When you visit a blog, and you take a look around, one thing looks pretty familiar from site to site – the sidebar.

The sidebar was created to help us navigate a blog or website.

While the categories, popular posts, news feed subscriptions, and archives might do a good service, it can still be rather challenging to navigate the blog, especially if there have been a lot of posts.

I’ve recently noticed that there are some gems of articles hidden within the Bring Birth Home Blog.

I wonder if our readers are finding them…because sometimes they’re hiding behind the “Older Entries” button at the bottom of a section.

Let’s face it, who likes to click and click around a site, spending more time searching for a particular article than reading?

That is why I have created this post - to create a clear and easy to follow road map, (think of it as a list of the Chapters at the beginning of a book!) for you to navigate the Bring Birth Home Blog all the easier. Now you’ll know just what you’re getting under each category.

Bookmark this post to get back to!

Why Birth Experience Matters Series

Description: A ten part series that describe exactly why birth experience matters to both mom and baby. The first half of the series tackles Birth Management and Intervention. The second is all about Creating a Peaceful Birth Experience.

Part One

• Introduction to Why Birth Experience Matters
• Birth Management & Interventions- Induction
• Birth Management & Interventions – Epidural
• Birth Management & Interventions – Cesarean Section
• Why Does Birth Experience Matter? Reactions

Part Two

• Introduction to Creating a Peaceful Birth Experience
• Peaceful Birth – Choosing a Care Provider
• Peaceful Birth – Writing a Birth Plan
• Peaceful Birth – Natural Birth Relaxation Techniques
• Peaceful Birth – Home Birth
• Peaceful Birth – Healing After the Unexpected Childbirth

Pregnancy

• Maximize Nourishment & Minimize Toxicity for a Healthy Pregnancy
• How to Find a Home Birth Friendly Childbirth Education Class – a guest post
• Why Didn’t Anyone Tell Me? Self-Discoveries of New Mothers – a good read for pregnant women and new mothers
• Pregnant Moms: Stay Away From Bad News
• Pregnancy Update #1: Living for Three = One Tired Mommy
• Pregnancy Update #2: Finding Support
• Pregnancy Update #3: All We Need is Our Midwife
• Pregnancy Update #4: New Year, New Pregnancy Adventures
• Pregnancy Update #5: Overcoming Fear With Positive Thought
• Pregnancy Update #6: Enjoying Mama & Ella Time

The BBH Dad

• Help! I Want a Home Birth But Dad Doesn’t!
• How Dads Can Walk the Line & End Up in Favor of Home Birth
• What Would You Tell Your Child?
• How the Role of Male Natural Birth Advocates Positively Affected Our Home Birth Experience
• Why I Advocate for the Dad & Doula Relationship

Home Birth Safety

• Hospital Birth (Not Home Birth) – A Major Health Risk
• What to do When You’re Unable to Birth at Home
• Home Birth on Capitol Hill - a guest post
• Reflections of an Unassisted Home Birth – a guest post
• When Hospital Birth is Safer Than Home Birth
• A Guide to Home Birth for First Time Moms
• A Respectful Transfer Story From Home to Hospital – a guest post

Home Birth Advocacy

• Top Ten Reasons to Support Midwifery Licensure
• Home Birth – Brave Has Nothing To Do With It - a guest post
• Why I Want to Have a Home Birth – a guest post
• Top Ten Reasons Why Home Birth Results in a Better Birth Experience Than Hospital Birth
• Home Birthing Mothers Unite to Share Their Reasons for Loving Home Birth
• A Guide to Home Birth for First Time Moms
• “We’re Having a Homebirth!!” – A book for children
• How Home Birth Saved Me From Unnecessary Medical Intervention
• I am a Fearless Home Birth Advocate!
• I Wish I’d Stayed Home to Give Birth the First Time – a guest post

Breastfeeding

• Breastfeeding Carnival – video
• Breastfeeding Uncovered – A Peaceful Protest
• Nurturing the Nursing Mother
• How I Parent and Nurse at Night
• How Giving Birth at Home Positively Affected Breastfeeding
• Nourishing the Nursing Mother Tea – video
• Breastfeeding Came Naturally
• Wordless Wednesday – Family Nursing
• A Letter to Ella – “The Joy of Nursing”
• Nursing Love – a guest post

Babywearing

• Wearing Ella – Tips and Thoughts on Baby Carriers
• My Addiction to Babywearing – a guest post
• Wordless Wednesday – Babywearing Virtual Fashion Show
• Babywearing Fan Photos to Celebrate International Babywearing Week

Bedsharing/Co-sleeping

• Holding My Baby Close to My Heart – A Journey to Co-sleeping – a guest post
• How I Saved the Family Bed! – video

Motherhood

• Mommy Wars – When Will it End?
• Perks of a Work From Home Mom & Dad
• Mother & Daughter Share Insightful Perspectives on Birth
• Special Announcement – Ella is Walking! (with video)
• A Letter to First Time Moms – Was There Life Before Baby?
• An Update in the Life – September 2010
• The World Needs a Band of Mothers
• The Hazy  Transition to Motherhood
• Great Advice From the BBH Community
• My Road to Motherhood: From Angry Teen to Home Birthing, Attachment Parenting SAHM

BBH Video Blog

• Video 1 – Green Smoothies!
• Video 2 – Breastfeeding Carnival
• Video 3 – Re-opening the BBH Store to Celebrate World Breastfeeding Week
• Video 4 – How I Saved the Family Bed
• Video 5 – Home Birthing Comment Queens
• Video 5.5 (it’s short!) – I Love Making Bread
• Video 6 – Mama Goddess Birth Shop and BBH Co-sponsor Mid Michigan Breastfeeding Walk
• Video 7 – I’m Loving Nourishing the Nursing Mother Tea

The Bring Birth Home Store

Have you purchased any BBH logo merchandise? Or maybe you need some supplies for birth or just after birth? We have partnered with Mama Goddess Birth Shop to bring you nursing supplies and home birth kits!

