What's in MY doula bag!

I recently re-organized my doula bag to prepare for a client's labor and birth.  After 5 births, I have definitely figured out what I need and what I don't.  Less has become more and I continually believe in mom's ability to get through labor without little more than guided support and encouragement.  However, I have found that some things are very nice to have on hand when supporting mom and her partner. So here's a post on what's in MY doula bag!

 

 

 

 

Stuff I can't do without -

• Hair ties and headbands.
• Kleenex and baby wipes, hospital Kleenex are rough and icky.
• Chapstick, tooth paste, toothbrushes and gum.
• Notebook and Pens
• Flip flops, several pairs of socks.
• Handheld massagers and a tennis ball in a sock.
• The Birth Partner and the Labor Progress Handbook, these I feel are the most helpful to have on hand to refer to.
• Nourishment, granola bars and a reusable bottle for water.
• A change of clothes cause birth can get messy. (not pictured)
• Cash for parking, food at the hospital etc. 
• Phone charger and camera.
• Extra set of ear buds or headphones.

 

I got a new bag recently from Vera Bradley, it's the pleated tote in Rio and it's perfect to carry all my things in!

 

And last but not least, my business cards!

 

So that's what's in MY doula bag! What's in yours?!

 

 

 



Ships.

I was feeling a heavy weight on my heart this past week.  Life hasn't been moving forward as quickly as I would like it to, or in the direction I would like it to go.  On top of that it seems so many of the lives that surround me are dealing with intense suffering and loss.

Life is hard. It's supposed to be.  Challenge is the birthplace of meaningful growth and change.  That's what we're here for.  Life is never one to hand you all the ingredients, nice and neat, on a pretty silver platter.  And if it does, it doesn't stay that way for very long, before you're meant to grow again.  The best things in life that we can experience, take effort and time, which is what makes them so valuable.  "We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair."   There are pruning seasons and growing seasons.  When I look back on my life, the greatest growth occurred after I was cut back.  God always provides the right things that we need, when we need them, and sometimes things we didn't even think we needed.

There are oceans between where you are and where you could be, and a heck of a ride in between.  Seize every opportunity, take risks, and enjoy every crazy and unique precious moment.  Good and bad, easy and difficult.  Whether you understand it all right now, is irrelevant. This is easier on some days than others.  But choosing to live a FULL life, not of foolish carelessness but of purposeful risk, passion and unabashed love and joy, over a fearful, cautious, doubtful, small one is so worth it. 

"A ship at harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are for.  Look at yourself in the mirror and tell me you weren't designed for an adventure.  I know it's scary, but think about your passions and your desires and your longings.  Weren't you made to just go a little farther than your fear suggests?  Living a good story isn't safe, but it's meaningful. Face your fear. Conquer it.  And if it conquers you, show it how it didn't end you.  Get up and live another great story." - Donald Miller

Leave your shore.  Expand your horizon.  Be fearless.  Be passionate.  Trust.  Take risks.  Breathe deeply and love fiercely.  :)

When God throws you out of a plane.

All my life I have always been absolutely terrified of jumping out a plane. And yet, when I think of the method of communication that God has chosen in my life to get my attention in order to push me to grow, it would resemble that of figuratively throwing me out of a plane. It would seem that this is both a compliment and equally an insult to my character, that He can't simply nudge me in a direction, but that He knows the only way to really get me to listen is to toss me out the door kicking and screaming and watch me plunge until I decide to trust Him. Anyone who knows me, knows I can be horribly stubborn and difficult. Bratty asshole would be the best term to describe me when I don't get my way.  #sarcasm #butitsalittletrue #characterflaws #blamemyparents

Here are four things that God has shown me in the three weeks since I quit my job:

The company you keep defines you. Surround yourself with shining souls that inspire you, lift you higher and bring out the best in you. The less you associate with some people, the more your life will improve. When you tolerate mediocrity and negativity in others, it increases your own mediocrity and negativity. Negativity will stifle passion, creativity, drive and can literally destroy you. Devote yourself to only those who are committed to climbing with you and who will encourage you to chase after your dreams and goals.

Motherhood is not a distraction from work, but is the most important work that you will ever do. This time home with my children has allowed me to refocus my parenting priorities, given me more insight into the character of each of the tiny humans that have been entrusted in my care, and has given me time to connect with other homeschool moms and recenter my goals and thoughts about teaching and raising intelligent, responsible and kind children.

Strong, healthy, rested bodies create peaceful minds. The increased time I've spent focusing on my health and fitness goals has provided me with inner peace, confidence, excitement and joy. Going to bed at 9pm and waking at 5am to go to the gym has balanced my life out and provided more time for solitude and recentering.

Most of all, I have a continued sense of God's quiet small voice speaking, "I know the desires of your heart, trust me and be patient." When lacking clarity, we attempt to eliminate the risk of trusting God. Fear of the unknown can make us settle for less than we deserve or grasp at things that do not move us to greater spiritual heights. I'm re-reading Brennan Manning's Ruthless Trust which I thought would be a good name for this blog considering the phase of my life right now, but anyway he describes the way of trust as this:
"The way of trust is a movement into obscurity, into the undefined, into ambiguity, not into some predetermined, clearly delineated plan for the future. The next step discloses itself only out of a discernment of God acting in the desert of the present moment. The reality of naked trust is the life of the pilgrim who leaves what is nailed down, obvious, and secure, and walks into the unknown without any rational explanation to justify the decision or guarantee the future. Why? Because God has signaled the movement and offered it his presence and his promise."

Uncompromising trust in the love of God requires us to give up the desires we hold in our hearts and continually rely on the goodness and trustworthiness of God as He's shown in our lives. To be as content and joyous in our valleys as we are on our mountaintops. To be grateful for the storms in our lives, the messy people that cross our paths, those who disappoint us and our personal failures.  These are the things that cause us to grow and stretch us to our emotional, spiritual and physical limits.  

Henri Nouwen wrote of the spiritual work of gratitude: To be grateful for the good things that happen in our lives is easy, but to be grateful for all of our lives—the good as well as the bad, the moments of joy as well as the moments of sorrow, the successes as well as the failures, the rewards as well as the rejections—that requires hard spiritual work. Still, we are only grateful people when we can say thank you to all that has brought us to the present moment. As long as we keep dividing our lives between events and people we would like to remember and those we would rather forget, we cannot claim the fullness of our beings as a gift of God to be grateful for. Let’s not be afraid to look at everything that has brought us to where we are now and trust that we will soon see in it the guiding hand of a loving God.

This is the challenge on this beautiful journey. :)