Barefoot Mama Stepping Out To Promote Her Cause

Wendy, one of the co-leaders of Barefoot Mamas, was interviewed by bettyconfidential.com on being a birth doula. In an ideal world pregnant women would be able to birth where ever and with whoever they chose and not be bound by insurance companies or laws catered to doctors and hospitals. Wendy's intention is to open women's birth options by promoting doulas and putting a different perspective on birth.

You can read her interview here.

Meeting on January 8th- Natural Childbirth and Natural Family Planning

Once again the Barefoot Mamas had the pleasure of having licensed midwife Karen Baker speak about natural family planning (NFP) and natural childbirth. This was a topic that we originally discussed in September and was so good it was brought back. A summary of September's meeting can be found here.

During this meeting Jen brought up cycle beads as a tool for NFP. Cycle beads are a color coded string of beads that help women track their cycles to figure out when they are fertile. You can learn more about Cycle Beads here. In order to use cycle beads your cycle must be 26-32 days long.

Lara also demonstrated her Ovulens, which is a microscope designed to detect fertility by testing your saliva. You can find out more about the Ovulens here.

We had an open discussion where we talked about baby's sleep habits where Karen recommended the book The Family Bed. There was discussion of the new wholistic pediatric office and Dr. Pejman Katiraei, who many moms in our group have already had excellent personal experience with. He comes very highly recommended. We also touched a bit on the Extreme Mothering segment done by 20/20. If you have not seen the segments you can watch them here:

Orgasmic Birth:



Extreme Breastfeeding:



Reborns:



Serial Surrogates:



Mother's Saying No To Modern Medicine

Thank you to everyone who came to the meeting. We look forward to seeing you at the next Barefoot Mamas meeting on February 5th where we will be discussing Keeping Our Relationships Strong. Dara Palmer, our personal Feng Shui consultant will be speaking.

Childbirth Options Class to be held at Kissui in Redlands

Can I have a natural birth in a hospital? How can I avoid a c-section? Is homebirth safe? What is a doula and how do they help with labor? What kind of childbirth classes fit my view of birth?

Childbirth can be a confusing subject for expectant mothers. What type of birth your mom, sister, or best friend had may not be the kind of birth you need. Add to that a bunch of well-meaning moms talking about their birth experiences as if they were war stories and birth suddenly seems intimidating.

On Saturday, January 17^th at 10:00am at Kissui four birth experts will be available to answer your questions about traditional and non-traditional birth. There will be limited space so register today. The registration fee is only $5 and includes discounts and goodies.

Call (909) 307-9500 to reserve your spot.

Holiday Cheer in a Grinchy Economy

In the movie "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" the Grinch develops a plan to destroy the Christmas cheer for the Whos in Whoville with a devious plan that involved stealing all of the presents under each Christmas tree. Despite being robbed of their gifts the Whos were able to gather together in song on Christmas morning and celebrate the holiday, teaching the Grinch that material possessions were not as signicant as the love of family and friends.

Much can be learned from the Whos, especially when we live in a time where most families are having to cut back on their gift giving due to ecomonic hardship.

Here are some ideas that will melt your heart, make the environment smile, and save you some green:

- Framed Family Photo

Print out one of your display-worthy photos and custom decorate a plain wooden frame using paint, beads, glitter, felt, or other crafty materials.

-Our Family Tree

Turn a gift into a memorable occasion by giving a tree that your family can plant together. Give each child a job, such as watering, fetilizing, or helping fill in the hole. Be sure to take pictures to commemorate the day you helped the earth and worked together as a family to help a living thing grow.

-Vintage Blooms

Go through a second hand store and find teacups, saucers, and wide mouth vases and planting pots. Include a packet of flower seeds and a little soil and you have yourself a beautiful bloom in a unique pot. You can also give kitchen herbs, such as dill, cilantro, and basil.

-Recycled Toys

Have siblings or friends wrap one of their own toys for another child. This is a great way to avoid toy overflow in your closets while teaching children the joys of giving from their hearts.

-IOU Gifts

Who wouldn't enjoy a back rub or a day where someone else helps with chores? An IOU certificate is a great way to show the person you love that you would go out of your way to make them happy.

-Smell the Joy

Making a sweet smelling sachet is easy! Just find a couple of scraps of material and put some potpourri or herbs inside. Then using a hot glue gun just glue three sides, let dry, put the desired scent inside and glue shut.

The sweater you buy for grandma won't last forever but you can be sure that a grandchild's handmade gift will be a treasure that she will save for years to come. Please check this website for more ideas. Remember also that re-using fabric, draw string bags, or last year's gift bags is better for the environment and cuts down on waste.

