Peri + Nate

04/08/2022

❤️

The highest honor of friendship isn't getting invited to "that party" or out on a girls weekend. It's not clinking champagne glasses at fancy brunches or wearing matching shirts on a beach in Florida. That all is nice and fun and good and special, but it's not what it's about, not at all.

The real honor of friendship is being invited into someone's REAL. It's getting an invitation into the nitty gritty, the not-so-pretty, the hard stuff, the vulnerable stuff, the weird stuff, the unpolished stuff. It's being welcomed into a home where the sink is full of dishes and the laundry is covering the couch. It's entering the places of heart ache and pain. It's being invited to the hospital room when your friend is still in her mesh underwear from birth. It's sitting crosslegged in old sweats on the floor and laughing till you cry. It's carrying around secrets that you've been trusted to keep. It's listening and hearing. It's holding space for each other. It's answering phone calls just to talk something through.

The highest honor of friendship isn't found in beautifully planned events or brightly filtered photos.

The highest honor of friendship is messy and dingy and real. It's in unfiltered photos of laughing so hard your double chin is showing. It's loving each other's babies and holding each other while you ugly cry.

I can't stress this enough:

If you've been invited into even one person's real, you are blessed.

Cherish it.

-Jess

If you love this, you'll love our national best selling book I'll Be There, (But I'll Be Wearing Sweatpants) https://amzn.to/3uiQu0p

04/05/2021

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/langlo/article/PIIS2214-109X(21)00079-6/fulltext

Global maternal and fetal outcomes have worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic, with an increase in maternal deaths, stillbirth, ruptured ectopic pregnancies, and maternal depression. Some outcomes show considerable disparity between high-resource and low-resource settings. There is an urgent need to...

04/03/2021

For years I wished there was an audio version of The Birth Partner by Penny Simpkin. Most of the time that is the preferred format for the dads I work with. Well now there is!!! Birth partners everywhere can enjoy learning about supporting labor and birth while biking, hiking, and jazzercising! I couldn't help myself from rhyming. Sorry.

Check out this great listen on Audible.com. Since the original publication of The Birth Partner, partners, friends, relatives, and doulas have relied on Penny Simkin's guidance in caring for the new mother, from her last trimester through the early postpartum period. Now, in audio for the first ti.....

05/23/2020

Update!!! It's official!! 2 visitors in labor & postpartum!
Update: I was just informed that this new policy is not in full effect at this time. :(
I am so excited to announce that Marshall is now allowing a partner and a support person into L&D!!!
Beyond elated that families will have the support they deserve and desire ❤️ A huge thank you to all the nurses who supported and advocated our families during this time!

04/11/2020

We see you. We're here for you. We support you!!

04/04/2020

It definitely is not normal to have continued discomfort. Please reach out if you need resources or support!

Breastfeeding should not feel like you have two crabs hanging off of your ni***es. Are you in pain when feeding? Are your ni***es cracked or bleeding? Do people keep telling you that the latch “looks good” but it keeps hurting? Ni***es don’t need to harden up. If it’s hurting it’s not normal so seek help ASAP! A little bit of “ouchy” discomfort in the first week or so just as your baby latches on is normal. Ongoing pain is not.

03/28/2020

03/28/2020

The first time dad embraces his baby. A moment many fathers look forward to, knowing it will forever be engraved upon their hearts.

03/25/2020

More and more families are considering the option of homebirth. They are asking themselves, sometimes for the first time ever, why not home? Why not explore all the options available? The film Why Not Home? Is currently showing free and is a great opportunity to get a glimpse of what the choice of homebirth and homebirth midwifery care looks like.

Dr. Michelle Minikel thought home birth was crazy, until she got pregnant. Turns out she's not alone. Through intimate footage, experience the challenges and...

03/16/2020

https://birthmonopoly.com/covid-19-and-doula-support-how-to-respond-to-changing-hospital-policies/?fbclid=IwAR0hKiL80al1J0ogL9-7uUV-SCPc9OjNEXPr_lBJCjI53SfrGPXTIH7_iUc

Thoughts, information, and resources on how doulas and families can respond to shifting circumstances related to COVID-19, from the hospital to home, where many of us will be riding out this pandemic for a few weeks with our kids.