Minnesota Homebirth

October 15th is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Remembrance day. Today we honor all of the little lives that were lost too soon… Today and every day, forever and always, I’ll remember River and Sol. 👼🏼

For those whom this applies, I found some Christian poetry about child loss that you may find some solace in or at least relate to: https://newmercymoms.com/blog/loss-of-child-poem-collection

If you’d like to donate to help provide Bereavement Doula support to families in the Twin Cities, please reach out to me! 🤍

A huge congratulations to myself as I have spent the past twenty one months breastfeeding around the clock🤱🏼🥳 I think our journey is coming to an end, as my son has not nursed in about a week now. I had been slowly working on weaning with the intention to be done closer to end of this year, but he got sick with a sore throat and I think that was enough for him to be done. Now it’s time for my milk to dry up. I know one day I’ll look back and I’ll miss all of our moments together, but honestly I was definitely touched out at this point. I have made it through cracked ni***es, thrush, first trimester breast pain, my miscarriage and his teething for each one of his full set of teeth. I carried his little heavy self around parks, grocery stores, museums,etc all while he was nursing. He has nursed to sleep for every nap and every night, all through the night since he was born. We are still cosleeping, but this week is the longest stretches of sleep that I’ve had through the night since he was born . Anywhere and everywhere he has been on my b**b pretty much all of the time. I will miss his little pet pets and his smiles and his little face touches and all of our contact naps. He is definitely not a baby anymore and is now a full fledged toddler. As they say, time is moving really fast now. 🥺 The top picture on the left is his first time nursing about an hour after he was born and the bottom right is us during my miscarriage. What a journey it has been and I’m so blessed to have my son and happy to have given him life, nutrition and comfort through all of this time.

I’m up late thinking about my babies, my sister’s baby, my best friends’ babies and the babies of everyone else who has reached out to me these past few months and told me about their losses too. Today is the start of Pregnancy and Infant loss awareness month. Even as a bereavement doula, I have no magical or motivating words this year, as I am also deep in the midst of my grief for the loss of my twins just three months ago. To other loss mommas: I see you, I feel your pain, I love you and I love your babies.

For anyone needing more resources visit: https://stillbirthday.com

You can breastfeed anywhere at the Minnesota State Fair! Sometimes it’s helpful to have a distraction-free space for your little one. We have you covered! The TPT Nursing Nest presented by MN WIC is on the southwest corner of Lee Ave. & Underwood St. There are private tents for parents to feed or change their babies during their busy visits to the fair. https://www.mnstatefair.org/faq/amenities/

In a recent partnership with Hamline University, students focused on exposure to chemicals in personal care products like deodorant, makeup, and skin care, and how women of reproductive age understand and seek information about chemicals in personal care products. You can access the Toxic Free Kids program’s factsheets in English, Hmong, Somali and Spanish at: https://www.health.state.mn.us/communities/environment/childenvhealth/tfka/education.html

Breast milk is the ideal first food for a baby👶. It's safe, clean and contains antibodies which protect against dangerous illnesses.

✅ Start within 1 hour after birth 🤱
✅ Breastfeed exclusively for the first 6 months 🤱
✅ Continue alongside healthy family foods until the baby is at least 2 years old 🤱

The moment that we have been waiting on for seven years now! Midwife Carisa just signed some of my NARM paperwork for the portfolio evaluation process to become a Certified Professional Midwife! I’ve slowly been making progress over the years, but sitting down and updating the paperwork makes me feel like my goal is finally within reach! 👩🏼‍⚕️

Does breastfeeding really matter to babies’ health in high-resource countries like the US & UK? Yes concluded a brand-new 2025 systematic review. Babies who don’t receive human milk are at increased risk for childhood leukemia, SIDS, ear infections, GI infections, lower respiratory infections, and a host of others. Read more about it here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40240318/

Need a short-term supply of breastmilk for your infant? Olmsted County Public Health Services is partnering with the Minnesota Milk Bank to provide pasteurized human donor milk (PHDM) bridge bags to families in need.

These bridge bags are designed to support families with infants under 6 months old who need a little extra help reaching their exclusive breastfeeding goals.

To learn more or ask about a bridge bag, call WIC at 507-328-7555 or Family Home Visiting at 507-328-7570.

My review of the Mother’s room at Oxbow Park and Zollmon Zoo in Byron:

Overall I give it an 9/10!👏🏻

Cleanliness: 10/10
Practicality: 10/10
Comfort: 8/10
Location: 8/10

It was super clean, it is in a central location and has everything that you made need (including extra diapers, wipes and a changing table cover). 👏🏻🤱🏼

◈ Babies are born with a dive reflex which prevents them from breathing immediately and inhaling when they are in born into warm water. ◈ But the baby still has the ability to remove fluid from their lungs via their mouth and nose even when born into water. ◈ The vaginal canal applies pressure to the baby's chest which aids in expelling the fluids. ◈ Once the baby's head is brought up to the air, they will be triggered to take their first breaths. ◈ -Love, Flor Cruz ◈ 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬, 𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐝𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐁𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐛𝐥𝐞, 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐫𝐞, 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞, & 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭! @olivejuicelifestyle on IG