Early in my marriage, I miscarried my first child in the early first trimester. After battling infertility for nearly a decade, I was blessed with our first set of twins, Nicholas and Sophia. Our pregnancy journey, however, was not meant to reach full term and, at 16 weeks, my son was born, followed by his twin sister, two weeks later. Although Nicholas lived for only an hour and Sophia for five minutes, those are moments that changed my life forever; I am grateful for those moments and, although I miss them, I know they gave me to strength to continue living. I miscarried in the early first trimester again, before conceiving my second son, Alexander, who, like his older siblings, was born in the second trimester at 17 weeks and lived for five minutes. As Nicholas and Sophia did, Alexander gave me so many gifts in those few moments, like peace during his labor & delivery and those few, special moments to treasure him on earth. Following his pregnancy, I once again miscarried in the first trimester before conceiving Bobby and Maya, our 27w5d twins who, after 9 weeks in the NICU, came home to live with us on earth. Parenting them has given me healing and peace, although my heart still aches for the children I will never get to know on this earth. In December 2010, I was blessed by a surprise spontaneous pregnancy, however, I miscarried only a week later. There are not words to express my sorrow, but the loss of this child of Grace, opened my heart to serving other orphaned parents, and Mending Heart Bellies was conceived.
In February 2011, I began training as a birth doula and child birth educator with Birth Arts International. I have completed the book training aspect of my doula certification and am presently in the stage of attending the required number of births required to certify; I am 75% complete with my CBE certification. I am also affiliated as a lay doula with The Amethyst Network, a group of doulas and lay doulas who support families during and after miscarriage. In addition to CBE and doula services, I offer a variety of yoga services and training seminars.
Peace and Hope to you on this journey.
Michele
Email:
michele@mendingheartbellies.com
mendingheartbellies@gmail.com
Phone or Text:
215.527.2054
Blog:
Follow Michele's personal journey on her blog, My Life After Loss
http://mylifeafterloss.blogspot.com
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Mending Heart Bellies is located in Lansdale, Pennyslvania.
Class Schedule:
Yoga for Infertility (Fertility): Mondays @ 7:15pm
Prenatal Yoga: Wednesdays @ 4:30pm
General Yoga: Fridays @ 8:30pm
private sessions and special classes by appointment
Find us online at:
The Amethyst Network
Doula Match
The Doula Network
Doula World
Find A Doula
My Doula Directory
My Natural Motherhood Journey
