Jenn Whitaker - Birth Doula http://jenndoula.com Jenn Whitaker, Birth Doula in Northern Virginia, serving the NOVA DC Metro area. Wed, 27 Mar 2013 21:05:01 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5 new baby announcement! http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/27/new-baby-announcement-38/ http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/27/new-baby-announcement-38/#comments Wed, 27 Mar 2013 21:05:01 +0000 JennDoula http://jenndoula.com/?p=410 Congratulations to Mindy and Chris on the birth of their first child, son William! I was honored to share in the day with you, especially with family stopping in to visit! William is a super-cutie and Mindy and Chris are going to be wonderful parents! Congrats!

Two mamas to go before I’m on “maternity leave”! Can hardly believe it, but I’m looking forward to the break!

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]]> http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/27/new-baby-announcement-38/feed/ 0 new baby announcement! http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/27/new-baby-announcement-37/ http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/27/new-baby-announcement-37/#comments Wed, 27 Mar 2013 21:00:21 +0000 JennDoula http://jenndoula.com/?p=403 IMG_8560_2 Congratulations to Amy and Eric on the birth of their second child, daughter Emmaline! Emmaline joins big brother Connor, who was not so sure at first about a baby sister when he found out, but has gotten quite used to the pink in the house. I met Amy and Eric before I even found out I was expecting again, and it’s been a wonderful time getting to know them! I’ve had a lot of fun with Amy–I was even invited to her baby shower! Emmaline is a sweet little girl, and I know she’ll grow up just as sweet as her mama! Congrats again!

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]]> http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/27/new-baby-announcement-37/feed/ 0 the waiting game… http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/18/the-waiting-game/ http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/18/the-waiting-game/#comments Mon, 18 Mar 2013 05:20:53 +0000 JennDoula http://jenndoula.com/?p=400 I mentioned a while back that I finally finished all my DONA certification paperwork–it took two out-of-town trips without the kids or my husband to get it done (yay for planes and trains!), but I finally got everything completed and mailed it away a few weeks ago! I had been waiting for word from DONA that my packet–and what a packet it is!–was received, and just the other day, I finally got word that they have it safe and sound at their headquarters! Whew!

So now the real waiting begins: I have been hearing it can take up to six months for everything to be reviewed and finalized and for me to get my certification! Funny that I won’t even be attending births then since I’ll be with my newest little one, but it’s still going to be a wonderful thing to finally have accomplished!

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]]> http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/18/the-waiting-game/feed/ 0 new baby announcement! http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/17/new-baby-announcement-36/ http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/17/new-baby-announcement-36/#comments Mon, 18 Mar 2013 02:56:45 +0000 JennDoula http://jenndoula.com/?p=386 IMG_8329 Congratulations to Emily and Nathan on the birth of their second child, daughter Emma! Emma joins big brother Adam in the family! Emily had had a couple weeks of stop and start labor, so it was exciting when the time had FINALLY come! I was headed to Emily and to the hospital when another mama called to tell me she wanted to head to the hospital as well! Luckily, it was the same hospital! I arranged for a backup, the wonderful Maria, and once I realized my other mama was going to deliver before Emily, I had Maria go with her. Emily was in excellent hands, having Maria, Nathan, her mother, and mother-in-law all supporting her!

IMG_8399 I was able to check in (I felt like Steve Martin in Father of the Bride II!) all day and help out where I could. The timing the way it was, I unfortunately missed baby Emma’s arrival by five minutes, but I spent quite a bit of time photographing the newest member of the family in their first moments together. If they decide on more children, I hope I get another chance to be with them the entire time!

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]]> http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/17/new-baby-announcement-36/feed/ 0 new baby announcement! http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/17/new-baby-announcement-35/ http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/17/new-baby-announcement-35/#comments Mon, 18 Mar 2013 02:47:26 +0000 JennDoula http://jenndoula.com/?p=382 Congratulations to Rebecca and Keylor on the birth of their first child, son Kai! IMG_8306

When Rebecca called me that Friday morning to say she wanted to head to the hospital, I had interesting news to share with her: I was already headed to the same hospital with another mama! Once I met up with them there and got my backup in place, I was with Rebecca and Keylor since her labor was moving more quickly. Despite having her doubts near the end, which is just about every birthing mama, Rebecca had a wonderful birth and was amazed at her body and the new life she welcomed. It was wonderful watching this lovely couple become parents. Keylor is from South America and was calling his family to give the good news–I love how global the births can be!

