Embrace Birth

A double birthday

2010-12-22T14:30:00.000-08:00

Baby Nolan Steven was born December 7th, 2010; on my birthday! I couldn't have asked for a better birthday present than to be serving a family during their birth~

His mama was very strong and sacrificed her dream birth for his cesarean birth for breech presentation. Nolan was 7 pounds 1.5 ounces and 20" long and just as perfect as they imagined!

He immediately catured his parents hearts and they are beginning their new life as a family of three. Welcome to the world little one~

What a great day!!

2010-12-22T14:24:00.000-08:00

WOW! I was totally floored by being nominated in the category Best Doula in North Texas by North Texas Child Magazine. This is such an honor!

I don't know how or who did the nominating, but I am very appreciative of them. It truly is an honor to be just nominated. I am up against two other doulas who are amazing:) One of us will win the title, but all of us are rockin' doulas who love what we do:) You can vote once and up to 1/3/2011.

http://northtexaschild.com/best-families-sub.asp

2010-10-25T19:38:00.001-07:00

"Maybe as we heal, share and support our views of birth can change as a whole. Women will realize they have choices and listen to their inner voices of what they can really experience. We can heal. We can let go of our fears. We can listen to our innate. We can experience the most amazing, unexplainable moments of our lives." ~BWF Blog

This quote is so powerful for me. It sums up all the different types of births I have personally experienced and experienced through my doula clients.

Welcome Morgan David!!

2010-09-26T12:13:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to J & M on the birth of their second child on 9/21/2010. They had a cesarean birth for their first and were planning to have a VBAC for their second. After ALOT of hard work on J's part, she was able to VBAC!! This mama worked really hard...I was with her for around 21 hours & she a full day of early labor before I joined her!

Congratulations again!! Pics to be posted soon:)

WELCOME Will (William) Bryan!!

2010-09-04T14:55:00.000-07:00

Will decided to join us on Sunday afternoon at 12:15pm on 8/29/2010....just a day after his mother's birthday. Her birthday wish of having seperate birthdays was granted, but barely! Her water broke on her birthday!!

Will was 8 pounds 11.1 ounces and 20 1/2" long~ another gorgeous baby with a full head of hair~

Congratulations K & S...your family has a beautiful beginning~

WELCOME Liam Preston

2010-08-23T06:31:00.000-07:00

After a joyful wait, Liam Preston was born at 41 weeks 5 days on Friday, August 20th, 2010! He was 7 pounds 9 ounces, at 4:21 am. Labor was no picnic for this family and after many issues with cord compression, he was cesarean born. I am so proud this family fully educated themselves and made many changes to their care before their son was born. They selected one of the best OB's in the DFW area and felt comfortable with the decisions that had to be made. Congratulations L & B~What an amazing journey you have been on!

WELCOME Phoebe Alexandra

2010-08-23T06:26:00.000-07:00

Saturday, July 10th brought us Miss Phoebe Alexandra. She was born at 5:44am , 7 pounds 6.8 ounces and was 20 inches long. After an intense labor, Phoebe was born without medication in the hospital setting! Congratulations S & J!! I still can't believe how much hair she has:)

WELCOME Sawyer Clinton

2010-08-23T06:22:00.000-07:00

Sawyer Clinton was born ten days after his due date of July 14th, 2010...
July 24th, 2010 at 7:03 am weighing 9 pounds 2.9 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches. He surprised all of us by turning from anterior to a double footling breech position.

Congratulations V & T!! Your son is beautiful!!

Welcome Baby Guy!

2010-06-20T13:22:00.001-07:00

This little newborn is Guy and he has great head control! He is about 40 minutes old in this picture. His daddy was holding him & Guy reared his head back to see his Daddy. He held his head in this position for a touch over 30 seconds. It was amazing to see him do this. His mama should be very proud of her non medicated hospital birth.

Baby Guy

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

7 pounds 8.3 ounces

20 inches

7:09 am

Celebrating my pregnancy!

