Holy pretty flowers! That’s how Alaska grows them ya’ll – it’s amazing. July and August look like a Better Home and Gardens magazine in this state. I was looking for some cheer in all the snow and ice and found those beauties. It’s the perfect image for the Friday Five. Let’s do it. 1. This…

Hello and happy day! Just a quick post today to talk about the question that should be included in every conversation about contraception counseling: “Would you like to become pregnant in the next year?” This question is known as the One Key Question and came out of an Oregon initiative in 2016. The initiative then…

Woooohoooo Monday! Today I’m sharing the contraception tool I created for my Doctorate of Nursing Practice program. I worked to edit and perfect this tool for months in my program and it was the center of my quality improvement initiative. When I was creating and planning my initiative, I couldn’t find a current tool that…

Yeah Friday! Hope your week was well. A Wednesday post didn’t happen around because most of the day was consumed with some newborn needs and snuggles :). But the Five this week is chock full as usual so let’s get to it! 1. The Comfort Cub This organization was not on my radar at all…

“We will not go back to normal, normal never was. Our pre-Corona existence was not normal, other than we normalized greed, inequity, exhaustion, depletion, extraction, disconnection, confusion, rage, hoarding, hate, and lack. We should not long to return, my friends, we are being given the opportunity to stitch a new garment, one that fits all…

Helloooo Friday! Boy, I’m glad you’re here Friday. After two consecutive four day weekends (and only three day work weeks), this week was a long one. Today I’m sharing the top 5 Friday Fives from 2020. These were the most read of the 25 Friday Fives posted on the blog. I love a top five…

Hump day!!! Hope your week is going well. Since last summer, I’ve been working on a list for mental health resources that women can access during the pandemic to hand out to women in our clinic. The pandemic has brought many, many challenges to everyone, but…to women that are pregnant, new mamas, seasoned mamas, or…

Happy Monday! Anyone need some newborn squeezes to start their week? They’re plenty over here! Our little guy is already outgrowing newborn clothes – someone please make him stop! I was asked to put some talking points together this week for a group on the COVID vaccines and women who are pregnant, breastfeeding or thinking…

Happy Friday! We’re doing a lot of this around here…it’s really the best way to wind down from the holiday season. I hope your New Year is filled with the same! 1. First up on the five is a schedule for Postpartum Support International’s (PSI) weekly online support groups… If you’re new to PSI, check…

Wishing you and yours a merriest holiday season! For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16

Happy Wednesday! Today is fun post for me – even though I help birth babies all the time, I never lose interest in following the newest baby gadget, accessory or clothing item on the market. Most of the time, I see the newest item or trend while rounding on mamas on the postpartum. But when…

WOW – do we have some things to celebrate around here! First, A Midwife Nation celebrated a one year anniversary on December 2nd! Our household was a little busy welcoming baby number three into the world followed by birthdays for the other two babes (fun fact: all my babes were born in December!). Although it’s…

Happy Friday…and hello October! Is this year flying by super fast for anyone else? Fall is nearly over in Alaska – our trees go from green to yellow to red to brown in about 3 weeks. And the hubby pulled the snowblower out of the shed this weekend while I bribed littles in and out…

Pregnancy is just hard on your back. There’s just no denying that fact! At 27 weeks of pregnancy, my lower back is feeling all the growing pains. I had lent my support belt out to another mama two years ago…and never got it back. Alas, I ordered one online and eagerly awaited its arrival in…

Friday!!!! Oh man, am I glad too. What do you guys have planned this weekend? I am off this weekend and plan to enjoy hanging out with family – with a lot of homework. This Friday Five has been in the making for a while and is full of goodies! Check out the new podcast…

Happy Wednesday! One of the main questions I get (and I mean, at least three times a day in clinic) since the pandemic started is this: Where can I get information on childbirth or watch childbirth classes online? Oh vey. Well, you’ve come to the right place. I posted a while back on a Friday…

Happy Monday! I had a short weekend around here due to a 24 hour shift on Friday night followed by sleeping most of Saturday (thank you to the husband!). I had two mamas with beautiful births so as always, the sleep deprivation is worth it. Today I want to chat about a survey conducted every…

HUMMMMPPP day. Praise hands. Pandemic = pedal to the medal at work, Monday through Friday (plus the weekends I’m working). Anyways, I’m about halfway through my DNP (Doctorate of Nursing Practice) and I figured I would offer some thoughts at the halfway point for those considering the degree, or the long road to a terminal…

Helllllloooo!!! And man have I missed blogging. It’s significantly more fun than graduate school. To start us back off, here’s a well overdue Friday Five (and we are covering way more than five!). It’s camping/summer/hunting season up in Alaska and we have plans to do just that over the next few weeks. Bring on the…

Hey guys!!! These tulips in our front garden fully bloomed this week and I cannot stop taking pictures of them. I wish they would bloom year round, or stay in bloom just a little longer than a few weeks…but the brief blooming period makes you appreciate the beauty more right? Alaska knocked it out of…

Hello! Graduate school has officially swamped most of my free time these days…hence the limited blogging. But, I finished some homework early today and BOTH of my babes are still napping so I was able to find some time to catch up with guys! I wanted to take a different view on Mother’s Day and…

This was yesterday’s post…but right before publishing my computer died – #reallife. Anyways, I hope this Tuesday finds you well and in good spirits. The sunshine finally melted all the snow in our yard and we have been blissfully playing outside with big grins on our faces all weekend long. I found I also needed…

It’s Friday!!! I have a little more joy going into a normal weekend (one without a 24hr shift) than a weekend that I’m working. I know babies come all sorts of hours – mine arrived at 1am and 6am after contractions throughout the day and night! But, the normalcy is inviting. I might even squeeze…

Hooray Monday! A Friday Five did not happen around here (see spouse working the weekend; start of graduate school; and need for sleep). And although sleep and playing with the littles happened, not much else did. But…Sunday showed us some blue sky patches after a long week of fog and rain. And the snow has…

Happy Wednesday! It’s been a little bit of an off week around here. We have a strange clinic schedule and are standing by for a predicted peak of COVID cases in Alaska over the next week. We’re face masking it like crazy and washing hands like it’s going out of style! Graduate school is back…

With all this time at home, I can’t think of a better time than now to journal or share your birth story! I’ve delivered a couple mamas over the past few months and they had the greatest stories to pass on to their babe when they were older. I encouraged them all to jot down…

Frrrriiiidaayyy! I am excited because I actually get to do some patient care this Friday. Most of my patient “visits” have been on the phone in the past 2 weeks so I’m excited to hear some “whoosh-whoosh-whoosh” on the dopplers. Hope this week has found you safe and social distancing isn’t making your household too…

Happy Wednesday! I have been doing tele-health visits all week from home. A theme I noticed and pregnant women are desperate for some good pregnancy resources. At our own hospital, we cancelled our regular childbirth classes, but our breastfeeding class is still happening via Google HangOuts. Hopefully you still have some type of virtual class…