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]]> http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/17/new-baby-announcement-35/feed/ 0 new baby announcement! http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/17/new-baby-announcement-34/ http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/17/new-baby-announcement-34/#comments Mon, 18 Mar 2013 02:39:52 +0000 JennDoula http://jenndoula.com/?p=379 Congratulations to Evin and Jason on the birth of their second child, daughter Vivan! Vivian joined big brother RJ in dramatic fashion: Evin had a wonderfully fast, standing delivery! The midwife ran in just in time to catch baby Vivian at the side of the bed! When Jason told friends about his wife’s awesome birth, people didn’t believe him at first! It was a wonderful evening and Evin, who had had gestational diabetes, enjoyed a satisfying meal–complete with chocolate cake!–shortly after the birth. It was well deserved!

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]]> http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/17/new-baby-announcement-34/feed/ 0 new baby announcement! http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/17/new-baby-announcement-33/ http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/17/new-baby-announcement-33/#comments Mon, 18 Mar 2013 02:33:52 +0000 JennDoula http://jenndoula.com/?p=374 IMG_8190 I love this photo–it perfectly captures the moment a woman becomes a mother and sees her child for the first time.

Congratulations to mom K and dad A on the birth of their first child, daughter L! Mama K was a Hypnobabies home study student and had an amazing labor and birth–all the way down to the impressively large posterior baby she pushed out pretty easily! I had just come off a very long birth from the day before with little sleep in between, so I called in some help from fellow doula Ryann to assist and help keep me awake! Everyone was tired but elated at the arrival of baby L! It was a wonderful way to spend Valentine’s Day!

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]]> http://jenndoula.com/2013/03/17/new-baby-announcement-33/feed/ 0 new baby announcement! http://jenndoula.com/2013/02/24/new-baby-announcement-32/ http://jenndoula.com/2013/02/24/new-baby-announcement-32/#comments Sun, 24 Feb 2013 20:44:42 +0000 JennDoula http://jenndoula.com/?p=371 Congratulations to Mama S and Dad J on the birth of their second child, son T. Baby boy T joins big sister M in this now complete family! Mama S had a tough labor and birth, but she was one strong mama and had a much-desired VBAC! It was a long 24+ hours, but I was happy to meet baby T!

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]]> http://jenndoula.com/2013/02/24/new-baby-announcement-32/feed/ 0 new baby announcement! http://jenndoula.com/2013/02/24/new-baby-announcement-31/ http://jenndoula.com/2013/02/24/new-baby-announcement-31/#comments Sun, 24 Feb 2013 20:41:58 +0000 JennDoula http://jenndoula.com/?p=367 IMG_8019 Congratulations to Molly and Andre on the birth of their first child, daughter Eliza, who was born in December! Molly had a challenging, yet amazing birth: a surprise, medically necessary induction threw us all a bit of a curve ball in Molly’s birth plans, but in the end she had a fast, easy induction of a healthy baby girl using no pain medication! Part of her plan had to be changed, but her ultimate desires were happily met! It was a wonderful evening spent with the new family!

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]]> http://jenndoula.com/2013/02/24/new-baby-announcement-31/feed/ 0 New baby announcement! http://jenndoula.com/2013/02/24/new-baby-announcement-30/ http://jenndoula.com/2013/02/24/new-baby-announcement-30/#comments Sun, 24 Feb 2013 20:33:08 +0000 JennDoula http://jenndoula.com/?p=362 IMG_7981 Congratulations to Rosanna and Greg on the birth of their first child, daughter Nina! Rosanna and Greg were a super fun couple to work with, and with Rosanna’s blog, Pregnant Banana, I got to read all about her pregnancy and her take on having a doula. JennDoula and baby Nina

Rosanna had a wonderful birth–we even labored at home for a while with her two cats, one of whom decided to meow right along with Rosanna’s moans!

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