Part of preparing you for birth is education of your options. Each pregnancy and birth is unique, and with that so are the variations that can occur. While we cannot plan everything that will happen in a birth, we can prepare and educate as best we can so you feel comfortable with the process. By knowing your choices, and options within those choices, you will be able to feel like a participant in your health care. Here I go into some of those options and how to navigate the often overwhelming process of preparing for birth and baby.

Hello and Welcome!

Allow me to reintroduce myself, I’m Jessica Brown, a DONA Certified Birth & Postpartum Doula serving families in Western Pennsylvania.

Inspired to pursue birth work and women’s health from the Homercity Red Tent, I’m amazed at how far I’ve come.

The past handful of years has been a wild ride to get where I am now, and I’m so glad to have followed that calling to birth work. Something I had felt in my bones and knew I had to pursue. This is what I was meant to do, and I’m grateful to all who have helped and supported me along the way.

Join me here as I share what brought me to birth work and where JB Doula is going from here!

Join me as I take a look at the patent pending pacifier clip from Little Bemi Co.

You have just gone through an amazingly chaotic journey full of ups and downs. Your precious newborn is finally in your arms looking up at you with eyes full of serenity and wonder. You have given birth and are bursting at the seams to talk about your experience to anyone who will listen. You might have already told your story, sometimes multiple times, to the same people. Here I break down ways to process and record your birth journey.

Your feeding groove is simply whatever way of feeding your baby works best for both of you (you’re a team). This also is an ongoing process as you two learn together and as baby grows. What worked last week might not fly today. Triplely so if you’re tandem feeding, whether multiple newborns or your toddler and newborn. Here are several ways to help you find your feeding groove.

Whether you are planning to breast or bottle feed your soon-to-be-newborn; the time spent feeding your little one is a prime opportunity for bonding. All too often, we expect to instantly know everything about our babies as soon as they are born, and drop seamlessly into parenthood. Only to have our expectations swept up from under us; leaving us scrambling to find our footing as we juggle the needs of this proverbial stranger in our homes.

Close contact (preferably skin to skin!) is crucial for bonding with your baby and helping them feel secure enough to thrive. To do this you’re going to need to have a space (or several) that you will go to with your baby while feeding. This spot is going to need to be comfortable! You will spend much of the first few weeks here.

Here I will break done the essentials to not only surviving, but thriving during the frequent feeding period of parenthood that comes with bringing home a newborn.