Life is temporarily cancelled and we are all stuck at home but one thing that I'm enjoying is that we are actually spending more time connecting with family and friends. Even though my family lives about 20 minutes away, we have "hung out" with them more in the last two weeks then we normally would! Virtually of course!

We figured out a fun and relatively easy way to play Yahtzee virtually and I wanted to share it and bring a little joy to as many others as possible!

We are using Zoom to connect but I imagine this would work on Google hangouts. I have a professional Zoom account but if you don't have one you can get a free account. The only drawback is you can only video conference for 40 minutes at a time for every meeting you set up. 

The nice thing about Zoom is you can share your screen. My brother made an awesome spreadsheet to use to keep track of the score. If the scorekeeper "shares" their screen on the zoom chat then everyone can see the score as the game progresses. This is super helpful because everyone needs to know what rolls they still need. I've uploaded the score sheet spreadsheet at the end of this article.

The only other thing you need is dice. Each household needs five dice. If someone can't find five dice in their house, they can use this website to roll dice virtually: ​https://www.elversonpuzzle.com/yahtzee-dice-roller.html

If you need the rules of Yahtzee visit this website: https://gamerules.com/rules/yahtzee-dice-game/

Have fun and good luck!

​These are strange and stressful times we are living in. In less than a month, most of us have gone from never having heard of the coronavirus, to being cooped up in our homes riding out a global pandemic. Anxiety levels are spiking. And yet, pregnant families are still welcoming new, sweet babies into their lives. 

I wanted to share what I am doing to continue to provide Hypnobabies classes to families who want to get this in-depth childbirth education with the powerful hypnosis tools that have helped so many families to have a more joyful, empowering, easier, and more comfortable birth.

This weekend I had the pleasure of watching two TV shows attempt to dramatize birth and was pleasantly surprised both times. Usually I'm yelling at the TV about how improbable their portrayals are. In this post I'm going to talk about the Grey's Anatomy season 15 finale that aired on 5/16/19 and also the Schitt's Creek season 4 finale that you can find on Netflix... SPOILERS AHEAD... Also Bubble of Peace for Hypnobabies moms. I don't recommend watching TV portrayals of birth when you are expecting... Also I use non-Hypnobabies language.

by Anne Ferguson

​​During pregnancy and during a person's birthing time (labor), care providers (nurses, doctors and midwives) may offer to check a birthing person's cervix. It may not always be presented as your choice but it is! And, more and more, I find that families I support are choosing few if any cervical checks during pregnancy and to not find out what their cervix is doing when they do consent to a cervical check during labor. Read on to find out why!

The phone rang while I was getting dinner started. An expectant dad was calling to see if he could set up for a last minute placenta encapsulation for his wife who was currently in labor. Yes! We set the wheels in motion... but...

​One of my recent clients wanted to share her success story using Hypnobabies and One Strong Mama among other strategies for anyone looking for answers and wrestling with what to do after a previous fourth degree tear.

​My client's story:

4 years ago I had a 4th degree tear. Labor was not productive, no coaching or support from staff, I didn’t have doula, got an epidural, labored/pushed on my back, pushed for 2+ hours, received an episiotomy, and baby was 9 pounds, 13 ounces which all led to the 4th degree tear.

​by Anne Ferguson

Hypnobabies Moms: Use your Bubble of Peace if you choose to read this.

This morning I was driving home from visiting a client and I was listening to an excellent Evidence Based Birth® podcast episode called "The Wide-Reaching Effects of Birth Trauma." It got me thinking about my own experiences of birth trauma (that I've witnessed as a doula) and my goals for all the students and clients I work with. 

​In Hypnobabies we teach that your mind controls your body completely. What you focus on and spend time thinking about is typically what comes to pass. Of course with birth there are other factors and just positive thinking alone will not create a perfect, easier birth. It takes a lot of physical and mental preparation and a very supportive team to have an intervention-free birth. And for a variety of reasons out of our control, some people will need a more medicalized birth or even a surgical birth and it's wonderful we have those options in the cases where they are needed! 

But today I want to share two examples of the amazing power of the mind to create your birth experience! One story shows how we can use this to our benefit and one shows how our subconscious mind can hold us back when we don't feel safe and supported. 

In Hypnobabies we talk about creating a "birth preferences" document to share with your care provider. I think doing this is a great idea for a few reasons:
1) It gets the birthing person and their partner/support people on the same page.
2) It's a great tool to share with your hypno-doula so she can work to help make this birth YOUR dream birth. A good doula leaves her personal preferences at the door and works hard to help you achieve your goals. 
3) Despite some concerns to the contrary within the birth world, in my experience health care providers, especially nurses and midwives, DO read them and try to help their clients get as many of their preferences as they can. 

Check out this amazing birth plan one of my student recently created and scroll down to read why I think it's amazing!