Lunapads

Way back before we had kids (6+ years ago) we often used to take the Lunapads show on the road, attending trade shows and festivals on a fairly regular basis. From local New Age/Women’s/Eco/Wellness shows to major US natural products trade shows, you could find our smiling faces expounding the virtues of natural menstrual products to anyone patient enough to listen - it was hard work, but often lit up with wonderful connections with customers and colleagues.

This year we have made a commitment to be a little more “out there” in our community and as a result ended up attending 2 major events this weekend - the annual Doulas of North America (DONA) conference, and the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. I’ll share a bit about DONA, and Suzanne will tell you about Folk Fest (as it’s known locally) in a subsequent post.

Having both been attended by Doulas in our births, Suzanne and I were only too happy to meet several hundred of them! For those of you who may not know, Doulas are highly skilled and compassionate professionals who attend Mothers through their pregnancy, labour, birth and postpartum stages. You can learn more about their role and services here.

Not surprisingly, several of our Doula friends were also in attendance, and it was a great opportunity to reconnect. I’m sure this is true of many places, but in the past few years, Vancouver has seen the emergence of a wonderful community of Midwives, Doulas, La Leche League leaders and other breastfeeding and attachment/natural parenting advocates etc. and their devoted clients and supporters. Here’s a nice photo of me and Nikiah Seeds of Mama Goddess Birth Shop in front of the Mama Goddess and Lunapads displays. Other treasured colleagues at the conference included Sarah Juliusson of Mama Renew and Dancing Star birth), Sarah’s business partner Jennifer Lee Koble, Bridgitte Alomes of Natural Pod natural toys, Paula Violi of Baby Buddha slings, Amanda Spakowski of Luna Birth, Aimee Sturley of Adar Birth Services and Wendy Armbruster of Pump-ease breast pump supports.

Love you gals - keep up the great work!

Believe it or not, we have been working on Happier periods, naturally! the Lunapads guide to natural cycles for girls and teens for close to 3 (count ‘em!) years. It’s been a long journey, but as they say, sometimes good things can take a while.

This beautifully illustrated 28 page booklet (also available as a .pdf download) presents an inspiring, educational and eco-minded look at cycles and periods.  We wrote this booklet to provide young girls and teens with a perspective about periods and cycles that we wish someone had written when we were growing up.  Emphasizing the positive and celebratory aspects of getting your period (without being preachy or getting technical) the booklet features a “do it yourself” Cycle Chart, natural remedies for cramps, a discussion about the environmental impact of disposable products, and tips for using natural menstrual products at school and beyond.  We think this booklet ideal for every girl or teen who is just starting her journey to becoming a woman. 

Receive a FREE copy with every Lunapads Teen Kit purchased – this month only!

Big thank you’s to all the amazing women who helped to make Happier periods, naturally! happen: contributors include past and present Lunapads staffers (and alumni) Sandra, Lisa, Marie-Genevieve and Krisztina, Scarleteen.com creatrix and S.E.X. author Heather Corinna, cunt: a declaration of independence author inga muscio, progressive local GP Dr. Dorle Kneifel, teen sexual health educator and creator of “You Go, Girl!” workshops Saleema Noon, mother-daughter customers Karen and KT Patrick, myvag.net’s Sarah Mundy, uber-supporter and webmistress Emira Mears and last but hardly least, Dr. Jerilynn Prior, Scientific Director of the University of British Columbia’s Centre for Menstrual Cycle and Ovulation Research (CeMCOR), who dotted the i’s and crossed the t’s and contributed a gracious foreward. And in case you were wondering who’s responsible for the gorgeous layout and design, look no further than Tessa and the wonderful team at Fluid Communications. It was wonderful to share this project with so many talented people.  Please write back and tell us what you think!

The Business of Being Born is showing again this Sunday April 6th in Vancouver! Suzanne, Emira and I went a few weeks ago and loved it. Anyone out there who is having a baby, thinking about it, or who simply cares about those of us in that boat and/or is of a naturista or feminist bent (and who’s not, around here?) will not want to miss out.

The details: The Birth Lounge and Sweet Home Birth are pleased to present a special screening of the Abby Epstien/Ricki Lake documentary, THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN. The screening will be followed by a question and answer period about the issues the film raises with a panel that includes a family practice physician, a registered midwife and a birth doula. All proceeds of the screening will go to SMILE, a non-profit organization that gives prenatal care to young mothers.

In 2001, actress Ricki Lake gave birth to her second child on her own terms, in her home bathtub, and the experience was so unexpectedly empowering and life-changing that she felt every woman should know what they could be missing out on. She approached filmmaker Abby Epstein to collaborate on a film that would examine birth culture in America. THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN is that film.

