A Woman's Design Doula Group Minneapolis | St. Paul Doula & Childbirth Education Services
​Contact & Follow A Woman's Design:
info@awomansdesign.com
(612) 314-6378

 

​ 
  • Home
    • About
    • Contact Us >
      • Work With Us
      • Business Partnership Program
      • Giving Back
  • Services
    • FAQ's >
      • What is a Doula? >
        • You May Want A Doula If...?
      • Why Doula Teams
    • Birth Doula Services >
      • On-Call Birth Support
      • Planned Cesarean Birth Support
    • Massage
    • Lactation Support
    • Placenta Encapsulation >
      • Placenta Encapsulation Intake Form
      • Placenta Encapsulation Feedback Survey
    • Postpartum Doula Services
    • Pregnancy & Birth Consultation >
      • Birth Consultation Package
    • Private Education >
      • Re-discovering Childbirth Refresher
  • Client & Student Resources
    • AWD Member Forum
    • Baby-Friendly Hospitals
    • Resources
  • Blog
  • Store

In The Blink Of An Eye

8/27/2014

0 Comments

 
Last week my Facebook and text messages were flooded with birth announcements (born and to-be born). There had been at least one baby born every day within my sphere of family and friends. If you read my last newsletter I mentioned the baby “boom” that I predicated in the summer and fall of 2014 thanks to an early, frigid and long winter here in Minnesota. I don't want to say I told you so...

In contrast, I was also aware of an unusually large number of people dropping their kids off at college. It shouldn’t be a surprise because people have been sending their kids to college for years. However, similar to the baby boom this was particularly noticeable with family and friends. Parents (mostly moms) bidding a tearful farewell to their college bound young adults. This particular time it hit me personally as we introduced our daughter to what will be the extension of us for the next 4+ years.


I’ve been tearful and weepy since June, they have been tears of joy but they have also been tears of regret. Is there anyone else struggling with this?


The regret of rushing to the next phase

I was a single mother for almost eight years and she was my little side-kick. Being a single parent has its challenges but being a child of a single parent has its own unique hurdles as well. I’ve personally experienced both.

It was exhausting to parent solo especially at night and I needed her to hurry up and grow - to get to the next phase.

So, she was encouraged to learn how to walk on her own asap because mom's hands were always full.

She soon developed a pace that she still follows - hesitant to slow down and take in a moment.

Having a child in daycare that is not potty-trained costs much more so I needed her to potty-train asap.
She now lives a life focused and driven to accomplish things but doesn't understand that just because you can do something means that you are mentally and emotionally ready to do them.

Don’t get me wrong. She is an amazing young lady and I am often humbled by how she turned out in spite of our beginnings - in spite of the mistakes I made.

So I have regrets. I wish I hadn't worried so much about rushing through bedtime routines and getting her to sleep through the night but instead enjoyed the quiet still nights after a hectic day.

I wish I didn't worry so much about her becoming independent because when independence came it was harder to release her into it. By that time I wanted things to slow down - her to slow down.


I wish I didn't question every single decision I made and trusted my heart and my mother’s instinct because it never led me wrong.

If you are in the stage where you are so tired you can’t think or you could just cry, or you have little ones circling you and bickering and fighting so much you want to pull your hair out,  just know that in a blink of an eye they will be young men and women getting ready to leave the nest. I know it is cliché and if one more person tells you to cherish the moments when you are barely keeping it together you may punch them- I totally get it. But it’s true. So true.


Your are fearfully and wonderfully made,

Natalia

Picture
0 Comments

What we do is bittersweet...

5/19/2014

0 Comments

 
I love it when I think about someone and they call, text or email me around the same time. Has that ever happened to you?

I especially love it when I'm thinking about my birth and postpartum clients, remembering their birth experiences and their sweet little babies and lo and behold I will receive a text, a picture, or an unexpected "thinking of you" note.

What we do is so bittersweet. In order to fully support a couple we have to open our hearts and become vulnerable so that our clients can feel safe to be vulnerable as well. Childbirth is such an intimate time. We are witnesses of the good, the bad, and the raw. I've seen the meek be strong, the quiet find their voice, the tears, laughter, the fears and love so present in a room that you can't help to be swept away. Being gatekeepers of their space, their wishes and silent witnesses of their stories.

