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Shining Light

Building empowerment, self-confidence and connection through candid education and compassionate advocacy for all families before, during and after pregnancy.

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Interesting Conversations with Strangers and a Dress with Skeletons – Day 1 of the Lamaze Conference in New Orleans

October 10, 2013 By Deena Leave a Comment

It was an amazingly easy travel day today. There was *no* line at security at Pittsburgh International Airport. None. It was quite pleasant. We landed at DFW 30 mins early so I had plenty of time to eat and write a blog post for next week before my next flight to New Orleans.

Filed Under: Into the Light, Main Blog Page Tagged With: breastfeeding, Childbirth Education Classes, Homebirth, Lamaze, Lamaze Conference, Mothers, New Orleans, Pittsburgh

An interview with new mom, Cortney

September 11, 2013 By Deena Leave a Comment

You may know Cortney. She’s one of our regular subs for Prenatal Yoga. She’s one of my long time students and I love her to pieces. Check out her story! ~Deena Your name – Cortney Partner’s name – Jake Baby’s birthdate – Noah was born 3/25/2011 1. What is the best part of being a mom? […]

Filed Under: Interviews with students, Main Blog Page Tagged With: Baby, Birth, Birth Plan, birth story, Childbirth, Childbirth Education Classes, Expectations, Fathers, Homebirth, Interviews, Labor, Pittsburgh, yoga

An interview with pregnant mom, Kelly

July 24, 2013 By Deena 1 Comment

This is the first post in our new interview series with our current and past students. Kelly was gracious enough to answer our questions and put herself out there. Please show her some love and support for being brave!  xoxo  ~Deena Mom’s name: Kelly Partner’s name: Robert Estimated due date: End of October Care Provider: […]

Filed Under: Interviews with students, Main Blog Page Tagged With: Birth Plan, Childbirth, Childbirth Education Classes, Expectations, Fear, Homebirth, Interviews, Midwife, Motherhood, Mothers, Pittsburgh, Pregnancy, yoga

Day 1 – Lamaze Innovative Learning Forum 2012 – Redux

November 1, 2012 By Deena Leave a Comment

I’ve broken up this post into three parts.  There’s a lot of information and a lot that happened at the conference this year.  Here’s Part 1 for you! 2012 was the year of country music.  We were in Nashville, TN for this year’s conference.  The conference was shorter by a full day due to the […]

Filed Under: Into the Light, Main Blog Page Tagged With: ACOG, Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative, Birth, breastfeeding, C-section, Childbirth, Childbirth Education Classes, Decision making, Henci Goer, history, Homebirth, Hospital, Ina May Gaskin, Interventions, Lamaze, Lamaze Conference, Motherhood, Mothers, OB, Pain, Pittsburgh, Pregnancy, Valid Medical Reason, VBAC

Penny Simkin was in Pittsburgh and I got to meet her!

October 17, 2012 By Deena Leave a Comment

On Monday, 10/15/2012, I had the honor and the pleasure of meeting and learning from the incomparable Penny Simkin.  She happened to be in town for a conference and took some time out of her busy schedule to meet with a small group of doulas, childbirth educators and midwives at a local Panera.  (note to […]

Filed Under: Into the Light, Main Blog Page Tagged With: Birth, Birth Plan, birth story, Childbirth, Childbirth Education Classes, Communication, Coping Skills, Decision making, Emotional State, Fear, history, Homebirth, Lamaze, Motherhood, Mothers, OB, Pain, Penny Simkin, Pittsburgh, Pregnancy

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About Shining Light

Building empowerment, self-confidence and connection through candid education and compassionate advocacy for all families before, during and after pregnancy since 2012.

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