think it is truly bizarre that people would find a photo of a mother breast feeding shocking and offensive.” Referring to the picture of her breastfeeding twins being banned on The View. Although many Americans are still squeamish at the site of a nursing breast, breastfeeding is gaining greater support from the government and medical community.

Amazing Births and Beyond offer many classes and offer assistance to mothers breastfeeding and the benefits that your baby will receive from it. After being educated, some women will still choose not to breastfeed. However, we always want to be assures that she is making that decision after being educated. For moms that are choosing not to breastfeed for any duration, we will still encourage them to nurse their newborn for the first few days after birth so that their baby gets antibody-rich colostrum will protect them from infection.

About Amazing Births and Beyond:

At Amazing Births and Beyond we focus on women and their ability to birth normally and with ease. At Amazing Births and Beyond they understand the importance of support and guidance in making birth a positive lifetime memory. Please visit www.amazingbirthsandbeyond.com there you will find an array of helpful articles as well as information on Fertility, Chiropractic, HypnoBirthing, and Doula services they provide.

I believe in the determination of Mothers. While attending a recent birth, a mother was given the news that her examination revealed many conditions that were highly unfavorable for a vaginal birth.  Her Dr. said that normally he would offer up an elective C-section since it was unlikely that this baby could be born vaginally. However, since he knew that she had taken HypnoBirthing and had a great doula by her side, he would give it a go if the mother was truly committed to a vaginal birth. She was!  We all ( including the Dr.) moved forward with positivity and determination.  Fourteen hours later, a beautiful 9lb. 4oz. baby boy was born vaginally, just as her Mother intended.  She never lost sight of her vision or let opinions break her confidence. The Dr. was blown away….

The power of a determined mother can overcome most anything.  I believe that we don’t always get what we deserve, we don’t always get what we want but we do get what we expect!

this is why I LOVE teaching HypnoBirthing!!

Lorie,

Thank you so much for allowing my husband, Jason, and I to participate in Hypnobirthing class with you again.  Since we had already been through the birthing experience successfully once with our son Elliot, who was born in Nov. 2008, I wasn’t sure whether taking the class again was going to be worthwhile.  It turns out, we got just as much out of the class this time around as the first time… maybe even more so!  We were learning and thinking about having a baby from a whole different perspective.  So many things made so much more sense!  Jason and I looked forward to your class every week (we thought of it as “date night”) — and I always left feeling a little more excited than before.  When I left the last and final class last night… I feel more excited and ready than ever.  I am looking forward to the next month of final preparation and just can’t wait for this new little person to enter the world!  Really appreciate everything.  I’ll keep you posted and let you know once we have our baby (current due date is Aug. 10th).  Thanks SO SO much.

“When setting out on a journey, do not seek advice from those who have never left home.” ~Rumi

Sadly, this is exactly what many pregnant women do.  They seek the advice of women who have chosen an interventive, managed birth.   I’m not talking about women who have educated themselves and experienced special circumstances that took them down a different path for their birth.  I’m talking about women who either didn’t know their options or had no interest in experiencing birth naturally, for whatever reason.  In all honesty, how much unbiased advice can these women really share with someone seeking a more natural experience?  (But share they will…just ask any pregnant woman how much unsolicited advice she receives!)  As Rumi says, “They haven’t left home.”  The epidural rate in South Florida sits at a staggering 95-97%!  The cesarean rate hovers between 40-60% depending on the hospital!  How many have chosen midwifery care, homebirth, doula support or HypnoBirthing?  Women who have “traveled the path” are few and far between.

I have had the honor of seeing countless women experience glorious calm and peaceful births.  Empowering births…the kind that creates strong women and confident mothers…the kind that are changing our world.  I have also heard those same strong women say that they were uncomfortable sharing their beautiful birth experience with their friends.  That they “didn’t want to look like they were bragging” or they “didn’t want to make others feel bad about their medicalized choices.”   WHAT THE HECK??  Maybe your respectful sharing will be the first time that women has even heard of what birth can really be like.  Perhaps she will be silent as you share, or maybe she will utter something that you will mistake for an excuse for her choices.  But maybe, just maybe your sharing will cause her to investigate her own thoughts surrounding birth.  Being silent is not the answer.

So I say this…SHARE!  Share with strangers in the market, share with your friends, share with your mother, share your amazing birth with anyone who will listen!  You prepared for your journey, you left home and you have traveled the path.  You simply must share.  It’s your obligation to our world and our children!

Would you be interested?  Thankfully, this miracle product does exist and it’s called Shea Butter!

What is Shea Butter?

Shea Butter is very similar to cocoa butter but superior in many ways due to  it’s composition.  Shea Butter is also better than lotions, including lotions that contain Shea Butter.  The main ingredient in lotion is water, therefore pure Shea Butter is much more concentrated!  Some retailers offer Shea Butter infused with various fragrances; however, this diminishes the healing properties of the Shea Butter making it less effective.   At Amazing Births we whip our shea butter with pure essential oils, NOT fragrance oils. According to the American Shea Butter Institute, another thing that may hamper the healing benefits of Shea Butter is its age. The older the Shea Butter the less effective it is.  Our shea butter products are created fresh in our own apothecary, once an order is placed.

Top Four Benefits during Pregnancy

1. Moisturizes- As your belly grows, the skin can become tight and dry. Shea Butter offers immediate moisture to dry skin, and the best part is that it lasts all day!

2. Relieves Itching- An expanding waistline can become an itchy waistline. Some women experience extreme itching of the abdomen. One application of Shea Butter offers instant relief.

3. Stretch Marks- Everyone knows how unsightly stretch marks can be. Some pregnant women can go the whole nine months without one stretch mark!  While for others, stretch marks can come almost immediately.  Applying Shea Butter to the belly and breast, day and night can help to prevent those marks.

**Shea Butter is also GREAT for babies as long as there are no known nut allergies

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At Amazing Births and Beyond we believe in women and their ability to birth normally and with ease. When we connect with our  birthing instincts and the innate intelligence of our bodies, we are able to welcome our babies into the world in a positive atmosphere of calm and joy. We must remember that the birth of a child is the ultimate perfection of human love.

We offer a wide range of services: HypnoBirthing, Therapeutic services, Spa services, Fertility Services, Labor and Postpartum Doula services, and an array of yoga classes for expectating mothers and mothers and their babies.