Halloween calls for cute babies!

OK, parents, time to get creative!

Blooma's Jennifer Colletti is teaching a Partner BYOB class tomorrow from 2-3:30 p.m. and she welcomes costumes! If you bring your camera and capture a shot of you and your costumed little one in a yoga pose, please send me a photo to publish next week on the blog! Alisa@Blooma.com

Meanwhile, Bellies to Babies will host a 3 p.m. costume contest for preggo bellies and babies. (Use this adorable lobster-in-a-pot costume idea for inspiration!) Judges will pick their favorites at 3:30 p.m. The winner of the "best pregnant woman in a costume" will receive a $50 gift certificate for Bellies to Babies. The winner of the "best baby costume" will receive a $25 gift certificate.

Babies to Bellies
6638 Penn Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55425

Happy Halloween,
Alisa, Sarah & the women of Blooma

Doulas Birthing in Uganda

Thank you wise doula sisters for all of the love and celebration this past Monday night.
Angela did an amazing job decorating us. Are you enjoying the henna? I love looking down at my hand and feeling you all with me. What a great image! Thanks to you all!

Let's talk about sex, baby (sing it!)

Need some inspiration to put a bit of sizzle back in the sack? Then come to Blooma this Sunday for a free sexual health workshop!

"Beyond the Bedroom: Sex and a Healthier You" promises to be an empowering and enlightening event, whether you're comfortable gabbing aloud about your sex life (or lack thereof) or prefer to sit back and listen.

Led by a nurse practitioner from the National Association of Nurse Practitioners in Women’s Health, discussions are informal and allow plenty of time for Q&A. We'll cover all kinds of topics, from spicing up your sex life and communicating with your partner, to rekindling the passion and post-birth sex drive.

The event is free, but please register online. We'll have food and refreshments, too! Read more at: www.sexandahealthieryou.org

What: Beyond the Bedroom: Free Sexual Health Workshop
Date: Sun. 11/1/2009
Time: 5:00 p.m. - 6:30 p.m.

To put you in the mood, I'll leave you with this fun video about sex after baby from Momversation. (I love this site... just hang tight through the commercial.)


Love,
Alisa, Sarah & the women of Blooma

Blooming in Uganda blog!

If you just can't get enough Blooma blog action, check out Sarah's new Blooming in Uganda blog for updates on her goal of raising $20,000 to build a birth center in Uganda!

http://bloomauganda.blogspot.com/

Love,
Alisa & the women of Blooma

Blooma birth story: Rebecca

We are so honored that so many of you want to share your birth stories! And we've been receiving so many lately that we're going to make this a regular feature of the blog. (If you want to share yours, e-mail it to me at alisa@blooma.com.)

Today we hear from a mama named Rebecca who wrote to me saying, "I never tire of hearing about people's amazing birth experiences and I think it is so important for women to have a chance to hear the full range of possibilities."

If you're a birth story junkie like Rebecca (and those of us at Blooma), follow this link to Rebecca's blog. She sprinkles her story with plenty of humor, including details of "groaning that morphed into loud, low MOOing" and compares herself at one point to "a most unsexy, mooing pole dancer." I was a vocal birther myself, so this description made me laugh out loud with understanding! Thanks for sharing, Rebecca!

Love,
Alisa, Sarah & the women of Blooma

Global awareness for better birth

I heard a story on the BBC this morning about the high mortality rate of birthing women (along with fistula, which leaves women horribly incontinent) in underdeveloped countries. In fact, health ministers from around the world are meeting in Ethiopia today to discuss how to lower those mortality rates. You can read the BBC story here.

While it's easy to think only of our birthing and health care options here in the Twin Cities, let's also extend our reach out into the greater world. Today's news shows how far we have to go. If helping to build just one birth center, in one small village, in one country, can help even a small number of women have healthier birth outcomes, let's do it. In Uganda alone, complications related to childbirth kill 150 women every week.

Let's help Sarah reach her goal of raising $20,000 for the Off the Mat, Into the World challenge. She'll travel to Uganda, Africa next year to help build a birth center. Please donate now, however small the amount, or however generously you're able to give. Please let your friends and family know about Blooming in Uganda, too, even if they do not live here in town. Better birth is global issue, not just a local issue.

One fantastic way to get involved is to register now for the Blooming in Uganda Gala at the Weisman Art Museum, Friday, Nov. 13 at 7:30 p.m. Have a good time while supporting a good cause, with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres, a silent auction, and special guest speakers Krista Tippett, host of MPR's Speaking of Faith; and Matthew Sanford, paraplegic yogi, author, and founder of Mind Body Solutions. Donation: $50 per person; all proceeds go to Blooming in Uganda.

Thank you so, so much for your involvement and support of this hugely important project.

Love, Alisa, Sarah & the women of Blooma

A Boring Birth (impossible!)

We were touched by a mother's story posted recently on a blog for the local chapter of the International Cesarean Awareness Network (ICAN). Martha Basham's written birth story is beautiful, inspiring, and poignant. So then why does she refer to it as "boring?"

She writes, "it wasn’t was dramatic. Or scary. Or painful. It wasn’t anything that people typically envision in a birth. And it was nothing like you see on T.V. By all means, Isaiah’s entrance into this world would probably be classified by some, as boring...

"But really, I would not call it boring. Sure, it wouldn’t make for good T.V. but I wouldn’t call it boring. I would call it peaceful. Joyous. Beautiful. Calm. Relaxing. Even triumphant."

To read Martha's entire story, head over to the ICAN blog. We never get tired of empowering birth stories like these!

Love,
Alisa, Sarah & the women of Blooma