2010-01-24T17:53:00.000-08:00

One of the best ways to celebrate a special occasion in your life is through photographs. I had the privilege of having one of the best photographers in the DFW area take my maternity pictures--
Elizabeth Boyce at http://www.earthmamaphotography.com/ Elizabeth is truly a wonderful photographer and a delightful person to know.

Here is the link to my maternity pictures
http://earthmamaphotography.blogspot.com/2010/01/so-patient-denton-lewisville-flower.html

This was the best way I could have celebrated this upcoming birth! I am so happy that I wasn't afraid of how big my belly was to have these taken.

THANK YOU Elizabeth!! You made my night!

Welcome Kaden Austin!

2009-11-23T18:55:00.001-08:00

B & K are first time parents that recently moved to the DFW area from out of state. Within days of settling into their new home, their little one decided to make his big arrival! After laboring at home for a few hours, they drove to the hospital. B was already 7 cm and ready to meet her son.

Kaden was born a few hours later, a non medicated hospital birth and it was a fantastic birth.

Here are a few images from their labor & birth...

Welcome Baby Miles

2009-11-09T13:40:00.000-08:00

M and A had an absolutely incredible water birth at Inanna Birth Center in Denton. The birth went quickly and amazed everyone who was honored to be a part of their birth team. Here are a few pictures of Miles' birth day...

If you look closely at this picture (below), I swear Miles is smiling at his Daddy & big sister.

Welcome Kaden!

2009-11-07T10:03:00.003-08:00

Baby Kaden joined his family on Wednesday, November 4th at 4:03 am!!
Pictures are coming soon!!

Baby Paisley

2009-10-25T20:52:00.000-07:00

Here are the long awaited pictures of beautiful Paisley...her birth was amazing and her mama did great!

Two babies are welcomed in October!

2009-10-14T17:56:00.000-07:00

Last week I attended a wonderful cesarean birth of an adorable girl and today I attended an awesome birth center waterbirth--where the gender of the baby was a surprise! This baby turned out to be a boy.

I'll get pictures up as soon as I can! I was unplugged for 8 days and just catching up on life!

Welcome Baby Billy!

2009-09-26T14:44:00.000-07:00

I had the pleasure of photographing little Billy when he was 16 days old. His family is just lovely and he was one of the sweetest newborns I have ever seen. It took a while for him to go to sleep, but once he did, we had lots of fun!

Fun at the gardens

2009-09-08T20:12:00.001-07:00

I had the opportunity to visit with a great family over Labor Day weekend. Their oldest son was a student of mine in preschool~ We had a fun time in the gardens and here are a few sneak peaks.

Natalee is almost 2!

2009-07-18T09:22:00.001-07:00

Natalee is turning 2 in just a few weeks. She did great tromping all around without shoes, but didn't like the pond area at all. The bullfrog was a bit too loud for her & mama! Here are just a few sneak peaks...but, they aren't fully edited yet.

New & Improved Website!!

2009-07-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

After several hours of redeveloping my website, it is finally published. When you have a moment, please check out http://www.embracebirth.com and let me know what you think. I still have a few pages under construction, but they should be finished very soon!!

I am so happy!!

Placenta Benefits

2009-07-06T14:05:00.000-07:00

Many families who have homebirths or birth center births keep & freeze their placenta for planting a special tree. Some families choose to encapsulate their placenta for warding off postpartum depression, lessen bleeding and boosting breastmilk supply.

Amazing, to say the least, TIME magazine published a humorous take on one family's journey with encapsulation.

Hope you enjoy!
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1908194,00.html

Grace~ 4 days old

2009-06-23T15:17:00.001-07:00

Baby Grace was so much fun to photograph. She was so happy in her mama's arms and her big brother was hilarious! Here a just a few from that special day.

He really can put his toe in his mouth~

Playing with Mama!

This was the biggest yawn ever~

I love the smile Grace has on her face.

Big Brother!

