Nurture is a group of maternal/child health professionals, mothers and community members seeking to improve the health and well-being of childbearing families in Richmond through fitness, education, social support, and community engagement.
They held their second annual Birth and Baby Fair this past April at the Science Museum, and it was such a pleasure and a joy to photograph the event! Scroll through below!
I listen to music constantly. Work, eat, workout, play — these are some songs that have been traveling with me through March. What songs have been getting you through your month?
Safe, healthy, empowering birth options should always be open and accessible to all people regardless of race, class, culture, style or anything else! Unfortunately there are truly legitimate obstacles to safe and affordable home birth for many people in the Black community in the U.S. Because of this, I believe a misconception has developed that Black people don't want home birth on some cultural level. Not true! And all the more reason I was so excited to find these two videos in the past month of Black parents talking about their home birth experiences.
Home birth is a fantastic option for birth for any parent who is interested in it. I hope these videos are encouraging and informative to those who may not have realized, yes of course, Black people can and do home birth!
Beleaf in Fatherhood is an amazing amazing amazing video blog about a Stay-At-Home Dad (Beleaf) managing life with his Wife (Yvette) and their Chocolate Babies.
Beleaf filmed portions of the home birth of their third child, their daughter Anaya this past March, and put together the above video to talk about the birth from his perspective. Want the birth story from Yvette's perspective? Read it and see the pictures here. Want to hear more about why they chose home birth? Watch this video. Still want more? Watch this video from the live session they did shortly after Anaya's birth, in which they answered listeners' questions about the experience.
Kierra is just truly one of the loveliest people I've ever met! In this video she shares what it was like for her to have her first home birth with her third son this year!
She talks about the reactions she got from people when she shared she was planning a home birth, what it was like talking through this decision with her husband, what it was like to work with a midwife, what qualifies a midwife to offer safe birth, and more!
Listen. I can't wait to see what Kierra comes out with next. And I hope you'll enjoy hearing her share how this decision fit her and her family!
Have you seen videos about home birth from other Black parents or other parents of color? Do you feel like there are other aspects of birth that battle false cultural assumptions? I'd love to know what you've seen and what you're thinking so please do share in the comments below!
It all started for me one lovely summer staying with my great-grandmother, when she fell asleep during an episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and I wandered in and finished watching it. At the tender age of about nine or ten, every joke flew over my head, but I smiled anyway. Fast forward to middle school, and I'm sitting in the basement of my best friend Jia's house watching The Colbert Report. And today, if I'm gonna cry because of the news anyway, might as well cry laughing so hard... and basking in the light that is Trevor Noah's face. 😏 😂
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Trevor Noah goes over the latest news with humor, intelligence and a diverse staff of comedian-journalists.
On Tomi Lahren's suspension from TheBlaze Network:
"I want to protest for Tomi. Unfortunately, there's no type of Black-people protest she's comfortable with."
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver
Jon Oliver offers a focused, in-depth, hilarious overview of timely issues concerning the U.S. and world.
On the Mexican Border Wall:
"I suggest instead of building that wall, we use the money to buy every man woman and child in America [a waffle iron]... We'd still have nearly a billion dollars left over... I know what you're thinking, Jon this is a stupid idea, but is it? Is it really?... This waffle iron idea will cost less, it'll do nearly as much to keep out immigrants and drugs, it won't harm our relationship with our third largest trading partner, if it is racist it's only toward Belgians, and unlike [the wall] this makes f***ing waffles."
The Tonight Show with Stephen Colbert
With a full band and an odd echo-man (don't understand that, lol) behind him, Stephen Colbert basically does topical stand-up on the regular.
On the firing of Bill O'Reilly:
"O'Reilly is suddenly off the air... this is huge! It's like looking at your front yard and the big oak tree is just gone. And sure the oak tree said some disturbing things about young Black men, what with their rap music and their neck tattoos, but damn it, the tree had been there forever, and your grandpa liked to just sit there and stare at it."
What shows do you watch that keep you in the know, and maybe give you a little something to smile and laugh about too? Tell me about them in the comments!
I scroll past articles with titles that just call to me constantly, and so rarely do I have the time to click through and explore them all more deeply! Well this blogpost gave me an excuse to give in to that urge to be distracted for a little while. 😊 And oh what interesting articles I stumbled upon! This also reminded me I need to construct a list of great FB pages for mamas to follow...
Rav's Repro:
All The Aches And Pains Of Pregnancy
posted by Doula Trainings International
Erin, 28 weeks pregnant shares her latest set of pregnancy symptoms and how she's dealing with them.
"While we’re talking about sleep — weird dreams? Check... I am always a very active dreamer... I have frequently dreamt about solving murders/crimes (I blame the abundance of true-crime TV and podcasts I consume). For what it’s worth, I am an excellent dream detective." Read more
The Historical Roots of Contemporary Violence Against Pregnant Black Women
posted by Black Women Birthing Justice
"Pregnancy is often thought of as a special, sensitive and sacred time. In general, our society treats pregnant people with extra care because of the impending new life they are bringing into the world. However, there are many who are routinely denied this care and compassion, including Black, Brown and Indigenous people, undocumented immigrants, incarcerated people, non-English speakers, people with disabilities and others." Read more
The Evidence on Doulas
posted by Evidence Based Birth
"Overall, women who received continuous support were more likely to have spontaneous vaginal births and less likely to have any pain medication, epidurals, negative feelings about childbirth, vacuum or forceps-assisted births, and C-sections. In addition, their labors were shorter by about 40 minutes and their babies were less likely to have low Apgar scores at birth." Read more
The Power of Talking to Your Baby
posted by Commonsense Childbirth
"Children whose families were on welfare heard about 600 words per hour. Working-class children heard 1,200 words per hour, and children from professional families heard 2,100 words. By age 3, a poor child would have heard 30 million fewer words in his home environment than a child from a professional family. And the disparity mattered: the greater the number of words children heard from their parents or caregivers before they were 3, the higher their IQ and the better they did in school. TV talk not only didn’t help, it was detrimental." Read more
Here's How Much A
Breastfeeding Mom's Salary Would Be
posted by Breastfeeding TBH
"When it's all said and done, the salary for a breastfeeding mom would range from $15,000 to $35,000 for one year if they were paid for the time they had to spend breastfeeding. While it would be amazing if nursing moms could see a paycheck every week for the time and effort they've spent feeding their child, that's never realistically going to happen. But it's worthwhile to do the math to see just how much work breastfeeding really is." Read more
What are some of your favorite articles you've seen about birth, babies and motherhood lately? Tell me about them below!
