Hellobee

I’m usually a minimalist packer for trips but I brought a huge duffel bag and giant birth ball to the hospital for baby Jujube’s birth – a.k.a. the most epic trip I’ll ever take in my life! All births are unique and precious and nothing ever goes as planned, but for anyone trying to take […]

When I last wrote about choosing a primary care provider for this pregnancy, we were on the fence about having a doula. We had one last time, and it was really helpful – a truly beneficial experience. Between the prenatal classes, her attendance during birth, and several postpartum texts, calls and visits, the support we […]

There are so very many reasons that I love the hospital where we will be delivering, but very high on that list is this: they have a free doula program! We will be giving birth in a teaching hospital, which has advantages and disadvantages.  Our local teaching hospital is much more cutting edge than our […]

To recap Part I: We considered tons of doulas, but struggled to find one we clicked with.  After many delays, we were now down to our final option: Doula B. I have to give Mr. Tricycle some major props here – he’s actually the one that fielded most of the doula calls. He’s got discerning […]

We started our doula search in July. Up until last week, we were still searching. I didn’t think finding a doula would be difficult, but it turned out to be one of the more complicated, emotionally stressful aspects of my pregnancy. I think we spoke with at least five different doulas in an attempt to […]

This post is inspired by a question my very-pregnant friend asked me.  She wanted to know if hiring a doula was worth it and asked about my experience with mine.  Like me, she wants to try for a natural, medication-free birth and has been preparing herself by taking Bradley Classes. This was my response:

Going into wedding planning, I knew that I would be hiring a lot of different vendors. That generally comes with the territory of weddings – photographer, dj, makeup artist, etc. However, I didn’t expect to be hiring “vendors” for the impending birth of our baby. Beyond choosing the doctor or midwife, I sort of thought […]