Water Birth...10 pounds 6 ounces~

2009-06-14T20:32:00.000-07:00

On Thursday evening, June 11th, I received a telephone call from S in the Fort Worth area around 5pm. S had begun labor and was letting her team know. A mere 15 minutes later, it was time to drive in. I made it to her home right before the midwives and slipped into place. S and N were working hard during contractions and barely an hour later, their son was gently born in the water. This is their fourth child and first boy. S was a fabulous mom to work with and I am blessed to have been a part of their birth.

Pregnant women's access to health care threatened

2009-06-08T10:23:00.000-07:00

Hot off the press....
American Association of Birth Centers
America's Birth Center Resource
3123 Gottschall Road ~ Perkiomenville, PA 18074 ~ Tel: 215-234-8068 ~ Fax: 215-234-8829 ~ aabc@birthcenters.org ~ www.birthcenters.org

Pregnant Women’s Access to Care Threatened

H.R. 2358 Medicaid Birth Center Reimbursement Act

U.S. Representatives Susan Davis (D-CA), Gus Bilirakis (R-FL), Lois Capps (D-CA), and Rob Wittman (R-FL) introduced the Medicaid Birth Center Reimbursement Act to ensure Medicaid birth center facility fee payments to states. Over the past few years, CMS has begun disallowing federal matching funds for state Medicaid payments for freestanding birth center services. Birth centers have been recognized by CMS (and earlier, by HCFA) as a Medicaid provider type in State Medicaid Plans since 1987. Recently, however, CMS has disallowed such payment by several state Medicaid Agencies, including Alaska, South Carolina, Texas, and Washington State, claiming that it lacks clear statutory authority and direction to allow these payments.

CMS has directed its regional offices to stop federal payments to any state for birth center services. Texas recently lost an appeal that would have directed CMS to continue paying for birth center facility fees in the state - as it had for over 20 years. This bill will direct CMS to make payment to the states for birth center services.

This action by CMS puts pregnant women at risk of losing access to safe, high quality maternity care. Birth centers in other states are now at risk of losing this reimbursement. Here are the facts about birth centers:
􀂃 Birth centers are part of a vital safety net for Medicaid mothers across the U.S.
􀂃 Birth centers fill the void left in many areas when hospitals – rural, urban, or suburban -- close their obstetrical services
􀂃 Many rural and urban birth centers serve a disproportionately high percentage of Medicaid recipients. Texas provides two examples – at least 95% of patients in an inner city Houston birth center, over 85% for a center in Weslaco, Texas in the Rio Grande Valley
􀂃 Birth centers have a proven history of reducing low birth weight and preterm birth, the main causes of neonatal death in the U.S.
􀂃 Birth centers provide innovative approaches to maternity care that reduce disparities for low income and minority women, lower cesarean section rates, and reduce health care costs
􀂃 The U.S. needs a network of birth centers to provide alternatives to busy hospitals for mothers and babies during an epidemic, natural calamity, or other disaster

Congress must act now!

Just waiting on my mommas!

2009-06-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

I have been lucky enough to be hired as a birth photographer for two families. One Momma was due in May and the other early next week. I am now just waiting for the telephone to ring so I can photograph such a wonderful time in their lives.

A gorgeous red headed newborn~

2009-04-23T15:06:00.000-07:00

I was called in to photograph a doula friend's 18 day old beautiful baby girl. Baby C was so cooperative for the shoot and barely fussed at all. I can't get over how beautiful this baby is with all that red hair. These are a few of my favorites...

It's a BOY!!!

2009-02-13T18:53:00.001-08:00

I attended a beautiful birth on the 9th & 10th of February. S was one strong woman who pushed herself every step of the way during labor. After being 1 cm for days, with being induced two separate times, she finally broke past and made it to 10 in less than 6 hours. Complications arose during pushing & she was allowed to rest and labor down. After an hour and pushing resumed, the complications didn't go away. S had a cesarean birth at 1:04 am, Baby G is 6 pounds 14 ounces & 21 1/2" long...and a really gorgeous baby boy!! Congratulations S & P!!