Part of us wants to continue to stay a part of their lives but we can't. There are the hugs, kisses the "You've got this", as we pull away- giving them the room and space to trust their instincts, learn their babies and discover themselves anew as individuals and parents. 

Yes, it is bittersweet indeed and that is why I want my families to know that they always leave an imprint on my heart. It blesses this doula's heart to know that not only am I thinking about them, but they are thinking about me too.

You are fearfully and wonderfully made, 

Natalia
Picture
0 Comments

To All Of The Beautiful Women In My Life

5/12/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
To all the beautiful women in my life; my mother whose legacy continues to live on in my heart and children's single-dimpled sneaky grin.

To my aunts and cousins who are constant reminders of her love for me.

To my mother in-law who graciously and lovingly tries to love enough for two grandmothers and who has adopted me into her heart as her own.

To my dear friends who are more like sisters and encourage me to be a better mother and wife.

To my clients, who I've had the honor of witnessing become mothers for the first time or who have welcomed their seventh with still the same awe and wonder as their first.

To mothers who held their babies briefly in their wombs or arms, but forever in their hearts.

To the mother who has only seen her baby on the computer screen, adoption binder, or in her dream.

My prayer for you no matter if your baby is still being knitted safely and secretly in your womb, or growing in your heart across the globe, keeping you up at night as an infant or a teenager, through the icky and sticky, the heartaches and disappointments, the terrible twos and the tumultuous teens, the prodigal son (or daughter), or the boomerang kid who can't seem to find his way-
  is that you will feel encouraged, love, joy, support, hope and peace in your heart and in your mind.

Blessings,
Natalia


0 Comments

Little Glimmer of Hope

5/25/2010

0 Comments

 
Picture
This morning I heard my three year old jump out of bed this morning to tell her twelve year old sister (who was leaving for school), "Bye Ray!! I love you! Have a great day!" My twelve year old responded in kind.

Now these two usually argue, fuss and fight (with crying in between-usually by me). About everything. They know how to get under each others skin and I'm not sure if the age difference helps or hurts the issue.

Don't get me wrong. I know siblings fight. It's a part of growing up and developing problem solving and relational skills. Still I try to encourage an environment of love and respect for one another. I try to teach them that they are sisters and that they are lucky to have each other. (I imagine that while I am saying this they hear the adult voice in the Charlie Brown cartoons).

Sometimes in the routine of life and in the midst of the bickering between siblings, I want to jump in the car and drive up north leaving my hubby to fend for himself. So when we have moments like this morning, it shows me that maybe, just maybe the words I sow into their life do not fall on stony ground and I feel encouraged.

What moments have you experienced that encouraged you as a mother (whether your baby is 3 months or 43)?

0 Comments

Motherhood Changes You~ For the Better

5/8/2010

0 Comments

 
I was nineteen when I had my first child. I wasn't sure how I would embrace being a mom. She was born on Father’s day and when they placed the six pound beautiful little girl in my arms, I felt like the weight of the world had been placed on my shoulders. I took the little bundle, which was wrapped so tightly like a gift, brought her close to my chest and began weeping. The nurses and my family thought my extreme emotions were from exhaustion and a rapid drop in hormones. I assure you however, in that moment, reality hit me hard. I was going through a transformation right before their eyes. It felt quite spiritual, as childbirth can be, as I clearly remember to this day having one foot in girlhood and the other in the unknown world of motherhood.

I knew that there was no turning back. I was responsible for this precious life I held. At nineteen I didn't know exactly what that entailed, but I knew; my life was no longer my own, that it wasn't about just me, and this new role was for a lifetime.

Fast forward nine years later. My new little girl is handed to me. My heart is bursting with love and expectation for the future. I cry but it is a different cry.  I’m older, more mature. I believe that this overwhelming love that poured out for this new little one was prepared by her older sister. My heart became fertile ground as my oldest daughter prepared it for seeds of future children. She taught me how to love until it hurts.

