Losing It in Labor – Five Tips for Partners

By Nikki Shaheed | Dec 1, 2016

How to Help a Laboring Person Who is Feeling DONE As parents prepare their minds and bodies for the upcoming birth of their child, many partners have the same thought…

Birth Ball – Tools of the Doula Trade

By Nikki Shaheed | Nov 29, 2016

How a birth ball can help a laboring parent progress and find rest As parents prepare for the day of their baby’s arrival, they are presented with a plethora of…

20 Reasons to Sign Up for a Childbirth Class at 20 Weeks

By Nikki Shaheed | Oct 21, 2016

As your belly grows and your sweet baby puts on the ounces, there are many exciting milestones! The first time you feel those tiny feet kicking, making it to the…

How to Mine an Uninvited Birth Story for Gold

By Nikki Shaheed | Jun 14, 2016

From the moment a parent (or their midsection) announces their pregnancy, they are inundated with a barrage of birth stories from friends, family members, and even strangers.  These stories tend…

The Trouble With "At Least"

By Nikki Shaheed | Dec 8, 2015

Ahhh…at least.  The Fruit Cake of human communication: endlessly doled out with the best of intentions, and absolutely horrible. “But what’s so bad about saying at least?” you may wonder.…

Your Birth Story is 30 Years Long

By Nikki Shaheed | Nov 2, 2015

…Or 41 years or 16 years or however long you’ve been a resident of Planet Earth. And you thought your cousin’s 24 hour long birth story was brutal!  😉 In…

My Birth Story, and Why I’m Telling It This Way

By Nikki Shaheed | Sep 24, 2015

The story of Inanna’s Descent has been told in my Birthing from Within series since I became an Advanced Birthing from Within Mentor. This story is over 6000 years old,…

Surviving Postpartum

By Nikki Shaheed | Feb 1, 2015

Three Tips to Help You Through the First Six Weeks After Birth There is so much build up, so much excitement at the end of pregnancy about meeting your new…

The Greatest Birth Story Ever Told

By Nikki Shaheed | Dec 21, 2014

  What We Can Learn from Jesus’ Birth   It may seem odd for a Muslim doula to be writing about the birth of Jesus, but believe it or not,…

birth story healing

Repeat After Me: "I am Enough"

By Nikki Shaheed | Jun 23, 2014

Hey you! Yes, you…the one who replays decisions you made during your birth over and over again. The one who ponders the “what if’s” when you’re alone in bed at…