Enjoy your holiday season!

by Wendy Drewelow

USA Today: Maternity-care failings can be remedied with cost-saving fixes!

Imagine my excitement to read this article in USA today paired right beside this article on the unneccesary high-tech interventions that do not benefit pregnant women or their babies. I'm so happy that the media is catching wind of what most of us already know: pregnant women are not a medical emergency waiting to happen.



Happy reading!



Written by Wendy Drewelow

Special Discount to our Members!!!

My dear friend Krista joined us at our meeting tonight to share information on the opening of the Calimesa Holistic Wellness Center. Krista is the owner and a colonic therapist. I must say, this is a beautiful wellness center. I walked in the other day and immediately felt calm and relaxed (even though I was holding my one year old :) Krista has done an amazing job decorating and has an eye for incorporating key elements to create a feeling of tranquility and wellness. I also immediately fell in love with her "Tea Room." This is a special room to relax before/after services and "just be." I was ready to stay. My plan is to schedule several services and make an afternoon for myself.

She has hand picked a collaboration of people to provide various services for clients who seek wellness. Her center offers the following: Colonics, Yoga Classes, Infant Massage, Body Wraps/Facials, Reflexology/Massage and services from a highly experienced Herbalist.

Krista has generously offered our Barefoot Mamas' a special discount. We have been invited to join her for a pre-opening special. Your first colonic is at the discounted price of $45.00 (usually $65.00). This must be scheduled ahead of time by appointment only. Please let her know that you are a "Barefoot Mama."

Please stop by the Calimesa Holistic Wellness Center and say hi to Krista...you might also find me relaxing in the Tea Room.

Holistic Wellness Center
1007 Calimesa Blvd. Suite F Calimesa, CA 92399
909-795-6600
cell 951-692-8355

October's Meeting Recap

Tonight's meeting was incredibly informative. We were so fortunate to have Dr. Kathryn Leeman as our guest speaker. Dr. Leeman has a Ph.D. in Trans personal (Holistic) Psychology and Philosophy offering counseling in the following:

Life Purpose & Direction
Regression Therapy
Guided Imagery
Prosperity & Abundance
Meditation
Grief Counseling
Communication Enhancement
Health & Well-Being
Childhood Traumas

Dr. Leeman also specializes in N.A.E.T. (Natural Allergy Elimination Technique), Real-Time EEG Bio/Neuro-Feedback, Holistic Biofeedback Balancing, and Meditation Techniques. She also offers Aura/Chakra Photography and Balancing for Physical, Mental, Emotion & Spiritual Alignment.

In addition to her formal education, she has traveled extensively within the United States and worldwide studying with Shamans and Medicine People of many diverse cultures. She incorporates the customs and ceremonies that the people of these cultures have shared with her to enhance her counseling skills and intuitive abilities. She integrates the practical and mystical teachings and experiences into her private practice, classes, workshops and seminars.

Our quest for this month's meeting was to find "inner peace" and meditative techniques for everyday mommy hood. Dr. Leeman offered several meditation suggestions and shared the following Chakra Clearing with the group. We all stood and performed the following exercises:

Crown: Stare @ a point on the wall ~ move eyes around clockwise to count of 10. Do not skip any part of the circle. Then do counter clockwise for count of 10.
Brow: 10 Rotations of head/neck turn side to side.
Throat: 10 counts, extended arms in big circles both ways.
Heart: 10 counts, clasped hands with arms extended in front of you, swing side to side moving trunk but keep hips straight.
Stomach: 10 counts, circular hip rotations both direction (slow hula hoop movements)
Sacral: 10 counts, touch toes, arms all the way up above the head and slowly swing down to toes.
Root: 50 short and slow knee dips (prosperity)

After our group was finished with the Chakra Clearing it was amazing to look around the room and see the energy return to the moms in the room. Dr. Leeman says that this is a great exercise to do for instant de-stress and to increase your energy. It can be repeated as many times throughout the day as needed. It was also fun to see the toddlers in the room share in the exercise with us. I think that I will be doing this exercise often to keep our days calm and re-energize when needed.

You can read more about Dr. Leeman at her website: http://www.kathrynleeman.com/hello.html
She founded the Redlands Holistic Health Center located at 720 Brookside, Suite 105 in Redlands, CA. A variety of healing modalities to help balance body, mind and spirit are offered. Please feel welcome to visit the Center or call (909) 792-2094 ext. 3# to schedule a consultation.