• Visit the BBH Store!

Good Reads & Movies

• Visit the Bring Birth Home Book/Movie Store

I will be adding to this post as more articles are added! (and as I organize some of the messiness within this blog!)

I have an addiction.

It’s unhealthy, and healthy at the same time.

I’m not proud of it, but I also am very proud of it.

I am addicted to my baby… I am addicted to his smell. His kisses. His smiles. The feel of his soft downy hair, and his chubby smooth cheeks. I am addicted to the warmth and coziness of him being in my arms.

I am addicted… to baby wearing.

What started as a mere convenience – being able to have my arms back while still holding my fussy, miserable newborn – turned into a full-blown addiction, complete with now 5 baby carriers.

It all started with this Balboa Baby sling.

My mom bought it for me, and it was so fun to ‘hide’ my baby in there when he was brand new! But Bjorn soon started fighting being ‘bunched up’, because of all the pain he was in.

Enter the Moby.

Our favorite friend, and miracle-worker.

Still my all-time favorite baby carrier, even though we don’t use him much any more. Nothing compares to the closeness, comfort for both baby and mama, and all-day-wearability!

We lived in this thing for months! (I even have 2, because if one was in the wash, we needed to be able to wear the other!) The only down-side, for us? It’s not too convenient for occasional wear and lots of ‘in and out’.

Now that Bjorn is bigger (and feeling a lot better, thanks to his reflux meds!), we have been using mostly our Baby Bjorn carrier. Great for short wear, or lots of in and out, the Baby Bjorn is an old standby for most people. I like it. And it’s the only one my husband will wear!

My biggest complaint with the Baby Bjorn? Since my baby Bjorn doesn’t like to face out (too much stimulation!), he is constantly ‘walking’ on my legs, leaving bruises if I have to wear him for too long! What now?

Well, we are now getting to know our newest friend… Ergo. So far, we like him. A lot! We’ve only had him for a few days, and are still getting used to the feel of it all, but it’s so much more comfortable for me than the Baby Bjorn, as my Bjorn’s legs sit more around my hips instead of just dangling straight down!

I’m sure I will have lots more to say about this newest friend of ours as we get to know him better! )

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My name is Annalise. I am a mom of 1, soon to be 2, and a stepmom of 1. The minute my son was born all my preconceived notions of motherhood flew out the window and mommy-instinct kicked in. I am a baby-wearing, family-focused, peaceful parent, and soon-to-be a home-birthing mama! Check out my blog for recipes & ramblings… from a mom who loves to bake & loves her baby – Sweet Annas!

This morning before breakfast, I picked up Deepak Chopra’s, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success and opened it to a random page.

I would like to share with you the message I was given on the page I chose.

**

Applying the Law of Intention and Desire

I will put the Law of Intention and Desire into effect by making a commitment to take the following steps:

1)  I will make a list of all my desires. I will carry this list with me wherever I go. I will look at this list before I go into my silence and meditation. I will look at it before I go to sleep at night. I will look at it when I wake up in the morning.

2) I will release this list of my desires and surrender it to the womb of creation, trusting that when things don’t seem to go my way, there is a reason, and that the cosmic plan has designs for me much grander than even those that I have conceived.

3) I will remind myself to practice present-moment awareness in all my actions. I will refuse to allow obstacles to consume and dissipate the quality of my attention in the present moment. I will accept the present as it is, and manifest the future through my deepest, most cherished intentions and desires.

by Deepak Chopra

**

My intention with Bring Birth Home is to supply women interested in home birth with the information and support they are looking for while traveling the journey of informed birth.

While birthing at home is a prominent passion in my life, there are many others – some of which I have written about here on this blog, and some I have not (yet).

In order to fulfill and bring light to those other passions, Bring Birth Home is in the process of transitioning into something more expansive.

This includes broadening the subjects discussed at the blog and at BBH on Facebook and Twitter.

Several home birthing and attachment parenting mothers have shown an interest in becoming guest bloggers at Bring Birth Home.

They will be writing to you, sharing their experiences as they have learned how to become gentle parents and their tales of nursing, bed-sharing and elimination communication.

Others will describe their journey to home birth and the pleasant surprises and challenges they encountered along the way.

You’ll hear from women who gave birth at home after previous cesarean sections, women who were born at home and gave birth to their children at home, as well as mothers who transferred to the hospital after planning to birth at home.

As I take the journey to uncover and actualize the many passions in my life, I hope to capture that growth by blogging at Bring Birth Home as well.

So don’t worry, I’m not going away! Just learning new things about other things (I’ll keep you up to date on my adventures).

In the meantime, there are guest posts waiting to be cued. Watch out for them this coming week and until then, have a great Labor Day weekend!

p.s. make sure you don’t miss a single spectacular guest post! Sign up to receive email updates featuring the captivating and wise stories of women as they experience birth and motherhood in a holistic way!