Peppered with actual footage of women giving birth, Epstein also conducts interviews with a number of obstetricians, experts and advocates about the history, culture and economics of childbirth. The film’s fundamental question: should most births be viewed as a natural life process, or should every delivery be treated as a potential medical emergency?

As Epstein uncovers some surprising answers, her own pregnancy adds a very personal dimension to THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN, a must-see movie for anyone who is pregnant, or even thinking about having a baby!

THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN screens on Sunday, April 6, at 1pm at the Rio Theatre (1660 E Broadway at Commercial). Tickets are $10 each and are available at the door. For more information, please visit thebusinessofbeingborn or thebirthlounge.

Hey, look! We’ve got a beautiful new blog to match our main website – thanks Lauren!

We had a great time celebrating International Women’s Day at Birthfest here in Vancouver. For me setting up the table was reminiscent of the old days when we used to attend all the local eco and women’s events. Having not attended one in years (our young children keep us busy!) the buzz of getting ready and chatting with other women who we haven’t seen for a while was fun and inspiring. Sandra came later in the day to staff the table so that Madeleine and I could circulate and enjoy the event. It felt like we knew half the people in the room! We feel fortunate to be surrounded by so many entrepreneurial/green/progressive/feminist/family-friendly folks, and would like to tell you about a few of them.

Pomegranate Community Midwives: Not only did these women help me bring Garret into this world, but the women of Pomegranate have been making a powerful impact in the Vancouver birthing community, opening their clinic to a host of wonderful classes and events.

Mama Renew/Dancing Star Birth: Sarah Juliusson, along with Jennifer-Lee Koble are true pioneers in the birthing and mothering community, bringing creative new ways for women to reconnect and empower themselves for birth and beyond. Madeleine and I are looking forward to being part of her Mama Renew sessions next month.

Sandra Vander Schaaf: Sandra is a professional photographer and did pregnancy portraits of Suzanne. Gorgeous work!

Emerging families: Mia Kalef does fabulous healing and educational work around birth.

Mama Goddess Birth Shop: is owned by our friend and supplier Nikiah Seeds. She also now has a wholesale Midwifery supply store online.

Natural Pod: Not only does Natural Pod carry some the most coveted collection of natural and Waldorf inspired toys and items for daily living, but Bridgette, the owner and founder, is an amazing business woman who is creating her own new model of success in the area of eco-business.

Metropolitan Aromatherapy: Deborah Drummond is a dynamic entrepreneur, longtime friend, and creator of Lunablend and Lunabalm.

Baby Buddha: Paula Violi is co-owner of Baby Buddha slings - now available in bamboo!

We look forward to connecting with this vibrant group of women (and more) again next year!

Once again, the local birthing community is gathering for it’s annual celebration of all things related to pregnancy, birthing, babies and parenting. Last year we attended this jam packed event and we’ll be there again with our own table.

Birthfest, organized by our good friend and colleague Sarah Juliusson and my midwives, is a fantastic FREE community festival bringing together local maternity care providers, family-focused businesses and entrepreneurs, and non-profit organizations. Bring the whole family, as there will be entertainment and performers, as well as great items for give away and raffle.

When: Saturday, March 8, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Where: Brittania Community Centre, Gym D

Come early and check it out if you live the in the lower mainland of Vancouver (and don’t forget to stop by to say hello!) I am personally looking forward to spending the day reconnecting with dear friends, colleagues and customers and discussing the film The Business of Being Born (which we LOVED! A must see.)

There is a lot of buzz these days about the latest documenatary “The Business of Being Born” (click the link to see the trailer). Produced by Ricki Lake, actress and former talk show host, the documentary follows Lake and several other pregnant women as they give birth, many of them at home.

From the reviews I have read, this film is an eye opening story about why birthing is in crisis in America. Filled with rich images of women birthing on their own terms, this film takes a feminist view of childbirth, telling women they have a choice and say during child birth, challenging the notion that birth is a scary medical event that needs to be managed. I am happy to see that a celebrity has embraced this subject and created a beautiful film that will be viewed by thousands of women who will see for the first time that child birth can be a wonderful experience that doesn’t need to be feared. I wish this film existed when I was pregnant with Aiden 6 years ago. I had no conception of child birth except for what I had seen on TV. Having become a natural child birth advocate since giving birth to Garret, the next time I want to suggest to my pregnant girlfriends (mainstream or crunchy) that child birth can be a rich and natural experience, I can simply point them to this movie without appearing preachy. And while the films is pro natural child birth and pro home birth, it is not ‘anti-hospital’ or ‘anti-C-section’… the director of the movie herself gets pregnant and runs into complications at the end of her pregnancy.

Reviews from our favorite magazines: “All women owe it to themselves to see this documentary.- Bust Magazine December 2007. “… It is the best birth film ever made” - Peggy O’Mara, Mothering Magazine interview with Ricki Lake.

