Anchor of Hope: Doula in Training!

Guess what?! I’ve taken on an (online) Faith-centered doula certification, and I couldn’t be more excited!

Announcing: Anchor of Hope Catholic Birth Blog (eventually to be “Catholic Doula Services”!) Read on to find out the meaning behind the name!

I am absolutely blown away that my little miracle homebirth baby is already approaching a year and a half old (next month!) at the time of writing this. For anyone brand new here, my first two children were born via (pretty unwanted) C Sections which each had a whole slew of mental, emotional and physical trauma… Then, my third baby was a beautifully redeeming homebirth VBA2C. I can’t and won’t ever stop telling my story of healing and God’s Grace and mercy for this incredible accomplishment. All thanks to Jesus and Mary!

Little Nolan has by far been my happiest and healthiest baby - you could say it’s a coincidence or you could say it’s the fact that he was born peacefully at home in a stress-free environment, and pumped with absolutely zero medications/antibiotics (unlike my poor older two who had to deal with all the junk I was pumped with to endure major surgery, and then all the recovery medication… their poor little newborn tummies!) Not to mention the trauma of suddenly being pulled right out of your home of 9 months instead of the natural progression of hormones, contractions, birthing process and outpouring of bonding hormones that are all supposed to take place…

I look back and I finally see God’s whole entire plan with my story. In the thick of it, it was so hard to accept my two C Sections. I’ve been obsessed and in love with the miracle of childbirth since I was very little.

I couldn’t help but think of how out of me and my 7 sisters, my mom had all 8 births vaginally and relatively free of any major problems or interventions. My sisters up to that point (and to this day!) had all had vaginal births, relatively free of major issues/interventions. I couldn’t help but always ask, “Why me?” (Not once, but twice! - my second was an attempted homebirth VBAC turned hospital transfer turned C Section… but more on that later)

Now, with the hindsight of seeing all my growth and all my recovery and all the hearts I’ve been able to touch and guide who have been in similar shoes as me, I can finally see and truly have accepted that this was God’s will for me. Now, I’m on fire to spread this message and share my story. You are reading this brief overview on my “Crunchy Catholic” website. My Crunchy Catholic platforms have been around for a long time and are very near and dear to me - but something about my life-changing, (soul rocking) experience with Nolan, has lit a new fire to want to do something with this message of hope.

Which is why I’m pleased to announce the Anchor of Hope Catholic Birth Blog (eventually to be Anchor of Hope Catholic Doula Services)

I’m not 100% sure yet what this transition will look like - I do know that The Crunchy Catholic isn’t going anywhere, but the Anchor of Hope (anchor after St. Philomena! hope because my goodness did my Catholic Faith give me the hope I needed to power through this endeavor!) is a new message that I could no longer put off.

My doula certification is currently in progress - I didn’t want to settle for certifying with a company that was any less than aligned with my standards and beliefs, and the Faith-centered one I discovered is great but also very extensive (which I’m so glad for! It covers everything!) but as a mom of 3 littles, taking the certification online is going to take some time.

(PS it is not a Catholic doula certification company - it is, however, strongly aligned with Christian values so while there is no talk of Our Blessed Mother or the Saints or our Catholic Faith, I am still very appreciative of the God-centered curriculum and I will definitely be incorporating Catholicism into my own doula business)

Meanwhile, I do have a couple places I’m sharing my story. Shortly before having Nolan, I started a separate Instagram account specifically to share my story of attempting a VBAC at home after 2 C Sections. Sharing my story and clarifying my thoughts and emotions surrounding the situation was very healing for me. That account is tiny but mighty and I have made many new connections with other mamas in similar shoes as I was in. I’ve encouraged those mamas to go back and watch my reels on that account or go through my highlights. Watching/reading the success stories of others was absolutely pivotal in my success. (Along with so many other things, but we’re only scratching the surface here!) Hospitals and mainstream medical stats want to tell you that it can’t be done, but it CAN, and it IS done again and again all the time by super mamas everywhere. There are also multiple Facebook groups I was part of where I repeatedly read success stories (specifically, Homebirth After Cesarean and also ICAN - International Cesarean Awareness Network)

If you’re just dying to hear the Birth Story of Nolan, you can tune in to my podcast episode I recorded shortly after he was born. I somewhat touch on the background of the births of my other two, but truly now that it’s been over a year, my many hours spent contemplating my story has led me to so many more realizations that I hadn’t even thought about at the time. There are things that played a huge role in my healing (and therefore my homebirth success!) that I don’t necessarily elaborate on in the podcast episode. It is really on my heart to re-record either a video (think documentary style - I have so much to say!) or a more extensive podcast mini series about this experience…

I’ve even thought of putting together sort of a workbook of steps I took toward healing emotionally/physically/mentally/spiritually… Once my doula certification is complete, I think whatever I come up with will just be that much more valuable and helpful for other women in need of these resources. (PS I plan to create not only these resources of healing and hope, but also general doula services whether in person or in a virtual setting) If this is something you’re extremely interested in because you are in need of this healing, (whether you’re expecting again or not!) please feel free to reach out and just give some feedback and share a little bit about yourself. You can access the CONTACT form at the top of this page.

Again, I am so incredibly grateful to God and to my Catholic Faith for providing me with the hope and the resources that were so necessary in my success for the experience I so desperately hoped and prayed for. This barely even scratches the surface on my story I want to tell, far and wide… but it was time to at least give a slight overview of my story and the goodness of God, as well as announce my Anchor of Hope news and what’s to come.

Thank you for reading this for and stay tuned for wherever God leads me - God bless you friends!

Since we’re on the topic of informed decision making, and natural/holistic approaches, I just have to share what I believe to be a very effective prenatal replacement. Most prenatals are made up of so much synthetic junk and they end up making already-nauseous pregnant moms even more nauseous! I have always been a huge Earthley fan and when I started reading (countless!) reviews of mothers using the Nourish Her Naturally tincture as a prenatal, I jumped right on the bandwagon!

I even mentioned the ingredients to my midwife and she said it sounds great! There’s also a “Mama’s Tummy Relief” if you’re in need of that, as well as Pregnancy Tea. Really, there are so many amazing products from Earthley which is why I always share about them - if you decide to browse, please use this affiliate link (use discount code CRUNCHYCATHOLIC for 10% off) where I receive a small commission which helps support my endeavor to stay home with my kiddos and rock that homeschool mom life. Thank you so much and let me know if you have any questions!