Motherhood changes you. It has and continues to change me. You learn resilience, unconditional love, responsibility, tenderness, patience and selflessness. You are passionate, courageous, determined, graceful, merciful and creative. You never return to the person you were before. Maybe that’s the point.  


0 Comments

    A Woman's Design

    A Woman's Design Doula & Childbirth Educators are here to walk along side you during such a precious time. Whether it is your first journey or tenth, empowering women and families with education and support to trust their inner wisdom and make wise choices in pregnancy, birth and early parenting is the heart of A Woman's Design. 

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    April 2020
    May 2018
    September 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    January 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    December 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    May 2014
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    March 2013
    June 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    August 2011
    July 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    August 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    January 2010

    Tweets by @womansdesign
    View my profile on LinkedIn

    My Blog List

    Unnecesarean: The Blog

    Doula Ambitions

    Birth Sense

    Categories

    All
    365 Days Of Blessings
    6 Month
    Abuse
    Assistance
    Assistant
    A Womans Design
    Babies
    Baby
    Babywearing
    Back-up
    Birth
    Birth Assistant
    Birthday
    Birth Doula
    Birth Plan
    Birth Stories
    Birth Story
    Blessing
    Breastfeeding
    Bright Side
    Care
    Certification
    Challenge
    Changes
    Child Abuse
    Childbirth
    Child Birth
    Childbirth Classes
    Childbirth Collective
    Children
    Choices
    Clients
    Comfort Measures
    Community
    C Section
    C-section
    Cserean
    Dads
    Death
    Delivery
    Dental Care
    Doula
    Expo
    Family
    Father
    Fathers
    Fear
    Friend
    Gestational Diabetes
    Give Away
    Goals
    Grandparents
    Grief
    Healthy Birth
    Helper
    Holidays
    Hope
    Hospitals
    Husband
    Hygiene
    Hyperemesis
    Induction
    Indution
    Infant
    Influence
    Intervention
    Knowledge
    Labor
    Loss
    Love
    Maternal
    Maternity
    Medication
    Miscarriage
    Misconceptions
    Mortality
    Morthers
    Mother
    Motherhood
    Mother In Law
    Mothers And Daughter
    Mothers Day
    Natural
    Naturally
    Networking
    Newborn
    Newsletter
    New Years Resolution
    Outlook
    Positive
    Positivity
    Post Partum Doula
    Postpartum Doula
    Postpartum Support
    Preconception
    Pregnancy
    Pregnancy Stories
    Pregnant
    Preparation
    Reducing
    Referrals
    Service Providers
    Sibling Rivalry
    Support
    Survivor
    Teeth
    Vbac
    Video
    Women
    Your Way

    RSS Feed

About us
​
​Employment
Founder
Meet Your Doulas
Blog
Services:
Birth Doula
Postpartum Doula
Lactation Support
Placenta Encapsulation
Store
Contact A Woman's Design:
info@awomansdesign.com
(612) 314-6378
Specializing In
Attachment Parenting | Babywearing | Birth Bootcamp | Bottle Feeding | Bradley Method | Breastfeeding | Cesareans Section (Family-Centered/Planned/Repeat) | Cloth Diapering | Epidural Birth | Home Birth | Hospital Birth | Hypnobabies | Induction | Lamaze | Multiples | Natural Birth | Spinning Babies |Vaginal birth Assisted by Medication | VBAC | Water Birth | Birth Doula | Postpartum Doula | Lactaction Support | Prenatal Education | Childbirth Education | Placenta Encapsulation |
Lamaze International, Childbirth International, DONA International
Picture
Providing Professional Doula Services to Families in the Twin Cities, Minnesota

Minneapolis - St Paul
Anoka | Hennepin  | Carver | Chisago | Dakota | Ramsey | Washington    

​At the heart & soul of A Woman's Design is the belief that every mother has the inner wisdom to make the best choices for herself and her baby in pregnancy, childbirth and early parenting. 
This is your story and we are your supporting cast. Birth. Your Way. 

Copyright © 2012-2018, Natalia Hals. All rights reserved.