The Unadventures of Tracie

Those of you who are my Facebook friends may have seen that I'm beginning the doula certification process. I'm so excited I can hardly stand it. Becoming a doula is something I knew I wanted to do when I found out what they were, and I experienced what having one during labor was like. Basically doulas are awesome. So extremely awesome. I believe almost every woman would benefit from a doula, no matter the circumstances. Research supports me in this declaration as well. Many studies have shown doulas to be beneficial. There was actually one published just a few months ago that found After examining 21 trials involving over 15,000 women, the review authors found that women who received continuous support (i.e. a doula) during labor: were more likely to have a spontaneous vaginal birth were less likely to have intrapartum analgesia (i.e. an epidural) were less likely to report dissatisfaction with their labors had shorter labors were more likely to give birth without ...

Morgan Danger Being a new mom is difficult and time consuming. I've been meaning to write this for a while now, but I've been having trouble finding the time to do so. For those that haven't heard my birth story, here it is: My last few weeks of pregnancy I'd been having Braxton-Hicks contractions on and off. My due date came and went with still no real sign of going into labor. Because things didn't go exactly as we planned with the condo we were trying to buy, Austin and I decided we needed to have a backup plan. So on Tuesday June 16th we went with Justin, our agent and brother-in-law, to look at other condos. While we were out with him, I started having contractions. Nothing regular or serious but definitely different from the Braxton-Hicks contractions. I called my mom and my doula when we got home from house hunting (which was around 8pm) to let them know I was in early labor. My mom predicted I'd have the baby by the next morning. If only. It was ar...

Lilyan Mae McNeil was born on August 22, 2008 at 6:01pm. I'm so excited to have a new niece! She's utterly precious. Austin and I visited baby and parents in the hospital on Saturday and took them dinner yesterday evening. You can check out "Trent & Jess" under my blog list for more pics and information. Congrats to Trent & Jessica for the new addition to their family!