I want to let you in on a secret {now not so secret} birth work goal of mine. Almost a year ago my family lost my dear cousin in a tragic accident. She had devoted much of her young life to
mission work and had a passion for helping others. I promised myself that one of the things I would do with my birth work was find a way to provide services for mothers in need of pregnancy, labor & postpartum support in her name. It feels like it’s taken me forever to lay the ground work but, with my certification pending, I feel that I’ll finally be ready to get the ball rolling on a fund to support that work. I’ve calculated how much it would take to cover my basic costs per birth and am hoping to establish a fund to offer those services to at least one mother a month after I’m back from maternity leave in 2015. That feels so exciting and kinda lofty to me at this particular moment but I’m just going to keep pressing on. All I can do is try, right?

One of the ways I’m supplementing this fund is through the sales of my birth work shirts. I began creating these for myself and then thought “hey, maybe you should open these up to other birth workers who want to spread the birth word as well.” So I did and I was right. Slowly but surely these shirts have been bought up. It’s been a modest venture but looking at the earnings I’m sitting here feeling like I could provide service for at least one mother with those earnings. That’s a damn good feeling and I want to keep the ball rolling. I have a few more projects up my sleeve that I hope to add to this endeavor but it feels good to have scratched the surface.

So, I’m setting an intention with this post and providing some birthy information along with these shirts, which are BOGO 50% off until 4/14 through Skreened. Get ready for lots of birth goodness:

April is Cesarean Awareness Month. The mission of the month is to draw attention to the fact that 1 in 3 children in the US are born via cesarean. The debate for and against cesarean birth wages on but one thing is for sure, at least for me, it is something that deserves attention and conversation. These two shirts were designed with the intent to help mothers with cesarean experience initiate those conversations. All birth deserves our support. All birth deserves to be discussed.

As a birth worker, I’ve had the most success with this shirt starting conversations when I’m out and about doing my daily do. I’ve had a variety of lovely conversations bloom because of my shirts. Women want to talk about their experiences with doula support. Partners want to rave about doula work. I’ve even had a heart-warming conversation with an area anesthesiologist who stopped marching in a parade to come talk to me on the sidelines when he saw my shirt. I think having these conversations in everyday life are powerful and necessary. People, in general, want to talk about birth. If you’re a doula looking for a starter shirt I’d say try this one or it’s tank top cousin.

 i designed this sweatshirt to match the apparel for the new Central Ohio Doulas organization that sprung forth into existence earlier this year. i’m very excited to be a part of this group and see good things happening in the future for furthering doula work as a profession and getting that professionalism recognized by the larger birth community in central ohio. however, the shirt has no real affiliation with the group so I thought doulas far and wide might enjoy this warm cover-up for chilly hospital nights.

and this last one i’ve put on here just for funnies. i can’t wait to put my own little baby in some of these onesies.

if you are a birth worker, birth activist, birth lover or baby lover head on over to the skreened shop to see if anything catches your eye before 4/14 to get in on the 50% off savings. i have designs for babies, mamas wanting to rock their homebirth status, doulas, midwives and lots more. i’ll continue to add more to the shop and update the public on these offerings from time to time.

Thanks y’all. May your life be blessed with supported, beautiful birth.