A baby girl!

2008-12-24T13:01:00.000-08:00

I was called in Sunday the 21st to back up another doula, so I was able to attend C & J's birth in Dallas. I arrived at the hospital at 7:25pm and their baby girl was birthed at 10:34pm. C was an amazing woman to watch during labor. She handled everything perfectly and she was a first time mom! Congratulations C & J...your baby E is absolutely gorgeous!

Expanding My Business!

2008-12-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

I am expanding my doula business to include birth and newborn photography. I have had success with taking pictures while my doula clients were in labor, but it is much harder when you are trying to doula and take pics.

Since I am building my portfolio, I am looking for up to 3 photography only clients between December and March 2009 for a reduced fee of $100. This includes a driving radius of 35 miles from Denton.

The newborn client (1) will receive a fully edited cd of pictures and a release for them to print where ever they choose. The newborn session will take place in their home and will be between 2 -4 hours. This length of time accommodates breastfeeding, diaper changes and napping.

For birth photography clients (2), they will receive the cd, release and a slideshow dvd set to music of my choice. I will join them in active labor at their desired birth place.

Please feel free to contact me at mary@embracebirth.com for more information or you are more than welcome to pass this information along to your friends.

Luke's newborn pictures

2008-11-29T13:12:00.000-08:00

I was able to take a few pictures of my dear friend's newborn the other day. This is Luke and he was 11 days old in these photographs. I am definitely working on my photography skills and I think these turned out nicely for not being fully edited yet. Congratulations again S & R, you have a beautiful family.

Baby Luke is here!

2008-11-18T13:17:00.000-08:00

S and R hired me for the birth of their first baby who was born a little over 2 years ago. I had the privilege of being hired again for their second baby. The catch was that they moved to Waco weeks before her due date. As their due date came & went, we all waited to see how this birth would go. Her first was a fast birth and this time was no different! Once contractions got going, well, they got right to business. She gave birth, at home, unassisted and with her husband catching the baby!! Some of her family was in another room, the birth professionals came in after the birth and of course, I was still driving. Waco is a bit far from Denton...Luke Henri Michael has quite a birth story. I'll get a couple of pictures soon...I get to take his newborn pictures over the Thanksgiving holiday.

An amazing birth

2008-11-11T12:30:00.001-08:00

I recently doula'd for a great couple. S and C were planning a Bradley birth and then the unexpected happened. C suffered a life threatening injury at work and landed in the hospital. He was joyously released right before the birth of his first child. S labored hard and then a few complications set in. Baby N was born by cesarean birth due to him being wrapped in his cord several times. He was so twisted up in his cord...he must have been having a blast with it. Congratulations S & C...Baby N is just as handsome as can be!

Halloween!!

2008-11-11T12:11:00.000-08:00

We had so much fun this year at Halloween. Grayson was a scary zombie & Brian was gingerbread cookie. While Brian stopped "treat"ing after a few homes, Grayson went on & expanded our normal route an extra block. We had a great time & they were so happy with the pile of loot!

Family pictures

2008-10-29T19:52:00.000-07:00

Okay, you have to have some fun family pictures in a blog, right?? Here are a few from the past

month...Bathtime & Window Crayons...Grayson is 7 1/2 years and Brian is 20 months.

A beautiful VBAC birth

2008-10-29T19:37:00.000-07:00

I had the privledge of attending a hospital VBAC birth on the 2nd of October. It was a delightful birth with the parents fully educating themselves on their birth options. They ended up changing care providers, hospitals and even the city they planned on birthing in so they could have the birth they wanted. Here are a few pictures from their very special day...congratulations L & R! You did it & baby L is gorgeous!

The beginnng

2008-10-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I am new to this whole blogging thing, but jumped in feet first. I am hoping to use this site to promote the fabulous births I attend and help moms see what an amazing birth they can have. I am sure I'll pop a little family stuff in here too.