For my own personal reflections about my two births and images of my home birth read on …

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Now that we have settled nicely into our new home, we are excited to be hosting several birthing and mama events in our community. When Amanda, Aimée and Sarah approached us see if they could use our office space on weekends and evenings, we were only happy to say yes.

Amanda and Aimée are the dynamic doula forces behind LunaBirth and Adar Birth Services. They will be holding weekly and weekend intensive ‘Birthing From Within’ sessions at Lunapads. These childbirth classes allow parents to learn through interactive, creative activities that explore and validate their own knowledge in the spirit of fun and curiosity, while at the same time discussing non-biased, evidence-based information about pain-coping and labour management. (I took my Birthing From Within class with Sarah and really enjoyed it. It is a really great way to spend some quality time with your partner as you prepare for the big event.)

Sarah, one of the creators of Mama Renew is what I call a veteran mama. Sarah will be leading a Mama Renewal Group which will be made up of moms who are juggling family and work. They will be meeting at Lunapads for six monthly sessions, exploring how to reclaim, rebalance, and reconnect in our life as mothers via discussion, journaling, space for inner reflection, and much laughter and connection. When I first heard about Mama Renew, I was feeling desperate for some help in coping with the whole work-family balance act. Tearfully, I said to myself “I really need to join this group!”

We feel so proud to have created such a comfortable and functional space, and are glad that we can share it with like-minded women doing wonderful work in our community.

Anyone who has spent any amount of time working with Lunapads has heard some creative and often funny ideas for alternate uses for them: pot holders, eye pillows and barbie bedding are some top suggestions. Well, my daughter just introduced me to a new one: training pants for toddlers.
As followers of this blog are already aware, Suzanne and I have been reporting recently about our journeys with diapering (cloth, otherwise and skipping them altogether!) and toilet training. In a recent post I was lamenting that I was caving on using disposables at night, and have good news to report: we’re not doing it anymore, thanks to my daughter and Lunapads!
As a classic two-year-old (so I’m told), Gigi is all about helping with all manner of tasks, insisting on doing things herself, and has recently acquired her very own “big girl” bed.
We were spending the afternoon at home a few days ago when I discovered that I had started my period. We duly went to my Lunapads basket to choose the right one (Gigi is fond of sorting them according to size and colour). Later that evening when it was time for bed, she was adamant: no diaper, she’s a big girl now. I was stressed: what if she peed the bed? And yet - she needs to learn, and it’s my job to help her, not worry about laundry. We found a compromise: “How about you wear one of Mommy’s Lunapads, just in case?” To my surprise, she went for it immediately, and back to the basket we went. That night she was pretty restless, but summoned me in time to help her to her potty, therefore giving her a dry night. The subsequent nights have been a mixed bag, but we’re getting there, happily in a diaper-free way. I am so proud of her!

As a follow up to Madeleine’s last entry about cloth diapering, I want to tell you about my experience with a diapering/pottying technique called Elimination Communication. To quote Wikipedia: “Elimination communication (EC) is a form of nurturing in which a caregiver uses timing, signals, cues, and intuition to help an infant address his or her elimination needs, partially or completely avoiding the use of diapers.”

When I first heard about this practice four years ago from a friend, I thought EC was too crunchy, bizzare and complicated for me - so, I dismissed it. By the time I had Garret, I had heard a lot more about it, seen it in action, and had lots of friends to ask about how they EC their babies. I’m not a hard core EC’er. I practice it part time, when I have my complete undivided attention on Garret and his pottying signals. I started EC when he was about 4 months old. When I can sense he needs to go, I squat him over the toilet and make a ‘psss’ noise. Behold, he goes! Well, OK, only sometimes, and only when he wants to. The most reliable times it works is: just when he wakes up, shortly after nursing, and catching him squatting or making his tell tale grunting sounds just before a BM. Needless to say, practicing EC cuts down on the number of diapers I need to wash. (Here is me and Garret in our hotel bathroom in Penticton last weekend. I’m happy to say we used only a handful of disposables on this trip. Otherwise, we did the EC thing or used cloth.)

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In my last post I was grousing about parents letting themselves off the hook with respect to choosing disposable diapers. As with the 12 steps, my philosophy of marketing is more about attraction rather than promotion, which is to say that I’d rather tell you about how easy it is to cloth diaper than to give you a guilt trip. In my experience, a positive role model is unbeatable when it comes to these matters. When I had Genevieve I already knew that I wanted to use cloth and got some to start me off. But it was Suzanne (pictured is Aiden, in a limited edition Lunapads organic cloth diaper) who took me step-by-step through taking care of them. Over the years I adapted to suit my own living situation and would like to share my recipe for successful cloth diapering in the hopes in inspiring any fence-sitters out there.

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