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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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A Birth Story – Barb and Rob, mama and papa to Flynn Viktor

December 17, 2012 By Deena Leave a Comment

Barb was a regular at our Prenatal Yoga classes.  She and Rob also came to Infant Care class.  I’m honored that she’s sharing her birth story with all of us.  Happy reading!   I woke up in the morning on November 23 (my due date) feeling great with no plans to do Black Friday shopping. Since […]

Filed Under: Into the Light, Main Blog Page Tagged With: Baby, Birth, birth story, breastfeeding, Childbirth, Coping Skills, Fathers, Fear, Infant, Labor, Newborn, Pain, Pittsburgh, Placenta, Pregnancy, Prenatal Yoga, The Midwife Center, Water breaking

Day 2, morning – Lamaze Innovative Learning Forum 2012 – Redux

November 13, 2012 By Deena 4 Comments

After finally getting 7 hours of sleep it was my turn to teach. Yours truly, “Morning exercise session – Prenatal Yoga: Learning proper alignment and taking it into your childbirth classes.” Teaching at 7:30 am is not my best time of day… especially on mediocre hotel room coffee and no breakfast.  However, I think I […]

Filed Under: Into the Light, Main Blog Page Tagged With: Baby, Birth, Breastcrawl, breastfeeding, C-section, Childbirth, Childbirth Education Classes, Communication, Decision making, Dr. Jack Newman, Electronic Fetal Monitoring (EFM), Epidural, Gestational Diabetes, Infant, Interventions, IV Fluids, Labor, Lamaze, Lamaze Conference, Newborn, Pain, Pitocin, Pittsburgh, Pregnancy, Skin to skin, 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

Myth: Childbirth is the Worst Pain, EVER!

July 19, 2012 By Deena 4 Comments

Dad (to me): “So, how painful will childbirth be for her?” Before I can answer, Mom blurts out, “It’s the worst pain of your life!” This is one of the most common myths about childbirth.  When we talk about pain, we need to put it into context. “Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.” Me: “Well, […]

Filed Under: Into the Light, Main Blog Page Tagged With: Birth, birth story, Childbirth, Childbirth Education Classes, Coping Skills, Emotional State, Expectations, Fear, Ideal Birth, Labor, Media, Motherhood, Mothers, Orgasmic Birth, Pain, painless, Pittsburgh, Traumatic Birth

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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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